Nouvelles WGT Golf

The 2012 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship kicks off this week at the famed TPC Blue Monster at Doral in Florida.

The TPC Blue Monster at Doral is one of the most well-known courses on the PGA Tour. Measuring 7,266 yards with generous fairways and undulating greens, as well as a number of water holes, including the iconic par-4 18th hole - nicknamed the Blue Monster - where water runs along the left side of the hole from tee to green, ranked as the 33rd most difficult (+0.311) on tour last season, so should make for some exciting finishes.

All eyes are on Rory McIlroy, defending his new #1 world ranking, as well as Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood, who are coming off low rounds last weekend. The defending champ is Nick Watney, and watch-out for Phil Mickelson, a previous winner here and coming off that playoff loss at the Northern Trust last month.

On a related note, Donald Trump is purchasing the Doral resort for $150 million, and planning to renovate the facilities in 2013, so Mr. Trump is sure to keep Doral in the headlines next year.

TV Schedule: The tournament will be broadcast on the Golf Channel and NBC Sports, check your local listings:

• Thurs, March 8 from 1pm - 6pm ET
• Fri, March 9 from 1pm - 6pm ET
• Sat, March 10 from 11am - 6pm ET
• Sun, March 11 from 12pm - 7pm ET

Video: Check out some of the memorable moments from the WGC-Cadillac Championship's history.

On Sunday at the 2012 Honda Classic held on the PGA National Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods went head to head in the final round. Woods fired a final round 62, his best final round score of his career. McIlroy shot a -1 under 69, to win the tournament by two strokes over Woods, and Tom Gillis, who also shot a final round -1 under of 69. McIlroy finished the tournament at -12 under, while Woods and Gills finished at -10 under.

With his win, McIlroy took over as the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world. It also made him the 16th player to be No. 1 in the world, and the second-youngest behind Woods, who was 21 when he first reached No. 1 after the 1997 U.S. Open. It was his fifth career win, three of those on the PGA Tour, which includes his record-setting performance last year at Congressional to win the U.S. Open, and a 62 in the final round to win at Quail Hollow.

Full PGA Tour Leaderboard

The World Golf Championships started with the top 64 golfers in the world and ended with the Final Four players on Sunday, featuring Rory McIlroy vs. Lee Westwood and Hunter Mahan vs. Mark Wilson. 

McIlroy knocked off Westwood 3 & 1 in the dramatic morning match on Sunday, and had a chance to replace Luke Donald as the #1 ranked golfer in the world. However, Mahan continued his impressive week of match play, beating Wilson 2 & 1 and then McIlroy 2 & 1 in the final for victory. Mahan played the best golf all week, with 35 birdies in 96 holes across 6 matches. In the consolation match, Wilson beat Westwood 1 up for third place.

Full PGA Tour Leaderboard

The next World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship is Mar 8-11 at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral.

With his victory, Mahan moves to #9 in the world rankings, with Donald #1, McIlroy #2 and Westwood #3 and Wilson #24.

World Golf Rankings

Hunter Mahan has had a busy couple years, both on and off the golf course...

• 2010 - records his second and third PGA Tour wins and makes his second Ryder Cup team
• 2010 - flubs a chip in final match at Ryder Cup to give Europe the victory
• 2011 - appears in top-viewed Golf Boys video with over 3 million views on YouTube
• 2011 - married Dallas Cowboy's cheerleader Kandi Harris, who was featured on the 2006 TV season of Making The Team
• 2012 - currently building a 19,000 square foot home in Dallas

...more on Hunter Mahan website.

Mahan also plays the new PING G20 golf clubs, one of the top virtual golf clubs available on free online golf game World Golf Tour.

Round 2 is complete at the WGC-Accenture Matchplay Tournament. Here's a quick recap of all 16 golf matches...

