WGT Golf News

We've added more country avatars for players from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Australia.

These new avatars are wearing their national flags and colors and each is available in 6 different genders and races, Male 1-3 and Female 1-3.

Now in the Pro Shop, pick your favorite "Irish," "Scot," "Welsh" or Australian "Green & Gold" avatars and show off your country pride.

All Country Flag Avatars

• United States "Stars & Stripes"
• Canada "O Canada"
• United Kingdom "Union Jack"
• Scotland "Scot"
• Wales "Welsh"
• Ireland "Irish"
• Australia "Oz"
• Australia "Green & Gold"
• Italy "Italia"

The new countries were chosen by WGT Facebook fan voting, so be sure to LIKE us on Facebook for upcoming fan votes and other World Golf Tour news.

Introducing MAX, a new line of virtual golf equipment from WGT, starting with the new MAX Meter Balls.

These virtual golf balls offer the slowest WGT swing meter, giving you the best chance to "ding" more shots with a maximum 5 rating in Feel, along with more distance and more spin. Hit more perfect shots, straighter and longer.

See MAX Balls

There are two new MAX Meter Balls available in the Pro Shop...

• MAX Slow Meter Balls (Hack+) - for any player with the slowest swing meter and good distance and spin
• MAX Slow Meter Balls (Pro+) - for Pro or higher players with the slowest swing meter and great distance and spin

...and all new MAX equipment will unlock at tiers to better align with player skill levels.

Contributed by GlobalGolfPost

There can be no doubt, no question, no dispute. Rory McIlroy is the No. 1 player in the world, and given the kind of golf he has displayed in the last month, he will hold that spot for some time.

McIlroy won the BMW Championship on Sunday for his second consecutive PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff event and his third victory in his last four starts, which includes the PGA Championship in August at Kiawah Island.

He is by far No. 1 in points in the three playoff events going into The Tour Championship next week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The playoffs take a week off following the BMW Championship.

McIlroy has now won four events on the PGA Tour this year and is a certainty for Player of the Year honors. And he can win the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup playoffs at East Lake.

“I knew I could win big tournaments but I didn’t think it would come this quickly,” said the 23-year-old McIlroy. “I’m on quite a little run right now and I’m trying to keep that going as long as possible.”

McIlroy shot a final-round, 5-under 67 to post 20-under-par 268 at Crooked Stick Golf Club – site of the 1991 PGA Championship – good enough for a two-shot victory over playing companion Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson.

This playoff event created the most buzz because of the quality of the field that was on the leaderboard most of the last two days. Joining the top three players in the fray were Dustin Johnson, Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott all pushing toward the lead at some point during the weekend.

But McIlroy put his nose in front with four birdies in his first 10 holes to move ahead of 54-hole co-leaders Singh and Mickelson and took the lead for good with birdies at the par-5 15th, which he reached in two, and a birdie at the par-4 16th. He had a three-shot lead going into the final hole and made his first bogey in 27 holes for the final winning margin.

Woods shot 68 on Sunday to tie with Robert Garrigus (69) for fourth at 17 under. Johnson and Scott were next at 16 under. Singh shot 73 and went from safely inside the top 30 to outside the list with three bogeys in his last five holes.

Bill Haas, last year’s FedEx Cup champion, fell outside the top 30 and failed to advance to The Tour Championship with a 78 on Sunday. Garrigus and Ryan Moore were the only players outside the top 30 to play their way in, replacing Haas and Kyle Stanley, who fell out.

Photo: Getty Images

Play Wolf Creek in its first ever Ready-Go CTTH tournament!

Wolf Creek is one of the most popular virtual golf courses on WGT and is now available to play as a Ready-Go CTTH tournament, running all this month.

Last month, we announced Ready-Go tournaments as 9-shot closest-to-the-hole games. Now we've introduced Wolf Creek in this format for the first time.

Enter for only 100 WGT credits, and the top 30 of 50 players earn credit prizes, with 6X credits for first place.

See Ready-Go's

These fast tournaments are limited to just 50 players and close 3 hours after the last entry. Play them over and over for your chance to earn WGT credits quickly.

Ready-Go's are paid online tournaments on World Golf Tour. There's always a Ready-Go tournament available, and the courses change every few weeks, with entry fees from 50 to 1,000 WGT credits.

