Tag Archives: PGA

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.

Can McIlroy Win Again? Of Course He Can

It was another great day at the office for Rory McIlroy yesterday as he put himself right into contention after a fairly lackluster couple of days at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.

The Northern Irishman carded seven birdies, to shoot a flawless round of 64 and find himself only 2 shots back from leader Russell Henley.

Henley himself had a good day and shot a credible round of 65 to take a one shot lead going into today from Billy Horschel.

Chris Kirk and Jason Day also join McIlroy on 10 under par with Webb Simpson a further shot back on 9 under.

All is set for another tight finish, and if McIlroy can get off to a fast start like he has everyday so far, it will be hard to see any other winner then him going into the final few holes.

Enjoy!

My Betting Tips For The PGA Championship At Valhalla

Well it’s been an interesting few days in the golfing world. We’ve seen Rory McIlroy win again and go back to world number one, we’ve seen Tiger Woods injure himself again (getting boring now) and we’ve seen Dustin Johnson supposedly get banned from golf for 6 months for testing positive to cocaine. Just a normal week on the PGA Tour really!

Right, back to the important stuff…betting.

I’ve had a pretty good few weeks on the betting front, so you would be a fool not to at least take a look at these bets, I normally go ‘each way’ on these as picking an outright winner isn’t easy.

So here they are…

Rickie Fowler  – 25/1

Brandt Snedeker – 66/1

Rory McIlroy – 6/1

Gary Woodland – 125/1

Get all the latest odds from Paddy Power

Good luck if you are having a bet, and enjoy the golf!

 

Will Tiger Finally Get Out Of The Woods This Year?

If  like me you’ve still got the Christmas blues and are still thinking about that last turkey sandwich you had and wish you still had some left then don’t worry…..you’ve got a great year of golf ahead!

One of the questions that will be asked again this year will be ‘Can Tiger Woods win his 15th major?‘ It’s a question that has been hanging over Tiger for quite a while now and I’m sure one that he will want to answer very quickly with a big resounding YES!

Tiger is without doubt the best player of his generation and some would argue the best player of all time and there will be no better place for him to take the next step into beating Jack Nicklaus‘ record than at Augusta in the first major of the year in April.

Woods has the best short game around maybe apart from maybe Mickelson and that is exactly what you need to win at Augusta with it’s heavily contoured and fast greens. 

Last year Woods was in contention until that silly mistake at the 15th which not only cost him 2 shots but more than anything seemed to cost him mentally when he dropped his ball in the wrong spot on the fairway.

His game seems to be in the best shape it has been in years and he more than anyone will want to get this monkey off of his back and will feel that The Masters is his opportunity of claiming the first of maybe two or three majors this year!

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!

Who’s Going To Win The Race?

With the DP World Tour Championship looming Justin Rose hopes he is strong enough to become European number 1 for the second time in his career.

He is 214,000 euros behind leader Henrik Stenson but has to finish in the top 5 to have any chance of overtaking the Swede who has been on top form this year.

Graeme McDowell also has a chance of winning the Race To Dubai if he can muster up a victory regardless of where Stenson finishes. You really get the feeling McDowell will be in the mix come Sunday afternoon, he’s just that type of player.

But is Rose is determined to finish the season off on another high to go with his historic major win at Merion back in June.

Rose last won the Order of Merit back in 2007 and feels like it’s his time to shine again.

There’s a lot of money at stake here for a lot of players, which can sometimes bring out the best in them, let’s hope for a terrific week of golf and an exciting finish!

Shiv Kapur Earns European Tour Card For Next Season

Shiv Kapur has earned the right to play in next season’s European Tour after winning the Challenge Tour Grand Final.

He held his nerve on the final day to win the event by four shots to claim one of the fifteen Tour cards available. He shot a closing round of 70 to claim the top prize of 56,650 euros.

The win jumped him up 17 places from 20th to 3rd. It was a very steady final round performance which saw him card 16 pars and 2 birdies following rounds of 69-66 and a 67.

Scotland’s Jamie McLeary who got tied for second also made a big move by going up 18 places from 33rd to 15th which saw him claim the final card on offer.

Europe End 13 Year Wait As They Beat GB&I In France

Europe regained the Seve Trophy for the first time since 2000 as the singles went down to the final match in France.

The side captained by José María Olazábal’s side have lost the last six contests to Great Britain & Ireland, and after leading for the first two days found themselves tied going into the final days singles after Sam Torrance’s team made a great fightback in the foursomes.

It was all very reminiscent of the Ryder Cup in Medinah last year as Francesco Molinari played the anchor role and took victory by beating Chris Wood 3&2.

This event has started to gain some momentum now in the last few years, it would do so even faster if the top players would stop being so precious about their schedules, maybe they will see sense next year.