HUMBLE, Texas – Rory McIlroy can’t remember a time when men’s golf has so clearly lacked a dominant figure, or figures, heading into the Masters.

Welcome to the Tiger Woods-less 2014, a year full of those hoping to contend on the PGA Tour rather than one player who expects to win each and every week.

McIlroy, speaking following his pro-am round at the Houston Open on Wednesday, said he hadn’t talked with Woods since news broke of Monday’s back surgery that will keep him out of next week’s visit to Augusta National.

The Northern Ireland golfer and former world No. 1 also said golf overall, not just next week’s Masters, is seemingly as wide open as it’s been during his time as a pro.

“It’s almost like golf is waiting for someone to stamp their authority on the game and be that dominant player,” McIlroy said.

Australia’s Steven Bowditch earned his first PGA Tour win at last week’s Texas Open in San Antonio, becoming the tour’s 17th different winner in its last 20 events – dating back to the beginning of this season at the Frys.com Open.

The parity is a far cry from Woods’ peak when he won nine events in 2000 and eight in both 1999 and 2006. And Woods isn’t alone in his dominance after the turn of the century, with Vijay Singh also winning nine times in 2004.

McIlroy mentioned both Woods and Singh on Wednesday while also saying golf needs a few players to “sort of put their hands up and try and be, you know, the dominant players in this game because that’s what people like to see.”

Jimmy Walker leads the tour this season with three wins. The Texan, in another sign of the changing of the guard in golf these days, went 187 starts on the PGA Tour without winning before capping a stretch of three wins in eight tournaments at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February.

Bowditch joined Walker in the first-time winner ranks last week, earning his first trip to the Masters in the process.

Even Bowditch, while occupied with this week’s Houston Open and preparing for next week’s trip to Augusta National, had a sense of what Woods’ absence will mean to the game.

“Tiger, in any atmosphere, creates an unbelievable atmosphere,” Bowditch said. “… What Tiger has done for the game of golf is unbelievable. To not have him there at the Masters is not the greatest.”

Woods has had his share of challengers over the years, including McIlroy and Phil Mickelson, among others.

Mickelson, however, has battled injures of his own lately – including a muscle pull that forced his withdrawal from last week’s Texas Open.

Adam Scott is second in the world rankings as he prepares to defend his championship at the Masters, and both he and McIlroy are among those at the top of any list of contenders hoping to heed McIlroy’s call.

McIlroy appeared on his way to assuming that role when he climbed to the top of the world rankings in 2012, but a club change led to an inconsistent 2013. He did win the Australian Open in December, however, and didn’t lack for confidence about the state of his retooled game on Wednesday.

“I don’t have to worry about equipment stuff, or do I need a driver that turns over more at Augusta, do I need this or that,” McIlroy said. “Everything is just more settled.”

McIlroy also left little doubt about who he hopes claims the mantle Woods has left vacant – for now.

“I hope it’s me,” he said, smiling.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – British Amateur champion Garrick Porteous defeated U.S. Amateur champion Matthew Fitzpatrick to win the Georgia Cup on Wednesday.

In the first all-England match in the 17-year history of the event, Porteous won four straight holes on the front nine that led to his 3-and-2 victory on the Lakeside Course at The Golf Club of Georgia.

The Georgia Cup began in 1998 as a match between the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur champions the week before they play in the Masters.

Fitzpatrick built a 2-up lead through three holes, only for Porteous to make three birdies and a par to seize control. Fitzpatrick holed out for eagle from 116 yards on the par-4 15th hole to extend the match. Porteous won on the next hole after both made bogey.

PGA Tour players react to Tiger not being at the Masters

Team RBC’s Hunter Mahan helps to make a kid’s PGA Tour dream come true

Team RBC’s Hunter Mahan surprised 15-year-old Jack Rolle with a special day at the 2014 World Golf Championships Cadillac Invitational. Give the video a watch to see this young man’s wish come true.

Will Ferrell breaks down the 2014 Masters

Have you ever thought about what the Masters would be like if Will Ferrell were in charge? Well, neither did we, but this video sums up what the actor and golf fan would do if it were up to him.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Canadian Women’s Amateur Champion Brooke Henderson is a little less starstruck as she prepares for her second career appearance at an LPGA Tour major event.

