WGC Accenture Match-Play, Matt Kuchar Wins

Matt Kuchar / Stan Bedz / PGA Tour

Matt Kuchar won the WGC Accenture Match-Play tournament at The Golf Course at Dove Mountain, beating the defending Champion Hunter Mahan, 2&1.

Matt spoke the incredible feeling contesting this event;

“It seems like each hole there’s so much momentum riding and so much pressure on every hole. To come out on top after six matches of playing the top 64 guys in the world, it’s an incredible feeling.”

There was never a dull moment playing the back nine, with only two holes being halved, and both those were with birdies. But the  match was effectively ended when Hunter Mahan mis-cued from a tough lie in the bunker to a bush in the desert, and it then took him four shots to reach the 17th green. Kuchar wound up winning, 2 and 1, when Hunter removed the stocking cap he used to fight the cold desert air and conceded Kuchar a short birdie putt.

Hunter Mahan, in the bunker on 17. / Carroll/Getty Images

Hunter admitted the first nine was his undoing;

“Just had a bad stretch against Matt on the front nine there that put me just a little bit too far behind.”

Aussie Jason Day beat Ian Poulter of England for the consolation prize, 1 up. Jason said the pair of them had exchanged some light-hearted banter during the match;

“I won three holes straight, and we were kind of laughing and giggling out there for the first nine, and once we turned the corner on 10, everything got real serious. He obviously made a couple of good clutch pars on 16 and 17.”

 

 

 

WGC Accenture Match-Play, Semi’s Finalised

Jason Day Vs Hunter Mahan  Matt Kuchar Vs Ian Poulter / Getty Images

WGC Accenture Match-Play semi’s have been decided, Jason Day will play Hunter Mahan and Matt Kuchar will face Ian Poulter at The Golf Course on Dove Mountain, for a place in the final.

Jason Day beat off the challenge of Graeme McDowell, while Hunter Mahan had a tough task in ousting Webb Simpson.

Matt Kuchar took care of Robert Garrigus and Ian Poulter had a real old tussle with Steve Stricker.

Ian took control of the momentum of the match when he sunk a 40ft putt on the third hole, Steve Stricker laughed when the putt rolled in, but was not laughing when his own four foot birdie attempt missed and he lost the hole. Ian joked about the putt, which was reminiscent of his Ryder Cup putt against Phil Mickleson;

“It was 40 feet, left-to-right, right-to-left, right-to-left again, hopefully slowing down on the ridge, taking a left-hand turn, down the slope and then chucking a little left to right at the end to drop it, it was really nice.”

Ian was three up with three holes remaining when he missed the green to the right. Steve came up short and chipped to about three feet. While Ian was studying his chip to the green, a fan standing near Ian said;

“Pick it up.”  so Steve did just that.

Ian, the highest remaining seed left in the tournament, said of the incident;

“I think it was close enough, anyway, but for a split second, it was a little off-putting, and I guess I had to hole a 12-footer to finish the match.”

The semi’s tomorrow look like being enthralling contests, and I look forward to them.

 

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Brandt Snedeker and Ted Potter Jnr tied at the top.

Brandt Snedeker / Gross / Getty Images.

Brandt Snedeker and Ted Potter Jnr are tied at the top of the leaderboard at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Both players are at -8 under par for the tournament. Brandt shot a -4 under par 68 at Spyglass Hill, while Ted Potter Jnr had a -3 under par at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club course.

Brandt  has played so well this year that he is leading the FedEx Cup standings without having won, Brandt said of his situation;

” Keep running into guys who are or who are going to be in the Hall of Fame. That’s how you win out here, you keep putting yourself in position, and the more times you do, the more success you’re going to have. I’m doing a better job this week of making my way around the golf courses and not putting myself in bad spots and getting out of tough situations very quickly.”

Ted seems to think it is all about the bounce of the ball, sometimes good, sometimes bad;

“It’s just a funny game like that, some weeks you play really well and you get the right kicks and everything goes well. And then there are weeks you can still hit the ball well and get the bad kicks.”

Hunter Mahan, the first round leader lost a stroke on the spongy greens, he went to knock in a short bogey putt on the par-3 seventh hole when the ball moved on him.

