Golf Season 2010

Feckin ell, well done McDowell. Been knocking on the door at the majors for 2 or 3 years now, but still I didn't see that one coming. Feckin stayed up to watch it, I'm knackerd. And yet another win in the US for the Brits. You can see the shift where the top Europeans are playing far more frequently in the US and starting to dominate proceedings. The Yanks will not be happy.
 
brewlio said:
GMac becomes the first European to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970. Well done that man.
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Also, when was the last time (if ever) five Brits have won on the US Tour in the same season: Rose, Westwood, Poulter, McDowell, Mcllroy.

Still plenty of time for the likes of Donald and Casey to join that list.
 
Another British win on teh US tour today. Well done Justin Rose.
 
Barclays Scottish Open: Edoardo Molinari clinches first Tour title at Loch Lomond
Jul 12 2010

EDOARDO MOLINARI was the toast of Loch Lomond after winning his first European Tour title at the Barclays Scottish Open.

But the Italian was not the only one celebrating on the Bonnie Banks as runner-up Darren Clarke booked a ticket for this week's Open Championship at St Andrews. And the home fans also had reason to roar as a brilliant final-round 68 from Scot Stephen Gallacher earned him a fourth-placed finish.

Molinari, though, was Laird of the Loch after a final round 74 in terrible conditions earned him a s500,000 cheque. As closest overnight challenger Clarke faltered, the 29-year-old from Turin kept his cool to claim victory by three shots.

There was a scare on the 15th when he found the scrub to chalk up a double bogey but recovered his composure to par the last three holes and seal success.

Although Molinari won a World Cup with brother Francesco last autumn, this was his first individual triumph at the top table.

He said: "When we teed off and it was so windy I didn't think I had a chance against Darren as he is so good in those conditions."

Molinari admitted he rode his luck during that 15thhole scare when he had to take a penalty drop after his wayward push into trouble.

He said: "Last year I lost a title in Denmark when I was three ahead at the 17th and hit into a bad lie, took a triple bogey and lost by one."

Molinari's win also put him into the reckoning for October's Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. Francesco is fifth in the European qualifying table but Edoardo's victory lifted him into sixth place on the world ranking table that will provide the first four members of the team.

He is now only 11 points behind Ian Poulter in fourth spot and there is a prospect of two brothers playing alongside each other in the event for the first time.

Raphael Jacquelin of France was third while Gallacher was joint fourth with Swede Peter Hedblom and Francesco.


A very impressive win by the Italian on a very tough course. I think he'll be a revelation in the Ryder Cup. Great stuff to see Darren Clarke getting his invite to the Open. Golf misses the big lad.
 
Draw made for Open
Monday, 12 July 2010 15:27
Graeme McDowell, the new US Open champion, will play with American Jim Furyk and Australian Geoff Ogilvy in the first two rounds of the Open Championship at St Andrews.

McDowell's round gets underway at 1.53pm on the opening day.

Justin Rose, winner of two of his last three tournaments in America, will partner world number one Tiger Woods.

Rose, now back up to 16th in the world rankings, has been drawn with Woods and Colombian Camilo Villegas. They tee-off at 9.09am on Thursday and 2.20pm on Friday.

It will not be the first time they have been drawn together in the event.

Eight years ago at Muirfield the British golfer, only 21 at the time, outscored Woods 68 to 70 in the first round, but followed it up with only a 75 to the American's 68.

Woods was the reigning Masters and US Open champion at the time, but his bid for golf's first-ever Grand Slam of all four majors in one season was effectively ended by an 81 in Saturday storms.

This time Woods goes looking for a third successive victory at the home of golf, having won by eight strokes in 2000 and five in 2005, but it is also his first appearance in Britain since his extra-marital affairs sent him into hiding and then into therapy at the end of last year.

Since his return the 34-year-old has finished fourth in both the Masters and US Open, but his form has been as unpredictable as the weather as he tries to move on from all the revelations about his serial adultery.

