Tag Archives: golf club

Kaymer Determined To Keep Form Going

Martin Kaymer is teeing it up this week at the  Oceânico Victoria Golf Course in PortugalEurope’s Ryder Cup hero is hoping to build on a pretty good record that he has in the Portugal Masters and must be feeling pretty good about his game and himself right now.

The man from Düsseldorf  has had two top-ten finishes in his last three years  at the event here in Portugal, and managed to find some form at the Ryder Cup before finishing a respectable 34th at the Alfred Dunhill Links in Scotland last weekend.

Major winner Kaymer believes the confidence he gained from holing the most important six footer of his life at the 18th in Medinah, along with his previous form in the event, can bring success this week.

“I played very well here in the past, and at the moment, I feel very happy the way I hit the ball,” said Kaymer.

Tiger To Captain USA In Ryder Cup?

Tiger Woods  has come out and said that being given the chance to captain America in the Ryder Cup would be a “huge honour”  for him and that he would love to have the chance to do so.

The world No.2 who has only been part of one winning Ryder Cup team out of the last seven and was part of the most recent encounter at Medinah when America got thumped in the final day singles.

Woods who was partnered with Steve Stricker, lost all three of his matches  on the Friday and Saturday and only managed a half in the singles on the Sunday when he sportingly gave Francesco Molinari a 5 foot putt to allow Europe to win the Ryder Cup having already retained it after comebacks from Poulter, Rose, Westwood, Garcia and Kaymer.

Woods has a got a very poor record in the Ryder Cup and questions have been asked whether he was really interested in the competition.

Woods said “It would be a huge honour, hopefully it doesn’t happen in the near future as I would like to play in many more Ryder Cups“.

Amazing Grace Claims Title At The Home Of Golf

Branden Grace shot a closing round of 70 to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by two shots at the home of golf. He didn’t make it easy for himself after a dodgy part in the middle of his third round on Saturday, but recovered well to beat off a late charge from Thorbjorn Olesen.

He was four shots clear overnight and five shots clear after birdieing the first hole in the final round. But at one stage he was tied with Olesen walking off the 11th green but hit back with three straight birdies at 12, 13 and 14 which put him clear of the field again in a tournament which he had led from day one after a blistering round of 60 at Kingsbarns.

The young South African kept his nerve and despite a bogey at 17  managed to hold on and win for the fourth time this season.

Grace finished at 22 under par matching last years winning score from Michael Hoey.

I believe there is much more to come from this player, maybe even a major next season?

 

McGinley Set To Be Next Ryder Cup Captain

Europes’s leading players are giving welcomed support to Paul McGinley in his quest to becoming the next Ryder Cup captain. They think he should be the main contender to replace Jose Maria Olazabal as captain for the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and he will have the home advantage this time especially as Europe haven’t lost the cup on home soil since 1993 at The Belfry.

McGinley has been quite successful  in team golf in the past. He’s played in three winning Ryder Cup teams and has holed the winning putt 10 years ago. Rory McIlroy and Peter Hanson have both giving McGinley their backing, who was one of Olazabal’s vice-captains at the magical Medinah comeback.

The Irishman has also captained Great Britain and Ireland to wins in the  Seve Trophy twice, McIlroy said: “He was fantastic there and has also been a fantastic vice-captain.”

McGinley wears his heart on his sleeve and is as passionate about the Ryder Cup as anyone that iv’e known to be involved in the whole set-up in the past. I think he would make a great a captain and he will also have the respect of his players and his peers. Role on 2014!

Els Hoping To Win On British Soil Again

It’s back to British soil this week for  the Open Champion Ernie Els, who hopes a return to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship can reignite his form again.

The ‘big easy’s’emotional victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes this summer has been followed by some lackluster performances, and he has not recorded a top-20 finish since Adam Scott made a mess of the final few holes at The Open to hand Els a fourth Major Championship.