“It just rolled over in like a heel print or something, I didn’t feel like I moved it. I didn’t feel like I had anything much to do with it moving. It’s just a rub of the green, so had to go back and take a penalty. That was frustrating, because I was hitting it so good.”

Phil Mickelson didn’t feel out of contention although he was back tied for 39th place, he is six shots behind, the same as last year when he went on to win;

“I love Pebble Beach. I’ve played well there and I’m only one good round away. If I can shoot something in the mid-60s, I’ll be right there for Sunday’s round, which is what I care about.”

AT&T Pebble Beach. Russell Knox and Hunter Mahan Lead.

AT&T have a mission to stage the world’s premier PGA TOUR pro-am that brings the community together with global leaders in sports, entertainment and industry to raise Charitable funds which create opportunities for success. Some of the professionals and stars who are competing this week;

Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson, Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker, Hunter Mahan, David Duval, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir and celebrities and sports stars: Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Cain, Justin Verlander, Carson Daly, Josh Duhamel, Andy Garcia, Billy Murray, Chris O’Donnell, Ray Romano, Tony Romo, Andy Roddick.

Hunter Mahan / Getty Images

Hunter Mahan and Russell Knox lead the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with first round scores of -6 under par. Hunter on the Pebble Beach course with a round of 64, and Russell with a 66 at the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula.

Hunter really enjoyed his day, especially when the forecast mid-day rain did not appear;

” I had a good time with my partner, the pace was great, the weather was good.I think the most interesting thing was we had perfect weather when it was supposed to rain at noon. We were all expecting rain. The bag probably weighs 100 pounds right now.”

Russell said he is full of confidence, and playing well, but is limited in his appearances because he finished outside of the top 125 on his rookie year;

“I came in here with a lot of confidence because I feel like I’ve been playing very well. Just haven’t had the chance to play. It was nice to get off to a good start.”

Seung-Yul Noh, playing at Spy Glass Hill carded a  -5 under par round of 67, which could have been even better without the two bogey’s on the last two holes. He was still pleased with his overall score;

“Still a good score. I’m really happy with that.”

Also at 5 under were Scott Langley a 65 at Monterey Peninsula, he is the first graduate of The First Tee program to make it to the PGA TOUR.  Matt Every is also at -5 under par, he sadly had a bogey on his final hole at Pebble Beach for a 67.

This is a complicated tournament, with its three courses and mixed with Professional players and Celebrity amateurs, so anything can happen, especially when you have the caliber of Phil Mickleson and Lee Westwood in the field,

Wind the Winner at Kapalua

 

The Hyundai Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course on Maui. Hawaii was forced to cancel the first round on Saturday, due to high winds.  PGA TOUR officials hope to get in 36 holes Sunday, and play 18 on Monday’s final day, declaring a champion after 54 holes.

Slugger White, the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules and operations explained;

“We got balls rolling all over the green, so we have canceled play for the day.”

It was the same story on Friday, the opening round was wiped out with the first group through eight holes. Three groups did not tee off after an official saw Carl Pettersson’s 40-foot putt on the second green get blown 30 feet past the hole and off the green.

Slugger added;

” Forecast for tomorrow is a little better, 15- to 25-mph with gusts, maybe, to 30. A little less moisture, more like pineapple showers than these downpours that we have had.”

Brandt Snedeker has not played an official shot for 2013, he is playing in the final group alongside defending champion Steve Stricker ,and they did not tee off Friday. Brandt said he was happy with the officials’ decision;

“Yeah, they did do the right thing, it’s just a little too windy out there for us to play.  If the course wasn’t so exposed, it wouldn’t be a problem, but you have a lot of greens exposed to 40-mile-an-hour wind gusts. It’s tough to make that call, they did the right thing. We had to try to play today if we wanted to try to get 72 holes in. Unfortunately a short day, but hopefully get out tomorrow and get some golf.”

Hunter Mahan reported that the 30 players were trying to take the delays in stride;

“It’s difficult, we are in such a cool place and we can’t really do much. It’s strange when you go down the road 10 minutes or 15, 20 minutes and it’s great, it looks beautiful over there but for some reason right here, it’s tough. It’s difficult to figure out if you want to go hit balls right now or wait till later or what you want to do. I think we all are trying to figure out what to do and what’s the best plan for us to get ready for the next two days or three days.”

