Tag Archives: British Open

Me and McIlroy are Both Winners!

Well I’m sure if you are a golf fan, you would have watch some of the golf from yesterday’s final round at The Open Championship, which saw Rory McIlroy claim his third major win in what no doubt is going to be a long and successful career.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the young Northern Irishman though as the players chasing him were all playing well and making lots of birdies, which really did put the pressure on him and at one stage his lead was cut to just two shots.

Garcia was looking the most likely candidate to catch him who was 5 under par through 10 holes after a fine eagle putt on the 10th, but his race looked to have been run after he left his bunker shot in the bunker on the par three 15th. But with birdies on 16 and 18 he was still in with a shout, but only if McIlroy was to falter.

McIlroy was to hold things together even if he did finish a little shakily after hitting his second shot on 18 into the bunker, but he still managed to make par and win by two clear shots over Garcia and Fowler.

If you had read my betting tips on Tuesday then you would have seen that I had backed Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler. I had  an each way bet on both of them so made myself a nice tidy profit overall.

The final major of the year is only a couple of weeks away, and the PGA Championship is being held at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.

Remembering Seve Ballesteros Three Years On…

Today three years ago we mourned the passing of one of the greatest golfers to ever play the great game we call golf.

It only seems like yesterday we heard the sad news that Seve’s condition has worsened and that he had then died at the age of 54 of two  two malignant brain tumours. Seve was diagnosed with the tumours back in 2008 and underwent several operations, but sadly never fully recovered.

Seve will be remembered for many great things. He won 5 major championships including The Open and The Masters. He won 6 European Tour order of merits with an incredible 50 wins on the European Tour and 96 in total world wide.

His Ryder Cup record was pretty good too with a total of 22½ points in 37 matches played, and of course, how can we forget when he captained Europe to victory in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama when Colin Montgomerie saw off Scott Hoch at the last hole in virtually pitch darkness.

We called talk about him forever with so many different stories, but the one moment that will stick in my head was the celebration when he won The Open in 1984. Catch the memories below….

He was always be known for his incredible shot making, putting and wayward driving, and will always be talked about in the history of the game. I’m just glad that I grew up when I did, so I was at least able to see some of the genius at work, even if it was for only a handful of years….

Langer Loses Out in Play-Off After Epic Battle

After the drama of last night in The Senior Open at Royal Birkdale, Mark Wiebe and Bernhard Langer came back this morning to complete the play-off which had to be cut short last night due to bad light.

They played the 18th twice last night and a further three times today, and it was Mark Wiebe who came out on top after the epic battle.

Langer had the chance to win outright last night when he only needed a bogey or better coming down the last, but after hitting the fairway, he then found the greenside bunker, to which it took him two shots to get out and then he missed a seven foot putt to leave him tied with Wiebe.

It’s a tough one to take for Langer, he’s normally pretty steady under pressure and will be livid at the way he played the last hole in regulation play last night.

Mickelson Slump Has Spurred Him On For The Future

One of the nicest guys on tour Phil Mickelson has admitted that this season has seen some of the worst golf he has ever played in his long and illustrious career but  has said it’s proved to be a blessing in disguise.

Mickelson who has won four majors and countless tournaments started the season in fine form winning at Pebble Beach in February which we all thought would set him up for a great season. But come summer his form deserted him and a below average performance at the US open was followed by missed cuts in the Greenbrier and at the Open Championship which is one of his favourite events.

The big smiling yank acknowledged his loss of form and decided to go back to the drawing board and he feels he is reaping the benefits of working on every part of his game.

A decent performance in the Ryder Cup and coming so close last week has proven that all the hard work is paying off. Good on ya Phil, you’re a great golfer and a really nice bloke too! You deserve every success.

Els Hoping To Win On British Soil Again

It’s back to British soil this week for  the Open Champion Ernie Els, who hopes a return to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship can reignite his form again.

The ‘big easy’s’emotional victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes this summer has been followed by some lackluster performances, and he has not recorded a top-20 finish since Adam Scott made a mess of the final few holes at The Open to hand Els a fourth Major Championship.

Els is hoping that his return to links golf could bring back the memories of July and spark his golf off again. This week will see him playing three different courses, St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. It’s always a good week in the golfing calender and has produced some unlikely winners in the past.

“It’s great to be back,” he said. “Nice to see the sun shining. I haven’t played links obviously since July, so I’m really looking forward to catching up with friends and hopefully playing good golf.

