Tag Archives: Caddie

Clarke Parts Company With Open-Winning Caddie

Darren Clarke has sacked the caddie that helped him win his first major championship in The Open at Sandwich in July last year.

Clarke’s team said that the split with John Mulrooney was amicable and had come after he missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday.

The Northern Irishman will be looking for a new caddie as he practices over the coming weeks ahead of his return to competitive golf at the WGC-Accenture Match Play in Arizona on February 22.

Clarke hasn’t been at his best since his victory at Sandwich, his best result a 20th-place finish at the Volvo Golf Champions tournament in South Africa a couple of weeks back.

He slumped to rounds of 72 and 81 last week in Abu Dhabi

Tiger woods influenced by appearance money

Tiger Woods has admitted that appearance money affects which tournaments he chooses to play in.

It’s been rumoured  that he will be getting more than $2m to play in the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship this week plus whatever he wins in the tournament.

The former world number one has chosen to play in the Middle East above Torrey Pines in California which is usually the season opener on the PGA Tour.

Asked whether the payment influenced his scheduling, Woods said: “I’d have to say yes, it certainly does.”

He added: “That’s one of the reasons why a lot of the guys who play in Europe do play in Europe, and they do get paid [appearance fees].

“I think the only tour that doesn’t pay is the US Tour

Tiger won his last major title, the 2008 US Open, at Torrey Pines and in 12 Tour events at the San Diego course he has won on six occasions.

The last time Tiger played was at his own event , the World Challenge tournament in California to record his first victory for two years.

Harrington With New Golf Coach Pete Cowen

British coach Pete Cowen believes he can help his latest pupil Padraig Harrington put his recent woes behind him and return to the top of the game.

Three-time major winner Harrington has plummeted down the world rankings to 78th, from a high of third in 2008.

He turned to Cowen in August, hoping the Englishman could help him improve his swing and once-potent short game.

“With time, he’s now capable of getting back to being the best short-game player in the world,” said Cowen.

In July, Harrington parted company with his coach of 13 years, Bob Torrance – father of former Ryder Cup captain Sam – after hitting a new low by missing the cut at the Open and Irish Open.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON SELECTED 2011 RESULTS

  • Masters: 75th (missed cut)
  • US Open: 45th
  • Scottish Open: 14th
  • The Open: 72nd (missed cut)
  • Irish Open: 107th (missed cut)
  • Bridgestone Invitational: 59th
  • US PGA Championship: 64th
  • Dunhill Links Championship: 8th

This followed an alarming slump in form since winning the last of his majors, the 2008 US PGA Championship, which resulted in the Dubliner seeking out the advice of Cowen, whose many pupils include world number two Lee Westwood.

Harrington has already shown signs of improvement with an eighth-place finish at the Dunhill Links Championship two weeks ago, which he will be hoping to follow up with a strong showing at this week’s Portugal Masters.

Padraig came and asked me at the Bridgestone [tournament] if I would give an opinion on his swing and what I thought might improve it,” said Cowen.

“He thought he was spending far too much time on his long game, to the detriment of his short game. Padraig won two majors in 2008 with the best short game in the world. He felt as though he’d neglected that and when you looked at the stats it proved it. He’d become almost non-competitive.

Woods’ Golf Lessons Are Starting To Pay Off

Tiger Woods barely missed chipping in for birdie on the 14th hole, came within a hair of rolling in his long eagle putt on 15, lipped out his birdie chip on 16, and left his long birdie putt a half a rotation short on 17.

Woods was mostly dialed in for the third round of the Frys.com Open at CordeValle, but after his ball refused to drop on his front nine — the course’s back nine on the scorecard — and he made a few terrible mistakes on his back nine, he signed for his second straight 68.

“The golf course could have been had today,” Woods said.

”My Golf lessons have been paying off”

At four under for the tournament, he’ll almost certainly be too far back for a shot at the trophy Sunday. Because 53 players had to return to complete their second round at 7:30 Saturday morning, pushing back the start of the third round, officials sent players off both tees in threesomes.

Woods played with Louis Oosthuizen for the third straight day, and they were joined by Matt Bettencourt. The three played behind the lead group of Paul Casey, Ernie Els and Bud Cauley once those three teed off at 3:25 p.m.

With birdies on the first and second holes, his 10th and 11th of the day, Woods pulled to within three of the lead, but it wouldn’t last. He made a mess of the two par-3s on the front nine, and when Els rolled in a four-foot, seven-inch eagle putt on the par-5 ninth — just ahead of the Woods threesome — Tiger was eight strokes behind.

Woods birdied the hole, reaching the green in two shots and two-putting, and was six behind the leader Els after the big South African bogeyed the 10th. Woods was far from perfect in pursuit of his first PGA Tour title in more than two years, but he looked better Saturday than he did Friday, just as he’d looked better Friday than he’d looked Thursday.

“Absolutely it’s gotten better,” he said. “I felt so good over the ball today.”

Bryce Molder Wins First PGA Golf Event

Bryce Molder edged out Briny Baird in a play-off to earn his first PGA Tour Golf win at the Frys.com Open, after Englishman Paul Casey fell away on the final day. The Golf was exciting and nail biting until the very end.