Rose, still remembered for his fourth place finish at Royal Birkdale as a 17-year-old amateur in 1998, was European number one three seasons ago and made his Ryder Cup debut the following September.

But after suffering a mini-slump it is only in the past six weeks that he has burst back to prominence.

He won the Memorial tournament in Ohio and after blowing a lead on the final day of the Travelers Championship three weeks ago he came straight back and lifted the AT&T National title.

Both victories came with Woods in the field and it was only after the second of them that he secured his place in The Open.

This will be the 29-year-old first major of the year, having failed to qualify for The Masters and US Open, and now he gets to play on centre stage alongside Woods.

It will be a rather different atmosphere for Paul Lawrie, Britain's last winner of the Claret Jug.

He, perhaps rather surprisingly given he will be involved in the four-hole Champions Challenge to mark the 150th anniversary of the first Open late on Wednesday, will hit the opening drive of the tournament - at 6.30am on Thursday.

Current Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who has another chance to topple Woods as world number one this week, begins his challenge at 2.20pm in the company of Colin Montgomerie and Retief Goosen.

Montgomerie, Europe's Ryder Cup captain and runner-up to Woods in 2005, shot a course record 62 in qualifying at Sunningdale New a month ago to continue his run of playing in every Open since his debut at St Andrews in 1990.

Teeing off just behind Woods and Rose will be 60-year-old Tom Watson, loser of a play-off to Stewart Cink at Turnberry last year after incredibly leading by one with one to play.

Five-time champion Watson, now back at the course where he was second to Seve Ballesteros in 1984, partners twice winner Padraig Harrington and 18-year-old Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa.

Cink starts his defence of the trophy alongside Ian Poulter and Ernie Els at 8.42am.


Tee-off times in the first two rounds of The 150th Open Championship, St Andrews Old Course, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland

