Tag Archives: golf

British Open Championship: Day Three Round-Up

Darren Clarke takes a one-shot lead into the final round of the Open at Royal St George’s on Sunday.

The 42-year-old survived a morning weather onslaught to shoot a one-under 69 to edge to five under on a tough day’s golf.

Dustin Johnson lies second having shared best round of the day, 68, with compatriot Rickie Fowler.

Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez slipped to a two-over 72 to end one under alongside joint overnight leader Lucas Glover (73) of America.

World number six Phil Mickelson headlined a group at level par comprising fellow American Anthony Kim (70), US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love (72), Germany’s world number three Martin Kaymer, Dane Anders Hansen (72) and South African George Coetzee (72).

US Open champion Rory McIlroy struggled to a round of 74, which included a double-bogey seven after going out of bounds at the 14th, to end on four over.

Just three players negotiated Royal St George’s under par on Saturday and only six are under par for the tournament going into the final round.

Watch today’s play live on the BBC – and checkout the leaderboard here.

 

British Open Championship: Day Two Round-Up

Darren Clarke and Lucas Glover are joint top of the leaderboard after day two of the British Open, carrying a one-shot lead into today’s action.

Clarke shot 68  and 2009 US Open champion Glover carded 70 to lead the field at four under on a beautiful day at Royal St George’s.

They pulled away from joint overnight leader Thomas Bjorn (72), Chad Campbell, Martin Kaymer and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, the world number one and two respectively, both missed the cut.

Other big-name players getting the weekend off are former major champions Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Ernie Els and Angel Cabrera.

Ian Poulter (+7), Ernie Els (+8), world number eight Matt Kuchar and 2003 winner Ben Curtis (both +11) are also on their way home.

Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, 1996 Open winner Tom Lehman, US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love, American Dustin Johnson, Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal, Dane Anders Hansen and South African George Coetzee (one of my tips!) all finished on two under.

US Open champion Rory McIlroy had four birdies and three bogeys in a 69 to finish level par.

Watch today’s play live on the BBC – and checkout the leaderboard here.

The highlight of the day arguably came on the sixth hole when Tom Watson hit a hole-in-one, the second of the tournament so far.

The British Open Championship Is Underway!

Just after 6.30am this morning American Jerry Kelly hit the opening shot of this year’s British Open Championship at Royal St George’s, Sandwich.

Kelly though it seems will be doing well to make the cut having started with a bogey, and followed that up with a double at the second.

There is plenty of coverage to choose from today but I would really recommend the BBC as it’s comprehensive.

Their Open mini-site has everything you could possibly need – however if you want to bookmark a live leaderboard then it seems that the easiest way to do this is at The Open’s Official Site.

On Twitter, @danwalkerbbc is providing some excellent coverage and analysis as is @robhodgetts .

At the time of writing, Ian Poulter is about to tee off, followed by that formidable trio of McIlroy, Els and Fowler.

Enjoy the golf and let me know what you think of today’s play over at my Facebook Page.

Open Championship Preview

Following my article yesterday on who I’m backing to win the British Open, it’s time to get excited as this time tomorrow we will be well underway.

There seems to be more interest than usual in this historic tournament and I would put that down to the amazing form of Rory McIlroy and also the absence of a certain Tiger Woods.

Should McIlroy repeat his amazing achievement at Congressional, the 22-year-old will become the youngest Open champion since 1893, only a few weeks after becoming the youngest winner of the US Open since 1923.

He has played in the tournament three times previously, in 2007 as an amateur, and then in 2009, and last year when he finished joint third.

The BBC will be providing some epic coverage of the tournament, showing over 40 hours live over the four days.

The coverage starts tomorrow at 0900 BST, a lot of the coverage will be via the red button and also freely available on the BBC website.

Talking of the BBC website – there’s a great article here called ‘The A-Z Of The British Open‘ – well worth a read if you’ve got five minutes!

I’ll be providing my own round-up and views across the next four days so stay tuned and look out for my updates on Facebook and Twitter too.

 

 

My Tips For The British Open

In just 48 hours the British Open at Royal St George’s in Sandwich will be well underway, with American Jerry Kelly hitting the first shot of the historic tournament at around 6.30am on Thursday morning.

All eyes are of course on Rory McIlroy, who has been teamed up veteran Ernie Els and rising American star Rickie Fowler for his first round, to see if he can repeat his success of last month at the US Open.

However in terms of the betting – I’m heading for value elsewhere!

Here are my tips:

Lee Westwood – has been paired with Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and American Steve Stricker in his first round. He looks good value at around 11/1.

Ricky Fowler – As above, he’s a rising star and expected to perform well at this tournament – he’s tremendous each value at around 90/1,

Simon Dyson – I like to back an outsider each way, and this year I’ve got my eye on this guy at 150/1 – he’s got the ability to produce a shock.