HUNTER MAHAN, USA def. Y.E. YANG, Korea, 5 and 3 - a dominating victory

STEVE STRICKER, USA def. LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN, South Africa, 1 up - makes a 21' birdie on 18 for the win

DUSTIN JOHNSON, USA def. FRANCESCO MOLINARI, Italy, 7 and 5 - no short game issues today

MARK WILSON, USA def. ROBERT ROCK, England, 3 and 2 - 1 eagle and no birdies for Wilson

MARTIN LAIRD, Scotland def. MATTEO MANASSERO, Italy, 2 and 1 - an impressive 7 birdies for Laird

PAUL LAWRIE, Scotland def. RYO ISHIKAWA, Japan, 1 up - experience over youth

JOHN SENDEN, Australia def. JASON DAY, Australia, 6 and 5 - Aussie upset

MATT KUCHAR, USA def. BUBBA WATSON, USA, 3 and 2 - Bubba wild off the tee

PETER HANSON, Sweden def. ERNIE ELS, South Africa, 5 and 4 - Els' upset run ends

SANG MOON BAE, South Korea def. CHARL SCHWARTZEL, South Africa, 1 up - Bae's upset run continues

LEE WESTWOOD, England def. ROBERT KARLSSON, Sweden, 3 and 2 - #1 seed advances

MARTIN KAYMER, Germany def. DAVID TOMS, USA, 2 up - #1 seed advances in a high-quality match

RORY MCILROY, N. Ireland def. ANDERS HANSEN, Denmark, 3 and 2 - #1 seed advances

NICK WATNEY, USA def. TIGER WOODS, USA, 1 up - Tiger misses 6' foot putt on 18

BRANDT SNEDEKER, USA def. KYLE STANLEY, USA, 2 and 1 - tight match

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ, Spain def. KEEGAN BRADLEY, USA, 2 and 1 - watch out Rory!

See results and next matches on PGA Tour Live Bracket

The PGA Tour changes the golf tournament format this week, with 64 top-ranked players competing in head-to-head matches from Wed thru Sun...similar to the NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket in March.

Here are the 4 top seeds and their matches today...

#1 Luke Donald vs. #16 Ernie Els

#1 Rory Mcilroy vs. #16 George Coetzee

#1 Martin Kaymer vs. #16 Greg Chalmers

#1 Lee Westwood vs #16 Nicolas Colsaerts

And here are 4 other interesting first-round matches to watch...

#4 Sergio Garcia vs. #13 Miguel Jimenez (top Spaniards)

#3 Dustin Johnson vs. #14 Jim Furyk (top Americans)

#5 Tiger Woods vs. #12 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (who's "beatable"?)

#5 Bubba Watson vs. #12 Ben Crane (the Golf Boys go head-to-head)

See Results on Live WGC Matchplay Bracket

Another exciting finish on the PGA Tour, this week at the Northern Trust Open at Riveria Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.

Phil Mickelson had the early lead, but his putting slipped on Sunday, letting the rest of the field back into the tournament. Bill Haas posted a 69 for the lead in the clubhouse, forcing Mickelson and his playing partner Keegan Bradley to birdie the difficult 18th hole for a tie...a hole that had only yielded only 6 birdies all day.

In dramatic fashion and in front of a huge gallery, Mickelson drained his 25' putt AND then Bradley made his 12' putt, for a pair of birdies and a 3-way playoff with Haas. 

The first playoff hole (#18) was all pars, and on the short par 4 second hole (#10), all three players had difficult approach shots, but Haas stunned everyone, playing a safe chip shot and then making a 45' putt for the win.

All three players are at the top of their games. Haas with his first win in 2012 after winning the 2011 FedEx Cup with that famous chip out of the water at the Tour Championship. Bradley is one of the rising stars on the PGA Tour with his 2011 PGA Championship. And Mickelson is coming off his 40th career victory last week at Pebble Beach over Tiger Woods.

Dustin Johnson fell victim to his short game again, missing some chips and putts to finish fourth. Also tied in fourth place was Sergio Garcia, in his first PGA appearance of the year, with 2 eagles and 5 birdies for 64, the low-round of the day.

Full PGA Tour Leaderboard

Editor's Note: Did you catch rookie Keegan Bradley fist-pumping veteran Phil Mickelson after his 18th hole putt? Then Mickelson told Bradley "Join me!" Where else do you see that in professional sports. That's why we love golf!