Good luck!

Ryder Cup captain of Team Europe, Jose Maria Olazabal, announced his 2 wildcard picks, including Nicolas Colsaerts and Ian Poulter, to finalize the European golfers playing in the 2012 Ryder Cup,

Left off the European Ryder Cup team was top player Padraig Harrington who appeared in the last 6 Ryder Cup championships.

Below are the final 12 golfers on Team Europe competing in the Ryder Cup 9/28 to 9/30 at Medinah Country Club in Chicago.

Ryder Cup Team Europe

1. Nicolas Colsaerts
2. Luke Donald
3. Sergio Garcia
4. Peter Hanson
5. Martin Kaymer
6. Paul Lawrie
7. Graeme McDowell
8. Rory McIlroy
9. Francesco Molinari
10. Ian Poulter
11. Justin Rose
12. Lee Westwood

Team Europe official site

Read more from WGT

Check out Team USA’s Ryder Cup Picks

Ryder Cup captain of Team USA, Davis Love III, announced his 4 captain’s picks today,  including Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker and Steve Stricker, to finalize the American golfers playing in the 2012 Ryder Cup.

Left off the American Ryder Cup team were top players Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Nick Watney.

Below are the final 12 golfers on Team USA competing in the Ryder Cup 9/28 to 9/30 at Medinah Country Club in Chicago.

Ryder Cup Team USA

1. Keegan Bradley
2. Jason Dufner
3. Jim Furyk
4. Dustin Johnson
5. Zach Johnson
6. Matt Kuchar
7. Phil Mickelson
8. Webb Simpson
9. Brandt Snedeker
10. Steve Stricker
11. Bubba Watson
12. Tiger Woods

Team USA official site

Read more at WGT

Check out Team Europe’s Ryder Cup Picks

Contributed by GlobalGolfPost

It was a Labor Day finish and the way the top two combatants played down the stretch, it was more labor than either had planned.

Rory McIlroy managed to keep Louis Oosthuizen at arm’s length for the last few holes to win the Deutsche Bank Championship and take the points lead in the playoffs for the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour.

McIlroy, who won the PGA Championship in August, captured his third PGA Tour victory with the win on Monday, beating Oosthuizen by one at TPC Boston. McIlroy started the day three shots behind Oosthuizen, who was the 54-hole leader, and shot a 4-under 67 in the final round to post 72 holes at 20-under 264.

“That was more survival on those last few holes,” McIlroy said afterward. “I didn’t finish the way I wanted to but it was a win in the end. I’m delighted at the minute and looking forward to the next few weeks.”

McIlroy, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, was at one point eight shots back of Oosthuizen early in Sunday’s third round. He caught and passed Oosthuizen early in the final round, with five birdies in his first eight holes, while Oosthuizen made double-bogey at the par-4 fifth.

“I played a very solid front nine and a solid first 13 holes,” McIlroy said. “I had a couple of wobbles coming in but I got the win.”

McIlroy held a three-shot lead around the turn and Oosthuizen made birdies at the par-4 13th and the par-4 15th to close to within one. Both players made a mess of the par-4 17th, each making bogey to take the pair to the 18th with one shot between them.

McIlroy drove through the fairway into the rough and Oosthuizen left his second to the par-5 20 yards short and right. McIlroy narrowly missed a birdie putt of about 20 feet at the last, while Oosthuizen pitched up to 12 feet and missed his chance to tie.

Oosthuizen took the third-round lead with a Sunday 63 that included a front nine 29 and seven consecutive birdies beginning at the third hole. He could only manage an even-par 71 on Monday and finished at 19-under par.

Although Tiger Woods never threatened the lead, he was in the conversation all weekend, with a 5-under 66 on Monday to finish third at 18-under 266. Phil Mickelson, with a new clawlike putting grip, matched Woods on Monday with 66 and tied for fourth with Dustin Johnson, who birdied the final hole for a 70 and 14-under 270.

Brandt Snedeker, who along with Johnson was playing for a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, shot 67 in the final round and was fifth at 271. Captain Davis Love III made his four picks this morning in New York.

The Deutsche Bank Championship was the second leg in the PGA Tour playoffs and the field of 125 was cut to 70 for this week’s BMW Championship, which begins Thursday at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind. From there, the field will be cut to the top 30, which will advance to the finale at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. There will be a week off in the schedule between the BMW and The Tour Championship.

