Ballantine’s Championship. Broomstick Brett Wins Ballantine’s Play-Off

Broomstick wielding Brett Rumford won The Ballantine’s Championship at Blackstone Golf Club, in a three-way play-off for the title.

Brett Rumford / Getty Images

Brett Rumford finished the South Korean tournament in regulation tied with Marcus Fraser and Peter Whiteford at -11 under par.

On the first play-off hole,  Brett fired his second shot into the par green, just four feet from the pin, and sank the Eagle putt to win the trophy;  He gave credit to his coach Pete Cowan for his advice to go and practice some tee shots with his driver before the play-off commenced;

” A lot of thanks go to Pete, I battled with my driver constantly and I guess that’s what keeps me out of most golf tournaments. I left a few drives right,  it wasn’t just the last two drives, it was the whole back nine I was feeling stuck and a little bit trapped. Had a quick word with Pete and hit  five or six  balls off the first tee and it obviously did the trick. It was an absolute roller coaster ride of emotions out there this afternoon, obviously my last five holes yesterday and front nine today got me in a great position to take this tournament. Ballantine’s is always a tremendous sponsor and it’s just a great event. It was mixed emotions coming home and I’m really lost for words at the moment but there are a lot of people I need to thank, starting with my wife Sally. It’s been pretty hard golf-wise and raising twins is not easy; she’s an amazing lady and she’s a great support to me and that’s why I’m standing here today. I’m really pleased with the result and I owe a lot to Ronnie my caddy and I’ve got a great team around me.”

Romain Wattel, from France,  finished fourth on -9 under par, with World Number Seven Louis Oosthuizen a shot further back. Overnight leader Alex Noren suffered a penalty shot at the second when his ball moved a fraction as he addressed his par putt, eventually carding a 74 to finish in a tie for sixth place.

 

 

 

Ballantine’s Championship. Noren Noses in front

Alexander Noren noses in front of the pack at the Ballantine’s Championship at the Blackstone Golf Club in third round in South Korea.

Alexander Noren /Getty Images

Alexander has a one shot lead going into the final round of the Ballantine’s Championship after a hectic third day, where some players had to  make up for lost time after delays on Thursday and Friday, half the field had to complete their second rounds early this morning. Eventually, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and José Manuel Lara got up to join Wade Ormsby and Arnond Vongvanij at the top of the leaderboard at the completed halfway stage, all on -7  under par.

Alexander had a -3 under par third round, for a tournament total of -9 under par, which was good enough at the end of the day to keep him on top of the board. Alex said it had been a long tough day;

“ It was a nice way to finish, and it was a long, tough day, a lot of wind. My short game I think held it together, and I didn’t have that many chances but I took care of them when I got chances for birdies and made the important pars when I needed.  So it was a big fight day.  I’m just trying to play well tomorrow, and it’s going to be a really fun day.  I haven’t been in the lead in a long time, and I’ve had some good finishes, but it will be a lot of fun.  But I’m just trying to play good and make birdies and try to make more birdies than the other ones. It’s easier for a player to come back when you’ve done something good in the past, you know you can score well around the track and good memories are always nice to have with you.”

Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal and Scot Peter Whiteford are tied in second place at -8 under par. Pablo had the lowest round of the day at -4 under par 68.

Pablo said he had played beautifully, only missing one green in regulation;

” I hit the ball beautifully today, I’m very happy with the round and to be in the fight again. I only missed one green in regulation which was something special. It will be good to be in the final group again, it’s been a long time.”

Peter had to start the day early, and had to play 28 holes in a long day of golf;

I was on the 5 am bus, first bus in, last bus out it looks like. It’s been a long day but that’s the job every now and then. My form has been pretty average, poor to be honest. I was hitting it half decent on the range and just not taking anything to the golf course, but this week has been better.”

Two Aussies are tied in fourth position, Brett Rumford and Marcus Fraser finished at  -7 under par. Brett rounded off his third round in some style, carding five birdies in succession.  They both agreed that the influence of compatriot Adam Scott was the inspiration of their good play,  following Adam’s victory at Augusta National.

Brett summed it up;

” With Adam winning the Masters it has inspired us all. The last couple of days have been interesting. It’s been pretty frustrating but rewarding at the same time. Hopefully tomorrow I can just eliminate all the silly errors.”

Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, at the Half Way Stage

Sergio Garcia/Getty Images

Sergio Garcia is one of four players tied at the top of the leaderboard at the half way stage of the Commercial Bank, Qatar Masters tournament at the Doha Golf Course in Qatar. attaining a -9 under par total score for the tournament.  Joining Sergio at the summit are Ricardo Santos of Portugal, German Martin Kaymer and Marcus Fraser from Australia.

Of course Sergio and Martin are Ryder Cup Team-mates, who were part of the European Ryder Cup winning team in 2012 at  Medinah Country Club, Chicago U.S.A.

Sergio was happy with his first round of golf for this season, after his corrective eye-surgery;

“It was nice, I definitely felt I played a little bit better than yesterday. Obviously I would have loved to hit a couple of shots better, but I gave myself a lot of chances and I can’t be disappointed. The wind started picking up a bit and it made it tough enough to choose the right clubs. We tried to play smart and managed to do that fairly nicely.”

First round leader Ricardo  followed up his first round -7 under par 65 with a second round of -2 under par of 70 for his -9 under par total score. He made a fine up and down from the bunker at the par five last, while Marcus Fraser did the same on the long ninth to complete his 67. Marcus said he was a little scrappy down the last hole today;

” It was a little bit scrappy down the last hole but I managed to scramble a par. Overall I felt like I played pretty steadily most of the day. I made a few birdies once I got on to the back nine, which was the front nine, but I’m pretty happy with the day. It is definitely one of those courses where you need to be patient and just take your chances where you can get them.”

Ricardo Santos, the Madeira Islands Open winner was pleased with his efforts of the first two days,

“ I struck the ball very well today, I just missed a few shots but I’m still happy with the round. This afternoon the wind is a little bit stronger than the morning, so I’m happy with two under. It’s never easy, but I started really well, after four holes I was three under, so I told myself to just keep playing like that. I just want to play my game the best I can, and then we’ll see. I want to enjoy the weekend.”

World number four Justin Rose was penalised a shot on the opening day when his ball moved as he prepared to tap in on the 17th, but he still made his first cut in five visits to Doha, Justin joked;

“That’s almost like leading the tournament round here.”

Two rounds to go, I wonder if Justin is close enough to make an impact here at Doha,  if he does it would be for the first time.

Emirates Australian Open, John Senden Regains Lead

John Senden / emiratesaustralianopen.com.au

John Senden regained the lead of the Emirates Australian Open at The Lakes, Sydney, with a battling third round of  -2 under par, 70 and a tournament total of -7 under par.  John takes a handy two-shot lead over Justin Rose of England into tomorrow’s final round, the second year in succession that he has led the national championship through 54 holes, but last year at The Lakes he was reeled in by Greg Chalmers. That statistic is something that John is acutely aware of, he mentioned it in his report, along with his Eagle at the par 5 eleventh;

“I know where I stand,’ I have to deal with that and go out tomorrow and play my game. You have to be able to control the ball any time you play golf, but in these conditions you have to be really on your game. I had a good number I was planning on just hit through the shot. If it goes a little long, that’s okay’. I took a risk there and pulled it off.’’

John is also mindful of the speed of the greens. and hopes the tournament organisers are also thinking about the course set up, the putting surfaces were running at 11 on the stimpmeter at the start of today’s round, but were much quicker by the end.

“If they’re predicting windier conditions tomorrow, they’ve got to make sure they take care of that,’

World number four Justin Rose  is in second place alone at -5 under par, he was superb with his control, not making a single bogey until the 17th hole, and had possession of the lead for some time. But then the Englishman chipped off the green and dropped a shot, then missed the 18th green to the right and could not make par there either, Justin finished with signing for a -2 under par, 70, and will start two shots adrift of John Senden, but will be playing along side of him in the final pairing tomorrow. Justin said the conditions got tougher as the day went along;

“It got progressively tougher as the day went on, by the end of the round it was tough to even tap in, to be perfectly honest with you. Even from three feet you were getting buffeted around, the wind’s moving you. It’s very difficult to get the ball in the hole. Whoever literally stands up, the last man standing will win the golf tournament. I think it’s going to be a battle.’’

