One-legged golfer Manuel De Los Santos : Playing in the Dunhill Links in Scotland this week, he managed a remarkable individual score of 76 (+4) round Kingsbarns yesterday (combining with his professional partner Richard Bland for an opening pro-am score of 66). The fact that he plays off a 3 handicap is even more impressive when you realise that he is doesn't use a prosthetic leg when he plays golf. Refusing to take a golf buggy, he also insists on walking the full 18 holes using a set of crutches. [video 1] [video 2]

posted by JJ to golf at 08:46 AM - 6 comments

Extra Time: Michael Owen's controversially late winner in the Manchester Derby on Sunday inspired the Guardian to investigate how much extra time referees typically allow at the end of Manchester United's home games. To the surprise of absolutely no one, it would seem that Man Utd do 'benefit from an imbalance in the amount of stoppage time that is added to their matches'.

posted by JJ to soccer at 05:37 AM - 22 comments

Gary Nicklaus : 3rd son of Jack, has entered the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. 40 years old and several years after being reinstated as an amateur, he will tee it up in a pre-qualifier Sept. 22-25 at the Golf Club of Dallas. If he makes it through to final qualifying, he'll be playing at a course his dad designed. Also playing will be Arnold Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders, while one of Jack's grandsons, Nick O'Leary, looks set to become a star football player.

posted by JJ to golf at 09:42 AM - 3 comments

Top 100 Golf Courses in the World: according to Golf Magazine. An explanation of how they ranked them, and discussion of the results from Mark Garrod. There are 51 American courses, 11 Scottish, 9 English, 7 Irish and some others from: Australia (6), Japan (4), Canada (2), New Zealand (2), Wales (1), Spain (1), Portugal (1), France (1), South Africa (1), Dominican Republic (1), Mexico (1), South Korea (1).

posted by JJ to golf at 09:19 AM - 7 comments

Tiger's Roar: The world number one was back to winning ways at the weekend. He let it rip [video] on the back nine (allegedly, although CBS denies it), but it wasn't the first time. How do his farts rate compared to Jack's?

posted by JJ to golf at 09:34 AM - 14 comments

The Chain Gang: - 194 inmates, escorted by 124 prison guards and sports instructors, will set off from Lille and cycle about 1,500 miles, ending up in Paris. They will have to cycle in a pack, will not be ranked and, for obvious reasons, breakaway sprints will not be allowed.

posted by JJ to other at 07:23 AM - 5 comments

The Naked Golfer: - Bernhard Langer climbed a tree and faced down a bear, Woody Austin took a swim, and now Henrik Stenson strips to his underwear in order to try and save a shot or two.

posted by JJ to golf at 07:18 AM - 11 comments

Guess who's back?: Meow.

posted by JJ to golf at 09:20 AM - 7 comments

Photos from the Wimbledon men's final, 2008: Marc Aspland is the multi-award winning Chief Sports Photographer for the Times. This is his collection of photographs, and some of his comments on them, from what he considers to be "possibly the best men's final I shall ever see in my lifetime". If you need a quick reminder, there are highlights of the match here, and some terrible poetry reading from the main protagonists here.

posted by JJ to tennis at 10:19 AM - 5 comments

Bolt wins Olympic 100m and breaks the world record: Michael Johnson can't believe what he's watching. The best bit? He didn't even bother to tie both of his shoelaces.

posted by JJ to olympics at 03:54 AM - 15 comments

ESPN's Top Ten All Time Golf Shots : [part 2] [part 3]

posted by JJ to golf at 10:42 AM - 4 comments

An Instant Classic: - Single link YouTube post. "Unbelievable. I knew he'd hole it."

posted by JJ to golf at 02:42 AM - 52 comments

Cardiff's FA Cup Run... in Lego.: A dedicated fan has reenacted Cardiff City's journey to today's FA Cup Final in Lego. With some very odd music in places. [part one, part two]

posted by JJ to soccer at 06:41 AM - 4 comments

First Day of Term: Nine years and a day after it happened, JJ looks back at his first round as a professional golfer. Despite the hour, the temperature was already into the mid-twenties. Despite the temperature, I was shivering. It wasn’t nerves; it was terror.

posted by JJ to commentary at 08:12 PM - 0 comments

Jack talks to Golf Digest: - that's Nicholson, not Nicklaus - "You don't understand golf. I can play this game as well as Tiger ... for a very short time. There's one shot a hole between me and the best golfers in the world..." [printable version]

posted by JJ to golf at 04:14 AM - 10 comments

Top 50 Sporting Injuries: - a list from the Times.

posted by JJ to general at 04:13 AM - 36 comments

Sport is killing the planet: and Gary Player hates monks. Or so George Monbiot would have us believe.

posted by JJ to general at 05:10 AM - 14 comments

England beat France: and South Africa beat Argentina, lining up a final in the Rugby World Cup between two teams who met in the pool stages a month ago. South Africa won that game 36-0 and England looked like they might be lucky to escape their group, but somehow, everything has changed. Maybe it's the broccoli Martin Corry eats for breakfast, or maybe rugby is a game that values will over skill. They have struggled with the title of World Champions, but could England do the unthinkable and become the first team to ever retain the RWC on Saturday night? The bookies think not, but England have already proved them wrong twice.

posted by JJ to other at 08:37 AM - 16 comments

Tim Henman announces his retirement.: In 14 seasons as a pro he reached 6 grand slam semis (1 French, 4 Wimbledon, 1 US), 4 grand slam quarters (all Wimbledon), won 11 singles titles, 4 doubles titles, and an Olympic silver medal. He made more than $11 million in prize money and was in the top ten in the world for the best part of a decade, reaching as high as number 4 at one point. Not bad for the man who most casual tennis fans in Britain know best for not winning Wimbledon, especially in 2001 [YouTube]. [wiki]

posted by JJ to tennis at 11:03 AM - 3 comments

Steven Wells: How about pre-empting the bloggers' reaction to this latest blog before they've even read the darn thing?

posted by JJ to culture at 05:16 AM - 5 comments

T: h i r t e e n
d o w n !
Five to go...

posted by JJ to golf at 04:26 AM - 26 comments

The Hubcap Hurl, Bobbin' for Pig's Feet Fest, and Redneck Horseshoes... : It could only be the Redneck Games [YouTube].

posted by JJ to culture at 08:14 AM - 3 comments

Something to warm the heart of cycling fans: 24 hours after what may turn out to be the worst day in the Tour's history. One day ahead of the actual race, aided by his mum and fuelled by jam butties and Coca-Cola, Luke Bream from London is riding the route of the Tour de France. He has completed every stage so far despite getting no takers to join him on his quest.

posted by JJ to other at 06:03 AM - 11 comments

Man Bikes Dog: , Borat starts a breakaway, and it's all too much for Vino (who finished stage 9 and promptly burst into tears). Forty years to the day after the death of this man, another Brit made a doomed bid for glory. There was a big crash just before the end of the second stage, and the current leader has the physique of shaved chicken. It can only be Le Tour.

posted by JJ to other at 08:31 AM - 18 comments

The Guardian: offers this weekly round-up of sporting gems on YouTube. Among some other sporting wonderfulness, this week features LeBron's single-handed demolition of the Pistons, ESPN's top ten baseball fights, and Sebastian Chabal's hit on chris Masoe when France played the All Blacks (at rugby) in June. Check the website next Thursday for some more, or if you have the rest of the day free, check out the archive.

posted by JJ to general at 03:51 AM - 7 comments