George Coetzee – Talking of outsiders, there’s a chance you may not have heard of this 24 year old South African, but he’s on form and has a tournament win to his name this year – I’ve had a cheeky couple of quid on him each-way at 200/1.

Let me know who you’re backing!

 

Great Golf Jokes

Away from all the usual news and updates, here are three of my favourite golf jokes! There are plenty out there so let me know if you’ve got a funnier one 🙂

A young man and a priest are playing together. At a short
par-3 the priest asks, “What are you going to use on this
hole, my son?”

The young man says, “An 8-iron, father. How about you?” The
priest says, “I’m going to hit a soft seven and pray.”

The young man hits his 8-iron and puts the ball on the
green. The priest tops his 7-iron and dribbles the ball out
a few yards.

The young man says, “I don’t know about you, father, but in
my church, when we pray, we keep our head down.”

—————————————————

A husband and wife are on the 9th green when suddenly she
collapses from a heart attack!

“Help me dear,” she groans to her husband.

The husband calls 911 on his cell phone, talks for a few
minutes, picks up his putter and lines up his putt. His wife
raises her head off the green and stares at him.

“I’m dying here and you’re putting?”

“Don’t worry dear,” says the husband calmly, “they found a
doctor on the second hole and he’s coming to help you.

“Well, how long will it take for him to get here?” she asks
feebly.

“No time at all,” says her husband. “Everybody’s already
agreed to let him play through.”

—————————————————

Police are called to an apartment and find a woman holding a
bloody 5-iron standing over a lifeless man. The detective
asks, “Ma’am, is that your husband?”

“Yes” says the woman.

“Did you hit him with that golf club?”

“Yes, yes, I did.” The woman begins to sob, drops the club,
and puts her hands on her face.

“How many times did you hit him?”

“I don’t know — five, six, maybe seven times…..just put
me down for a five.”

 

Woods Will Miss British Open – Confirmed

Former world number one Tiger Woods has confirmed he will miss this month’s Open Championship at Sandwich because of his troublesome left leg injury.

The 35-year-old has not played competitively since suffering a recurrence of the injury at thePlayers Championship in mid-May.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been advised that I should not play in the British Open,” Woods said on his official website.

Woods has 14 major titles, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus.

Despite slipping to 17th in the current world rankings, Woods insisted: “I think my best years are still ahead of me and I’m very confident and optimistic about the future.

“I am only going to come back when I’m 100% ready. I do not want to risk further injury.

“In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have competed at the Players, but it’s a big event and I wanted to be there to support the tour. I’ve got to learn from what I did there and do it right this time and not come back until I’m ready.”

Read the full article at www.bbc.co.uk

 

McIlroy Named European Tour Golfer Of The Month

Rory McIlroy’s runaway win at the US Open has made him the obvious choice for the European Tour’s Golfer of the Month award.

The 22-year-old from Holywood won his first major by eight shots with a championship record 16 under par total at the Congressional Club in Maryland.

McIlroy became the youngest winner of the title since Bobby Jones in 1923.

He returns to action in The Open at Sandwich on 14 July.

Now number four in the world, McIlroy decided to take three weeks off after his amazing victory.

 

Levet Beats Foster At French Open

Thomas Levet edged Britain’s Mark Foster by just one stroke to win the French Open at Le Golf National.

The Frenchman was three shots behind going into day four but his solid round of 70 put him at seven under in total.

Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen should have forced a play-off but somehow missed a four-foot putt on the last hole.

Britain’s James Morrison, the overnight leader, slumped to joint seventh place after a disappointing 78.

“The atmosphere today was great,” said Levet after his win.

“The people were going ‘allez, allez, allez’ and some of them go ‘captain, captain’ (in reference to the Ryder Cup, to be held in France in 2018). I felt like one of the Tour de France riders climbing a mountain.

“You can tell your friends, 2018, France is ready.”

The joint second finish means Foster misses out on a qualifying place for the Open in Sandwich later this month. Olesen took that honour because of his higher world ranking position.

Levet, who lost the 2002 Open after a five-hole play-off at Muirfield, qualified for Sandwich earlier in the month.

 

A Week In Golf: Round-Up

It’s been a week of mixed weather but great to see so many golfers practising and playing, also great to see so many youngsters out there too, hopefully inspired by Rory McIlroy’s US Open win which is still dominating the golf headlines nearly two weeks on!

Here are some links to some decent articles summarising the week’s golfing news, starting with a really good CNN interview by Piers Morgan with Rory himself.

Have a great weekend!

AT+ T National Leaderboard

PGA European Tour – French Open – Le Golf National – Leaderboard

Justin Rose Targets Return To Form