Whale died due to the swallowed golf ball

The garbage was minimal and not the cause of death, which remains under investigation with tissue tests, spokesman Brian Gorman said. It's common for whales to pick up debris near urban areas because they are filter feeders. There were no signs of trauma or entanglement on the whale, he said.

The Camano whale's death is unusual because the body was in good condition with oily blubber. The two to 10 gray whales that typically die each year in Washington waters usually are in poor health or have lost weight.

The carcass was spotted Sunday on the west side of Camano Island and towed to a secure location at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, about 50 miles north of Seattle for the necropsy by discount golf clubs biologists and volunteers from Cascadia Research, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network.


"We don't get these that often that are the right size and in good shape," Gorman said Tuesday.

The stomach examination Monday found the shrimp, woody debris, algae, pieces of rope and plastic, the golf ball and some flat spongy material, NOAA Fisheries said.

Gray whales can pick up debris because of the way they feed, scooping up sediment from the sea floor and filtering it through baleen. They eat ghost shrimp in Washington waters, Wilkinson said.


Whale skeletons, baleen and other marine mammal bones or seal and sea lion pelts, are commonly made available to schools or institutions for education and outreach, she said.

A representative of the Smithsonian will help oversee the cleaning, said Kristin Wilkinson, marine mammal stranding coordinator for the Northwest region with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Sometimes we're able to put pieces Mizuno MP-59 Irons of the puzzle together and other times those samples don't shed any light on cause of death," she said.

Even with results of tests for contaminants and diseases, the cause of the Camano whale's death may never be known, Wilkinson said.

"It's puzzling, there's no apparent cause of death," said John Calambokidis of Olympia-based Cascadia Research.

"It doesn't seem to be the typically emaciated animal we normally see," said Calambokidis, who often responds but was not with the Cascadia Research group that helped with the Camano Island whale.

The Camano whale is the third stranded gray whale in Washington so far this year and the first in inland waters, NOAA Fisheries said. The gray whales most often die during the spring months during Titleist 910 D3 Driver the migration from their breeding grounds off Baja California, Mexico, to feeding grounds in the Bering Sea, off Alaska.

He noted there was less debris in the whale's stomach than in a whale that was found dead off west Seattle in April 2010. Its stomach contents included plastic bags and a pair of sweat pants. That whale's skeleton was preserved and is now on display at Highline Community College's Marine Science and Technology Center in Des Moines.

hardest hole on the course at the Valero Texas Open

In 2011, Brendan Steele won the Valero Texas Open with an 8-under par total that was the highest winning score at the event since 1934, when a New York club pro named Wiffy Cox shot 5-under par to beat Byron Nelson by a shot at the Brackenridge Park Golf Course in San Antonio.

"I've probably played the new course about two dozen times, more than any other tour pro, I believe," Beckman wrote. "One day, three friends -- all low-handicap players -- and I decided to play it from the back tees, about 7,500 yards. I shot a 38 on the front nine and played TaylorMade RocketBallZ fairway wood pretty darn well. They shot 43, 45 and 46. We stopped right there.

Through the years, the players had seen the event, which dates back to 1922, as a place where birdies were plentiful. The event was once the heart and soul of the old Texas swing that once brought all the best players to San Antonio. Ben Hogan, Nelson, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Ben Crenshaw all won the Texas Open, but it never tried to be the U.S. Open or the Masters.

Prior to the tournament's move from La Cantera after 15 years to the TPC San Antonio in 2010, Cameron Beckman in an article for Sports Illustrated warned that the new venue in his hometown would send shock waves through players accustomed to shooting low scores at the tournament.

"I'd say that anyone who shoots four rounds of 68 will win by a lot. In fact, I'll take 10 under par right now, go sit in the clubhouse and wait for the trophy while listening to the critiques."

"I'd say that anyone who shoots four rounds of 68 will win by a lot. In fact, I'll take 10 under par right now, go sit in the clubhouse and wait for the trophy while listening to the critiques."

Adam Scott won with a 14-under TaylorMade RocketBallZ Driver par total in the first year on the Oaks course, but not before some players called it unfair. In 2010, the course had the highest first-round stroke average (73.705) on tour.

An event like the Valero Texas Open that is in a twilight zone between the Masters and the U.S. Open has to try to attract players with a golf course that players love and want to play year after year. The tournament director can offer the world to attract a great field, but it's the players who create the buzz about a tournament. In just a few years, Quail Hollow has become one of the most popular venues on tour because the top players love the course. If Tiger, Phil and Rory put the Texas Open on their schedule, other top players would follow.

The Valero Texas Open has already turned the corner in its efforts to bring a top field to a world-class golf course. It's got a difficult -- and if you believe Steele -- fair golf course. It's discount golf clubs never going to be the birdie fest that it was when Armour III shot 64-62-63-65 to win in 2003 by seven shots. Yet in the short run, it looks as if it's not gaining anything by delivering a more challenging venue.

