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    • It started as a whisper and slowly turned into a roar. More than two years had passed, and Rickie Fowler was still missing an important item on his golf resume: a PGA Tour win.

      Everyone wanted to know when he was finally going to break through, but the longer the 23-year-old went without a win, the louder the questions got about his inability to close on the weekends.

      When you're 23 years old, you feel like you have your entire life ahead of you. However, Fowler never had that luxury when he joined the PGA Tour. Following his first season, in 2010, that culminated with Rookie of the Year honors, fans' expectations hit an all-time high for the kid with the color-wheel clothing line.

      Everyone assumed he'd pick up wins in bunches, but it seemed like every time Fowler got remotely close to the lead on the weekend with a chance to pick up his maiden tour win, everything fell apart.

      The first couple of times it happened, it was chalked up to young nerves. But the more Fowler continued to struggle and the winless streak persisted, the more people started to question when Fowler would finally find the gear needed to close things out.

      On Sunday at Quail Hollow, we finally got our answer as Fowler stared down some heady competition by stuffing his approach to five feet on the first playoff hole, before rolling in the birdie putt to capture his first PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship.

      Read More »from Rickie Fowler captures first PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship
    • Webb Simpson, a member at Quail Hollow, has likely spent countless hours standing over five-footers on the 18th hole, wondering if he'd some day get a chance to make one to win the Wells Fargo Championship. While he already has a couple PGA Tour wins under his belt, he has a chance on Sunday to do the unthinkable and capture one of the biggest victories of his career on a course he knows like the back of his hand. But it won't be easy.

      He'll have to fend off some stout competition. Simpson, who's currently 14-under, has Ryan Moore (13-under), Rory McIlroy (12-under), Nick Watney (12-under), Rickie Fowler (11-under) and Geoff Ogilvy (10-under) nipping at his heels. If he makes one mistake, the dream will likely disappear. CBS's live final-round coverage starts at 3 p.m. ET.

      Read More »from Video: Catch up on Round 3 of the Wells Fargo Championship
    • Rory McIlroy isn't one of the longest golfers on the PGA Tour (he ranks 36th in driving distance this season), but on Saturday's at the Wells Fargo Championship, he smashed one of the longest drives of the season on the par-4 16th.

      How long, you ask? CBS on-course analyst Gary McCord noted it was 311 yards to carry the bunker on the right side of the fairway. McIlroy not only carried the bunker, but then watched as the ball bounded another 66 yards -- into the gallery crosswalk at the 377-yard mark.

      "Is about 80 or 90 yards out from there," McCord said. "That's outrageous, and it looked like he aimed to do that."

      Whether he expected the ball to go that far or not, the fact that it ended up within 23 yards of the 400-mark is astounding, since the hole doesn't play downhill or straight downwind. That's what you call insane distance, friends.

      Read More »from Rory McIlroy unleashes a 377-yard bomb at the Wells Fargo Championship
    • Rory McIlroy has a swing that's suitable for framing and hanging in your family room. But like a number of golf great, the 23-year-old (he celebrated a birthday yesterday) spent hours practicing and perfecting his game from an early age.

      The video you see above is of a three-year-old McIlroy working on his short game at home, and based on the footage, it's obvious his swing was pretty salty, even as a little tyke. Come to think of it, it's probably better than 99 percent of the golf swings you see on a typical Saturday at the local muni.

      So there you go, folks; Rory McIlroy had a better swing than a lot of us at the age of three. Hopefully that makes you feel a little better about your golf game.

    • Nick Watney / Getty ImagesIf Nick Watney was given the opportunity to press a reset button and start his 2012 season over from the start, there's a good chance he'd do it in a heartbeat.

      After putting together the best season of his career in 2011 -- winning twice and pocketing more than $5 million in earnings -- the stage appeared to be set for one of golf's rising stars.

      We talk all the time about names to keep an eye on at majors, well, Watney was certainly one of the names people had pegged for big things this year.

      But through the early portion of the season, he failed to live up to the sky-high expectations. With the exception of a T12 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and T17 at the WGC Cadillac Championship, the rest of the year has been a complete wash.