There are three Aussies tied in third spot at -4 under par for the tournament, Matthew Jones, Kieran Pratt and veteran Peter Senior.  2009 Australian Open champion Adam Scott is not quite  out of the running just yet.Adam is at two-under-par for the tournament, just five shots back of the lead, especially if he gets the type of generous early morning conditions that most of the players have experienced this week.

Marcus Fraser had a disastrous third round of +4 over par 76, and he also will need something special on Sunday if he wants to get up and contend this trophy.

 

Emirates Australian Open, Marcus Fraser Leads with a Hole in One

Marcus Fraser / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Aussie Marcus Fraser leads the Emirates Australian Open at the conclusion of the second round at The Lakes golf course in Sydney, with another -3 under par, 69 round, and a tournament total of -6 under par. Marcus, who played in the mornings calm conditions has a one shot advantage over John Senden and Brendan Jones. Marcus aced the par 3 fifteenth hole to cap off a remarkable seven weeks playing golf in seven different countries. Next week he will travel to Malaysia to see if he can win the Asian Tour money title. Marcus spoke of his ace, and his grueling schedule;

” To have one go in like that, it turned the round and the tournament around from where I was. I’ve been playing so much I feel like I’m going with the flow a little bit, playing week-in, week-out you’re going through the same routine every day and it feels like another golf tournament. At the same time it is the Aussie Open. Definitely it’s the pick of the bunch of the eight weeks for me.”

Take a look at the late season schedule of Marcus, starting  September in Malaysia, then China WGC-HSBC Champions, the Barclays Singapore Open, the UBS Hong Kong Open, the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, then a failed attempt to secure a 2013 PGA Tour card in California last week, and back to Malaysia next week.

John Senden played in the windy afternoon conditions and could only manage a +1 over par round, falling back to -5 under par for the tournament and tied in second place with Brendan Jones, who carded a -1 under par second round, for his -5 under par total.

On his own in fourth place is another Aussie, Nick Cullen, he had a second round of  -2 under par and a total of -4 under for the tournament.

World number four, Justin Rose started well, with four birdies on the front nine to move into the lead at -7 under par, but unusually fell behind with four bogeys in six holes in the windy afternoon conditions, leaving him with a +1 over par 73, tied in fifth position at -3 under par. Adam Scott managed a -1 under par second round and is five shots off the pace.

Story of the day was made by 63 year-old Tom Watson, who fired in a second round -4 under par 68, to make the cut by one shot after his terrible start to the tournament sinking to a first round total of 78. Tom expressed his desire to succeed;

” I hate missing cuts, I really do, that means you’ve failed.”

Tom”s playing partner, Greg Chalmers also just made the cut by one shot, and was not happy with his performance in the easier morning conditions;

” Three par fives on the back nine and I bogeyed two of them. That’s not going to work if you want to have a good score out here. I guess I’m going to get to play on the weekend so I get to go out and shoot a low score, but certainly I’m probably going to start a long way back.”

It certainly looks like the winner of this tournament will be the player who can master the windier afternoon conditions for the next two days.

 

 

UBS Hong Kong Open. Maical Miguel Makes it Three

Magical Miguel Angel Jiménez makes it three wins at this event, the UBS Hong Kong Open, and he also became the oldest winner on the European Tour in history. Miguel’s tournament winning score was -15 under par, with a last round of -5 under par 65, to lift the trophy.

Miguel Angel Jiménez/ Getty Images

Miguel is six months older than Des Smyth was when he won the 2001 Madeira Islands Open, the victory was Miguel’s 19th on The European Tour and the 12th win since he turned 40, with two of which also came in Fanling in 2005 and 2008. Miguel, the  assistant Captain at The Ryder Cup at Medinah, said he hoped it was not his last victory;

“It’s very nice , I hope it’s not the last one, I really love this place. I love the golf course, it’s a great golf course where you have to control the ball very well, it’s not a matter of distance.”