I can sympathize with those guys, I understand what it is like with those winds. Here at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Course, in New Zealand, the winds have been blowing pretty constantly for a couple of months, playing to your handicap recently has been a rarity.

Kapalua / Getty Images

US PGA Tiger Woods World Challenge, Nick Watney Leads

Nick Watney leads the US PGA Tiger Woods World Challenge, presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Sherwood Country Club, Thousand Oaks  in California. Nick leads the event by two shots, after his opening round of -5 under par, 67.

Nick Watney / Dunn / Getty Images

Nick is ahead of Keegan Bradley, Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk, who are all at -3 under par, after their rounds of 69.  Graeme McDowell is just one of thirteen Ryder Cup Players who are contesting in this event, making a very strong field indeed. Tiger Woods is in the group at -2 under par 70, he is in good company with Bo Van Pelt and Webb Simpson both on the same score. There are three players at -1 under par, they are Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan and Aussie Jason Day. Everybody else is over par, the last player on the board is Brandt Snedeker at +3 over par.

Nick shot a round of  80 in the final round in 2010 and then finished last in the 18-player field last year at Tiger Woods’ World Challenge, he said about today;

“I figured since Tiger is nice enough to invite me, I might as well prepare and try to play well. I’m a little better prepared than I have been coming in here. I’ve come in the past two years pretty rusty, hadn’t been doing much work. This tournament’s definitely not as serious or as cut-throat, maybe, but I think when Sunday comes, we’re all very competitive people. If we’re tied going to the last hole, we definitely want to beat the other guy. Winning this event would be an honor. The list of champions is pretty strong. I think everybody comes here wanting to win even though it’s during the holiday season and all that stuff. I’m trying to use it to prepare for next season, and winning never gets old, so that’s the goal.”

Keegan Bradley said he had played solidly all day,

“I did have a bad break on the last hole, but I played so solidly all day.  The drive on No. 18 was literally resting up against a root, and then just to the right of it was a rock. You know, it was a bad break, but also if it didn’t hit that root it probably would have rolled all the way back down that hill toward the ninth fairway.”

Tiger admitted he did not play to the best of his abilities;

“”I didn’t hit it very good, it was nice to scrape out a good score. I could have easily shot myself out of the tournament, but I kept myself in it.”

Tomorrow is another day, and tournament host Tiger Woods will be keen to assert his authority.

 

Turkish Airlines World Golf Finals, Rain Delayed

A rain storm has delayed the progression of the Turkish Airlines World Golf Finals at the Antalya  Golf Club in Turkey.

In the morning matches at the Turkish Airlines World Golf Finals at the  Antalya  Golf Club, Tiger Woods won his match against Matt Kuchar by five shots. Tiger’s match on Tuesday was highlighted by an incident when the  president of the Turkish Golf Federation,  Ahmet Agaoglu, headbutted a photographer, just as Tiger was about to tee off on the 1st. Agaoglu announced later;

“They were pushing the security guards and one of them pushed me and I replied by pushing him back, as well. I am trying to make everything this week so perfect and it’s unfortunate my reaction happened. However, I will prepare a written apology and send it to him apologizing for my own actions. While organizing such tournaments I shouldn’t have to be there, but I am trying to make everything so perfect, It was unlucky it happened.”

Did he mean it was unlucky to get reported worldwide for the incident. It has also been reported that Agaoglu wants Tiger Woods as the headline attraction for the inaugural Turkish Open scheduled for next year, and is swooning and fawning all over the man in an attempt to lure him to the event. The Turkish Open will be an European Tour sanctioned event, and it has been suggested that Tiger Woods will play on the European Tour next year. Perhaps Tiger wants to emulate Luke Donald and become top of the money list on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tiger and Matt, escorted by heavyweight security/getty images

Rory McIlroy lost his match against Charl Schwartzel and looks certain to be eliminated from the competition, unless he can beat Tiger by a considerable score. Rory seems happy enough to spend some time on the beach with his girlfriend tennis player Caroline Wozniacki;

“It looks like I’ll get to spend a day on the beach tomorrow, which will be nice. It was actually a decent match. I felt like I played a bit better today, had plenty of chances and just didn’t really hole much.I got off to a better start and Charl played solid and then birdied three of the last four so I couldn’t really do much about that.”