      With only one sub-70 round in his last 14 rounds, there's was nothing that led you to believe Watney was going to be a factor coming into the Wells Fargo Championship. However, after posting an 8-under 64 on Friday, to take a one-shot lead into the

      Read More »from Nick Watney finds his game at the Wells Fargo Championship
    • Tiger Woods has been a part of some bizarre rules decisions over the years, but what happened on Friday at the Wells Fargo Championship ranks right up there with Woods' "Boulder-gate" situation at the 1999 Phoenix Open.

      In danger of missing the cut when he stepped on the tee at the par-5 fifth (his 14th hole of the day), Woods was trying to make a couple of birdies down the stretch to hang around for the weekend. Instead, Woods found himself in the middle of a truly bizarre rules decision.

      After hooking his second shot into the trees, Woods walked up to find his ball was nowhere to be found. Despite playing in front of a gallery that was at least four or five deep, every member claimed they never saw the ball.

      Searching with hundreds of fans, Woods searched the pine straw and leaves, figuring it would show up at some point. Only the ball never reappeared. Woods shrugged his shoulders and assumed the ball lost; he would have to go back to the fairway, 261 yards from the green, to play

      Read More »from Tiger Woods gets free drop after fan reportedly pockets his golf ball
    • Quail Hollow is always one of the finest non-major fields in the game, and this year is no exception. Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and other luminaries are in attendance. But Stewart Cink is playing like it's 2009; he leads at -7 along with Ryan Moore and Webb Simpson. Play continues Friday and, we presume, on into the weekend.

    • Tiger Woods / Getty ImagesNobody, not even Tiger Woods, knew how his first competitive round in three weeks would go.

      After walking off the 18th hole at Augusta National following a final round 2-over 74 that saw him finish T40, the worst finish of his Masters career, many wondered which version of Tiger Woods would show up at Quail Hollow.

      Earlier in the week, Woods confirmed during his video Q&A that the swing issues he had at the Masters had been rectified. But following Thursday's opening-round 1-under 71 at the Wells Fargo Championship, that appeared to be far from the case.

      The Tiger Woods we saw on Thursday looked rusty during his opening nine holes, hitting a number of wayward drives into the crowd and a couple of chips that had him rehearsing his swing over and over again.

      But it wasn't all bad news on the day. After going out in 1-over 37, Woods seemed to find something on the back nine, using a 2-iron off the tee on a number of holes in an effort to find the fairway. While the decision was certainly

      Read More »from Tiger Woods’ game shows signs of rust at Wells Fargo Championship
    • Paul Lawrie / Getty ImagesPaul Lawrie's U.S. Open record is, shall we say, less than stellar. In the past 20 years the Scotsman has missed the cut in three of his four starts, his best finish a T30 in 2002.

      Clearly, the guy doesn't enjoy the major. But after seven years of not having the credentials to qualify for the tournament, Lawrie's wins in 2011 and 2012 were enough to give him a spot in the field at Olympic Club.

      First U.S. Open start in eight years. Despite his record, you'd think the would guy be over the moon to tee it up in California, right? Wrong. You see, Lawrie could care less about being in the field of the second major of the year.

      Instead, he'd rather tee it up in Germany at the BMW International, a mid-tier European Tour event. U.S. Open .... BMW International. I'm going to go out on a limb and say one is a little higher profile than the other.

      So you're probably wondering what the heck Lawrie's doing. Why in the world would he skip a major for a cupcake tournament? Try Ryder Cup points. Yep,

      Read More »from Paul Lawrie really wants to be a part of the European Ryder Cup team
    • Rory McIlroy / Getty ImagesRory McIlroy has been to golf's pinnacle. He knows what it's like to be the top-ranked golfer in the world and throttle a major championship field.

      With the exception of maybe Tiger Woods, nobody has taken the sport by storm quite like McIlroy has at such a young age. Only 22, it's easy to see why people have the Ulsterman pegged for greatness.

      When you're the second-ranked golfer in the world -- he could be No. 1 again at the end of this week if things fall into place -- and already have a major win under your belt, people expect that you eat, sleep and breathe your profession.

      Quite honestly, there really isn't any other way to get to the top than to make some serious sacrifices and put everything you have into becoming the best. Some guys thrive on winning, while others seem content just to keep their card and make a nice check.

      It's difficult to strike a perfect work and life balance when you're No. 1 and constantly trying to fend off your peers, but somehow, some way Rory McIlroy

      Read More »from Rory McIlroy tries to strike the perfect work and life balance

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