Tag Archives: Tiger Woods

Woods Believes McIlroy Could Follow In His Footsteps

Tiger Woods has added his voices to all of the praise which has been heaped on Rory McIlroy since his rise to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Woods became the youngest World Number One in history on June 15, 1997, with McIlroy becoming the second youngest aged 22 when he clinched the top spot last Sunday following his victory at the Honda Classic.

Woods spent a total of 623 weeks at the game’s summit before being knocked off by Lee Westwood; and whilst McIlroy’s reign could be ended as soon as Sunday night if either Luke Donald or Westwood were to prevail, Woods believes the Ulsterman has the potential to achieve as much as he did.

He said: “Rory has fantastic talent. He made a few makes on Sunday, but he recovered every time.  You’re not going to play perfectly all the time – some people don’t realize that. You’re going to make mistakes, which he did, and that’s fine. He recovered, and if you look at it, he missed on the correct side each time. He did all of the things that you need to do to get the job done.

McIlroy and Woods will be world No.1 & 2

If anyone watched The Honda Classic last night then they would have noticed how far Rory McIlroy has come as a player over the last 12 months, and even more impressively after the total collapse on the final day of the masters.

He has gone from strength to strength and maybe should have won more tournaments than he has done but let’s not forget he is only 22!

I think we saw last night what the next couple of years hold for us in the battle for world no.1 and for majors, because Tiger is back on the prowl and he won’t lay down and let the young cub being Rory McIlroy take over easily. Believe me Tiger is back and is hungrier than ever and the thought of him and Rory pairing up on the final of the Masters is a mouth watering prospect for all of us!

McIlroy is an old head on young shoulders and Tiger is a slightly confused head on very experienced shoulders, I for one am really looking forward to the season ahead, could be one of the best for a long time. Let’s not forget about Mickelson too!

Please feel free to leave any comments, I would like to discuss things more about this great game that we all love!

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Westwood and McIlroy have years of rivalry ahead

Lee Westwood is relishing the current rivalry with Rory McIlroy as he prepares to partner Tiger Woods at this weeks Honda Classic.

Westwood who lost to McIlroy in the thrilling and quite brilliant WGC Match Play semi-final on Sunday as they both chased Luke Donald’s world number one spot.

“If I’m going to have a rivalry, I would like it to be with Rory,” said world number three Westwood.

“He’s arguably the hottest player on the planet right now.”

McIlroy, lost to American Hunter Mahan in the Match Play final to remain at number two in the world, but with Donald not playing this week, McIlroy can lead the way as No.1 if he wins at Palm Beach Gardens on Sunday and if he gets there he’s going to be hard to budge.

Owing to the number of world ranking points on offer, Westwood will have to wait until next week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami for his next opportunity to regain the top spot he relinquished to Donald at the PGA Championship at Wentworth last May.

If you want to improve your game and enjoy some great battles on the golf course yourself this year then why not contact me and I can advise you on how to do that!

Tiger responds to Castano’s threat

Tiger Woods made a confident response when told of Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano comment about believing he could beat Woods in the first round at the WGC Match Play in Arizona.

Fernandez-Castano said he “doesn’t think Woods is at his best” and “if I play well I can beat him” in a pre-tournament news conference .

When Tiger  (3 time winner of this event ) was told of these comments he replied: “I feel exactly the same way as he does. I feel he’s beatable, too.”

In his last two tournaments Woods has failed to capitalise on potentially winning positions.

He was beaten comfortably by England’s Robert Rock in Abu Dhabi and at Pebble Beach shot a final round 75 in the company of Phil Mickelson, who surged to victory with a final round 64.

“The past Sunday was awful,” admitted Woods, who knows this week’s 18-hole knockout tournament can generate a surfeit of shock results.

“Any guy can win any match. We’ve seen that over the years,” Woods said. “That’s what makes it interesting for us players – and I’m sure for the fans as well.

“You can see guys go out and play well and go home. You don’t always have the marquee names on the final, but that’s the nature of the format.”

In the event of a McIlroy victory, Donald would need to reach the third round to remain number one.

A Westwood win would take him back to the top of the rankings if Donald does not reach Saturday’s quarter-finals.

 

Cañizares and Whiteford in pole position after day one

A birdie on the final hole took Alejandro Cañizares into a tie for the lead after the first round of the Avantha Masters as the Spaniard looks for his first win since 2006.

He played the course the wrong way round. So it was a birdie on the long ninth which completed a back nine 32 and six under par 66 at DLF Golf & Country Club.

He is tied at the top with Scotland’s Peter Whiteford, with Italy’s Federico Colombo a shot further back in third.

Whiteford was only one under par at the turn, but the 31 year old – still chasing his first European Tour title – birdied four in a row from the tenth.

Cañizares began with birdies at the 11th and 15th, before gaining four shots in six holes immediately after the turn.

A first bogey of the day came at the seventh, but his lengthy closing birdie putt secured a share of the lead on a tightly-packed leaderboard.

