ORLANDO - Justin Rose putted with his eyes closed Sunday in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and finished in a tie for third. Rickie Fowler closed with a 78 to tumble 25 spots down the leaderboard. And Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson each were feeling positive despite neither breaking par. It was that kind of day at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where arduous pin placements and an unyielding Bay Hill golf course conspired to batter the leaders around. So it made sense that Martin Laird shot 75 to win with the highest final-round score in the history of the tournament. Laird edged Steve Marino, who shot 72, to finish at 8-under 280 and receive the trophy from the King himself, Arnold Palmer. Laird, the overnight leader by two shots, had three bogeys and a double bogey in his first 11 holes to fall three behind Marino. But three birdies and clutch putting down the stretch earned him his second PGA Tour win and made him the first European to win the event.

Martin Laird survives early collapse to win at Bay Hill

Looking for help for your golf game? Tiger Woods will lend a hand. The winner of 14 major championships and 71 PGA Tour titles launched the mobile ...

Tiger Woods goes mobile with his golf instruction

Mike Davis is taking over as executive director of the U.S. Golf Association without having to give up part of his old job that he loved the most — setting up golf courses for the U.S. Open. The USGA said Wednesday it has selected Davis to be its seventh executive director. He replaces David Fay, who retired in December after 21 years in charge. Davis, a 21-year veteran of the USGA and its senior director of rules and competition since 2005, has become popular with the players over the last five years for his sense of fairness in setting up U.S. Open courses. He introduced the concept of graduated rough, and twice in the last four years has declined to change a par 4 into a par 5 because he felt it made those holes fair and exciting. One of those was the 18th at Torrey Pines in 2008, where Tiger Woods (FSY) made birdie on the 72nd hole to force a playoff that he won. Staying involved in course setup was key to Davis taking over as executive director. "They knew I very much wanted it," Davis said of his new job. "I tried to argue the point that not only is it something I very much like, it's something I've gotten decent at. So why look for a change?" When asked if the job description was altered for Davis, USGA president Jim Hyler replied, "The short answer is slight." "Obviously, Mike has done a terrific job with the U.S. Open setup and we'd be nuts if we pulled him out of that," Hyler said. "We want him to continue to be involved in our signature event from a course setup standpoint. When we talked with Mike about this job, we never dreamed he would not be involved in the setup. It fits very well. We get the best of both worlds."

Mike Davis chosen as head of U.S. Golf Association

Before retired Lance Corporal Tim Lang lost a portion of his right leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006, he was a consistent combatant on most every athletic field, from the gridiron to the hardwood, from the baseball diamond to the wrestling mat. Undaunted, Lang kept his competitive fire burning as he continued playing what he calls the "more aggressive sports," after being fitted with a prosthetic. But while playing football, a bad hit tore up his right knee and forced Lang to re-evaluate his choice of sports. "That was a pretty sad moment for me," Lang said. "I would be a liar if I said I never had depression when I lost my ability to run around and do stuff. It was really tough to take when I knew I shouldn't play football again. "But that's when I met Jim." That would be PGA professional Jim Estes, who convinced Lang, who had never played golf in his life, to stop by a clinic Estes was headlining. Estes, the PGA director of instruction at Olney Golf Park in Olney, Md., co-founded the innovative Salute Military Golf Association in 2007, which has served the needs of hundreds of the nation's wounded members of the armed services through golf, the majority of whom are patients at Walter Reed Medical Center. Estes, one of the country's foremost adaptive golf instructors, received the 2010 Patriot Award, given by the PGA of America to PGA professionals who personify patriotism through golf. "That's when the tables turned," said Lang, who now can consistently break 80 on the golf course. "That's when I realized I could grow old and do something that I enjoy and would let me be competitive.

Golf helps turn the tables for a soldier wounded in Iraq

LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) — Jhonattan Vegas (FSY) made a 13-foot par putt on the second playoff hole to win the Bob Hope Classic on Sunday, holding off Gary Woodland (FSY) for his first PGA Tour victory. The first Venezuelan to win a PGA Tour event, the rookie won in just his fifth tour start despite hitting his tee shot in the water on the 92nd hole of the five-day tournament. Vegas capitalized when Woodland made two poor chip shots, pumping his fist in celebration after his putt fell. "It's a dream come true," said Vegas, the first rookie to win the 52-year-old Hope. "It's something you dream about, but you have to make it happen."...

Rookie Jhonattan Vegas wins Bob Hope Classic in playoff

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Ian Poulter is working at getting to know the course, as are Arjun Atwal, Francesco Molinari and a handful of other first-time participants at the 34-man Hyundai Tournament of Champions, the lid-lifter on the 2011 PGA Tour season, which starts Thursday on this par-73 onetime pineapple plantation. Graeme McDowell, coming off a dream season, is working at getting to know his new Cleveland/Srixon equipment, having switched from Callaway when his contract ran out at the end of last year. "I'm sure people are scratching their heads," he said of the change, which will take him back to the Cleveland clubs he played in college. Steve Stricker is working to knock the rust off after his usual winter break in Madison, Wis. He is most definitely not working on his tan. "I'm not really a big beach guy," he said Tuesday. "You know, taking my shirt off, laying there on the beach, that's really not my style. You know, I'll go to the beach and wear my clothes there." Everyone seems to be working on something heading into the Hyundai, but for the most part they're not working very hard. It is Hawaii, after all, and Kapalua is the land of hyphenated temptation (whale-watching, zip-lining), which renders the week's results not moot, exactly, but certainly not as important as usual. At Augusta National and elsewhere players are asked to find their nerve; at warm, breezy Kapalua they're asked which is more important on a working vacation, the work or the vacation?

Last year's winners kick off 2011 with working vacation at Kapalua

Graeme McDowell's traveling in different circles these days. The Ulsterman begins his 2011 season Thursday in the PGA Tour's season-opening, winners-only Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii, as the No. 5 player in the world — the highest ranking of his career. THE MAJORS: Our 2011 major champions AT A GLANCE: This week in golf His status as a hero over the pond remains intact after he cemented Europe's win in the Ryder Cup by making the biggest putt of his life on the 16th hole in the decisive singles match. He's the reigning U.S. Open champion. And later this year he has a date at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II after becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's honors list. "I'll be in the top hat and tails and the whole shebang," McDowell said in a phone interview from Hawaii. "It's such a great honor. You can't really quantify anything like that. It's just tough to get the head around all of what it really means. I will definitely look at 2010 as a season I will cherish all my life."...

Graeme McDowell no longer flying under golf's radar