SOUTHPORT, England — It’s a trait you’ll see in many successful TV personalities—or at least the more colorful ones: an ability to come up with some sort of witty repartee at a moment’s notice, something that brings levity or context to a situation, preferably both. Just prior to hitting the record button for this week’s Golf Digest Podcast with Jim (Bones) Mackay, I asked him the icebreaker question of how things were going so far. Without hesitation, the 51-year-old caddie-turned-commentator responded: “Everything is going well. I just have to resist the urge when I’m walking around the course of replace any divots.”
Such cleverness is why Tommy Roy, NBC/Golf Channel’s lead producer, tapped Mackay to join the broadcast crew as an on-course reporter shortly after Mackay’s announcement that he and Phil Mickelson were ending their 25-year caddie-player partnership. Mackay had done solid work in 2015 when Roy tried him and fellow caddie John Wood out at the PGA Tour stop at Sea Island. H..

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Improve your tempo from tee to green

Henrik Stenson and the claret jug arrived to Royal Birkdale in a car from the future for the Open Championship

Henrik Stenson and the claret jug arrived to Royal Birkdale in a car from the future for the Open Championship

Gary Player tells the story of the back flip seen 'round the world

SOUTHPORT, England — Success can sometimes be a burden. It was for Justin Rose nearly 20 years ago. In 1998, he finished fourth at Royal Birkdale as a 17-year-old amateur, holing out a 50-yard wedge shot for birdie on the 72nd hole to finish just two back of winner Mark O’Meara. You probably know what happened next: He subsequently turned pro and missed the cut in his first 21 starts.
“The expectation for a number of years afterwards took its toll coming back, trying to live up to it,” Rose said Tuesday. “I feel now, though, at this stage of my career, I've sort of somewhat proved that that wasn’t a flash in the pan, so I can come back to the Open a little freer than I could for a number of years.”
Though he has won 18 times around the world, including a major championship (the U.S. Open at Merion in 2013) and contended in a handful of others, his fourth-place finish all those years ago still remains his best result in the tournament he most wants to win. Only once since has Rose..

Expert picks for The Open

In a letter sent to Julian Edelman, former teacher admits he was dead wrong about him

Carson Palmer is an old football player in the prime of his golf life. The 2002 Heisman Trophy winner, now 37, recently took a month to decide if his body could survive another NFL season at quarterback. The answer, to the relief of Arizona Cardinals fans, was yes, and so Palmer's dream of playing golf every day will wait a little longer.