Tag Archives: British Open

Westwood Eyes Up A bit Of French

It’s the Alstom Open de France this week  at Le Golf National in Paris and Lee Westwood hopes to add his name to the list of greats that have won this event.

The World Number Three from Worksop  played the event for the first time back in 1994, but despite some impressive performances over the years he is yet to be victorious at this challenging golf course.

Westwood’s last tournament on  European soil  saw him win easily by five shot at the Nordea Masters, and hopes were high when he went into the final day at the US Open in contention until losing his ball in a tree at the sixth.

“I played well at the US Open,” he added. “I got a bit unlucky the last day, but other than that I played solidly.

“So I’m looking forward to this week and then The Open Championship in a couple of week’s time.

Surely it’s his time to win a major, could the Open be the one??

Starting with a win here could set him up perfectly!

Tiger Woods Is At Again ( Winning that is… )

Tiger Woods sailed pass Jack Nicklaus on the all-time PGA Tour victory list by winning last night at the AT&T National in Maryland at the age of 36.

He secured his 74th US Tour win by a couple of shots from Bo Van Pelt after a steady final round of 69 leaving him eight under par. He moved his way through the field over the weekend and the final day had a sense of inevitability about it when him and Bo Van Pelt were tied with a few holes to go.

It means Tiger has won more PGA events than any golfer bar Sam Snead, who recorded 82 victories on the Tour.

“To do it at 36, I feel like I have a lot of years ahead of me,” Woods said after his third win of the year.

People said he would never win again six months ago and now he’s won 3 times this year.

Overnight leader Brendon de Jonge had a round of six over par to finish in a share of 11th on one under.

With the Open just around the corner Tiger is priming himself perfectly for the links course in Lytham. Can he do it this time?

 

 

Irish Open Back In Portrush After Sixty Five Years

The 2012 Irish Open takes a trip north of the border for this week’s event at one of the most famous courses in the world, Royal Portrush, which is situated eight miles north of Coleraine.

The well known golf course is located on the County Antrim coast, and last staged the tournament back in 1947, four years before it hosted The Open Championship.

In the 1990s it was also used to host the British Senior Open – on five occasions – and over the years has been a stopping off point for Americans players wishing to hone their links golf skills before continuing continuing on to compete in The Open.

And this week’s tournament also offers the players the opportunity to begin their preparations for The 2012 Open Championship which takes place at Royal Lytham and St Anne’s in mid-July.

Get ready to watch it on Sky Sports this Thursday

Wells Fargo Latest Scores

Rory McIlroy has returned to action for the first time since The Masters at The Wells Fargo championship in North Carolina.

You can check out the latest leaderboard by clicking here… 

R&A lift ban on mobile phones for the Open Championship this year

Spectators at this years Open Championship will be able to use mobile phones after the R&A lifts its six-year ban on the devices.

There are going to be designated area’s to allow phone calls in, although photography will be definitely be banned during the four days of the championship.

“Allowing their use at the championship will enrich the Open experience.” said Peter Dawson.

I think this will be welcomed by many golf fans as today’s way of living has changed a hell of a lot in the past 3 years regarding technology on your phone. It will enable fans to check the scores on their phone apps and just make the whole experience a better one. Only if the fans respect it though.

Mobile phones were banned for the 2007 Open at Carnoustie after complaints from players about the number in use at the previous Championship at Hoylake.

The Open last visited Lytham in 2001, seeing David Duval lift the Claret Jug.

The course has changed since then,  14/18 have undergone redevelopment, with nearly 200 yards added making the 7,086-yard course a par 70 for the Championship in July.

 

Pettersson won’t leave home to chase Ryder Cup

Carl Pettersson who was runner-up at the Sony Open and Houston Open before he won at Hilton Head last week. Three high finishes would be more than enough to put him at No. 10 in the Ryder Cup standings, except for one small little teenie weenie problem.

He is not eligible for Ryder Cup points.

”You have to be a member of the European Tour, which I’m not,”Pettersson said Tuesday.

Pettersson has lived in the states since he was a teenager, and last year became a U.S. citizen. He resides in North Carolina with his wife and two children, who are about to turn 5 and 8. He feels it is a priority for him to be at home instead of traveling the world to meet the minimum 13 European Tour tournaments to be a Tour member.

”It’s too hard to play two tours at once,” Pettersson said. ”It’s hard to compete on one, let alone two. I’ve seen others try to do two. It’s very difficult. Luke Donald did it last year. I know it’s a Ryder Cup year. But if I’m playing well, maybe they’ll take me.”