The 16-year-old student from Smith Falls, Ont., says she has more tour experience now than when she competed at the 2013 Women’s U.S. Open, where she made the cut but finished tied for 59th.

Her first major appearance came in just her second career tour event. Henderson will be a little more relaxed at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, which begins Thursday at Mission Hills Country Club.

“This will be my fifth (tour event), so it’s just a lot more comfortable being around the big stars,” she said Wednesday on a conference call. “They know me a little bit better and call me by name, which is pretty cool.

“My nerves have calmed down a little bit and I know what to expect, where I was a little unsure in the beginning at the U.S. Open.”

Click here to listen to the entire conference call

The event comes with a US$300,000 first prize and $2-million total purse although as an amateur, that doesn’t matter to Henderson. She’s one of 10 amateurs invited to compete.

Henderson, the sixth-ranked women’s amateur golfer in the world, will be joined by 22-year-old pro Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Toronto, the only other Canadian in the field.

Henderson has yet to finish high school but has already verbally committed to a scholarship at the University of Florida. She hopes to crack the top three in the world amateur rankings by the end of the summer.

Older sister Brittany will caddy for her at Mission Hills, as she did at the U.S. Open. Henderson credits her sister, who’s also a golfer, for being a role model.

“I grew up watching her play and wanted to be exactly like her,” she said. “I used to follow her around at tournaments … she knows my game very well.”

Henderson is also a member of Team Canada.

Several Canadian golf journalists took to Twitter during and following the teleconference, where they commended Henderson for her calm demeanor during the call… Among other things.

A great job by 16 y/o Brooke Henderson #twitterlessbrooke in her first national media teleconference – handling media questions like a pro

— Scott MacLeod (@Flagstick) April 2, 2014

Teen golfer Brooke Henderson does teleconference from LPGA event in Calif. Says it’s “pretty cool” that some stars know her by name. #golf — Gord Holder (@HolderGord) April 2, 2014

Can’t tell you how impressed I am with the answers Brooke Henderson is giving the national media right now…. @KraigKann would love it.

— Rick Young (@RickSCOREGolf) April 2, 2014

@TheGolfCanada @RickSCOREGolf @KraigKann Consistently shows her maturity can’t be found by looking at her birthdate. #classact

— Mark Donaldson (@TruthBombGolf) April 2, 2014

Même si la liste des participants est plus longue, même si Tiger Woods n’y sera pas en raison d’une blessure, et même si le Tournoi des Maîtres ne commencera que le 10 avril, Mike Weir a déjà son opinion quant à savoir quels joueurs ont les meilleures chances de l’emporter à Augusta.

« Graham DeLaet sera à surveiller », a déclaré le champion du Tournoi des Maîtres en 2003, lors d’un point de presse.

Est-ce que Weir a fait ce commentaire par esprit de patriotisme ou parce qu’il veut mettre en confiance son dauphin originaire de Weyburn, Saskatchewan ?

Le vétéran de Bright’s Grove, Ontario, en rajoute : « Graham possède le style de jeu qui convient à Augusta », soutient Weir.

Mais il y a un mais : aucune recrue n’est parvenue à l’emporter à Augusta depuis Fuzzy Zoeller, en 1979. Plus encore, bien qu’il compte de nombreuses places d’honneur à sa fiche avec cinq résultats dans le top 10 en neuf sorties – dont deux deuxièmes et une troisième place – DeLaet est toujours en quête d’un premier succès au sein du PGA Tour.

Certaines statistiques jouent en faveur de DeLaet. Il appartient à la catégorie des plus longs cogneurs (quatrième rang du Circuit de la PGA avec une moyenne de distance des coups de départ de 304 verges), en plus d’être un franc tireur (septième pour la moyenne de verts atteints en coups prescrits de 72%).

Fan de Weir et d’Augusta

À la mi-mars, le vainqueur de l’Omnium de Montréal en 2008 au Club de golf Saint-Raphaël a fait une visite d’inspection de deux jours au Augusta National en compagnie de son cadet, le Montréalais Julien Trudeau.

