News
#shesaidyes: Rory McIlroy announces engagement via Twitter
With a photo montage of himself and his fiance, the Sydney Harbor, and a sizable engagement ring, Rory McIlory announced his engagement to Caroline Wozniacki just after midnight, Australian Eastern Time.
The Ulsterman’s announcement came in true 21st century fashion.
Via @McIlroyRory’s Twitter:
And the bride-to-be’s (she included the same photo):
Both former world No. 1s in their respective sports, the sports power couple have dated since summer of 2011. Often the pair was the focus of tabloid speculation that their relationship was on the rocks, a claim they vehemently denied.
Now, it looks like the only rocks anywhere near Wozilroy are those on Wozniacki’s ring finger.
With the start of 2014 and the engagement, McIlroy puts behind him a 2013 golf season that tested his mettle on and off the golf course. After a triumphant 2012 campaign that ended with a spell of fantastic play, including a statement major victory at the PGA Championship, Rory struggled with increased pressure and scrutiny brought on by an ascent to No. 1 in the world and a new equipment mega-deal with Nike.
Things came to a head when the golfer infamously walked off the course at the Honda Classic in March.
However, he found a measure of consistency late in the season, most recently finishing tied for sixth at the WGC-HSBC Champions and winning the Australian Open. Things seem to be falling into place off the course as well.
It will be exciting to see what 2014 brings for the heir apparent to Tiger Woods.
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Equipment
Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
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Equipment
Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter
Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.
This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.
Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.
The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.
Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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Equipment
Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.
Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.
Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.
According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.
He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.
Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Golfraven
Jan 6, 2014 at 5:42 pm
Problem with Woziroy is that she is a spoiled princes with wealthy/rich background and Rory has working class roots. His parents worked theirs arses out to support his talent. He would be better chasing Majors than streets of Monte Carlo or ski slopes with his sweety. Rory, let her plan the wedding and nesting and you focus on playing some proper golf again like you did back in 2012.
don davis
Jan 2, 2014 at 1:16 am
i give it a year maybe two.
metrybill
Jan 1, 2014 at 10:13 pm
Looks like a great “match.” Congrats to Rory.
He now has what the current no. 1 doesn’t have, a settled life
and spousal support.
Shawn
Jan 2, 2014 at 2:57 pm
I don’t get this…isn’t Tiger settled in with Lindsey at this point? It amazes me the people that have to take a shot at Tiger on every single story. Stop obsessing already.
(I’m not a fan of the striped one, I just don’t get why people have such anger towards him that they need to create parallels where none exist)
gur
Jan 1, 2014 at 11:56 am
Thrilled for you both, can’t copy your golf game, hope you can copy my 50 years married. Have a great 2014
Jonny Bravo
Jan 3, 2014 at 1:00 am
shouldn’t more comments be like this guy’s ^^^
Josh
Jan 1, 2014 at 11:46 am
Bit harsh…
He's done
Jan 1, 2014 at 12:33 am
#MyLastVictoryof2014 you mean, Rory?
Andre
Jan 1, 2014 at 12:29 am
Congratulations Rory,
May you have many successes in life.
And kick A** this season.
Brad
Dec 31, 2013 at 11:45 pm
Wasn’t his Australian Open victory against Adam Scott more recent than the HSBC?
Anyway, congrats Rory and I sense a big year on the course in 2014!
Billy
Dec 31, 2013 at 11:06 pm
Congrats!
Minh Nguyen
Dec 31, 2013 at 9:48 pm
Glad he took Gary Player’s advice (eyes rolling). Congrats to Rory and Caroline. At the end of the day its about family and loved ones, not how well you play on a golf course.
B MAC
Dec 31, 2013 at 9:39 pm
Rory congrats
R
Dec 31, 2013 at 7:38 pm
so much for them reportedly breaking up!