Starting at hole 1
0630 & 1141 Thomas Levet (Fra), Paul Lawrie, Steve Marino (USA)
0641 & 1152 Loren Roberts (USA), Mathew Goggin (Aus), Marcel Siem (Ger)
0652 & 1203 Robert Rock, John Senden (Aus), Bill Haas (USA)
0703 & 1214 Jason Dufner (USA), Simon Dyson, Soren Hansen (Den)
0714 & 1225 Todd Hamilton (USA), Ryuichi Oda (Jpn), Alexander Noren (Swe)
0725 & 1236 Andrew Coltart, John Daly (USA), Seung-yul Noh (Kor)
0736 & 1247 Nick Faldo, Martin Laird, Soren Kjeldsen (Den)
0747 & 1258 David Duval (USA), Ross McGowan, Trevor Immelman (Rsa)
0758 & 1309 Ryan Moore (USA), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
0809 & 1320 Robert Allenby (Aus), Nick Watney (USA), Oliver Wilson
0820 & 1331 Lucas Glover (USA), Rory McIlroy, Tim Clark (Rsa)
0831 & 1342 Thomas Bjorn (Den), Hunter Mahan (USA), Shunsuke Sonoda (Jpn)
0842 & 1353 Ian Poulter, Ernie Els (Rsa), Stewart Cink (USA)
0858 & 1409 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Sean O'Hair (USA), Ross Fisher
0909 & 1420 Tiger Woods (USA), Justin Rose, Camilo Villegas (Col)
0920 & 1431 Padraig Harrington, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Tom Watson (USA)
0931 & 1442 Jin Jeong (Kor), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Matt Kuchar (USA)
0942 & 1453 Jason Day (Aus), Chris Wood, Kenny Perry (USA)
0953 & 1504 Darren Clarke, Mike Weir (Can), Davis Love III
1004 & 1515 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), J.B. Holmes (USA)
1015 & 1526 Mark O'Meara (USA), Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Stephen Gallacher
1026 & 1537 Michael Sim (Aus), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Gregory Havret (Fra)
1037 & 1548 Zane Scotland, Tom Pernice Jnr. (USA), Jamie Abbott
1048 & 1559 Bo Van Pelt (USA), Phillip Archer, Ewan Porter (Aus)
1059 & 1610 Cameron Percy (Aus), Tano Goya (Arg), Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor)
1110 & 1621 Steven Tiley, Mark F Haastrup (Den), Tom Whitehouse
1141 & 0630 Peter Senior (Aus), Mark Calcavecchia, Anders Hansen (Den)
1152 & 0641 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Jeff Overton (USA), Colm Moriarty
1203 & 0652 Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Hirofumi Miyase (Jpn), Shane Lowry
1214 & 0703 Kevin Na (USA), Tom Lehman (USA), Marc Leishman (Aus)
1225 & 0714 Sandy Lyle, Bradley Dredge, Koumei Oda (Jpn)
1236 & 0725 Vijay Singh (Fij), Simon Khan, Scott Verplank (USA)
1247 & 0736 Y.E. Yang (Kor), Luke Donald, Ricky Barnes (USA)
1258 & 0747 Toru Taniguchi (Jpn), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Dustin Johnson (USA)
1309 & 0758 Jerry Kelly (USA), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn)
1320 & 0809 Peter Hanson (Swe), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Ben Curtis (USA)
1331 & 0820 Paul Casey, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Rickie Fowler (USA)
1342 & 0831 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Lee Westwood, Adam Scott (Aus)
1353 & 0842 Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk (USA), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)
1409 & 0858 Steve Stricker (USA), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn), Sergio Garcia (Spa)
1420 & 0909 Colin Montgomerie, Phil Mickelson (USA), Retief Goosen (Rsa)
1431 & 0920 Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Rhys Davies, Justin Leonard (USA)
1442 & 0931 Zach Johnson (USA), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Eric Chun (Kor)
1453 & 0942 K J Choi (Kor), Bubba Watson (USA), Victor Dubuisson (Fra)
1504 & 0953 Ben Crane (USA), Richard S Johnson (Swe), Thomas Aiken (Rsa)
1515 & 1004 Jason Bohn (USA), Kurt Barnes (Aus), Laurie Canter
1526 & 1015 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Heath Slocum (USA)
1537 & 1026 Paul Streeter, Brian Gay (USA), Gareth Maybin
1548 & 1037 Paul Goydos (USA), Tim Petrovic (USA), Jean Hugo (Rsa)
1559 & 1048 Gary Clark, D.A. Points (USA), Danny Chia (Mal)
1610 & 1059 Glen Day (USA), Josh Cunliffe (Rsa), Tyrrell Hatton
1621 & 1110 Jae-bum Park (Kor), George McNeill (USA), Simon Edwards (USA)
 
Anyone else going to be watching the Open this weekend? Really looking forward to it, as I was the Champion's event today till it was canceled due to bad weather... Hope it sorts itself out for the weekend.
 
So who are you all backing for the Open?
 
McIlroy off to a flier. Although it's only the first round, I hope he doesn't choke like Westwood usually does...
 
As a nominal golf fan, I was surprised and impressed to read that there are currently five English players in the world's top 10 - Rose, Westwood, Poulter, Casey and Donald. That's surely unprecedented for England, or even the UK, in any major sport.
 
I've laid McIllroy ignoring my No.1 rule of not betting on things you know feck all about.
 
Great stuff my McIlroy. If anything, he should have got a 61. Missed two easy putts for birdies.
 
Name Changed said:
Great stuff my McIlroy. If anything, he should have got a 61. Missed two easy putts for birdies.
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Ah comeon give the lad a break. He shot a course record and equaled the record for a round at any major championship ever. Is all you've got to say that he missed 2 easy putts after that amazing round. You must be some player!!
 
irwinwastheking said:
Ah comeon give the lad a break. He shot a course record and equaled the record for a round at any major championship ever. Is all you've got to say that he missed 2 easy putts after that amazing round. You must be some player!!
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I said great stuff sure. To be fair, he must have been kicking himself for missing the birdie on the 17th, especially considering how well he was putting.
 