« Comme le Super Bowl et une septième rencontre de la Coupe Stanley, je n’ai jamais manqué le Masters à la télé. Je faisais des « high fives » partout lorsque Mike, mon modèle, y est sorti victorieux. Bien sûr que j’ai eu la chair de poule en mettant les pieds sur le site même si je connaissais les lieux via le p’tit écran », commente-t-il.

Puisqu’il ne faisait pas très chaud à son arrivée, il a fait les 18 trous en traînant seulement ses cocheurs et son fer droit. Il a pu conséquemment prendre plus temps pour analyser ces verts considérés si uniques avec leur immense superficie.

« Et que dire des courbes? Tous les coups roulés en descendant sont encore plus rapides qu’on le pense, donc pas question de forcer quoique ce soit », affirme-t-il.

« Toujours à propos des verts, je veux identifier les bosses et leur versant pour y atterrir mes deuxièmes coups de façon à faire rouler ma balle vers le fanion plutôt que de les attaquer.

Il faut que je dispute une couple de rondes d’exercice en compagnie de Mike pour bénéficier de son expérience », mentionne ce gagnant de 1,6 million de dollars déjà cette année.

Mais auparavant, Graham DeLaet met fin à deux semaines de congé en disputant l’Omnium Shell à Houston.

« J’apprécie l’endroit. On y prépare toujours le parcours comme à Augusta, les allées étant sans ou très peu d’herbe longue et les verts et les contours taillés au rasoir. Je suis pas mal à l’aise aussi dans ce type de conditions y ayant fait une troisième place l’an dernier », conclut-il.

DeLaet serait le choix de Weir pour l’emporter?

On ne sait jamais…

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Team Canada’s Adam Svensson has continued his remarkably torrid play this season. The 20-year-old Barry University sophomore won the Buccaneer Invitational Tuesday by a margin of six strokes. Svensson separated himself from the field on Monday’s second round with a two eagle, 10-under 61 – a course record at Normandy Shores Golf Club.

Svensson’s round of 61 was also a Barry University school record – the previous was 64 set by Svensson earlier in the year.

“It was nice,” Svensson said of his second round 61. “I had no idea I was going to shoot 61. I was six-under after 15 holes and had two par 5s left. I eagled 16, parred 17 and on 18 my assistant coach came up to me and asked me where I was at and I said eight-under, but I told him I was trying to make birdie to get the course record. He said, ‘why not eagle’ and I hit it to 10 feet and made the eagle putt.”

The Surrey, B.C., native is currently ranked No. 44 in the World Amateur Rankings (WAGR). He is still carrying the momentum from winning last year’s Phil Mickelson award, given to the most outstanding freshman in Men’s Div II golf. He is also making a strong case to win this year’s Jack Nicklaus award as the top golfer in his division.

Svensson’s scoring record this season is a school record 1.77 strokes under par, earning him a nod from Barry University as the player of the week.

Collectively, the Barry Buccaneers won the event by 22 strokes over runner-up Johnson & Wales University. They were the only team to shoot under par for the tournament and also maintain the No.1 rank in Men’s Div II Golf.

Svensson and the Buccaneers resume action in a couple weeks at the Sunshine State Conference Championships in Dade City, Fla.

For full results from the 2014 Buccaneer Invitational, click here.

Maybe we were just focused on the wrong body part.

Ever since Tiger Woods’ SUV veered off course at the end of his driveway in Florida nearly six years ago, the questions have been about his head. And all the while, it’s the rest of his body – the left side mostly – that’s been breaking down before our eyes. Maybe, like Icarus, it turns out Woods just wasn’t built to go the distance.

He broke into big-time golf at 20, thin as a 2-iron and swinging with all the abandon of a kid. He putted without nerves, hit the ball farther and passed so many career signposts so breathtakingly fast, and with such ease, that his future seemed to be on cruise-control already.

But Woods is 38 now, and despite sparking the fitness craze that revolutionized professional golf, he’s falling apart like a used car.

Woods announced Tuesday he would skip the Masters for the first time in his career to begin yet another rehab from the latest of at least a half-dozen surgeries. For all the comparisons to Jack Nicklaus, in light of this latest breakdown, it might be more apt to look at Mickey Mantle.

A chain-reaction series of injuries hobbled the Yankee slugger through the final few seasons of a career that should have been even better – not to mention longer. Mantle’s bad luck, as one writer memorably put it, was to be “a million-dollar talent propped up on dime-store knees.”