Casey started the day in a tie for second, but a final-round 71, including three bogeys and a double bogey, saw him finish joint seventh on 11 under. Casey walked off the golf course looking very disgruntled.

Molder chased down overnight leader Baird to finish tied on 17 under, holing a great birdie putt on the his last regulation hole, then winning on the sixth extra hole.

Tiger Woods finished in a tie for 30th after his third successive round of 68.

It was an encouraging return to the tour after two months out for the former world number one.

Baird, too, will have mixed feelings on a day that saw him allow a two-shot overnight lead slip.

The American has now not won in more than 12 years and 348 starts on the PGA Tour – although he has made more money than any player without a victory, with just over $11.9m (£7.65m) in career earnings.

“I finished second before four times, and only one of those four times did I really honestly think I had a chance to win,” he said afterwards. “Today I felt like I was out there to win the tournament. For me, that’s a big deal.”

Molder added: “It’s a little surreal right now. That’s a lot of golf today.”

Bud Cauley made it an all-American top three as he finished on 15 under, a shot ahead of countryman Shane Bertsch and South African Ernie Els.

Tiger Struggles Again

Tiger Woods suffered a difficult return to action at the Frys.com Open, firing a double bogey at the 12th on his way to a two-over-par 73.

Woods, playing his first tournament in nearly two months, started the day with a birdie but managed only one more as he finished the day six shots back from the leader.

“That’s probably one of the worst putting rounds I’ve ever had,” said Woods, who could miss consecutive cuts for the first time as a professional.

“I can’t putt any worse than today.”

The former world number one has not played since failing to make the cut at the US PGA Championship in August, after suffering injuries to his left knee and left Achilles tendon.

TIGER WOODS IN 2011

  • US PGA missed cut
  • WGC Invitational T37th
  • Players Ch’ship withdrew
  • Masters T4th
  • Arnold Palmer T24th
  • WGC Cadillac T10th
  • WGC Match Play T33rd
  • Farmers Insurance T44th

However, his putting aside, he was relatively pleased with his play as he looks to halt a slump that has seen him drop out of the world’s top 50 for the first time in almost 15 years and without a win since the 2009 Australian Masters.

“The rest of the game was not too bad,” said Woods, who was partnered by new caddie Joe LaCava for the first time.

“I hit some bad shots, yes. But also, I hit some really good ones. I’m very pleased at the shots I was hitting most of the day.

“But I got nothing out of the round on the greens. And whatever momentum I could have gotten by hitting good shots – you know, I just missed putts.”

Tiger Back To Give Everyone A Golf Lesson

Tiger Woods returns to the PGA Tour this week and for once it’s not a moment too soon for the golf world, and I for one hope he will teach everyone a lesson his week.

In the last couple years, Tiger has been repeatedly sidelined and been kept out of golf by scandal, injuries, marital problems — we all know the list — and each time he returned it felt like he was rushing to get back from something. The 2010 Masters. The 2011 Players Championship. The 2011 PGA Championship. When he returns at the Frys.com Open at Cordevalle in California, he’ll be coming back on his own timetable. The dust has finally settled, and I think we will see some good golf from Tiger.

Everything points toward a good golf week for Tiger. He’s now had plenty of time to work with new swing coach, Sean Foley, who’s been giving him regular golf lessons for a while now. If it’s going to work with Foley, then we should start to see it this week. I know it was only a practice round, but that 62 at Medalist he shot last week is a good sign. The caddie change is also good for him. Things had obviously gotten stale with Steve Williams, and Joe LaCava ,an experienced caddie whom Tiger knows and respects, is the perfect replacement.

Caddie Leaves Dustin For Tiger

As the FedEx Cup was coming to a conclusion on Sunday, Dustin Johnson got some shocking news. His caddie Joe LaCava told Johnson that he was leaving him. Through Dustin’s agent, he said that he was “completely surprised” by the decision after all their success. LaCava wanted to go work for Tiger Woods. According to Tiger’s website, Tiger waited until after the FedEx to hold substantive talks with LaCava, who had expressed a desire to caddie for Woods. So, apparently within hours, if not minutes, on Sunday, LaCava  had an interview with Woods, got an offer from Woods, and then told Johnson that he was leaving. Pretty quick work you have to say. Tiger was even ready with a press release that stole some of the thunder away from the victor, Bill Haas.

Butch Harmon, Johnson’s coach and Tiger’s ex-coach, was none too pleased with Tiger. “The thing that bothered me the most was Tiger Woods not calling Dustin Johnson and asking if he could talk to Joe. That’s the way it’s done. I’m a little disappointed with the way Tiger dealt with it. But I’m not surprised.”

Scott And Caddie Williams Win WGC Invitational

Adam Scott has won the WGC Invitational by four shots after a superb final round of 65 in Ohio.

The Australian, leading from day one, finish on 17 under, ahead of Rickie Fowler and Luke Donald, who both shot 66.

Rory McIlroy shared sixth place at 10 under after a robust 67, while Lee Westwood was just behind after a fine 65.

However the big story of the tournament centres not around Adam Scott himself, but his caddie Steve Williams, who was sacked by Tiger Woods just a fortnight ago. Incredibly  it was Williams’ eighth victory at the event, having won the event seven times while working with Woods.

Woods himself finished way behind Scott, tied in 37th place.