If you guys want to have some feel for how the old course feels like, there is a a free game that allows you to play st Andrews and it feels so real.
World Golf Tour. Register and start playing.
 
I think McElelroy will choke on the weekend, St. Andrews is such a novice course when the weather is good.
 
Alex said:
I think McElelroy will choke on the weekend, St. Andrews is such a novice course when the weather is good.
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He has never had worse than a 67 at St. Andrew's and his links play is fantastic.

I predict that he won't score worse than a 70 in any round, which will set a target of -15 or better. If someone beats that, then fair play.
 
Name Changed said:
He has never had worse than a 67 at St. Andrew's and his links play is fantastic.

I predict that he won't score worse than a 70 in any round, which will set a target of -15 or better. If someone beats that, then fair play.
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:lol:
 
Life and times of Young Tom Morris, the first superstar of golf.

This adaptation of a new book, Tom Morris of St Andrews, The Colossus of Golf (Birlinn, £25), tells the remarkable story of how a prodigy turned golf into a spectator sport for the masses and himself into a lord of the links

Tommy Morris had his first recorded outing at the Perth Open Tournament in April, 1864. He was 12 years old and arrived with his father intent upon playing in the big event. The committee, however, considered that "his close connection with the game paternally" rendered him ineligible to play in the amateur part of the tournament; not being a professional either, he was debarred from taking part at all. It is hardly surprising that he was refused entry to the professional competition. Win or lose, the presence of a 12-year-old in the field could be an embarrassment to the professionals and would hardly add stature to the event.

Tom Morris won after a play-off with Willie Park (Tom was the game's most eminent player and Park his biggest rival, from the Musselburgh links), but in spite of being barred, it was the young Tommy who really stole the show. The organisers were sympathetic to Tommy's exclusion and they set up a match between him and William Greig, who was considered at the time to be the best boy player, at Perth. Tommy at once gave notice of the skill and style that was shortly to outclass all other players of his day and propel him to the very summit of golf. A contemporary newspaper reported:

"But perhaps the most interesting match of the day was between Master Morris, son of the redoubtable 'Tom', and Master William Greig of, as it seems, Perth juvenile golfing celebrity. They really are wonderful players, for their years, both of them. We had no idea that very-young-Perth could produce so proficient a golfer as Mr Greig. He played with astonishing neatness and precision, but the honours of the day were in store for his competitor. Master Morris seems to have been both born and bred to golf. He has been cast in the very mould of a golfer and plays with all the steadiness and certainty in embryo of his father."

The local press devoted more space to Tommy's exploits than to the tournament proper, and much was subsequently written about his performance. A silver collection was raised from the crowd that followed the boys which, as the newspaper reported, "exceeded the numbers following the principal players".

In that first public appearance, Tommy was already conveying his infectious excitement to the game and his dash and vigour made him a spectacle. It was something he would learn to use to best advantage in the years to come for he, more than anyone, was responsible for capturing the imagination of the public and turning golf into a popular spectator sport.

If Tommy ever gave any thought to an occupation outside golf it did not last long. His roots and his life were inextricably linked with golf and his flowering in the game was as inevitable as summer following spring. In 1866 Tommy really started to bloom.

The gentlemen of the Royal and Ancient were noticing his play at St Andrews and, although they did not yet invite him to partner them in matches, it was thought that he brought a new style of play to the game. (The wealthy members, of social high standing, of the famous club at St Andrews would call upon the services of professionals as foursomes partners).

The graceful sweep or swing of the club that the early writers so much admired was not something that Tommy pretended to. He swung the club with a flourish and a dash, the like of which had not been seen before. The Rev W Proudfoot of St Andrews wrote: "Tommy was the embodiment of masterful energy. Every muscle of his well-knit frame seemed summoned into service. He stood well back from the ball, and with dashing, pressing, forceful style of driving, which seldom failed, sent it whizzing on its far and sure flight."

