The best gifts for your golf-obsessed loved one

Michelle PedoneThe debate over whether Super Bowl Monday should be declared a national holiday has been around for years. In fact, our Jeff Vrabel made a strong case for swapping it for Presidents Day earlier this week. But one sect of Americans in particular already seems to have made it an unofficial day off: those hosting Super Bowl parties.
RELATED: Sportsbook takes down popular “Dilly Dilly” Super Bowl prop bet
According to a recent survey of 1,000 hosts by LendEDU, a whopping 38.9 percent will NOT show up for work the day after the big game. That's a super-sized amount of people playing hooky. Although, it makes sense when you think about it.
Super Bowl parties are a lot of work. And they cost a lot of money, especially when you account for deadbeat guests who show up with nothing more than a bag of half-eaten pretzels. So if you're hosting one, you probably feel like you deserve something in return for staying up past the trophy presentation to clean up the guacamole s..

There are three ways a PGA Tour pro can guarantee getting a huge ovation from the massive crowds at the Waste Management Phoenix Open's famed 16th hole:
Hit a great shot.Don the jersey of a local sports hero.Give out beer money.Ryan Palmer is going the third route. Again.
In what's become a tradition in recent years, Palmer will again toss golf balls wrapped in $10 bills to lucky fans in the crowd so they can buy a brewsky, or maybe one of those new Arnold Palmer Spiked Half & Half concoctions. Either way, no one will complain about catching one of these on Friday afternoon:
https://twitter.com/RyanPalmerPGA/status/959432975661355008
Just look how happy this guy was after getting one of Palmer's gifts in 2016:
https://twitter.com/azdbacksfan12/status/696411872510119936
If I were the Mayor of Phoenix, I'd watch out. Ryan Palmer will be the most popular man in all of Arizona this weekend.
RELATED: Streaker puts on lively 5-minute show at PGA Tour event

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Lee Westwood sank 11 birdies in scoring a low-round-of-the-day 62 to lie one shot behind the leaders halfway through the Maybank Championship on Friday.

Westwood won the Malaysian Open here at Saujana Golf and Country Club 21 years ago, and was also the club’s touring pro.

”It’s nice to be in contention and to know this golf course well,” he said.

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”I’ve played this course more than most and I know where to hit it. Hopefully we can build on that more.”

Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand and Nino Bertasio of Italy shared the lead after matching 65s in the second round.

Phachara made seven birdies, including five straight in a bogey-free round, and Bertasio holed eight birdies to be 11 under overall at the European Tour event.

”It was very easy,” Bertasio said.

With Westwood at 10 under were fellow Englishman Chris Paisley (69), Marc Warren of Scotland (66), and Yuta Ikeda of Japan (64).

David Lipsky, the runner-up las..

BARWON HEADS, Australia (AP) Australian Minjee Lee shot a 6-under 67 to take a three-stroke lead Friday after two rounds of the Vic Open, the first tournament of the year on the Ladies European Tour.

Lee, who had a two-round total of 9-under 137, has played all 36 holes without a bogey – 18 holes Thursday on the Creek Course and 18 Friday on the Beach Course at the 13th Beach Golf Links.

Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall and Jenny Haglund, who both shot 69, amateur Lin Tze-han of Taiwan (68) and Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord (69) were tied for second.

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Cheyenne Woods, niece of Tiger Woods, dropped well off the pace after shooting a second-round 80, bogeying seven of her first nine holes. Woods, who was a stroke out of the lead after the opening round, trails Lee by 11 shots.

At a PGA of Australia Tour men’s event held alongside the women’s tournament, Anthony Quayle held a one-stroke lead after a 66 and a two-round total of 9-under 135.

BARWON HEADS, Australia (AP) Australian Minjee Lee shot a 6-under 67 to take a three-stroke lead Friday after two rounds of the Vic Open, the first tournament of the year on the Ladies European Tour.

Lee, who had a two-round total of 9-under 137, has played all 36 holes without a bogey – 18 holes Thursday on the Creek Course and 18 Friday on the Beach Course at the 13th Beach Golf Links.

Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall and Jenny Haglund, who both shot 69, amateur Lin Tze-han of Taiwan (68) and Norway’s Marianne Skarpnord (69) were tied for second.

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Cheyenne Woods, niece of Tiger Woods, dropped well off the pace after shooting a second-round 80, bogeying seven of her first nine holes. Woods, who was a stroke out of the lead after the opening round, trails Lee by 11 shots.

At a PGA of Australia Tour men’s event held alongside the women’s tournament, Anthony Quayle held a one-stroke lead after a 66 and a two-round total of 9-under 135.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) Bill Haas’ 9-iron landed to the right of the pin and spun left, settling 3 feet away for a birdie on the par-3 16th in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

”I just tried to play the hole like I would any other hole, even though it’s not like any other hole,” Haas said about the stadium hole that was packed with 20,000 fans on the warm Thursday afternoon.

Haas shot a 7-under 64 at TPC Scottsdale to take a two-stroke lead. The birdie on 16 capped a five-hole stretch he played in 5 under, with birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 and a 20-footer for eagle on the par-5 15th.

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”Once you get a cushion like that, you can free your swing up a little bit,” Haas said.

The 16th, playing 151 yards to a front pin, tripped up Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. Fowler bogeyed it in a 66 that left him tied with Billy Horschel, Bryson DeChambeau, Chris Kirk and Chesson Hadley. Thomas made a double bogey in a 68.

Fowler hit short into the right bunker and tw..

Today in awesome Aussie exports (Margot Robbie, SHOUTOUT), we have this video of an unsuspecting cyclist getting obliterated by a kangaroo mid-joyride because animals, like people, are sometimes assholes for no particular reason. Drink in the brutality, you bloodthirsty monsters:
https://twitter.com/couriermail/status/958198720100790272
Here's the part where we say “we're glad no one was seriously hurt in the making of this hilarious viral video we encourage you to click over and over again until your eyeholes are satiated.” According to The Courier-Mail, the woman in question received a few stitches to her knee and a sling for a sore shoulder from the flying roo, but had no serious injuries to report, presumably pressing an Outback sirloin to her black eye while cracking a Foster's and relaxing with a weekly viewing of Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles mere hours after her collision.
In other news, this writer has clearly never been to Australia.

Justin Leonard won 12 times during his PGA Tour career, highlighted by his triumph at the 1997 Open Championship. For his efforts, Leonard pulled in a whopping $33.8 million in earnings. While that's quite the haul, he may earn half of that with a house sale.
Leonard, who now works for NBC Sports/Golf Channel, has put up his Aspen property for a cool $15.9 million. According to Realtor.com, Leonard—who is an avid skier—purchased the home in 2015 for $9.45 million. The listing says the 5,500-square-foot abode “has been remodeled to perfection.”
FacebookPinterestFacebookPinterestFacebookPinterestFacebookPinterestAnd before you ask, yes, there is a photo of Leonard sinking the clinching putt at the 1999 Ryder Cup.
FacebookPinterestNo word if the claret jug comes with the purchase.
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Peter FoxGrid girls are as much a part of Formula 1 as carbon fiber and champagne baths. Europe’s answer to the Cowboys cheerleaders, grid girls have been a fixture in the F1 pits for decades, repping sponsors, revving metaphorical engines, and adding some much-needed glitter to the grease-monkey grit. But on Wednesday, the age of the grid girl officially came to an end, when F1—in a move that absolutely screams “THIS IS 2018 AND WE ARE ALL MAKING THIS UP AS WE GO”— announced they would be eliminating their second most-famous curves for the upcoming season.
“While the practice of employing grid girls has been a staple of Formula 1 Grands Prix for decades,” Sean Bratches, Managing Director of Commercial Operations at Formula 1, said in the brand’s official statement, “we feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms. We don’t believe the practice is appropriate or relevant to Formula 1 and its fans, old and new, across the..