Els is hoping that his return to links golf could bring back the memories of July and spark his golf off again. This week will see him playing three different courses, St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. It’s always a good week in the golfing calender and has produced some unlikely winners in the past.

“It’s great to be back,” he said. “Nice to see the sun shining. I haven’t played links obviously since July, so I’m really looking forward to catching up with friends and hopefully playing good golf.

Catch the action on Sky Sports from tomorrow morning!

Olazábal Joined By Six Team-Mates In Portugal

Ryder Cup captain José Maria Olazábal and two of his fine players – Martin Kaymer and Francesco Molinari  – will add a sense of Ryder Cup fever to the Portugal Masters at Vilamoura next week.

All three will play in the sixth edition of the Portugal Masters at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Course in Vilamoura. Captain marvel Olazábal, took Europe to an incredible 14 ½ – 13 ½  victory over the USA at Medinah Country Club thanks to the players in the final two pairings who managed to match the bravery of the ten players who had finished their games in front of them.

Olazábal will also be joined by the four guys who were behind the scenes with him all week in Medinah, Vice-Captains  Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Paul McGinley will also competing in the €2,250,000 tournament.

All sixteen people plus many more who travelled to Medinah played their part in the astonishing victory which will go down in history forever and I for one am glad it’s every two years as I don’t think I could handle that pressure year on year.

Just in case you missed the wining putt, here it is again!

 

The Ryder Cup Is Underway

Well the Ryder Cup is under way with Graeme McDowell hitting the first tee-shot which went left and just stopped short of trouble. Jim Furyk did pretty much the same as well. It just shows that even the straightest hitters on the tour get affected by nerves.

Ian Poulter was interviewed half an hour before the first group tee-off and he said it was the most excited he’d ever felt and that it doesn’t get any bigger than this. Poulter and Rose are playing against Woods and Stricker and I think he’s right, it doesn’t get much bigger than that.

The first few holes have all been halved as I write this, with players being a little bit cautious which is understandable, but i’m sure it won’t take long to get going.

Three long day’s in front of the TV ahead, I hope you will enjoy as much as I will.

Olazábal Looking At Garcia And McDowell To Bring Cup Home

Well with two days to go until the biggest golf event on the planet takes place in Medinah, José María Olazábal was giving very little away when the team were practising yesterday but Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell seem to be the two main players that his attention has been focused on.

It all fell on the shoulders of the Northern Irishman two years ago when he famously holed the putt that secured the cup for Europe. Olazábal  is obviously looking for, and expecting, another big performance from him.

Garcia didn’t play in the last Ryder Cup, but still played his part as vice-captain and no doubt made a big difference to the team. He battled hard to make the team this year and it was clearly his main aim in the closing part of the season. Make no mistake, he loves this event more than anyone. The Spaniard  has never lost a foursomes match. Playing nine and winning eight with one tie.

I for one am still not sure what pairings he is going to go with, but one thing I do know is that it’s going to be one hell of a contest and will go all the way to the last few singles games on the Sunday. It’s probably on paper one the hardest to call!

 

Snedeker On High As European Players Struggle

Last night saw Brandt Snedeker win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup as he claimed he felt like a lottery winner after his victory in Atlanta earning him a staggering £7million.

The American won by 3 shots over Justin Rose after a nerveless final round – The challenge from world No.1 Rory McIlroy’s and world no.2 Tiger Woods never materialised after both got off to poor starts and could never recover.

Snedeker carded 68 in his final 18 holes to finish on 10-under par.

“It’s a little bit crazy,” said Snedeker.

Luke Donald shot a three under par final round to finish third and get himself into the top 10 of the overall FedEx standings.

Lee Westwood had another bad at the office and finished last in the thirty man field, hopefully he can find form going into Friday morning in The Ryder Cup.

The signs weren’t encouraging for the European players, let’s hope that the had their mind on Medinah already otherwise we could be in trouble!

 

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!