His swing was quick and wristy. He hit the ball hard and when he needed it to go further he hit it harder. It was said that he could break a shaft with the force of his preliminary waggle on addressing the ball. He accepted no conventions and created a variety of shots hitherto unknown. The rut iron, a club with a very small, lofted head that most players carried to extricate the ball from ruts or rabbit scrapes, he used to great effect, floating the ball up to the flag in a wide variety of approach strokes.

Tommy carried two putters and used them both differently. On a good surface he putted with a wooden-headed putter that had a longish shaft with which he was described as "invincible", while on poorer greens he used an iron-headed driving club with a little loft on it and with a very short shaft. He had, in fact, invented the "jigger", the pitch-and-run approach shot that would become popular on all links courses for years to come.

As well as a new range of shots, Tommy also brought a fresh attitude to the game and it was not one that was altogether appreciated by his elders and betters: an attitude that might be described as self-confidence bordering on arrogance. It was also hinted at the time that Tommy had a disrespectful attitude, with a touch of the mercenary about him, and that he could be altogether too familiar.

Unlike his father, Tommy not only welcomed challenges but also issued them. He was not prepared to leave the rewards of his play to the whims of benefactors (the wealthy members and gamblers who often put up stakes and bets for challenge matches) and often played and partnered for an agreed sum. The pots and spin-offs from the bets were secondary. He simply revolutionised the game as it then was, and every professional golfer who followed after him benefited.

Tommy's headgear marked the stages in his life. He went from being a boy wearing the traditional round cheesecutter cap with a shiny polished leather peak to a youth with a felt cap, until he arrived at manhood with his defining blue Glengarry bonnet.

There can be little doubt that Tommy flamboyantly played to the crowd. As his headgear changed so did his attire, imitating the dandy of the day with Beau Brummell lapels and waistcoat piping. His swing, always fast, took on a flourish that "near spun him off his feet", and sent the Glengarry flying from his head, to be returned to him from a scramble of admirers.

But if his game was flashy it was also effective. In 1866, in his first appearance in the Open, Tommy was a long way down the field, nine strokes behind his father and far behind winner Willie Park. A year later Tom had his last victory for the Belt (the prize that preceded the Claret Jug), with Tommy five strokes away, placed fourth. Tommy was learning fast. If Tom Morris and Willie Park were not aware then, it would not be long before they realised that their period of supremacy was drawing to an end.

It is not difficult to explain Tommy's ascent. Maturity and increasing physical strength, the ability to know when, and when not, to take risks, how to make strokes and how to save them, turned Tommy into the complete golfer. But development of the competitive edge was also important.

It is from the reminiscences of Bob Ferguson, a contemporary rival (and winner of three Open Championships in the 1880s), partner and admirer of Tommy Morris, that we have the best overall account of Tommy's play, particularly his devastating putting. Ferguson, who regarded his rival with great affection and held him in some esteem, insisted that Tommy was the greatest player in the world and the finest golfer he ever played against. After suffering a heavy defeat at Luffness, Ferguson remarked that he had never seen golf played like it. "Time and time again," he said, "Tommy would make his putt and watch the ball progress towards the hole with the words to his caddie, 'Pick it out the hole, laddie'."

In 1868 Tommy won his first Champion's Belt with the phenomenal score of 154, eight strokes better than the previous best. His father took second place, three strokes adrift. The outcome of this Championship is remarkable: for the first, and almost certainly last time, a son and his father took first and second places respectively in the Open. Tommy was 17 and his father 47.

Tommy won the Belt again in 1869 with a score of 157, 11 strokes ahead of Bob Kirk in second place. The field at Prestwick was small, perhaps due to the acceptance of Tommy's invincibility. The excitement was undoubtedly about Tommy's hole-in-one in the first round at the 8th, the 166-yard Station Hole. It was the first recorded in the Open Championship. Tommy was breaking new ground in every respect.

