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Lawrie In Confident Mood Heading Into The Open

Posted on July 11, 2012 by | Comments Off on Lawrie In Confident Mood Heading Into The Open

Paul Lawrie thinks that the start of the Scottish Open marks the start of the biggest two weeks of the year.

He goes into his national Open having been in some great form recently, before travelling to Royal Lytham and St. Annes to compete in The Open Championship  which he won in 1999 in a play-off.

The Scotsman has had ten top-25 finishes in 14 events, including victory at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters which has propelled him to eighth in The Race to Dubai and third in The Ryder Cup standings, but the 43 year old is determined to build on that form and make it count in these bigger tournaments.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “Obviously it’s always the biggest two weeks of the year for a Scottish player if you’re in The Open”

Well Lawrie has proved he can cut it with the big boys and has already got a major under his belt, so he’s got nothing to prove. Could major number two be around the corner? What do you think?

 

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Rookie Claims First PGA Tour Title After Great Battle

Posted on July 9, 2012 by | Comments Off on Rookie Claims First PGA Tour Title After Great Battle

Last night at the Greenbrier Classic rookie Ted Potter Jr. held his nerve to beat fellow-American Troy Kelly in a tense play-off.

The 218th ranked player in the world, took victory with a four-foot birdie putt at the par 3 18th which was the third extra hole after a superb tee shot.

Kelly’s  previous best finish on the PGA Tour was tied-37th, and he looked to be heading for victory in regulation play at the $1m tournament at White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia. 

But somehow Potter, who was trailing by four shots with five holes to play, managed to finish eagle-birdie for a 64 and a four-round total of 264, which Kelly (66) could only match.

Both players parred at the first extra hole, the 18th, before Potter looked all set to wrap it up at the second, the 17th. But Kelly holed an amazing putt under pressure from 25 feet and Potter missed from five to send them back to 18 again.

It really was a true battle of two players trying to establish themselves on the PGA Tour and both should be proud of their performances.

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A Good Day At The Office For Hansen

Posted on July 6, 2012 by | Comments Off on A Good Day At The Office For Hansen

Anders Hansen piled the pressure on the overnight leaders with an impressive round of three under par at the tough and blustery Alstom Open de France at a Le Golf National near Paris.

Hansen shot an impressive 68 today to go joint top after overnight leader Christian Nilsson of Sweden is in the middle of bad round currently standing at 3 under par but 3 over for the round.

Hansen was level with Italy’s Colombo, who made three birdies and as many bogeys in his first 13 holes.

Hansen, started his round on the tenth and parred his first five holes before making birdies at 15, 16 and 18 and a bogey at 17 was his only mistake of the front nine.

He then birdied the 4th and the 6th, the latter courtesy of a great iron approach shot from just off the left side of the fairway. Unfortunately a bogey four on the 8th ( his 17th ) hole saw him drop back alongside Colombo.

There are players still out on the course but in tough conditions like this Hansen will be very pleased with his day’s work.

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Westwood Eyes Up A bit Of French

Posted on July 4, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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!

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Tiger Woods Is At Again ( Winning that is… )

Posted on July 2, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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?

 

 

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Bourdy Takes Lead After Fast Start

Posted on June 29, 2012 by | Comments Off on Bourdy Takes Lead After Fast Start

Grégory Bourdy gave the chasing pack hope when he failed to capitalise on a fantastic start to his Irish Open second round at Royal Portrush.

Bourdy with Indian Jeev Milkha Singh were joint overnight leaders, he eagled the long second and after ten holes had reached 13 under par – three clear of second place.

But after bogeying the par threes 11th and 14th, the 30 year old’s advantage was back down to one again.

Lorenzo Gagli was in second place on ten under after a 66 while Welshman Jamie Donaldson just one further back following a 67 that contained five successive birdies.

Home favourites Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke both shot 69 to get to five under and four under respectively but still have a lot of work to do if they are to challenge at the weekend.

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A Great Week Of Golf Ahead

Posted on June 27, 2012 by | Comments Off on A Great Week Of Golf Ahead

This week’s AT&T National tournament on the PGA Tour visits Congressional Golf Club in Maryland. The golf club where Rory McIlroy won the US Open by eight shots last year.

The Ulsterman won’t be teeing it up this week though as he is back on home soil for the Irish Open in Portrush.

Congrssional is Situated in Bethesda, just north of Washington DC, and the Blue Course is one of the best known venues on the PGA Tour.

Opened 88 years ago back in 1924, and re-designed 65 years later by Rees Jones, the course has staged the US Open three times  as well as one PGA Championship.

What a great week of golf ahead, I’m going for McIlroy in the Irish Open and Tiger at Congressional, what do you think?

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Irish Open Back In Portrush After Sixty Five Years

Posted on June 26, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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

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Simpson Makes It Three Majors In A Row For America

Posted on June 18, 2012 by | Comments Off on Simpson Makes It Three Majors In A Row For America

Congratulations to Webb Simpson who won his first major  in the early hours of this morning. He is the third American in a row to win a major since Keegan Bradley took the USPGA title followed by Bubba Watson at the Masters.

The 26 year old was joint eighth with 18 holes to go, but after shooting a two under par round of 68 for a one over total he had to wait to see if the rest of the field could catch him.

Jim Furyk looked the biggest danger at that point, but it turned out to be McDowell after disappointing rounds from Westwood and Woods left the door open.

Simpson, only playing his fifth Major and trying to become the ninth successive first-time winner in them, had become joint leader when Furyk bogeyed the short 13th hole which should have been a birdie hole.

He then led on his own when Furyk missed the fairway left down the long 16th hole, and carded a bogey six.

McDowell,  who was joint leader at the start of play, was two shots behind at that point, but when the 2010 US Open Champion holed a tough putt on the 17th hole, he and Furyk both needed to birdie the  last to tie Simpson on one over par.

Both found the semi-rough off the tee, but while McDowell hit his second shot to 25 feet, Furyk buried his in the sand to the left.

Furyk made bogey and McDowell failed to convert his birdie attempt. Maybe a bit of an anticlimax but Simpson a deserved winner.

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Top 3 in the world score 19 over par collectively

Posted on June 15, 2012 by | Comments Off on Top 3 in the world score 19 over par collectively

 I’m sure you saw as I did that the three best players in the world struggled like hell around a very difficult golf course. Is it unfair? I don’t think so, you just have to be at the top of your game and more importantly play the course with your head like Tiger did. At the end of the day it’s a major and it’s not meant to be easy!

Lee Westwood called the Olympic Club “indescribably” difficult after a first round that saw only six players break par.

Westwood carded a respectable three-over-par 73,  but he’s not out of it yet. He’s seven behind the lead but six shots better than fellow countryman and world number one Luke Donald. It was always going to be difficult for Luke, especially as he missed a lot of fairways and just didn’t have the power to recover.

Northern Ireland’s defending champion Rory McIlroy carded a  77.

Westwood said: “It’s set up hard, the greens are very firm, there’s a breeze. It’s a very difficult golf course.”

The 39-year-old, chasing his first win in a major tournament, said “You hit a lot of good drives that don’t end up on the fairways.”

Westwood, McIlroy and Donald, the world numbers three, two and one respectively, were expected to comprise one of the low-scoring threesomes on the opening day. Instead they were collectively 19 over par!

Good luck tonight boys!

 

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