Tag Archives: Lee Westwood

Strongest Dunhill Line-Up Ever

Posted on September 20, 2012 by | Comments Off on 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!

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Big Guns Heading To HSBC

Posted on September 11, 2012 by | Comments Off on Big Guns Heading To HSBC

Four of the top players in the world have confirmed they will take part in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions from November 1-4. World Number Three Luke Donald, World Number Four Lee Westwood, defending champion Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson have all said yes to the sponsors. The event will take place on the Olazábal Course at Mission Hills in China.

2010 US PGA Champion Martin Kaymer  who won the event last year by three shots in dramatic style by making nine birdies on the final day is looking forward to defending the title.

England’s Luke Donald is also looking forward to his week at the WGC-HSBC Champions, having missed out last year waiting for the birth of his second daughter.

He said: “I was so disappointed to miss out on playing at the WGC-HSBC Champions last year, although it was for the best possible reason!

Plus Donald will be keen to get back to winning ways after not having the best season. But I guess compared to his heroics last season it was always going to be a disappointment!

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The US PGA Championship Is Underway – Take A Look At My Betting Tips

Posted on August 9, 2012 by | Comments Off on The US PGA Championship Is Underway – Take A Look At My Betting Tips

Well the 94th US PGA Championship is underway  and it was Italy’s Matteo Manassero who started proceedings as he struck the opening tee shot from the tenth tee at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort.

The 19 year old who is the youngest man in the 156-strong field this week took his three wood out the bag, managed to calm his nerves, and hit the left hand side of the fairway on a glorious morning in South Carolina.

With already a touch of humidity in the air there were still forecasts of electrical storms for the afternoon, but with no sign of inclement weather first thing. Let’s hope they manage to get in the full days play today.

A lot of the top players are yet to go off, Luke Donald is currently at one under par after two holes but with still a long way to go. Make sure you catch all the action on Sky Sports tonight!

As you know, I like to have a flutter on the major championships so here are my picks for this week. Just to remind you, I picked the winner of the US Open – Webb Simpson back in June!

Ian Poulter

Steve Stricker

Luke Donald

Bo Van Pelt

Stewart Cink

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The Major Winners So Far, But Who’s Next?

Posted on July 31, 2012 by | Comments Off on The Major Winners So Far, But Who’s Next?

We’re coming to the end of the major season already and I for one can’t believe where the time has gone. The PGA Championship starts on the 9th August at the Ocean Course in Kiawah Island.

Still can’t believe it was nearly four months ago we saw Bubba Watson hit that amazing miracle shot from out of the trees in a play-off with Louis Oosthuizen at Augusta National to claim the Green Jacket and The Masters title.

We then saw Webb Simpson claim the US Open and his first major title at the Olympic Club in San Francisco pipping Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell by one shot around a very tough golf course.

Of course fresh in our memory still is the Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes which brought us great drama in the final stages and saw Adam Scott crumble under pressure to let Big Ernie win. All eyes were on Tiger Woods that week, and he did show signs of form and was in contention before a triple bogey in the final round left him with too much to do.

With so many of the top ranked players in the world not performing in the majors this year, will they see this as a chance to end the major season on high? The likes of Luke Donald and Lee Westwood will be hoping so, maybe just maybe they will get that monkey off their back!

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My Picks For The Open Championship

Posted on July 19, 2012 by | Comments Off on My Picks For The Open Championship

The 141st Open Championship got under way at 6.19am this morning with Barry Lane hitting the first tee-shot at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

The weather was calm but the scoring was still tough with bogeys being made everywhere, and poor American James Driscoll reaching the turn at  ten over par and England’s Robert Rock double bogeyed the first and third holes to reach four over after six.

But there have been good starts from Scot Paul Lawrie who is currently leading at three under par and Lee Westwood second at two under par after birdies at the first two holes.. There is lots of golf still to come today as play will still be going at 7pm tonight. I for one will be watching most of it!

If you’re thinking of having a flutter this week and want some advice on picking a winner then here are my picks for this week.

Tiger Woods

Stewart Cink

Matteo Manassero 

Ian Poulter

Matt Kucher

Good luck and enjoy the golf! Click here for the live leaderboard

 

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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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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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McIlroy To Be Aggressive In San Francisco

Posted on June 13, 2012 by | Comments Off on McIlroy To Be Aggressive In San Francisco

Defending US Open champion Rory McIlroy intends to be aggressive around the Olympic Club in San Francisco tomorrow.

The Northern Irishman, who took the title last year by an amazing eight shots, is bidding to become the first player since Curtis Strange back in 1989 to retain the championship.

McIlroy’s form  has not been  great by any means going into the tournament and had missed three straight cuts but the 23-year-old was joint leader with one hole to play at the FedEx St Jude Classic last week but double bogeyed the 18th, eventually finishing in seventh place.

He has been practising with Lee Westwood and  former US Open champion Graeme McDowell at the Olympic Club, and said: “I reckon I’m going to use my driver eight or nine times.

“The rough is not as bad as maybe in previous years where you can get away with some tee shots, so really you just need to know your way around the golf course and know where you can miss it.”

Coverage starts tomorrow afternoon on Sky Sports

 

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Noren Hopes To Defend Title In Wales

Posted on May 30, 2012 by | Comments Off on Noren Hopes To Defend Title In Wales

Alex Noren is hoping to re-create the form that he showed last year as he looks to defend his ISPS Handa Wales Open title tomorrow.

The 29 year old Swede romped to a fantastic victory at The Celtic Manor Resort 12 months ago after also coming through US Open Qualifying on the Monday.

Noren is three-time winner on the European Tour,  he took 14th spot in The Race to Dubai last season, and finished joint top of this year’s US Open qualifier at Walton Heath  to book his place in San Francisco.

“It was pretty much exactly the same how it happened last year,” said Noren. “I was so pleased to get into the US Open, so I took this week as I was on a high, and then winning here was fantastic and it just went on from there.

For tickets and the tournament schedule please click here

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