The 1870 competition for the Belt was Tommy's greatest challenge, because a third straight victory would give him the trophy outright. He prepared well, travelling the length and breadth of the country playing competitive golf, and his progress was extensively covered in the press. He went down to Westward Ho! in Devon, then to London, at Blackheath. On his way north, he went to the Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake, the course that his uncle, George, had laid out and his cousin, Jack, had been left to look after. When, in May, he went round the St Andrews Links in 77, equalling Jamie Anderson's course record, his supremacy was widely noted.

It is the consideration of the course, and the equipment, that confounds and amazes. The heads of the wooden clubs were, by today's standards, not at all conducive to sending the ball a long way and the irons had no markings on the face, so backspin was virtually impossible. The performance of hand-hammered gutta balls was substantially less than the revolutionary rubber-cored ball introduced at the start of the 20th century, and a world away from today's high-technology balls.

Even with the availability of the horse-drawn mower, the fairways were little more than rough tracks of grass interspersed with whin bushes on both sides. Bunkers were naturally sandy scrapes, or simply huge sand dunes, pitted with rabbit holes, completely unkempt and untended in any way. The greens were in general no better than today's fairways and would be derided by today's golfers. Playing the St Andrews course in 77 strokes in 1870 is an achievement probably unsurpassed in the game.

It is clear from newspaper accounts that Tommy Morris had achieved sporting celebrity status. His travels and the coverage he was attracting were responsible for the increase in the size of the 1870 field for the Champion's Belt. Prestwick considered him a favourite son (he had spent his early life there when Tom was in charge of the Prestwick links) and equally clear that Tommy relished his popularity there.

The crowd that flocked to see the competition was huge, the like of which would not be seen again for many years. Complaints about the spectators were many and vociferous, the newspapers opining that the majority were "clearly completely new to the sport" and "decidedly unruly in most part". It did not affect Tommy in the slightest. His first round of 12 holes in 47 strokes, taking into account the clubs, the gutta ball and the rudimentary greenkeeping of the day, is arguably the greatest ever played.

Tommy's score was never bettered for as long as the gutta ball was in use. If his play at many of the holes merits a eulogy, then his three at the opening hole, a mighty 510 yards generally held to be a par six, with hickory clubs and a gutta ball, deserves an anthem. Even walking the links as they are today, one is left awe-struck.

Tommy built on his first-round lead for a total of 149 to win by 12 strokes, leaving the press of the day, as well as the rest of the field, stunned. Tommy had won the Challenge Belt for the last time; his third successive win made the Belt his personal property, and it would come to be replaced by the Claret Jug that is still played for today.

The celebrations in Prestwick continued in St Andrews. When he returned there, his friends carried Tommy shoulder high from the train, all the way up the links and into Mr Leslie's Golf Inn, where an enthusiastic reception awaited them.

The next time such a crowd would turn out in honour of Tommy Morris, it was for his funeral.
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Nice extract to read this for Golf fans.
 
Great performance from Louis Oosthuizen. Definitely one to watch for the future and it's good to know that we have some promising golfers coming out of South Africa.
 
After such a great performance for 4 days, it was a shame he did such a nervous bumbling speech. Charl Schwartzl really needs to get them teeth sorted out! Louis' missus would get it though, for fun.
 
Stretch said:
Great performance from Louis Oosthuizen. Definitely one to watch for the future and it's good to know that we have some promising golfers coming out of South Africa.
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He came through the Ernie Els acadamy by all accounts. Might be a few more to follow him.
 
Stretch said:
Great performance from Louis Oosthuizen. Definitely one to watch for the future and it's good to know that we have some promising golfers coming out of South Africa.
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minor thing but how do the Afrikaaners pronounce his last name?
the TV guys here in the US were saying Oost-hay-zen.
 
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