Dicky Pride came from seemingly nowhere to finish in the top 70 in points. Pride birdied his last two holes to shoot 68 on Monday and finish right on No. 70, edging out Jonas Blixt, who bounced back and forth on Monday, in and out of the top 70, before finishing one place outside the number. 

Chris Kirk, Matt Every, Troy Matteson, D.A. Points, Jeff Overton, Charley Hoffman and Bryce Molder all played their way into the top 70. Molder made the biggest jump, 45 spots from 93rd to 47th by finishing ninth. Hoffman needed a nervous 10-footer for par on the last to edge Blixt.

Charl Schwartzel, a Masters champion, slipped inside the top 70 despite a four-putt from three feet on the 18th hole on Sunday. Schwartzel came back with birdies on his final two holes on Monday to improve three spots and finish 68th.

Josh Teater, Scott Stallings, Harris English and Jonathan Byrd all started the week inside the top 70 and all played their way out with poor finishes.

John Rollins, Ken Duke, Charles Howell III and Brian Davis all fell out of the top 70 by missing the cut. Davis was on the bubble entering the tournament, in the 70th position. Spencer Levin did not play the Deutsche Bank and fell from 66th to outside the top 70.

Photo: Getty Images

We have some exciting new improvements this month that WGT players will definitely want to check out...

New Uneven Lies

Uneven Lies is the most significant and exciting addition to World Golf Tour in recent history, making the game even more realistic and challenging.

You can now choose to play with realistic uphill, downhill and sidehill lies. This new "Uneven Lies" feature is currently only available in Practice stroke play games, so there's no impact on Average Scores and we can get feedback from players on the impact of the new feature.

If you select the new "Uneven Lies" option in a practice game, you will see a new grid when you're not on the tee or putting green, that visually shows the slope of your lie...

• Uphill Lies - your shots will go higher and shorter

• Downhill Lies - your shots will go lower and shorter

• Sidehill Lies - your shots will go left when the ball is above your feet and right when the ball is below your feet

Note: if you select the current "Even Lies" option in any game, you'll continue to have the same experience with relatively flat lies on fairway, rough, sand or other surfaces.

Uneven Lies makes your experience more realistic, but also harder, as like in real-life players will want to favor flatter landing areas of the course, or they will face more challenging shots from uneven lies.

We'll be monitoring WGT Forums closely for feedback on this new feature, so let us know what you think!

Ryder Cup Month

September is Ryder Cup Month, as the world's top 12 players from Team USA and Team EUROPE battle at Medinah starting on 9/27.

To help WGT players root for their team, we've launched special limited-edition Team USA and Team EUROPE virtual equipment, including...

• Team USA and Team EUROPE Balls - based on the popular GI-SD model with additional distance, spin and a cool vapor trail
• Team USA and Team EUROPE Avatars - wear the colors to support your team

...and stay tuned for a special WGT tournament during the Ryder Cup!

New Wolf Creek Ready-Go's

Wolf Creek is one of the most popular virtual golf courses on WGT. Last month we introduced new Ready-Go tournaments on Closest-to-the-Hole 9-shot games. This month we debut Wolf Creek in its first Ready-Go CTTH. These fast tournaments are only 100 credits to enter and close 3 hours after the 50th entry, so you can play them over and over again. Good luck!

New MAX Slow Meter Balls

Meet MAX, a new line of virtual golf equipment from WGT, that offers the "maximum" performance in a key area.

The first MAX product is the new MAX Meter Ball which offers the slowest WGT swing meter, with a 5 out of 5 ranking in feel, but slightly less distance and spin than the top NIKE balls. However, if you want a better chance to "ding" more shots and hit them straighter and longer, then MAX is the ball for you.

There are 2 MAX Meter balls, unlocking for Hacks and for Pros, and all the new MAX equipment will unlock at Tiers instead of Levels to better align the equipment with the player's skill level.

New TaylorMade R11S Hybrid

Fans of the top-performing R11S Driver and 3 Wood will be happy to see a matching R11S Hybrid, now available at Level 43 and Level 96, with more distance and a matching swing meter so players can have a full set of R11S woods.