At this point it’s worth noting that Mantle had a drinking problem. And that he contributed to his own demise as a ballplayer by staying out late too many nights, something to which Woods has already pleaded guilty. But the way the injuries dogged Mantle at the end, sapping both his power and speed, may turn out to be the more instructive parallel.

Woods’ latest surgery, called a microdiscectomy, was to relieve the pain from a pinched nerve in his back. Problems with his back first surfaced last summer, then resumed this spring, culminating in Woods’ withdrawal from the Honda Classic and a final-round 78 a week later at Doral, where he looked visibly weakened.

A bad back is worrisome enough. That it arrives at the end of a string of injuries to Woods’ left leg, knee and elbow, as well as both Achilles tendons – and almost all within the last half-dozen years – makes you wonder whether it’s part of a larger pattern.

In a statement on his website, Woods called the setback “frustrating” but “something my doctors advised me to do for my immediate and long-term health.”

The website also pointed out that swinging a golf club could have caused the pinched nerve, and as anybody who’s ever swung one for a couple of rounds can attest, it can damage plenty of other body parts as well.

Woods has been doing that since age 3, and until the surgeries began piling up, it seemed as if he could go on doing it long enough to win more major tournaments that anyone had. But he’s been stuck at 14 since the 2008 U.S. Open, and suddenly it’s relevant that he’s playing a game that has knocked just about every other great champion off his pedestal by the mid-to-late 30s.

Woods certainly knows the litany: Bobby Jones retired at 28; Tom Watson and Byron Nelson never won another after 33; Arnold Palmer, 34; and Walter Hagen, 36. Gary Player won only one after 38 and Nick Faldo his last at 39. Ben Hogan was an outlier, winning into his early 40s.

Nicklaus, the one that always mattered most to Woods, won all but one of his by age 40, covering an 18-year span. And the last one, the 1986 Masters at age 46, was what people mean by the phrase, “catching lightning in a bottle.”

Woods may still be good for one of those, as well as a few more regular tour events, which he’s continued to win with some regularity. More important, perhaps, he isn’t conceding anything. He needs four more PGA Tour wins to pass Sam Snead and five more majors to go by Nicklaus.

“There are a couple (of) records by two outstanding individuals and players that I hope one day to break,” Woods said Tuesday on his website. “As I’ve said many times, Sam and Jack reached their milestones over an entire career. I plan to have a lot of years left in mine.”

Even if Woods is right, this much is already different. A lot of those kids he inspired to take up the game blow their drives past his, and they don’t spit up leads the way Woods’ peers used to the second his name popped up on the leaderboard. The last time some of them saw Woods make a putt that mattered in a major was on TV.

So it matters less, at the moment anyway, where Woods’ head is at than how quickly – maybe even whether – the rest of his body heals. Deep as that bunker he was standing in looked before, his shot looks a lot tougher now.

