Tag Archives: Ernie Els

Coetzee One Shot Clear After Strong Finish In Doha

A strong finish from George Coetzee saw him take the lead after day one of the Qatar Masters in Doha.

The South African finished the day with three straight birdies to get himself to an eight-under-par round of 64 to go one shot clear of Dawie van der Walt and Steve Webster.

Steve Webster got he’s round off to the best possible start when he started at the 10th and managed to hole his second shot for an albatross on the shortish par 5.

Webster made history as it was the first time anybody had ever a started a European Tour event with an albatross., it’s not Webster’s first albatross though he managed it back in 2011 at The Italian Open.

There are some very good players just a shot further back which include major winners Ernie Els, Paul Lawrie, and John Daly.

With so many good players in contention the weekend really could be an exciting one!

 

Els Happy With Preparation For Title Defence

Ernie Els is preparing for The Open this week by competing in the Scottish Open and he thinks playing at Castle Stuart will stand him in good stead for the defence of his title.

Not only will he be defending his title next week, but he was the last player to win The Open at Muirfield when it was last played there back in 2002, so that alone should give him a confidence boost when it comes teeing it up next Thursday.

So who will win The Open this year? It feels like British sportsmen in general are playing exceptionally well all over the world at the moment and seem to be feeding off each other. So will Andy Murray’s Wimbledon victory and Justin Rose’s US Open victory inspire another Brit to do great things?

Let’s hope so! Find out who I’m going to be backing to win The Open …next week!

See my past betting tips here

Rose Touches Down In UK To Prepare For The Open

US Open champion Justin Rose has touched down in the UK for the first time since he’s heroic win at Merion last month.

He is here to start his preparation for The Open at Muirfield and is planning to play some links golf to get his game in the best shape possible for the tough test in Scotland in a couple of weeks time.

This will be the 16th time that Muirfield has hosted the biggest golf tournament in the world. It was last held here in 2002 when Ernie Els lifted his first Claret Jug after a play-off with Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington and Thomas Levet.

It was also the same year that Tiger Woods recorded the worst round of golf in his career when he carded a round of 81 in cold and gusty conditions.

Let’s hope it’s going to be as testing this time round and not too calm. Links golf is all about wind and a little rain, and if it’s too calm it just becomes a birdie fest which we don’t want to see at The Open.

I will be giving my betting tips on The Open sometime next week, so keep a look out!

Take a look at my other previous betting tips here

It’s Thursday, Which Only Means One Thing – More Golf!

It’s Thursday, which normally means it’s the start of the golfing week on tour in Europe and America. The two tournaments happening this week are the Travelers Championship in the USA and the BMW International Open in Germany.

A lot of players who played in the US Open are playing in one of these two tournaments, accept Tiger Woods who was advised to pull out after injuring his elbow in Merion’s deep rough last week.

As I write this Ernie Els is leading the BMW with an impressive round of nine under par and Hunter Mahan is leading the Travelers Championship at six under par through twelve holes, but England’s Lee Westwood has also started well and is two under par through twelve.

Let’s hope we’re treated to another great week of golf and another exciting finish!

Come back tomorrow where I will be talking about The Open which isn’t far away now!

Sterne Shoots Lowest Round Of Career To Lead In Dubai

Well the opening day at the Dubai Desert Classic saw Richard Sterne shoot a round of 62, which is the lowest round of his European Tour career and he tops the leaderboard at ten under par on a heavy day of scoring from the field on the Emirates course. 

The South African had a couple of years of bad health in 2010 and 2011, nursing a back problem, but the man from Pretoria is back, and fit to play a full schedule again this season and couldn’t have hoped for a better start.

The superb round off golf was nearly good enough to beat the course record of 61 set by compatriot Ernie Els nearly 20 years ago. Els managed to go on and win the event that year and I’m sure Sterne is looking to do the same this time round.

A Great Year Of Golf

Well it’s been a gripping season and we’ve seen some amazing moments. The majors have been fantastic, at The Masters we saw Bubba Watson play a miraculous shot from the trees in a play-off against Louis Oosthuizen to win his first major title. Webb Simpson held off Graeme McDowell to win the US Open. The Big Easy clinched victory at Royal Lytham after Adam Scott crumbled under pressure and of course the young unstoppable Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy won the The US PGA by an amazing eight shots!

The Ryder Cup was the highlight of the year for me, it was just an incredible performance in hostile conditions in Chicago. The team all pulled together and produced the greatest comeback in sporting history after an amazing performance from Ian Poulter in the fourballs on the Saturday evening.

Also we’ve had the whole debacle over the long putter which looks like it is going to be outlawed in 2016 and is going to change the game massively in my opinion seeing that a lot of top players in the world use them. Will they carry on using it up until 2016? Or will they try and make the change early to prepare for the change? I’m sure it will all become clear next year!

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!

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?

 

Rose Has One Eye On Race To Dubai Heading Into US PGA Championship

Well as we head into this week and the final Major of the season at Kiawah Island Justin Rose will be looking to extend his lead in The Race to Dubai after targeting The European Tour’s ultimate prize at the start of the season which seems like a long time but we are at the business end of the season now.

The Englishman from Hampshire has led The Race to Dubai since finishing second place at the BMW PGA Championship at the sun soaked Wentworth Club back in May and Rose would love to be crowned The European Tour’s Number One player for the second time in his career.

Rose extended his lead last week over Ernie Els after finishing tied fifth alongside Rory McIlroy at last week’s WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and he is confident the good form he is showing can continue on the Ocean Course this week.