Catch the action on Sky Sports from tomorrow morning!

Strongest Dunhill Line-Up Ever

Paul Lawrie probably known as Scotland’s best player now and England’s World Number Four Lee Westwood are going to be leading the home challenge for this year’s Alfred Dunhill Links at St Andrews.

These two players have won this event before and we will be up against it this year as a strong field includes no fewer than 11 Major champions.

Westwood who won this event back in 2003 said: “I’m hoping for two memorable weeks: victory for The Ryder Cup team in the United States and then back to St Andrews for a second Dunhill victory.

Ernie Els who is the current Open champion and a four-time Major winner leads a strong South African line-up, including  2011 US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen. 

We will also see appearances from Colin Montgomerie and Martin Laird, plus England’s Paul Casey and Simon Dyson who won in 2009.

But let’s not get too excited or ahead of ourselves, we still have the Ryder Cup to decide first and this will be a bit of a comedown for a lot of the players. Well hopefully only the European ones!

Two Weeks Of Thrilling Golf Ahead

Ryder Cup player Paul Lawrie has found himself at his highest position on the world rankings a week before the Ryder Cup after a 13 year absence from the competition.

The Aberdeen-born major winner played in the European team who lost in the controversial Ryder Cup when it was held at Brookline, in 1999, the year of his British Open victory.

So next week is when it all kicks off at Medinah Country Club in Chicago involving 24 of the worlds top 35 players, 17 of which will also compete this week at the Tour Championship.

All of the American team have made it through to the final of the FedEx Cup play-offs, plus the best player in the world right now Rory McIlroy who leads the season-long cash-grab race for the $10million pay day.

It’s going to be an exciting couple of weeks of golf ahead. Can Rory keep his nerve and win the big pot? Will his mind be on the Ryder Cup? Who will win the Ryder Cup? These are all questions that will be answered very soon!

50mph Winds Stop Play In Liverpool

The women’s British Open came to a standstill today as 36 players scores were scrapped after the second round at Hoylake was cancelled due to 50mph winds.

The day started windy and it was tough for the early starters but the winds rapidly got stronger and only an hour’s play was possible this morning, with those on the course a cumulative 52 over par!

Personally I would have let them get on with it, would have made for great viewing!

A statement was released by the Ladies’ Golf Union saying “It would have been unfair to those competitors not to cancel all scores for the round in question.”

Conditions did not improve and play will  get under way again at  06:50 BST tomorrow morning.

Felicity Johnson who is flying the flag for England and was the joint leader early in the first round, shot a nine on the par-four first and was eight over after three holes when the play was bought to a halt at 8am this morning.

It was so winday on the 12th tee Cristie Kerr had her ball blown off the tee three times, I think that’s when it was decided by the officials to stop play.

Let’s hope for calmer conditions tomorrow.

Lawrie Ready For Ryder Cup Battle

13 years ago Paul Lawrie was  given the chance to hit the first tee shot of The 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline, and the memories of it still give him the shivers today, but after making his debut (not long after his British Open win) in golf’s greatest team event Lawrie can’t wait for a second bite at the cherry.

The Scot has held a strong position on the Ryder Cup Qualification Lists, but for months has refused to accept he was a certainty for the 12 strong team bound for Chicago, and he now can’t be caught even in this week’s Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and is finally prepared to talk openly about his return to the Ryder Cup.

There is still one place remaining out of the ten automatic qualifiers with Nicolas Colsaerts bidding to become the first Belgian golfer to play in The Ryder Cup, needing a finish of no worse than second. Good luck this week Nicolas, I would love to see him in the team.

McIlroy Looked Down And Out

A young man form Northern Ireland who a couple of weeks ago couldn’t seem to string one round together yet alone four and looked like he was going to have to go back to the drawing board and figure out where it had all gone wrong. This  young man is called Rory McIlroy and he had different ideas coming into the US PGA Championship and he was back to his absolute best.

Playing well from day one he looked in okay form for the first two rounds but nothing that made you think he would go on and win, especially in the way that he did.

He held off an incredible challenge from friend and Ryder Cup team mate Ian Poulter to win the US PGA Championship in record-breaking fashion at Kiawah Island with a bogey free final round of 66 leaving everyone in amazement with another eight shot major victory matching his record breaking win at the US Open last year.

It really is a remarkable achievement for a man of that age. So far he is matching the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, he really is an incredible player and is the best player to watch when he’s on form.

Is the sky’s the limit for McIlroy? Can he do the grand slam?