Rory McIlroy may want to get his mind off the court and back on the course. After incurring a careless two-stroke penalty in the second round at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship that dropped him out of a share of the lead and into a tie with Tiger Woods for fourth at 5-under, the reigning U.S. Open champ tweeted that his concentration may have been elsewhere.

 "Apparently I missed an unbelievable tennis match today! Was busy making birdies, bogeys and others!!" @McIlroyRory tweeted Friday. "Need to limit mistakes at the weekend!"

Rory McIlroy has become a huge tennis fan since hooking up with Caroline Wozniacki (Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

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Ah, Friday! The end of the week has once again arrived and not a moment too soon. It seems to me that the week following a holiday week (for us Americans, at least) always seems much longer than just 5 working days. The world of golf has kept us all thoroughly entertained, however, thanks to a gaggle of trash-talking Solheim Cuppers, a pathetic Hall of Famer on the PGA TOUR, and other interesting stories. Click on the jump to read this week's Friday Fun.

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Orlando, Fla. -- Despite what Tiger Woods may believe, Hank Haney said his upcoming book "The Big Miss" will present a "fair and honest" look at the six years he spent coaching the former ace.

"I know that [Woods] has said it’s unprofessional but I don’t really know how you can make a comment like that when you haven’t read the book," Haney told us Thursday from the floor of the PGA Merchandise Show after finishing a demonstration for TaylorMade. "I had the opportunity to write an unprofessional book but I didn’t do that. I feel it’s a fair and honest book."

Hank Haney (l.) says he wrote a "fair and honest" appraisal of his six years as Tiger Woods' swing coach (Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

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Orlando, Fla. -- Newly anointed U.S. Solheim Cup captain Meg Mallon may be taking her 2013 team into Tim Tebow territory, but the Massachusetts native wears both her U.S.A. and New England Patriots red, white, and blue colors on her sleeve.

"Go, Patriots!" Mallon exclaimed after Thursday’s announcement during this week’s PGA Merchandise Show that the four-time major champion would try to get the Americans back into the winning column at Colorado Golf Club next August. "You know Tom Brady’s not going to have two bad games in a row, that’s all I can say. That’s not going to happen."

Meg Mallon hopes to do for the 2013 U.S. Solheim Cup team what she did for the junior Solheim Cuppers last year -- win (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images)

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Tiger Woods made his long-awaited first start after his only win of last season -- and once again played well tee-to-green. His putter seemed to have jet-lag, however. That led to a 70, not bad, but perhaps not what fans were looking for. His two under round leaves him three adrift of Rory MicIlroy and Robert Karslson.

"[I] hit the ball well all day today. It was a good ball-striking round," Woods said afterward. "I had a hard time reading the greens out there. The greens were pretty grainy and I just had a hard time getting a feel for it. Toward the end I hit some pretty good putts, but overall I got fooled a lot on my reads."

Woods hit seventeen of eighteen greens in regulation, and only missed four fairways all day. Even those misses weren't wild, and he was able to recover nicely to put his ball on the putting surface -- where seemingly his troubles began. Woods' aim seemed to be just off, and the times when he had the correct line and his aim aligned, he had speed problems. "I hit a lot of good putts, I just didn't read the greens well at all,'' Woods said. "I struggled with speed. And if you struggle with speed you're going to struggle with the greens. Some of the putts, the grain snagged it hard, other putts it didn't snag them at all.

"I had a hard time seeing it. I just have to do a better job of that tomorrow. I hit a lot of pure putts. I'm not disappointed in that regard. I just did not need them at all. I just need to do a lot better job of that,'' he added.

The putting woes may be due to playing limited events the past couple of years, or it may signal that now that Woods has re-engineered his swing successfully he needs to do the same for his flatstick stroke. That's something for him and his swing doctors to determine -- and if history serves as any guide, that's exactly what will happen. One thing is certain, however: Woods days of playing with a swing as unpredictable as a mid-handicapper's seem to be a thing of the past...and given his ability to find his putting stroke when he needs it the most, it would seem that the former world's top player finally does have his game's compass pointed northwards again.

As the 2012 Ryder Cup is set to tee-off later this season in Chicago, the buzz around who will make the United States and European teams has already started to heat up. Many of the usual names are likely to make the team by merit or by captain's choice, however one name should be considered strongly for American Captain Davis Love III:

Mark Wilson

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Tom Brady and his New England Patriots got away with one Sunday night. By his own post-game admission, the future first-ballot, dead-certain lock for the NFL Hall of Fame "sucked pretty bad" in the AFC championship clash with the Baltimore Ravens, in which Bill Belichick’s athletic club eked out a hard-fought 23-20 victory and punched its ticket to next month’s Super Bowl.

It’s not often that coddled, overpaid professional athletes call themselves out for their own poor play. But Brady’s forthright assessment of his less-than-stellar effort during a Gillette Stadium brawl in which a botched chip shot and a gritty performance by the Pats’ much-maligned defense saved QB12’s bacon recalled a similar outburst by another superstar unhappy with his performance.

"Tiger Woods, you suck! God! Damn it!" CBS cameras captured Eldrick Tont snapping at himself after a poor shot during the 2010 Masters. (In perhaps the most colossal understatement in the annals of sports broadcasting, TV announcer Verne Lundquist responded to Woods’ eruption by noting, "I don’t think he’s pleased.")

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Steve Stricker and Mark Wilson have certainly become household names in the world of professional golf. One man has showcased an uncanny level of consistency despite injury, and the other has won three times in just over one calendar year. Both men have relatively "average" games in comparison to their fellow competitors on TOUR, but their recent success is undoubtedly envied by many peers.

Oh, and both men are from Wisconsin and apparently play better when their home state is covered in snow.

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