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Monday, January 23, 2012

Rory McIlroy Northern Irish Professional Golfer

Rory McIlroy, MBE (born 4 May 1989) is a Northern Irish professional golfer from Holywood in County Down. He has represented Europe, Great Britain & Ireland, and Ireland as both an amateur and a professional. He had a successful amateur career, topping the World Amateur Golf Ranking for one week as a 17-year-old in 2007. Later that year he turned professional and soon established himself on the European Tour.

He had his first win on the European Tour in 2009, and on the PGA Tour in 2010. He represented Europe in the 2010 Ryder Cup. On 19 June 2011, he won the U.S. Open, his first major. He finished with a record score of 16-under-par on his way to an eight-shot victory, as the youngest winner since Bobby Jones in 1923.

He has been cited as the most exciting young prospect in golf and having the potential to become one of the highest earners in sports in terms of endorsements. The victory lifted McIlroy's position in the Official World Golf Ranking to a career high of number four. In November, he finished tied for 4th at the WGC-HSBC Champions to move to a new career high of number 2.

In the 2010 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, McIlroy beat Kevin Na 1-up in the first round and then lost on a playoff hole to Oliver Wilson. After the Accenture Match Play Championship, McIlroy took time off from golf due to a sore back. After a two-week break McIlroy returned in the 2010 Honda Classic and finished in a tie for 40th.

McIlroy won the U.S. Open held at Congressional in Bethesda, Maryland on 19 June winning by eight shots over Jason Day. McIlroy set several records in his victory, most notably, his 72-hole aggregate score of 268 (16-under) was a new U.S. Open record. The 268 aggregate beat the previous record of 272 held by Jack Nicklaus (Baltusrol, 1980), Lee Janzen (Baltusrol, 1993), Tiger Woods (Pebble Beach, 2000), and Jim Furyk (Olympia Fields, 2003).

The 16-under in relation to par beat Tiger Woods' 12 under at Pebble Beach Golf Links in 2000. McIlroy self-identifies as both British and Irish, and carries a British passport. When in Northern Ireland, he lives in a £2.2 million home near the town of Carryduff in County Down, about 20 minutes from Belfast. The land around his house also includes a custom-made practice facility, as well as a scaled-down football pitch.

He is an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland and made his first visit to Haiti with UNICEF in June 2011. His great uncle Joe McIlroy was murdered by the Ulster Volunteer Force at his east Belfast home in November 1972. He is currently in a relationship with the Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy

Phil Mickelson American Professional Golfer

Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer. He has won four major championships and a total of 39 events on the PGA Tour. He has reached a career high world ranking of 2nd in multiple years. He is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed.

Mickelson was elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2011 and will be inducted in May 2012. On April 11, 2010, Mickelson won the 2010 Masters Tournament with a 16-under-par performance, giving him a three-stroke win over Lee Westwood in Augusta, Georgia. The win marked the third Masters victory for Mickelson and his fourth major championship overall.

Mickelson started his season at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course. He shot 3 rounds of 67-69-68 and was tied for the 54 hole lead with Bill Haas. Mickelson needed to hole out on the 18th hole for eagle from 74 yards to force a playoff with Bubba Watson. He hit it to 4 feet and Watson won the tournament.

On April 3, 2011, Mickelson won the Shell Houston Open with a 20-under-par performance, giving him a three-stroke win over Scott Verplank. Mickelson rose to No. 3 in the world ranking, while Tiger Woods fell to No. 7. Mickelson had not been ranked above Woods since the week prior to the 1997 Masters Tournament.

At the 2011 Open Championship, Mickelson recorded just his second top-ten finish in 18 tries at this major by tying for second with Dustin Johnson. His front nine 30 put him briefly in a tie for the lead with eventual champion Darren Clarke. However, his putter betrayed him and he faded down the stretch to finish in a tie for second.

At the 2011 Deutsche Bank Championship, Mickelson began using a belly putter. The putter is an Odyssey Sabertooth with a White Hot XG insert. Mickelson has been receiving advice from 2011 PGA Champion Keegan Bradley on technique with a belly putter.

Phil Mickelson

Hunter Mahan American Professional Golfer

Hunter Myles Mahan (born May 17, 1982) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. Mahan was born in Orange, California. He had a successful amateur career, winning the 1999 5A Texas State High School Golf Championship while attending McKinney High School and the 1999 U.S. Junior Amateur.