A quick summary of the desert swing

Well the desert swing is over and I think you’ll agree that we saw some great golf!

We saw Robert Rock fight off the challenge of Tiger Woods on the final day and establish himself as a Ryder Cup contender and who knows maybe a major contender?

We saw Paul Lawrie win the Qatar Masters for the second time which saw him back in the world’s top 50 again after a long absence and we’ll also see him fighting for a Ryder Cup spot I believe.

And then we see the young impressive Spaniard Cabrera-Bello win the Dubai Desert Classic beating off Westwood, Kaymer and McIlroy on the final day after shooting a 63 on day one!

Golf in the deserts looks to be a wonderful thing, you can see a lot of the players enjoy playing out there and the condition of the golf courses is always immaculate and the greens look pure. Hopefully one day I will get to play out there.

The hospitality and the hotels look superb as well!

It’s a mild day today so I hope you will be practising at some point, and remember…the good weather and The Masters are just around the corner now. 🙂

 

Tiger struggles as Mickelson shines at Pebble Beach

Phil Mickelson shot an impressive eight-under-par 64 and came from six shots behind to win the Pebble Beach Pro-Am by three shots on 16 under par.

Mickelson hit three birdies and an eagle in his first six holes to wipe out the overnight lead of Charlie Wi who got off to the worst possible start by four putting the first hole and found himself playing catch up early on.

Wi closed with three birdies to finish with a 72 to end second on 15 under. Just a shame Sky Sports didn’t want to show Wi finish the the 18th hole, especially as if he had holed his second shot he would have tied the lead!!

Tiger Woods bogeyed the final three holes on the front nine on his way to a 75 as he dropped back to eight under. Tiger never really got going, he missed four or five really short putts which is unlike Tiger. He seems to be starting tournaments well but can’t seem to finish them off like he used to.

“It just feels great to win this tournament,” Mickelson, 41, said.

“It’s a special place for me, Pebble Beach, and to have a win here, where my grandfather caddied, feels awesome.

My Tips For The Four Majors This Year

Well golfers, this year is flying already and it’s great to see so many of you braving the cold weather and getting down to the range to hone your skills for the coming season.

It’s not the same for the tour players of course, as they are out in the desert sunning themselves up and only having to play 54 holes to win a tournament and a shed load of money! lol. Not that I’m bitter.

The players will have it in the back of their mind that the first major of the year is fast approaching and will be preparing harder than ever to qualify for The Masters if they haven’t done so already.

I’m sure some of you will be having a bet on one, if not all four major’s? So if your struggling to pick someone who you think has a chance of winning then have a look at my picks and see the top 4 players I think can win in all four majors. Good luck and enjoy watching them!

The Masters –  Tiger Woods                                                                                                                                            Steve Stricker                                                                                                                                          Luke Donald                                                                                                                                            Rory McIlroy

The US Open –  Jason Day                                                                                                                                                 Webb Simpson                                                                                                                                       Steve Stricker                                                                                                                                          Sergio Garcia

The Open –   Sergio Gacria                                                                                                                                          M. Mannasero                                                                                                                                        Rory McIlroy                                                                                                                                          Lee Westwood

The US PGA – Sergio Garcia                                                                                                                                           Luke Donald                                                                                                                                             Bubba Watson                                                                                                                                         Ricky Fowler

 

Woods’ party spoiled as Rock is as solid as

Robert Rock kept at bay 14-time Major winner Tiger Woods and US Open Champion Rory McIlroy at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship to claim a sensational victory.

Robert Rock was 117th in the Official World Golf Ranking coming into this week, Rock said after his one stroke triumph over McIlroy: “I really can’t believe I have done that today.”

Rock shot a two under par 70 to finish 13 under, Woods scrambled his way to a 72 and instead of winning for a second successive time on the comeback trail had to settle for a share of third place with Graeme McDowell and Thomas Björn.

“I was just a touch off,” said the former World Number One, who hit only one fairway on the back nine and only six greens in regulation all day.

McIlroy  runner-up for the second year running, only for the incident when he brushed sand away just off the green midway through his second round, leading to a costly two shot penalty, which he will argue cost him the tournament.

If this is the sign of things to come in the golfing year ahead then I for one am excited!

If you’re excited by what you’ve seen this week on television and want to learn to play golf or want to improve your golf then contact me here and I will be more than happy to help

McIlroy blunder costs him the lead

Thorbjørn Olesen overtook round one leader Rory McIlroy as the Northern Irishman incurred a two stroke penalty at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

Just off the green in two, McIlroy made the mistake of brushing away sand that was not on the putting surface and the penalty was imposed. ( You can brush away sand that is on the green but not off it. )

Joint overnight leader with Swede Robert Karlsson, the US Open Champion had come back from a bad start with three birdies when his rules error came on the ninth hole.

The World Number Three also had a double bogey on the third and did well to avoid another on the 11th, but six birdies kept him in the chase for the title going into the weekend.