Tag Archives: golf

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

Jimmy Walker Claims Sony Open in Hawaii

Jimmy Walker shot a bogey free seven under par round to claim his second PGA Tour title in four months. His first win came at the Frys.com Open in October last year.

Seven birdies and eleven pars  made up Walkers superb 63  at the Waialae Country Club course in Hawaii to finish the Sony Open at 17 under par.

The lead changed hands many times throughout the day with Harris English, Jerry Kelly, and Kirk all scoring well and were all leading at one point during the final round, but Walker remained calm and in control and kept his nerve when it mattered.

Next it’s on to the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation for the PGA Tour. Brian Gay was the winner of this event last year and will be looking to get his season off and running by trying to defend his title.

For the full schedule of the PGA Tour click HERE

 

 

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!

The ‘Golfing’ Twelve Days Of Christmas

If the Twelve Days of Christmas were about golf this is how it would go…….

On the first day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me……….a birdie on a par 3.

On the second day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me……..Two Titleist golf balls.

On the third day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me………Three gap wedges.

On the fourth day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me…….Four shouts of ‘FORE’

On the fifth day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me……Five golf range cards.

On the sixth day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me…….Six ‘Gimme’ long putts. 

On the seventh day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me…...Seven free drops.

On the eighth day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me…..Eight magic pencils. 

On the ninth day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me……..Nine holes at Dukes Meadows. 

On the tenth day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me……Ten lady golf friends. 

On the eleventh day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me…..Eleven rounds at Augusta.

On the twelfth day of Christmas the golf gods gave to me…….Twelve lessons with James Irons for only £240! Bargain! 🙂

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.

Woods and Johnson Give Thrilling Finish To End A Great Year

At around 9.30pm last night I tuned in to watch the last few holes of the World Challenge  at Sherwood Country Club thinking I would be watching Tiger Woods close out the event which he seemed to be leading comfortably about an hour prior. How wrong I could be!

As I turned it over Tiger and Zach Johnson were battling in out and Tigers four shot lead had been cut down to one and they were both playing the par 5 16th. They both made birdie after both making superb up and downs, Johnson nearly holed his third with a pitch from 80 yards and Tiger made a tough chip from the left side of the green look easy and got up and down to keep his one shot lead going into the 17th.

Johnson seemed to be in the zone at this stage and had the honour on the tee, to which he pitched an 8 iron past the flag and span it back to about 3 feet. Tiger proceeded to hit his 9 iron to the left hand side of the green to which he managed a par three, but Johnson tapped in his birdie putt to tie for the lead heading to the 18th.

Johnson had the honour and hit his drive down the left hand side of the fairway and used the contours to bring it down to the middle with the perfect angle in.

Tiger pulled the 3 wood from the bag and tugged it left into the first cut of rough and was slightly blocked out by the trees with a hanging lie. He had to try and draw the ball around the big tree 75 yards infront of the green, and with the ball below his feet could only manage to find the deep bunker on the right hand side of the green. Advantage to Johnson.

From the perfect lie in the fairway Johnson pulled out a 7 iron and just had to find the middle of the green to really put the pressure on Woods, unfortunately for Johnson the pressure got too much and he hit what looked like a half shank into the water on the right to his and the crowds dismay. Advantage Woods.

So it was the dropzone for Johnson, he had to try and get up and down to put any kind of pressure on Tiger. He had around 70 yards to the flag and hit the most wonderful low skidding shot that pitched just short of the hole, checked and span in for par, which even got a raised smile from Tiger. Advantage Johnson.

Tiger now had to get up and down from the deep 8ft bunker with not a lot of green to work with and a really tough stance. Out came the lob wedge and with a full swing he managed to get it to two feet and holed the putt for a par to take it to a play-off.

Both players hit perfect drives on the first play-off hole, and it was Tiger to hit first with around 165 yards to the pin, out came the 7 iron but he could only manage to find virtually the exact spot in the same bunker. Advantage Johnson.

Johnson slightly further up the fairway needed to find the green and that’s exactly what he did, about 25 feet to the left of the pin.

Tiger played another great shot from the sand but had left himself a testing downhill 3 ft putt. Johnson now had a putt to win but narrowly missed on the high side so Tiger had to hole to carry on the play-off. He hit the putt firmly and it caught the left hand side of the hole and lipped out to give Johnson victory.

It really was great to watch and a great way to the end the year.

Can McDowell Bag A Hat-trick In California?

Graeme McDowell heads to California this week to hopefully continue his record in the Northwestern  Mutual World Challenge.

The Northern Irishman has won the event twice and came second on his debut in the tournament back in 2009.

It won’t be all plain sailing though as 10 of the 18 competitors have at least one major to their name including world number one Tiger Woods who is the hosting the event and is favourite to win this week.

The bookies have Woods at 5/2 McIlroy is 11/2 and McDowell is 11/1 with rookie of the year Jordan Spieth at 22/1.

Spieth makes his debut in this event as he replaces injured Brandt Snedeker, Spieth has had a great year and I think he will do very well next year and will be one to watch!

Golf Lesson Vouchers For Christmas

It’s that time of year again when you need to decide what to get a loved one for Christmas, and it’s never easy deciding.

Well if you want to go for something a bit different why not get them some golf lessons to start of the new year with.

I offer golf vouchers for all occasions and you can buy them as a one-off individual lesson or you can buy them as a package of lessons too. It’s totally up to you.

These vouchers are available to buy now, you can either ring the professional golf shop at Dukes Meadows Golf in Chiswick on 0208 994 3314 and speak to one of the friendly professional staff, just remember to ask for the voucher to be with James Irons or you can email me here and I can pop one in the post to you right away!

You can also order through PayPal at the bottom of this page if you like.

The price of the golf lessons are….

30 minute lesson £23

60 minute lesson £46

6 x 30 minute lessons £120 ( £18 saving )

Buy online using PayPal here:

Once you have ordered your Christmas gift voucher I can either send it out to you by email or by post.


Vouchers



Adam Scott Going For Aussie Hat-trick

Adam Scott is looking to add the Australian Open to his list of achievements this year when he tees it up tomorrow at the Royal Sydney Golf Club.

This could be his third win in his last four outings, he’s been triumphant at the Australian PGA Championship and the Australian Masters and came third last week at the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne, but won the team event with Jason Day.

Scott is looking to become only the second player to get a hat-trick of titles in Australia in a season.

The only other player to do this is Robert Allenby but Scott joked he has received no advice from the veteran.

The course looks to be in great condition and it’s going to be tough competition out there, should be another great week of golf!

 

Stenson – A Major Bet For Next Season

Well it hasn’t been a bad year for Henrik Stenson, not only did he win the FedEx Cup, yesterday he went one better and won The Race To Dubai, the first time it has been achieved by someone in the same season.

Stenson had a dramatic loss in form a few years back due to losing a lot of money which he had invested and then he had a mysterious illness which took him a year to recover from.

His form over the last few months has been quite remarkable and he hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 in any tournament he has played.

The big Swede started the final round with a two-shot lead over Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and was four shots clear of good friend Ian Poulter.

Stenson though was a man on a mission and never looked like getting chased down, he played like he had the ball on a bit of string and was hitting every fairway and hitting it close on a regular basis, it was really was amazing to watch.

This year should see him in great stead for next year’s majors where he has to challenge in all four you would feel, I would get your bets on now for him to at least finish in the top 5 for three out of the four majors!