More Country Avatars

We've added more country avatars for countries as voted on by Facebook fans. Enjoy new country avatars with the national colors of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Australia. These countries were selected by WGT Facebook fan voting, with more countries coming soon! Visit the Pro Shop to see the new avatars.

New Stroke Play Lobby and Disconnect %

Based on player feedback we've added a lobby to stroke play multi-player games, so if one of your players gets disconnected they have 5 minutes to reconnect to the game and finish with the group, instead of on their own. The Stroke Play Lobby works the same as with multi-player Skins and Alternate Shot games.

And to help players decide who they want to play with, we've added a Disconnect % next to player names in multi-player game set-up that shows how often that player does not complete multi-player games. We anticipate tuning the rules for Disconnect % based on player feedback, so let us know what you think.

New Gift Card Options

WGT players who like to use Gift Cards for WGT Credits will find some new options available. In addition to Subway, Circle K and CVS, you can now redeem Gift Cards from Burger King and Shell. A Whopper or Nike Balls? Tough call. Redeem your Gift Cards for WGT Credits.

Contributed by GlobalGolfPost

So much was going on at The Barclays that you needed the pause button on your remote to keep up with it all.

For one, if Nick Watney didn’t come out of nowhere to win the first event in this year’s PGA Tour playoffs for the FedEx Cup, he was certainly in the shadows. Watney won his fifth Tour title by three shots to salvage what had been a lackluster year.

After winning twice in 2011, big things were expected for Watney but he only had three top-10 finishes in 2012 prior to The Barclays, including an eighth at the Wells Fargo when he led after 36 holes.

Watney wiped out a two-shot advantage held by Sergio Garcia at the start of Sunday’s final round at the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on Long Island and went on to shoot a 2-under 69 in the final round for a 72-hole total of 274, 10-under par.

He now vaults to the top of the FedEx Cup points standings going into this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship in suburban Boston, which starts on Friday and finishes on Labor Day.

Then, there’s Garcia, who was trying to win for the second consecutive week, having taken the Wyndham Championship title the week before in Greensboro, N.C. After holding the 36- and 54-hole lead, he stumbled to a 5-over 76 on Sunday and finished tied for third.

And, there are the Ryder Cup captain’s picks, now muddied up by the performances of Brandt Snedeker and Dustin Johnson. Snedeker, one of the Tour’s best putters, shot a 1-under 70 in the final round to finish second at 7 under. Johnson, who like Snedeker lies just outside the top 12 in Ryder Cup points, carded a 3-under 68 to tie for third with Garcia.

You can’t count out the course, either. The Black Course at Bethpage has hosted two U.S. Opens, in both of which Garcia finished in the top 10. And it played like an Open venue. Firm, fast greens and high rough gave the players problems all week.

Canadians Graham DeLaet and David Hearn were among a handful of players to play their way into the top 100 that will start the Deutsche Bank this week. DeLaet shot a 6-under 65 on Sunday to finish at 5 under, tied for fifth with Louis Oosthuizen, Lee Westwood and Brian Harman.

More importantly, he went from 106th in points to 44th, the biggest jump of the week. Hearn went from 108th to 67th with a top-10 finish. Bob Estes went from 103rd to 62nd, Tommy Gainey played his way in from 102nd to 91st and Jonas Blixt went from 101st to 97th.

On the other end, John Mallinger, Will Claxton, Chad Campbell, Fredrik Jacobson, Andres Romero and Chris Stroud all played their way out of the top 100.

Photo: Getty Images

URGENT FLASH UPDATE: Adobe’s latest Flash update version 11.4 appears to fix the remaining issues playing World Golf Tour using Flash in your Web browser. Visit the Adobe Flash site (http://forums.adobe.com/message/4637119#4637119) to download the latest version for your web browser.

All users:

• The official new version is Flash player 11.4.402.265 for all browsers
• Check your Flash version here: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/find-version-flash-player.html
• Get the latest Flash version here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

 Google Chrome users: we recommend keeping the built-in Pepper Flash disabled and automatic updates turned off for now.

• If you’re using Chrome, please type the following into your browser bar: chrome://plugins/
• Make sure you have 11.4.402.265 enabled and installed. Disable all other versions of Flash.

**Note, this is an update from our last post about game play issues with Flash.