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Westwood Eyeing Up First Win At The Emirates Golf Club

Lee Westwood is confident of having one of his best seasons yet and is sure he can hit the ground running when he tees it up at his first tournament of the year, the Dubai Desert Classic.

The Englishman from Worksop who will be 40 this year has a great record at the Emirates Golf Club, coming second three times and a total of seven top ten’s in 19 appearances, but is still yet to claim the trophy.

Westwood feels that his move to Florida last year has given him the platform to get his game into tip top condition for the 2013 season.

He’s had time to practice his short game out in the Florida sunshine whilst the snow has been falling in the UK and it’s fair to say that his short game has been his Achilles heel in recent years and probably cost him many wins, so it will be interesting to see how much it has improved and whether he can capitalise on his great driving and iron play.

Want to hit as many fairways and greens as Westwood? Why not book a  golf lesson with me and get your game ready for the season ahead.

Tiger Woods Is On A Mission

Tiger Woods goes into tonight’s conclusion of the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open with a  six shot lead.

The weather has got the better of them this week in America where an entire day of golf got wiped due to fog, but the tournament has virtually come to end despite going to an extra day, as Tiger produced the form that he has promised to for a long time now.

If he does go on to win, it will be Woods’ eighth victory on the public course of Torrey Pines that runs along the pacific coast.

I’m sure the other players will be trying to put pressure on Tiger and hope that he slips up a couple of times which he has been prone to in recent years. But this Tiger looks different, I think he’s on a real mission this year to prove to himself and to many people that he still has what it takes to win big tournaments and even major championships.

My money is going to be on Woods getting back to the number one spot and to win a major this year. You can’t keep a player of his quality down for too long, and lets face it, his bad form is as good as a lot of players good form.

Ryder Cup Duo Fight It Out At The Top

Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer, who were team-mates at the miracle comeback in Medinah, are tied at the top of the leaderboard in the Qatar Masters. There are four players sharing the lead in Doha after two rounds, the other players are Marcus Fraser and Ricardo Santos. 

Garcia played a near perfect round of golf shooting a 66 on a calm day in the desert, whilst Kaymer shot a bogey-free 67. Garcia had plenty of chances to make more birdies but the putter deserted him on these occasions.

There are many players within striking distance though, with the leaderboard looking quite bunched at the moment.

At the other end of the leaderboard, Ernie Els was struggling with the putter and struggling to make the cut going into the 16th at one over par, but a birdie and two pars was enough see him through to the weekend.

It’s all set up for a great couple of days of golf, make sure you tune in to watch!

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Bjorn: “Olesen Could Be The Best In The World”

The Great Dane Thomas Bjorn has said that fellow Dane Thorbjorn Olesen could be one of the greatest players in the world.

He’s not wrong, he certainly has got a lot of talent and a lot of determination and guts to go with that ,which can be a leathel combination going forward.

They both teed it up together in the first round of the Qatar Masters and Olesen shot a fantastic four under par 68 to find himself three shots off the lead.

Olesen won his first European Tour title last year at the Sicilian Open, and  has since climbed to 42nd in the world after his second place finish last week in Abu Dhabi.

Keep your eye on this young man, he will be contending a lot this season and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him up there in a major too!

Oosthuizen Wants McIlroy’s Number One Spot

South African major winner Louis Oosthuizen is setting his sights to leapfrog Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to the World Number One position this season.

Oosthuizen is currently fifth in the rankings after a great start to the season after victory at the Volvo Golf Champions two weeks ago. He tees it up this week in Qatar Masters which is his second tournament of the season.

He seems to have a habit of winning his first event of the season as he has now done it three years running. The 30 year old knows there is a big gap in points between him and McIlroy but is in confident form and believes he can have a very good year and can challenge the Northern Irishman to the top spot.

“I want to climb up the World Ranking to Number One if I can, but I always take it slowly and see how my game is,” said Oosthuizen.