Tiger Woods’ injuries over the years

• December 1994 – Surgery on left knee to remove two benign tumors and scar tissue.
• Dec. 13, 2002 – Surgery on left knee to remove fluid inside and outside the ACL and remove benign cysts from his left knee. Misses the season opener in 2003.
• August 2007 – Ruptures the ACL in his left knee while running on a golf course after the British Open, but is able to keep playing. Wins five of the last six tournaments he plays, including the PGA Championship for his 13th major.
• April 15, 2008 – Two days after the Masters, has arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair cartilage damage.
• May 2008 – Advised weeks before the U.S. Open that he has two stress fractures of the left tibia and should rest for six weeks, the first three weeks on crutches.
• June 24, 2008 – Eight days after winning the U.S. Open, has surgery to repair the ACL in his left knee by using a tendon from his right thigh. Additional cartilage damage is repaired. Misses the rest of the season and does not return until the Match Play Championship at the end of February 2009.
• December 2008 – Injured his Achilles tendon in his right leg as he was running while preparing to return to golf.
• Nov. 27, 2009 – Hospitalized overnight with a sore neck and a cut lip that required five stitches when the SUV he was driving ran over a fire hydrant and into a tree.
• May 9, 2010 – Withdrew from the final round of The Players Championship, citing a bulging disk. He later said it was a neck issue that caused tingling in his right side, and that it first became a problem as he began practicing harder for his return to the Masters a month earlier.
• April 10, 2011 – Injures his left Achilles tendon hitting from an awkward stance below Eisenhower’s Tree on the 17th at Augusta National. Withdraws from the Wells Fargo Championship.
• May 12, 2011 – Withdraws from The Players Championship after a 42 on the front nine. Diagnosed with an MCL sprain in his left knee and in his left Achilles tendon. He misses the next two months, including two majors, returning at the Bridgestone Invitational.
• March 11, 2012 – Feels tightness in his left Achilles tendon and withdraws after 11 holes of the final round in the Cadillac Championship at Doral. He wins in his next start at Bay Hill, his first PGA Tour victory since the scandal in his personal life.
• Aug. 24, 2012 – Moves stiffly during the second round of The Barclays and later says he felt pain in his lower back, which he attributed to a soft mattress in his hotel room.
• June 13, 2013 – Is seen shaking his left arm during the opening round of the U.S. Open. He later says it’s a left elbow strain that he injured while winning The Players Championship a month earlier. He misses two tournaments and returns at the British Open.
• Aug. 11, 2013 – Said he felt tightness in his back during the final round of the PGA Championship.
• Aug. 21, 2013 – Two weeks after the PGA Championship, he only chips and putts on the back nine of the pro-am at The Barclays, complaining of a stiff neck and back that he attributed to a soft bed in the hotel. By Sunday at The Barclays, he dropped to his knees after one shot because of back spasms.
• March 2, 2014 – Withdraws after 13 holes of the final round at The Honda Classic because of lower back pain and spams, describing it as similar to what he felt at The Barclays.
• March 9, 2014 – Plays the final 12 holes with pain in his lower back, saying it began to flare up after hitting out of the bunker from an awkward lie in the Cadillac Championship at Doral. He shoots 78, the highest score of his career in a final round.
• March 19, 2014 – Withdraws from the Arnold Palmer Invitational because of the persistent pain in his back. He was the two-time defending champion.
• March 31, 2014 – Has surgery in Utah for a pinched nerve.
• April 1, 2014 – Announced he will miss the Masters and not return to golf until the summer.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Second-ranked Suzann Pettersen withdrew from the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Tuesday because of an aggravated disk in her back.

The Norwegian also withdrew last week before the Kia Classic in Carlsbad.

She released a statement through the LPGA Tour, saying: “I dearly love this event and would do anything to play. At this point, I just need to be smart and not make a bad situation worse.”

Pettersen also missed the season-opening event in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. She won four times last season and has 14 career LPGA Tour victories, including the Canadian Women’s Open.

The Kraft Nabisco, the first major championship of the season, begins Thursday at Mission Hills. Pettersen tied for third last year.

2014 registration for Canada’s leading junior golf development program, CN Future Links, is now open for PGA of Canada golf professionals.

CN Future Links consists of several programs: Learn To Play, Girls Club, Mobile Clinics, Skills Challenge and Junior Leagues and guarantees juniors a positive, fun-filled and exciting golf experience.

PGA of Canada professionals who run CN Future Links gain access to drill libraries, report card systems, gift incentives and more.

Appealing to a wide variety of facility needs, CN Future Links is tailored to enhance junior programming while maximizing the limited time of PGA of Canada instructors. Registration and incentives come at no cost to registered facilities.

Conrad, a CN Future Links Learn To Play participant, reminds us that junior golf is the future of the sport. Alongside his brother and caddie, Chris, they make a perfect read on the break for his chip shot in the latest CN Future Links video…

Sign up now at CNfuturelinks.com.

As a child I dreamed of winning the Masters. I mean, how fun does that look? It’s springtime and the beginning of the golf season in Canada. I watched religiously usually both telecasts as they had one that was tape delayed and showed at night.

So this is what I aspired to be in my young life. I remember my father came back from Augusta where he was watching the Masters and told me it was the most beautiful course he had ever seen. This solidified my dream of one day winning the Masters.

This dream gained great energy after my father had passed when I was 12. From then on, it became my lifelong mission to pursue this out of respect to him. I vividly remember him saying as we were driving to a hockey game as we often did. “No matter what it is you want to do in your life, you can do it!”