In Round Two of the Northern Trust Open, held at the Riviera Country Club golf course in California, Phil Mickelson held on to his first place lead with a lob wedge from the fairway to eagle the par-four eighth on the way to a six-under total of 136. That carried him to a 1-under 70 and a two-shot lead in the tournament today. 

Mickelson, who recently won his 40th PGA Tour title at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, currently has a one-shot advantage over Sweden’s Carl Pettersson, who is two-under through 16 holes Friday and five-under for the tournament.

Jimmy Walker joined Pettersson at four under after a 66, with Matt Kuchar alongside him thanks to a second straight 69. Luke Donald and Justin Rose, one under overnight, were among the later starters, while Pádraig Harrington shot a second round of 70 for a two-over total, with the cut projected to be on that mark. Sergio Garcia was three over in total after six bogeys in a five-over round of 76.

Visit WGT for updates on the tournament.

Congratulations to the winners of the WGT Winter Tour - January Qualifier and Championship rounds!

The top three players from the final January Championship round have qualified to compete in the WGT Winter Tour Final Championship round. The top three players are:

1. BolloxInBruges

2. Dianne81

3. mohuyu

It's not only top WGT golf players who win prizes in the Qualifier rounds, as there are random sweepstakes prizes awarded to players at all Tiers in the January Qualifier. The following players each won the sweepstakes prize of 12 virtual NIKE golf balls:

JackNick85

stoner7205

oo1thomas

69Pitch

par84

KScotty12

DeanBarr

Additionally, thanks to the WGT Winter Tour sponsors at SkyCaddie, the following lucky sweepstakes winner won the SkyCaddie SGXw: captbird

Eligible tournament players with the Top 10 scores in the January Qualifier round received $100 Amazon Gift Cards, here are the top eligible tournament players from the tournament leaderboard:

1.  116 - BolloxInBruges

2.  116 - Dianne81

3.  117 - mohuyu

4.  117 - AllyKennedy

5.  117 - GEHL13

6.  118 - PRIESTESS

7.  119 - Wontonamo

8.  119 - Ffudd

9.  120 - RUNWME

10. 120 - JJ656

Don’t miss your chance to win free prizes in the WGT Winter Tour - February Qualifier round. The February Qualifier is a free 18-hole strokeplay tournament starting on the Bethpage Black golf course, and the Top 100 scores will play in the February Championship on Royal St George's and Congressional Country Club. 

LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis is one of the female athletes featured in the annual Swimsuit edition of Sport Illustrated magazine, which was released this week and reaches over 70 million people worldwide.

Gulbis was joined by Olympic golf medalist swimmer Natalie Coughlin and USA Women's soccer player Alex Morgan. All three athletes posed in "bathing suits" that were actually carefully applied bodypaint.

See Natalie Gulbis in SI

Gulbis played golf at the University of Arizona with teammate Lorena Ochoa, and joined the LPGA in 2002. She's represented the USA on multiple international teams including the victorious USA Solheim Cup teams in 2005, 2007 and 2009. Her first LPGA victory came in the 2007 Evian Masters and she also won the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge in 2007 and 2009. Her best golf was probably in 2005-2006 when she finished in the Top 10 in all four LPGA major championships.

Gulbis has extensive sponsorship deals, her own calendar, a reality show on the Golf Channel in 2005, and appeared on the Celebrity Apprentice in 2009.

Visit Natalie Gulbis Website

Fans may remember that PGA player Camilo Villegas posed nude in the ESPN 2010 Body issue.

WGT partner Golf Digest Canada has a special offer for WGT players in Canada...

Golf Digest Canada has launched GDC Digital, a new online magazine for golf fans in Canada, including global golf news as well as articles about golf courses, golf equipment and golf tournaments in Canada.

For WGT players only, Golf Digest Canada is waiving the first year subscription price for GDC Digital (a $24.95 value) and also including the free Golf Digest TIPS email newsletter. 

Plus, one lucky person will win a full golf outfitting from NIKE Canada, which includes free real-world NIKE drivers, woods, irons, balls, bag, shoes and clothes! 

Sign Up Free for GDC Digital & NIKE Contest

* Offer from Golf Digest Canada to residents of Canada only.