The 2012 field is the tournament's weakest in many years, and the tour's weakest of the season for an event not going head-to-head with a World Golf Championship. At 15th in the world, Matt Kuchar is the highest-ranked player in the field.

Major means a lot for Bettors

Yet, while many (or else most) golfers think of their sport because the perfect betting game who hasn't a minimum of played miniature golf on an frozen treats or a soda? ?a it was not until recently that golf's popularity surged inside classical gambling sense.

Street bookies, casinos and internet-based sports books supply reported an upturn in golf betting. There are lots of factors, including increased television coverage, improved technology which discount golf clubs allows bettors to literally wager with a golfer's every swing if they so desire ?a and, naturally, Tiger Woods. Consequently, experts believe that this week's Masters could be the most wagered-on golf event ever.

It is extreme measures in advance of where it absolutely was Ten or fifteen years back, Pat Morrow, the head oddsmaker on the online casino Bovada.lv, said in the interview. The money arriving now doesn't even compare.

While industry totals are hard to calculate, golf's popularity through the spectrum of gambling options is undeniably rising. Jeff Sherman, who runs the Web site GolfOdds.com and is also the assistant manager of race and sports on the Sin city Resort & Casino, said late a week ago that his sports book's handle, or betting total, around the Masters had already surpassed the first sort record almost the other day.

In past years, Sherman said, the sports book executives might desire to reach approximately $100,000 in total bets by the end of the weekend; in 2010, they are going to observe that in futures bets, or bets on players only to win the tournament, alone. Adding in TaylorMade R11S Driver expected wagers on matchups (Woods versus Rory McIlroy altogether score, as an example) and proposition bets (could there be a dent in a?), let alone in-round betting, Sherman said desperation is made for an overall handle approaching $250,000 to $300,000 at his sports book.

Fifteen or Twenty years ago, he added, an internet casino would scrounge to acquire as little as $50,000 in action.

I barely remember Jack Nicklaus due to being on the board in 86, said Nick Bogdanovich, the director from the ping g15 driver sports book at Club Cal Neva in Reno, Nev. I mean, he was, but golf just wasn't an issue then.

Needless to say, the Nevada casinos are only a tiny sliver of sports gambling total. Internet casinos can combine a lot larger subscriber base, and even though sites with large European betting contingents have experienced strong golf numbers for decades, sites with primarily United states bettors will also be experiencing golf rushes lately.

McIlroy’s fourth prepared well for the Masters

The last of those little runs came TaylorMade RocketBallZ Driver to the 17th tee, where McIlroy  the reigning U.S. Open champion, at that time the absolutely no. 1 golfer on the planet, and clearly a popular at this week's Masters, regardless of the body parts he left strewn throughout Augusta National last year ?a arrived huffing and puffing. He took a breath, got out his driver and cranked one, a strong strike having a delicate draw, right down the center.

That driver's singin' and dancin'right this moment, isn't it McDowell whistled on the group, and McIlroy smiled, somewhat sheepishly.

McIlroy has the golf world singin'and dancin' now, with what is shaping as much as be war and peace Masters afoot. Through the first weekend in March, McIlroy held off Ernie els and his Mizuno MP 53 Irons closing, statement-making 62 to win the Honda Classic and rise to No. One out of the globe ?a a location he lost only because Luke Donald, the last No. 1, won a fortnight later.

McIlroy's status as the lone favorite is in question only because Woods, online resources four green jackets, finally won yesterday, and looks to stay in just with the form that could win him a fifth.

With this backdrop, the 22-year-old McIlroy returns to Augusta ?a where he built a four-shot lead through three rounds last year, only to somehow post an unsightly 80 on Sunday ?a different in countless ways. You have the fact that he won the next major in which he played, a brilliant, record-setting performance in the U.S. Open at Bethesda's Congressional Country Club that, at the same time it turned out playing out, did actually modify the landscape with the sport. You have the transformation of his body, his pudginess out and plyometrics in. There are some tweaks to his swing, created using assistance from the sole coach she has ever employed, Michael Bannon.

Additionally, there are changes in his personal and professional life. He replaced his hometown girlfriend with Caroline Wozniacki, formerly the top-ranked women's tennis player on the globe. He replaced powerhouse agent AndrewChubby Chandler and his International Sports discount golf clubs Management group with the lower-key Horizon Sports Management.

This visit to the Masters, then  McIlroy's fourth will be very different, for the people reasons and more.

I wasn't necessarily distinct recently, but you know, I'll go within that carries a lot more attention, a lot of scrutiny as a consequence of what went down a year ago, McIlroy said at Doral, the last tournament by which he played. The spotlight will probably be on me, and it's something I'll simply have to deal with. But I'll make an effort to consider the same approach and approach it like I did this past year ?a at the very least for three days, anyway.