So I hustled. I have always been obsessed with athletics and the discipline required to excel.

These hours paid off as I reached the tops ranks in amateur golf. I had such a tremendous team in amateur and college golf. I had various coaches that would do anything to support me, and they often did.

The one thing I found lacking in my transition to pro golf was a good schedule. In college, you don’t have time for anything other than golf and school. You are told when to wake up, workout and practice. Someone lays out your competition schedule as well as your plane tickets, hotels and meals.

It’s not like I was undisciplined, but sometimes you are training too much and not playing enough. I’ve played seven weeks in a row or 13 out of 14 weeks and the best thing is to take a break. There are times when I have played my best that 7^th week and there have been times when I didn’t touch a club the week before Q-school because I was burnt out and finished 2^nd in that tournament. There’s not an exact recipe for everyone.

In pro golf I was very fortunate when people from the London Hunt and Country Club and Redtail sponsored me for my first few years. I was just out of college and looking back, very inexperienced and in need of some guidance and the support they provided. At that age, I didn’t know any better but to think I was invincible and that I wouldn’t meet any challenges in golf or life.

I depended so much on my body for my living and at that time my identity as a person. When I had a stroke and lost feeling in half of my body, I identified so much with my life and as a professional golfer. I remember thinking I would never be able to play professional golf ever again. This brought on further self reflection. I know I am not just this, but what am I?

At 24, my world blew open as I began to question everything – the way I was living and what I believed to be true. This brought upon much self exploration.

When I turned pro, I thought it would be just a few years before I was a regular on the PGA Tour. My path has been much different. Golf brought me to different parts of the world, a priceless experience I wouldn’t change for anything. When you travel and get out of your society and begin to examine the way other people live you start to see that there is no right or wrong way. This brought great fascination to all walks of life. The other thing I realized was how fortunate I was to grow up in Canada with accessible education, good food, health care and minimal violence.

When you travel the world and you see millions of ways to live you can’t help but question your belief system. When you are at a stop light in Johannesburg at 10:00 pm and a kid is crying in the rain and needs $20 and a ride to the bus station, what do you do? These are the things that have change the way I view golf and the world.

I realized that just because a group of people has an idea or belief that something is true, that’s not always the case.

What I have found is that there is no straight path to the PGA Tour or in life. I like to find what someone does well and emulate them. The hardest part is finding out the truth about myself and letting that tell me what I need to do to be my best.

Yes, I have high expectations and goals I want to accomplish. What allows me to play and enjoy this experience is the willingness to want to improve as a golfer and as a person. In golf there are so many challenges and the game is relentless. This is what I enjoy most about the game and life. When a challenge comes my way, I grow when I choose to embrace it.

When I first turned pro I was essentially traveling and playing with all of my friends from amateur and junior golf. As you continue there are less and less.

It has been fun to watch friends succeed. Graham DeLaet is the obvious example – I’m his biggest fan and I’m sure he is mine. As for friends that have close calls and step back from professional golf, it’s sad sometimes just because you know they have what it takes to do it. But people’s priorities and values change in life and I fully respect that.

As for taking advantage of opportunities, I’ve played in seven PGA Tour events and haven’t taken advantage of those opportunities at all in terms of results. Those experiences have allowed the greatest opportunities to learn. Having the opportunity to play in three Canadian Opens so close to home is the greatest thrill! When you look around and see those who have come out to watch and know that they have had an impact on my life, it’s very humbling.

In 2012 I had conditional status on the European Tour. I flew to both South Africa and Italy as an alternate on the Mondays of the tournaments. It was a risk financially, but the opportunity was too big to pass up. They ended up being two of my best tournaments, as I was in contention to win on Sunday. I was so grateful to just be in the event.

Self doubt – is anyone immune to it?  It has gotten the best of me at times. It also motivates me. And I love challenging that doubt, to see if it’s real. I also use it as a tool on the course. Sometimes it creeps in when I have made the wrong decision, so it can be very useful.

Andrew Parr is a professional golfer from London, Ont. and a graduate of Golf Canada’s National Amateur Team Program. 

To share in his journey click here or find out more at www.andrewparr.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @andrewdparr.