He has always been a good solid player, and last year found himself at the business end of many tournaments and majors, but he seems to have taken the next step and will be a tough man to beat if he gets himself into contention this season.

McIlroy and Woods Struggle In Opening Round

It was the opening round of the Abu Dhabi Championship today and it’s Justin Rose and Jamie Donaldson who share the lead while Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy struggled.

McIlroy playing in his first competitive round with his new clubs was all over the place. He was hitting his new driver wayward and even hit a shot out of bounds. He managed to scrape it round in 75 shots ( +3 ). Tiger wasn’t much better, on the first hole he topped a drive which only went 70 yards! Maybe the pressure got to McIlroy a little bit knowing that all eyes were on him after the Nike deal.

It will be interesting to see if McIlroy bounces back straight away or whether he continues to struggle. One thing is for sure…he won’t be down for very long.

 

Montgomerie Backs New European Ryder Cup Captain McGinley

Colin Montgomerie has told Paul McGinley that he has his backing and will support him  in every way he can after the Dubliner was appointed Ryder Cup captain for the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. 

The European Tour committee  confirmed McGinley as captain yesterday evening in Abu Dhabi ahead of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship which starts tomorrow. McGinley had to fight off a few strong contenders to get the position including  Scotland’s Sandy Lyle and Spains Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Montgomerie who has a fantastic record in the Ryder Cup matches and won as captain in 2010 was a late contender for the job after it was announced the Tom Watson would be leading the US team out to battle. But is was McGinley who was successful.

Montgomerie said he is confident that McGinley has the experience after two Ryder Cups as vice-captain.

 

Monty In Late Running To Get Ryder Cup Job Again

World number one Rory McIlroy is giving his full support to Paul McGinley on getting the job as 2014 Ryder Cup captain despite reports claiming Colin Montgomerie will be given the task to lead Europe once again.

The European Tour is set to announce the decision on Tuesday. Whoever gets the nod will be up against a very strong captain in Tom Watson and a very strong American team no doubt. There wasn’t any mention of Monty being involved until recent weeks but he is now favourite to take charge at Gleneagles.

Paul McGinley is Motgomerie’s only real contender now Darren Clarke is out of the running, and if Monty is chosen he will have the chance to win back-to-back Ryder Cups which was last achieved by Tony Jacklin when he won in 1985 & 1987.

Without doubt Paul McGinley would make a great captain and has done a great job as vice captain in recent years but I think Monty will get the job after such a spirited comeback last year and of course his tremendous record as a Ryder Cup player to boot.

 

Retief Back After Five Months Out

The silky smooth swinging South African Retief Goosen is all ready to play his first tournament of the year and his first for five months in South Africa at the Volvo Golf Champions after undergoing major back surgery at the beginning of August.

The two-time major winner, took a long break to fix a “totally disintegrated” disc, but Goosen has recovered faster than doctors thought and is set to make a comeback six weeks ahead of schedule which originally was due to be in mid February.

Goosen said: “I’m very excited about the New Year. Obviously the last three years have been pretty bad. I tried everything last year…injections, loads of physio but in the end I had no choice but to have the operation”.

Hopefully the transition back into golf goes well for Retief, he’s a great player to watch and has been missed by the guys on tour. He has one of the best swings in the world and I hope he makes a full recovery and is back at the top of the leaderboard in no time.

 

Rory Set To Sign £250m Nike Deal

The speculation about Rory McIlroy making a switch to join Nike has become ever more apparent after it was announced that he would not be renewing his sponsorship deal with  the Jumeirah Group. It is believed the the Northern Irishman has earned around £4.4 million in a deal that he signed with the Dubai company 5 years ago.

McIlroy also ended deals with Oakley and Titleist at the end of 2012 leaving him open to sign the speculated £250 million deal over 5 years with Nike.

The official announcement is expected to made in Abu Dhabi on the 14th of January.

Do you think it’s a good move for Rory? Or should he be concentrating on trying to become the best player that’s ever lived rather than trying to earn as much as he possibly can?