Tag Archives: golf club

Is Clarke The Right Man To Captain Europe?

Well as you all know by now Darren Clarke has been appointed European Ryder Cup Captain for 2016 which seems to be a popular choice among fans and player alike, and no doubt his current sponsors will be very happy with the publicity.

Clarke has won the Ryder Cup 4 times as a player which will stand him good stead as he prepares for seemingly one of the biggest weeks of his life next year in America. He has been victorious under the captaincy of Seve, Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and lastly Ian Woosnam in which Darren Clarke bravely lead Europe to victory in Ireland after the death of his wife a week earlier.

Next September the event will be held at Hazeltine National Golf Course in Minnesota, and Clarke will be up against good friend and opponent Davis Love III who will be trying to heal the wounded tiger that is the US team, after many years of domination by Europe.

The last time Europe were defeated in America was under the captaincy of Nick Faldo who didn’t conduct himself amazingly well in Valhalla in 2008. I really we hope we see a professional approach from Clarke as he is known as a bit of a ‘boy’ on the tour and does like to party, but I guess we will only find this out as time goes on…

I’m sure it will definitely be as fiercely contested as ever and will be another great spectacle for this game we all love. It’s a long time to wait, but I remember thinking that when I was waiting for the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor, and look where that time as gone!

Lyoness Open Agrees A New Five Year Deal With European Tour

The European Tour have agreed a new five year deal for The Lyoness Open to feature in the Race To Dubai until 2019 .

The tournament held in Austria will see it’s tenth consecutive staging next year but also held the event between 1990 and 1996 in the past and has had famous winners with the likes of Bernhard Langer and Paul McGinley.

The prize money has increased a bit since those days, and as part of the new agreement the 2015 tournament will see the prize money increase by 50% from €1,000,000 to €1,500,000. Diamond Country Club will be the host again next year as it has been since 2010.

This years event was won by Mikael Lundberg after holing a 40ft putt in a play-off against home favourite Bernd Wiesberger who was the winner of the event back in 2012.

This is a really excellent tournament and to have it as part of the Race To Dubai until 2019 is a great thing for the tour and for the players.

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.

Is 2014 going to be Sergio Garcia’s Year?

Well it’s fair to say that Sergio Garcia has had an up and down career, and especially over the past 5 years has been the hardest of all for him.

He has gone from being one of the best players in the game to totally falling out of love with the game, but it looks like he’s right back to his best and seems to be enjoying life on and on the golf course more than ever.

Since finding love, Garcia seems to in a much better place and is much more comfortable with himself and with his golf as his recent performances would indicate .

Since bursting onto the scene when he was just 19 years old when he finished second to Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship at Medinah in 1999 after an enthralling contest, and if you remember he hit a remarkable shot from behind tree to get himself and the crowed really pumped up.

Take a look at the shot here:

He has also always been a prominent force in the Ryder Cup matches, even when his form had deserted him he managed to find a way to get the job done under the upmost pressure to help guide Europe to victory on many occasion.

Last season he looked to recapture some of the form that we had previously witnessed from the young spaniard and had a steady finish to the 2013 PGA Tour season with three top 20 finishes including a tie for ninth place in the Tour Championship.  He also ended last season with a win on an Asian Tour event.

This season also started well with a win in the Qatar Masters and a handful of top 25 finishes.

Garcia has always performed pretty well in the majors throughout his career, and let’s hope that one of the three left in this season will belong to a player that undoubtedly deserves one.

Jamie Donaldson Is Hanging Out With The Big Boys

Late developer Jamie Donaldson enjoyed a share of second place at the WGC-Cadillac Championship last week and the 38 year old Welshman is feeling at home amongst golf’s elite.

Unbelievably it took Donaldson 255 events to claim his first win on the European Tour which was the Irish Open, and since that win he has had an impressive run finishing 19th and 5th in consecutive years in The Race To Dubai and also winning the HSBC Golf Championship.

His performance last week shouldn’t be underestimated, he claimed second place on a tough golf course amongst the top 60 golfers in the world. He may have started performing well later on in his career, but he is certainly making up for it now.

His latest run of form has propelled him to second spot in the European Points List, and top of the Race To Dubai Standings, which will pretty much guarantee him a spot on the Ryder Cup Team at Gleneagles in September.

Maybe he could feature in the Majors this year? Probably the US Open and The Open will be the most suited to him. Looking forward to finding out.