Of his longevity playing golf Miguel admitted;

“This is maybe the olive oil in my joints, and the nice Rioja wine and those things keep you fit and flexible. The most important thing, I do what I like to do in my life, and golf has given me all of this pleasure. Winning now, at 48.  My goodness 24 years I’ve been on the Tour. I still love it and I think that is fantastic, to love what you’re doing, and enjoy yourself, keep fit, keep working myself a little bit and stretching a lot, and that’s the main thing to do to compete with the new guns. “

Fredrik Andersson Hed , another veteran player, at 40, made a charge and could have got up to make it a play-off, but just came up short, claiming second place on his own at -14 under par, he rued a couple of missed birdies on the back nine that would have made the difference;

“I don’t think I’ve ever played better than I did today under pressure. There were a couple of loose shots on 15 and 16 that I got away with and made pars and then unfortunately couldn’t get the birdies in on 17 and 18. It always feels good to finish second in a golf tournament; you know you’ve done something good. It’s a pity I couldn’t get one of the putts on the last two holes to put a little bit more pressure on him on the last hole. He did fantastic, though, with a perfect tee shot, the perfect second shot and easy two-putt, so all credit to Miguel.”

Marcus Fraser was third at -12 under par, and tied for fourth was Peter Lawrie, who  sealed his place next week  at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in the process, Scot Stephen Gallacher and the first of the young guns, 19-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero, last week’s Barclays Singapore Open champion, they finished at -11 under par.

The re-emerging Kiwi Michael Campbell, joint overnight leader with Miguel, and playing in the last pairing, fell away to joint eighth, with a sad last round of +2 over par.

Danny Willett, BMW International Open winner, What equipment does he use ?

Danny Willett (Getty Images

Danny Willett survived a strenuous, concentration sapping four hole play-off  against Marcus Fraser, to claim his maiden European Tour title at the BMW International Open on the Gut Larchenhof golf course in Cologne. Danny had been in the mix at the top of the board ever since a fine round of 65 on Thursday saw him lie one-off the pace, set by Fabrizio Zanotti and Marcus Fraser. In the end the key to his success came down to two great shots on Sunday, proving that those key moments often mean the difference between second place, and victory.

Now everybody wants to know what equipment Danny puts into his bag, and would any of it help you to achieve your golfing goals.

This list is  compiled by ©SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC, and data is collated during the first round of the event.

Ball   Callaway, + Hex Black +
Shoe       FootJoy

Driver      Callaway, RAZR Hawk Prototype – 9.5°

Fairway Wood       Callaway, RAZR Fit - 15°

Utility Club      Callaway, X Utility Proto - 21°

3 – 9 Irons       Callaway, RAZR Muscle Back

Pitching Wedge       Callaway, Forged - 48°

Sand Wedge       Callaway, Forged – 56°

Lob Wedge       Callaway, Forged – 60°

Putter       Odyssey, Black Series i 1

Of course the only thing I would change would be the Putter, obviously for one of our White  Dragon Putters.

Foot-note;  my BMW seven series is in for a service today, thought I would give BMW a plug.

European Tour, BMW International Open, Danny Willett Wins

Danny Willett (Getty Images

Danny Willett won the European Tour, BMW International Open at a wet and windy Gut Lärchenhof golf course in Cologne after a four hole play-off.  Danny finally claimed his first European Tour title, he had previously achieved 19 top-ten finishes. It was a nail-biting play-off victory over Marcus Fraser. Both players had  finished the tournament with scores of -11 under par, which sent them down the play-off hole, the difficult 18th. On their fourth attempt Danny almost ran a flop from the rough in for birdie and Fraser’s 25 foot putt lipped out,  leaving Willett to tap in for victory. Obviously Danny was very pleased with his effort;

“It’s amazing, it was a tough day. It was brutal with the wind whipping and it was raining. Marcus had a great round today and I hung in there nicely. Hopefully I gave people a good show. This week has been strange, I’ve been working really hard with support from my family and my girlfriend. I’ve had some ups and downs in the last 18 months as everyone knows but I’m injury free now and back to playing well and I’d like to thank everyone back home for supporting me. I’ll keep working hard and hopefully we can do it again.”

He also spoke about his four years on tour without a win;

This is my fourth year on Tour now. I’ve had a lot of good finishes, been in contention a couple of times, obviously with Kaymer at the Dunhill a few years back. To polish it off, it feels good. Ideally I would have won earlier but probably winning a bit later on now, it gives me a little bit more to think about and I’m probably a little bit more mature now than I was when I first came on Tour. It would have been good to win a few years ago, but a win is a win. The guys out here are brilliant. They play week in, week out, and it’s competitive. I’m just thankful for finally winning one.”

