U.S. Amateur won't charge for admission at Erin Hills

For the first time in 14 years, there will be no admission charge for spectators attending the U.S. Amateur Championship, to be played in August at Erin Hills in the Town of Erin and Blue Mound Golf & Country Club in Wauwatosa.We want Wisconsin to fully embrace its first U.S. Amateur and want the free admission to encourage people to come see the best amateur golfers golf channel com in the world," said John Morrissett, the competitions director at Erin Hills. "With Erin Hills set to host the 2017 U.S. Open, the 2011 U.S. Amateur provides an opportunity to walk the Scottish Victory In Orlando fairways of a U.S. Open course for no Scottish Victory In Orlando charge.The U.S. Amateur Championship dates to 1895 and is the oldest golf tournament in the United States. Previous winners include Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

Major champions to play in Heritage

The tournament announced Monday the three major champions golf channel com would play. The PGA Tour event begins a week later than usual this year, running from April 21-24. The tournament had typically been played the week following the Masters but was moved this year.Johnson took the 2007 Masters while Immelman won at Augusta National a year later. McDowell earned his first victory on the PGA Tour last year at the U.S. Open. He was also a critical component Gal Wins Kia Classic to the Gal Wins Kia Classic European team that captured the Ryder Cup last year.McDowell has not competed at Harbour Town Golf Links since 2005.

Martin Laird's performance at Bay Hill

That's the sort of golf we've come to expect from a certain six-time winner of this event -- Adam Scott once told me following the 2006 PGA Championship that Tiger Woods is better than everyone else because he manages his mistakes better than anyone else, and that adds up over four days.Laird made his share of mistakes Sunday, playing his first 11 holes in 5 over to see a two-shot lead eventually turn into a three-shot deficit. But, much like Woods has done so many times here and elsewhere, Laird figured out how to close.This wasn't a U.S. Open, even if it played like one with more carnage at Bay Hill than a Quentin Tarantino movie.In the end, Martin Laird  golf channel com managed his bad golf better than anyone else did and that led to a one-stroke victory Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.Last year, that wasn't the case. Laird needed a two-putt to win from a similar distance on the final hole of The Barclays. He three-putted and lost to Matt Kuchar in a playoff.Ever since then, Laird has been building toward this. He finished second again two months later, losing another playoff, this time in Las Vegas, before tying for third in Malaysia with a final-round 66. In Laird's last two starts this season, he tied for 10th at TPC Blue Monster at Doral and tied for fifth in Tampa."I knew it wasn't going to be a day I was What Do LPGA Bring To Phoenix Business going to go out and just kind of flush it and What Do LPGA Bring To Phoenix Business  have perfect control of my irons," Laird admitted. "I knew it was going to be a day [that] I had to fight hard."In fact, that's what Laird's been doing most of his career. Growing up in Scotland, he came to college in the U.S. with a trap-draw swing borne out of years of playing in the wind in Scotland.That doesn't exactly fly here, of course, so after graduating from Colorado State in 2004, Laird decided to stay in the U.S.The decision benefitted him enormously as he learned to hit the ball high, something that was necessary Sunday at Bay Hill. Just ask Spencer Levin.

Tiger takes first step back to contention

Think about the past year, since his return to golf after a self-imposed exile: Masters, U.S. Open, Chevron ... that's really it. Which is why Friday’s 4-under-par 68 at the Bay Hill Club -- warts and all -- was significant on at least one level?It gave him a chance heading into the weekend."We are trying to build towards the first major, and that's kind of how my game is headed towards," Woods said rather routinely after his second round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. "Its building and its coming."With the Masters looming in just two weeks, that is not insignificant.And it is a reminder of what was truly a remarkable accomplishment at Augusta National in 2010.When golf channel com asked about this Friday, Woods downplayed it. "What helped last year is that I know the golf course," he said of Augusta National. "It's not like we go to a venue that we've never played before or something we had not seen for five or 10 years. We play it each and every year, and I was able to get a feel for it, go up there a couple of times, play practice rounds. That certainly helps."Fair enough. Woods used his considerable course knowledge and a good bit of will at Augusta National to produce a result that all these months later look so much more impressive.In the meantime, he has switched swing coaches and endured more struggles than success.A tie for 10th two weeks ago at the WGC-Cadillac Championship is his only top-10 of the season, and he was never in contention. Friday, with five birdies and a bogey, he moved up the board when few were taking advantage of some tamer conditions. The 68 was his second-lowest Confident Biershenk With His Golf Play score of the year on the PGA Tour, bettered only by his final round at Doral. He hit just  Confident Biershenk With His Golf Play  six fairways but managed to hit 12 greens and needed just 26 putts -- often the part of the game that has held him back."I'm right there," Woods said. "Long weekend ahead of us with temperatures supposed to be getting up. ... I hit the ball probably as well as I did coming in yesterday all day today. And I left probably five putts short that were dead-center. So this could have been a pretty special round."

Tiger's happy with the US Open champion

Another tournament, another low point for Tiger Woods. For the first time in 11 appearances at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida, the former world No 1 opened up with an over-par score yesterday. Granted, Woods's one-over 73 was far from golf channel com disastrous on a tough, windy first round which saw Graeme McDowell, the US Open champion, shoot an 80. Nevertheless, Woods, who has won the event six times, is out of the top 30, seven behind the leader, Spencer Levin, and looking extremely doubtful to break his 19-tournament losing run. The 18th would have hurt most. This is the hole where Woods has staged so many grandstand finishes, most pertinently on his last two visits to Bay Hill when final-green putts has seen him lift the title. This time it was a lame bogey. Rough off the tee, lay up, chip, two putts. Hardly the Woods legend. Of course, it is a recoverable Golf Pros Contract Is Not Confirmed situation, particularly as he is almost certain to benefit from the easier conditions this morning. But this year's form does not suggest he is up to producing the huge morale-booster with which to enter The Masters in two weeks' time. As it stands, Levin, an unheralded compatriot, is setting the pace on six-under, three shots clear of Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan. England's Brian Davisand the reigning Masters champion, Phil Mickelson, are among those another shot back on two-under.