Poulter Crashes Out Of WGC Accenture Match Play

Ian Poulter’s dream of becoming the WGC-Accenture Match Play champion was shattered yesterday when he was defeated 2&1 by Rickie Fowler on the Dove Mountain course in Arizona.

It was the first game out in this years event, and the first three holes were halved, but Fowler took the game by the scruff of the neck by winning three out of the next four of which he only had to birdie one of those holes to Poulter’s disappointment.

Then another par on the 10th was good enough to see Fowler stretch his lead to three up for the second time in the match and then an eagle on the 13th looked like Poulter’s fate had been sealed.

But we know Poulter never gives up and he battled back with a birdie at the 14th, but unfortunately the putter went cold when he had chances to claw back the deficit on the next three holes.

It’s Jimmy Walker up next to face Fowler, Walker is the man in form at the moment already winning three times on the PGA Tour this season, he knocked out South African Branden Grace with a comfortable 5&4 victory.

You can read my blog post HERE about how Jimmy Walker claimed his second PGA Title of the season.

Loads of good matches to come today, as we head towards the weekend.

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!

 

Patrick Reed Claims Second PGA Title With Ease In California

If like me you stayed up to watch the conclusion of the Humana Challenge last night you will know that Patrick Reed held on to claim his second PGA Tour title by two shots in California.

The 23 year old American was in the form of his life heading into the final round after shooting three consecutive rounds of 63 giving him a seven shot lead.

The lead should’ve been unassailable but a couple of bogeys on the front nine brought him closer to the chasing back. He then made another two bogeys on the back nine with a birdie in-between to leave him with a three shot lead with three holes to play with Ryan Palmer and Justin Leonard on his tail.

He had a chance on the short par 3 17th to seal the tournament when he hit his sand wedge to six feet but failed to convert the putt giving him a two shot lead going into the last after Ryan Palmer had just made eagle on the final hole to at least make it slightly interesting.

Reed hit the 18th fairway with his 3-wood and wasn’t tempted to take on the green that is surrounded by water and bunkers as he didn’t need to take the risk, so he laid up down the right hand side of the fairway and left himself 100 yard pitch shot which he hit to 12 feet and went on to make par giving him a two shot victory.

Reed had a new caddie on the bag for his second PGA Tour win as his wife who normally caddies for him is 5 months pregnant with their first child, so Reed’s brother-in-law took the job on and I’m sure he will be happy with his 10% of $1,000,000! 

Next week we’re off to Torrey Pines for The Farmers Insurance Open where we will see Tiger Woods in action for the first time this year to defend his title.

Click HERE to read my last blog and to see the PGA Tour schedule for 2014

McIlroy Sets Sights On Two Majors This Year

Well last year was a mostly disappointing year for Rory McIlroy until he pipped Adam Scott on the final hole of the Australian Masters to end his 12 month barren spell. McIlroy has got the new year off to a bang as well after announcing he was getting engaged to Danish tennis star girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki.

Last year was a turbulent one for the former World Number One, it all went wrong at the start of 2013 when he signed the $250 million deal with Nike and had to get used to a brand new set of clubs which pretty much took the best part of 12 months. McIlroy feels like he is very close to being back to his absolute best and says he is looking to win two majors this year now he has the confidence with the clubs and with himself.

He definitely has the ability to achieve whatever he wants to in golf, but the only question would be in his temperament as we saw last year when he walked off the course claiming to have ‘pain in his wisdom teeth’. I for one hope that he does contend this year, it will really spice things up with Tiger virtually back to his best again and also Adam Scott will be up there you would think.

All is set for what I think could be one of the best years in golf for a long time!

Dawie van der Walt Wins Nelson Mandela Championship in Durban

Dawie van der Walt shot a superb final round 66 to win by two shots in the Nelson Mandela Championship in Durban.

It was a mixed round at the Mount Edgecombe golf club as he carded three birdies and three bogeys in the first 11 holes. But an eagle at the 12th and two more birdies coming home were enough to seal the win.

It was the second European Tour title for the 30 year old South African who also won earlier this year at the Tshwane Open. The tournament was reduced to 54 holes due to bad weather.

It was fitting to see a South African win the Nelson Mandela Championship the day before the funeral of the former president who passed away last week aged 95.

“It’s obviously really special, making you a part of history,” said van der Walt.