Speaking of his next match against Tiger, Rory said;

“I’ll try and keep him out of those semi-finals, I’m sure that’s not what the tournament wants but it’s what I’m going to try to do.”

Rory/Umit Bektas/Reuters

In the other group Justin Rose shot a 66, to defeat Lee Westwood while Webb Simpson carded 65 ,the lowest score of the event so far, to overcome  Hunter Mahan by two shots. Justin has continued his good form from the Ryder Cup and could easily take this tournament trophy.

Turkish Airlines World Golf Final, Tiger and Rory lose

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy lost their first round matches in the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final, in Turkey at the Antalya  Golf Club. Tiger bogeyed the last hole to lose by one shot to  former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.

An unhappy Rory McIlroy/reuters

Rory said of his day;

” I hit my drive into the trees on 15 and lost a bit of confidence. I now need to win both my matches tomorrow to advance. I just struggled for a bit of motivation out there today.”

The number one ranked Rory McIlroy lost to Matt Kuchar, racking up some big numbers in the process including a triple-bogey and two double-bogeys.  Because it is medal match play, those high scores are much more costly than if it were straight match play, and it is now extremely unlikely that either Tiger or Rory will progress in this tournament. Only the top two players from each group go through to the semi finals.

A telling point about Rory’s state of mind, he had in tow his tennis-playing girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki.

Matt Kutchar played in shorts, and said he had a quiet match;

“I just thought I had to play mistake-free and hopefully Rory wouldn’t get too hot. Then we were all square with four to go, he hits it right and makes a triple bogey and I go three up with three to go and I think both of us lost a little interest at that point.”

Tiger commented about his play;

“It came right down to the wire but I can’t believe how far that second shot flew into the back bunker. It means I now have to play ‘Kooch’ and try and win that match before facing Rory in the afternoon. Despite the outcome I really enjoy the format. It’s not something we play very often. I had a three-shot swing go against me on nine and a two-shot swing in my favor at 17 when I birdied the hole and Charl bogeyed.”

On the other side of the contest, Justin Rose won 71-75 over Hunter  Mahan, who failed to make a birdie. Then Lee Westwood defeated Webb Simpson by a stroke. Lee wore a huge smile on his face when he chipped in from off the green at the 17th to take charge of his match with Simpson, he said afterwards;

“I played a great shot there even though I did not have too good a lie. The ball was sitting down where TV cables had been but it just came out perfect. It landed in the right spot and as soon as it got on the green it looked like going in.”

The two semifinals will be determined for Thursday’s play with the finals taking place on Friday, the winner earning $1.5 million.

What I want to know is, why are these multi-millionaires competing  for a measly $1.5 winners purse, in a war-torn area. Syria has just recently attacked Turkey with missiles, are these guys really that desperate for another mill ?

U.S. Ryder Cup Captain DL111 & his Team

Davis Love 111/U.S. Ryder Cup Captain/Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Davis Love 111, the U.S. Ryder Cup Captain had made his wildcard picks and now has his Team to challenge the Europeans at Medinah, starting on September 28th 2012. D.L 111 has included these players in his team as his four wildcard entries, they are; Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker.

Here is the line up of both Teams;

USA                                                                         Europe 

Davis Love III (C)                                                Jose Maria Olazabal (C)
Tiger Woods                                                          Rory McIlroy
Phil Mickelson                                                     Luke Donald
Matt Kuchar                                                         Martin Kaymer
Zach Johnson                                                      Lee Westwood
Webb Simpson                                                    Ian Poulter
Bubba Watson                                                     Nicolas Colsaerts
Keegan Bradley                                                  Paul Lawrie
Jason Dufner                                                       Graeme McDowell
Dustin Johnson                                                  Sergio Garcia
Jim Furyk                                                             Justin Rose
Brandt Snedeker                                                Peter Hanson
Steve Stricker                                                     Francesco Molinari

 

Europe have World number one Rory McIlroy at the top of their lineup, and he is backed up by other consistent players like Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Justin Rose, the Europeans have a formidable squad.

