FacebookPinterestSam GreenwoodRory McIlroy with his new caddie Harry Diamond during a practice round at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

AKRON, Ohio – It wasn’t a firing, Rory McIlroy said Tuesday in explaining why he split with longtime caddie J.P. Fitzgerald. But with the PGA Championship a week away, the former No. 1 player in the world will have an old friend as his new man on the bag in hopes of shaking himself out of a year-long case of the doldrums.
“I still consider J.P. one of my best friends, one of my closest friends, but sometimes to preserve a personal relationship, you might have to sacrifice a professional one, and that was sort of the decision that I came to in the end,” McIlroy said during a press conference at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. “I was getting very hard on him on the golf course and I didn't want to treat someone that – I don't want to treat anyone like..

Matt SullivanSo Yeon Ryu watches her tee shot on the 15th hole during the third round of the 2017 U.S. Women's Open.KINGSBARNS, Scotland — Standing in the middle of the fairway on the 399-yard par-4 fourth (normally the fifth) at the Kingsbarns links during her final practice round for this week’s Ricoh Women’s British Open, So Yeon Ryu had 145 yards to the flag. The prevailing west wind having taken the day off, a stiff breeze was in the face of the 27-year-old South Korean as she settled into her address position. The shot required was one owning a low and penetrating flight. And that is exactly what Ryu produced, the ball landing only a few feet from the cup.
Ryu’s caddie, the immortally named Tom Watson, nodded in appreciation, knowing full well that his boss, No. 1 on the Rolex Rankings since her victory in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in June, would not have been able to hit that same shot only two years ago.
Indeed, Ryu’s current game should carry a “Made in Austral..