Luke Donald became the first player to win the money list on both sides of the Atlantic last year. For most members of both tours, they have the advantage of eight tournaments that count toward both – four majors and four World Golf Championships. Until he won last week, Pettersson wasn’t eligible for any of them.

For now Pettersson can get himself ready for the majors. The Masters was the only major he played in 2011. His win at Hilton Head made him eligible for the PGA Championship and the Masters next year. He is ranked No. 35 in the world and must stay in the top 60 for the U.S. Open and top 50 for the British Open.

Louis shows great bouncebackability

Second at  the Masters. Third in Houston, but Louis Oosthuizen finally clinched the victory his recent form richly deserved at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

The South African soon got over the fact of losing in a play-off and being pipped to a second Major Championship by Bubba Watson at Augusta National last Sunday and the tiredness of a 30-hour journey and clocking up over 10,000 miles over the last 3 weeks to win by three shots at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.

When you factor in travelling across 12 time zones, and with storm disruptions on Friday and Saturday which left the 2010 Open Champion with 26 holes to play on the final day. This was a remarkable performance as Oosthuizen carded a closing 68 for a 17 under par total, with all four of his rounds sub-70.

Louis has always been a favourite of mine, and he has such a simple, beautiful golf swing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he challenge for another major this year and didn’t even win one. The South African players seem to have a grit and determination and greater mental strength that other players don’t.

The loss at the Masters must have been hard to take but like McIlroy showed last term you have to bounce back straight away otherwise it can effect you for years and it becomes harder to learn how to win again.

Well done Louis!

Torrance eyes win in Turnberry

Sam Torrance is targeting a ‘home’ victory when he returns to Turnberry. The Senior Open Championship is being held there for a record seventh time from July 26-29.

The 2002 Ryder Cup Captain was born in Largs, less than 60 miles up the Ayrshire coastline from Turnberry, and he says that the iconic Ailsa Course is one of his favourite golfing backdrops. And that’s quite a statement considering the courses he has played throughout his career.

Torrance nearly won The Senior Open Championship in 2009 when it was played at Sunningdale, the course he is a member of close to his Surrey home, finishing two shots behind winner Loren Roberts.

Torrance hopes returning to his native west coast of Scotland can inspire him again as he attempts to become the first Scot since Brian Barnes in 1995 and 1996 to win The Senior Open Championship.

A quick summary of the desert swing

Well the desert swing is over and I think you’ll agree that we saw some great golf!

We saw Robert Rock fight off the challenge of Tiger Woods on the final day and establish himself as a Ryder Cup contender and who knows maybe a major contender?

We saw Paul Lawrie win the Qatar Masters for the second time which saw him back in the world’s top 50 again after a long absence and we’ll also see him fighting for a Ryder Cup spot I believe.

And then we see the young impressive Spaniard Cabrera-Bello win the Dubai Desert Classic beating off Westwood, Kaymer and McIlroy on the final day after shooting a 63 on day one!

Golf in the deserts looks to be a wonderful thing, you can see a lot of the players enjoy playing out there and the condition of the golf courses is always immaculate and the greens look pure. Hopefully one day I will get to play out there.

The hospitality and the hotels look superb as well!

It’s a mild day today so I hope you will be practising at some point, and remember…the good weather and The Masters are just around the corner now. 🙂

 

My Tips For The Four Majors This Year

Well golfers, this year is flying already and it’s great to see so many of you braving the cold weather and getting down to the range to hone your skills for the coming season.

It’s not the same for the tour players of course, as they are out in the desert sunning themselves up and only having to play 54 holes to win a tournament and a shed load of money! lol. Not that I’m bitter.

The players will have it in the back of their mind that the first major of the year is fast approaching and will be preparing harder than ever to qualify for The Masters if they haven’t done so already.

I’m sure some of you will be having a bet on one, if not all four major’s? So if your struggling to pick someone who you think has a chance of winning then have a look at my picks and see the top 4 players I think can win in all four majors. Good luck and enjoy watching them!

The Masters –  Tiger Woods                                                                                                                                            Steve Stricker                                                                                                                                          Luke Donald                                                                                                                                            Rory McIlroy

The US Open –  Jason Day                                                                                                                                                 Webb Simpson                                                                                                                                       Steve Stricker                                                                                                                                          Sergio Garcia

The Open –   Sergio Gacria                                                                                                                                          M. Mannasero                                                                                                                                        Rory McIlroy                                                                                                                                          Lee Westwood

The US PGA – Sergio Garcia                                                                                                                                           Luke Donald                                                                                                                                             Bubba Watson                                                                                                                                         Ricky Fowler