The U.S. commentators think the American Team offer more consistency from top to bottom than the Europeans, and with the likes of Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner and Webb Simpson, it’s a US squad that’s not to be dismissed easily.

Hunter Mahan said he felt empty when D.L. 111 told him the news of his omission from the U.S. Team;

 

” To not be a part of it, it feels empty right now, it feels more empty being at the course. It didn’t feel that bad when Davis told me because,  it ended up being a two-week trial, kind of a sprint to the finish, who was going to play the best, because I think he stated he wanted Stricker and Furyk, so there was really only two spots left, and Brandt and Dustin just outplayed me at the end of the day. I just didn’t play good enough. And that’s OK. It’s OK to get beat by somebody. That’s part of golf, and that’s part of the game. But like I say, it just feels empty right now.”

Tiger Woods commented on Hunter’s plight;

” It’s tough for Davis and it’s tough for Hunter. Unfortunately it just didn’t go Hunter’s way. I know that he’s pretty down about it, but he’s got two big events to play in. He’ll turn around and he’ll just start playing well.”

European Captain Jose Maria Olazabal said his was surprised that Hunter was left off the U.S. Team;

” They are very solid picks,  all the American players, from nine to 14 on the list, were very solid and Davis could have picked any four. The only question mark as I see it was Snedeker picked ahead of Mahan, but then Davis has gone for form. Snedeker has pretty much been playing well from the start of the summer and all the way to the FedEx series. However, Mahan has not been playing all that well, so Love went for form and in that regard, he has my respect.”

This is going to be a great Ryder Cup, let’s go play golf.

 

 

AT&T National @ Congressional, Mahan beats the heat to lead by two.

Hunter Mahan /Carr/Getty Images

Hunter Mahan had a second round of -6 under par , 65 to lead the AT&T National by two strokes at Congressional Country Club, with a tournament score of -7  under par. Three players are tied in second spot, Brendon de Jonge, Jimmy Walker and Robert Garrigus, these guys are at -5 under par and are in good position going into the weekend.

The heat index reached a high of 109 degrees for the second round of the AT&T National, where players battled a tough Congressional course and very dangerously high temperatures by mid afternoon. Survival was the story much of the day, Brendon de Jonge,  who played in the morning and is from Zimbabwe, where it can get notoriously hot, said after his round;

“ It was kind of draining, it’s starting to get just hot now, really, really hot.”

Jimmy Walker battled his way round;

“We know how to battle through the heat and stay hydrated, take your hydration pills and little mixed drinks. It’s the fans you’ve got to worry about because they’re out walking around and they don’t get into this type of stuff and get out and walk in it too much. I saw one lady that went down today, and I’m pretty sure it was probably from dehydration.”

Robert Garrigus also spoke about the heat;

” If there’s no rain, it’s going to be something else. I think it’s a mental thing because we’re all physically fit for the most part. I’m a lot more physically fit than I used to be. If you can just mentally just put it out of your head, my caddie was telling me yesterday, hey, man, just think of the tournaments you’ve played well in; Tampa it was smoldering; Memphis it was smoldering. You play well in the heat because you don’t think about it. It’s one of those things where if you can just get past the fact that you’re dripping sweat all over your golf ball, you can block it out. It makes a big, big difference.”

Tiger Woods thinks being as fit as he is, helped him in the heat;

“I live in it, I live in Florida. It’s not quite this hot, but it’s definitely more humid than this every day. I think it’s one of the reasons why I had success at Southern Hills, because I felt physically fit, didn’t have a problem with it. I’ve played some good tournaments over the years in Malaysia and other places where it’s hot, and certainly fitness, running all those miles and lifting all those weights, it comes into play when you get days like this, and consecutive days like this.”

Tiger managed to  recover today with a -3 under par round, which included a 48 foot Eagle putt.

Vijay Singh had a -1 under par second round and is in the group with total score of -4 under par. First round leader Bo Van Pelt could not match yesterdays good effort, slumping with a poor round of +2 over par, 73, and a -2 under total. He is joined on that score by  Billy Hurley 111, yesterdays news boy, was unable to match his first round score and tumbled down the leaderboard with a sad +2 over par round, leaving him at even for the tournament.