After high school, Mahan enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he was named Pacific-10 Conference Freshman of the Year. Mahan only played one year at USC before he transferred to Oklahoma State University, where he was a two-time Big 12 Conference Player of the Year and a two-time first-team All American. Mahan was the runner-up at the U.S.

Amateur in 2002, in which he was defeated by Ricky Barnes 2 & 1. He won the Haskins Award in 2003 for outstanding collegiate golfer. Mahan turned professional in 2003 and made it through qualifying school to earn a PGA Tour card for the 2004 season. His first PGA Tour victory, which came at the 2007 Travelers Championship, lifted Mahan into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings. In August 2007 Mahan entered the top 50 and by March 2008 he had reached the top 30.

His performances in 2007 saw U.S. Presidents Cup captain Jack Nicklaus choose Mahan as one of two captain's picks for the U.S. team. On February 28, 2010, Mahan won his second PGA Tour event, beating Rickie Fowler by one stroke at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. On August 8, 2010, Mahan won his third PGA Tour title at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by shooting -6 on Sunday, -10 on the weekend, and -13 excluding Thursday. He beat Ryan Palmer by 2 strokes.

Mahan is currently one of four golfers in the PGA Tour exclusive boy band "Golf Boys" (the other three golfers are Rickie Fowler, Ben Crane and Bubba Watson). The Golf Boys currently have a popular YouTube video for the song "Oh Oh Oh". Farmers Insurance will donate $1,000 for every 100,000 views of the video. The charitable proceeds will support both Farmers and Ben Crane charitable initiatives.

Hunter Mahan

Robert Karlsson Swedish Professional Golfer

Robert Karlsson (born 3 September 1969) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and as of 2011 on the PGA Tour. Karlsson was born in Katrineholm, Sweden where his father was a greenkeeper at the local golf club. He turned professional in 1989 and qualified for membership of the European Tour at the 1990 Qualifying School.

Since then he has retained his card and has had a steady career on tour, the highlight of which came in 2008 when he won the Order of Merit. He has finished in the top twenty of the Order of Merit seven times throughout his career and has won eleven events on tour.

At the 2006 Celtic Manor Wales Open, Karlsson broke the European Tour's 36 hole and 54 hole scoring records by shooting 124 for the first two rounds and 189 for the first three. However as the course was a par 69, which is rare at the top level, his to-par scores were a much less remarkable 14 under after two rounds and 18 under after three.

Karlsson's second victory of 2006 at the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe in July helped him reach the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings and in 2008 he entered the top 25. His win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship took him to number 8 in October 2008. A T3 finish at the Portugal Masters two weeks later took him to number 6. He has spent over 25 weeks in the top-10 since 2008.

Karlsson was a member of the Continental Europe team in the Seve Trophy in 2000, 2002 and 2007. In 1999 he was eleventh on the Ryder Cup qualifying table just missing out on the last automatic place, and was not selected as a captain's pick. He made his Ryder Cup debut in 2006, at the age of 37, along with fellow Swede Henrik Stenson. He played again in 2008, forming a partnership with Pádraig Harrington in the foursomes and beating Justin Leonard 5 & 3 in the singles on Sunday.

After a strong finish to the season, Karlsson won the Order of Merit in 2008, being the first Swedish golfer to do so. Because the name of the money list changes to the "Race to Dubai" beginning with the 2009 season, it was the final "Order of Merit" win. This achievement, among other things, resulted in him winning Swedish male athlete of the year at the Swedish Sports Gala in January 2009, also a Swedish male golfer first.

Karlsson is one of the tallest golfers on the European Tour at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Like many leading Swedish golfers he lives outside his home country, basing himself in the tax haven of Monaco.

In June 2009, Karlsson suffered from an eye injury, with no depth-perception in his left eye. It occurred during the week of the St. Jude Classic, the week before the U.S. Open, which Karlsson was set to play in, teeing off in the first round with fellow Swede Henrik Stenson. The eye injury caused Karlsson to withdraw from the event and he missed most of the rest of the 2009 season.

He returned for The Vivendi Trophy toward the end of the season, and completed his recovery by claiming his tenth Tour title at the 2010 Commercialbank Qatar Masters the following January.[3] In June, Karlsson lost in a sudden death playoff to Lee Westwood at the St. Jude Classic. In 2011 Karlsson was again in a playoff at the St. Jude Classic, but lost again to Harrison Frazar.

Karlsson is a member of the "Champions for Peace" club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

Robert Karlsson