He was also in a hurry to get to the airport;

“I’m going to get on the first plane I can and get down to Sunningdale and try to qualify for The Open tomorrow. I’ve still got 36 holes tomorrow for The Open, the Irish Open, the French Open, The Scottish Open.  I’ve got a good run. I can’t think of a better way to start my run off, but there’s still a lot of golf left for the rest of the season.”

Good Luck with your qualifying for The Open.

Marcus Fraser said he had fun out there, and was gracious in defeat;

“It was good fun, Danny is such a great guy and he’s an awesome player. It’s the first of many tournaments for him, that’s for sure. It was nice to have a chance but unfortunately I couldn’t do it. If I keep giving myself chances, one day it might happen eventually. But as I said before, he’s a great player and he’s going to be a future star on The European Tour, there’s no question about it. I’ve got to be pleased with the week. I played really well, three out of the four days and managed to make a few putts. It’s just the way this game goes sometimes, you have to take it on the chin and get ready for the next week.”

European Tour, BMW International Open, Willett with One Shot Lead

Danny Willett -12, BMW International Open  Getty Images

Danny Willett of England is gunning for his first European Tour win at the BMW International Open on the Gut Larchenhof golf course in Cologne. Danny leads by one shot after a third round -3 under par, 69 for a tournament total of -12 under par.Compatriot Chris Wood is just behind, and he is joined at tied in second place at -11 under par by the second round leader Joel Sjoholm of Sweden.

Danny was very talkative in interview, pleased with the way he had the ball under control all day;

“I got the ball under pretty good control most of the day. The wind was whipping around a bit but I drove the ball great which makes it a lot easier around this golf course. If you want to be in contention, you have to have things go your way a little bit. It’s good to be back in a position where I feel like I should be. Tomorrow is just a case of making sure you go through everything properly, make sure you get the right numbers in your hand and you have the right feeling for the shot and see what you can do. Regardless of tomorrow, we have got a spell of four really good weeks, Open Qualifying Monday, and then we go Ireland, France, Scotland and then there are some great events at the end of the season. So I’m just looking forward to being able to play probably another 12 or 13 events on my schedule this year, fairly fit, lots of training and get on a really good leap forward from where I’ve been.”

Aussie Marcus Fraser has been hovering around the top of the leaderboard all tournament, and at only two back is still in contention;

“I played really well at the start and gave myself a lot of chances. I missed a couple of putts but overall pretty happy. I scrambled pretty well from the start of the back nine and managed to birdie the last which capped off a good day. Yesterday was good in my mind in that I didn’t put myself out of the tournament, because I didn’t play great, and could have quite easily been well back but made a few putts and stayed in there. Today I played well and got back into it, so it was a good day.”

Tomorrows final round will be a good contest, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

European Tour, BMW International Open

Fabrizio Zanotti -8 under par /  BMW International Open day 1 (Getty Images)

Marcus Fraser and Fabrizio Zanotti scored rounds of -8 under par, in good scoring conditions in Cologne to lead the BMW International Open in the opening round.

Fabrizio had an action packed round, it contained two eagles, seven birdies, a bogey and a double bogey;

“I played very well and made good putts, I only had hit one bad shot and made the double bogey, but I played really good. Tomorrow I’ll just try to play like I did today, come and play the course shot by shot and see what happens. I’m very happy because when I made the double, I made the birdies again. So I kept fighting and concentrating and I kept calm.”

Marcus Fraser said of his day;

It’s great, I played really well, drove the ball really straight, only missed one fairway.  Any time you do that, you’re going to give yourself plenty of chances. The greens were nice this morning and I managed to make a few putts and especially a few at the end, which was great. On 17 I just missed the left edge, so could have been six. But that’s always the story; we’re never happy. I played really well and gave myself a lot of chances so it was nice to roll a few in. Towards the end of last year it felt like everything took a turn for the better and I was heading in the right direction,” he added. “So if you keep giving yourself a chance you never know when it might happen, I just have to keep practicing and playing hard and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.”

They lead by one shot from Ireland’s former Ryder Cup vice captain Paul McGinley and English pair Danny Willett and Chris Wood.