Irish Open @ Royal Portrush, Jamie Donaldson Wins

Jamie Donaldson (Getty Images

Jamie Donaldson won his first European Tour event at The Irish Open a t Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim on Sunday, watched by 112,280 spectators who flocked to Northern Ireland. This was Jamie’s 255th event on Tour and he easily won, by four shots in a last round that included eight birdies, shooting a last round of  -6 under par, 66, and a total of -18 under par. During his last round Jamie kept his head down, not glancing at  the leaderboard at all;

” I didn’t really look at any leaderboards on the way around. I didn’t really know what was going on. To have a hole in one the first time in a tournament, and to win it, as well, is very special. “

This was also the last time his caddie of five years, Jamie Baker would be on his bag, and he paid tribute to his long time friend;

‘ He’s a great mate and he did great for me for four or five years. He’s a good mate of mine and I think he’ll just be happy obviously to see me win, really.“

Anthony Wall, who was one of the players finishing in a tie for second was full of praise for his playing partner, Donaldson;

” I’ve never doubted him. He’s a class act and a super, super player, and he deserves everything he gets because he does work hard and he’s got loads of talent. “

Anthony completed the tournament in -14 under par, along with, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Fabrizio Zanotti. Unfortunately for Ireland Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington were unable to provide a fairytale finish for the viewing masses, Padraig being the best of the local contingent finishing tied for seventh on -12 under par, six shots off the lead.

Volvo World Match Play Championship, Poulter out

Defending champion Ian Poulter has been knocked out of the 2012 Volvo World Match Play Championship by Spaniard Alvaro Quiros, with what looks like an easy win at 4-3. Another Englishman,Justin Rose is also out, beaten by Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium by the same 4-3 score. In fact there are no Englishmen competing on day four of the tournament. Tom Lewis went down to Sergio Garcia, Richard Finch to Graeme McDowell and Robert Rock  fell to Retief Goosen.

In the quarter finals G-Mac eased out local boy Sergio Garcia, and Paul Lawrie had an easy time of it despatching Retief Goosen 6 and 5. Brandt Snedeker and his borrowed clubs finally fell to Nicolas Colsaerts, while Alvaro Quiros lost to countryman Rafael Cabrera-Bello 3 and 1.

Paul Lawrie will now face Nicolas Colsaerts, and Rafael Cabrera-Bellow will play Graeme McDowell in the semi finals.

Rafael said of his match against Alvaro Quiros;

“I got to play with a friend in Alvaro. I’m very happy for me but I feel sorry for him, and he’s such a good guy. We had a good match today. I feel like I’m playing really good.  This morning I recovered in a tough game, being two down with five to play, and now this afternoon, three down after nine and being able to win, I feel really proud of that. I have to play G Mac, and he has a lot of experience and is a Ryder Cup hero, so he’s obviously going to be a very, very tough guy to beat.  I’m going to try my best and I’m playing good. Hopefully I can start as good as I did on my first two matches and if I don’t, I know I can come from behind and make it through. So we’ll just see what happens.”

Graeme thought he was pretty lucky to get past Sergio Garcia;

“It wasn’t exactly El Classico and I feel like I dodged a bullet there. I kind of resigned myself to the fact that I was going home, but sometimes you have to win ugly and sometimes to win you need what just happened to me. I count myself lucky.”

Sergio was disappointed but said he was not quite playing well enough;

I’m playing so badly this could happen at any moment.  Making it to the quarter finals having played so badly means it was a good tournament. I had no good quality shots.  He gave me some chances that I could not take and I have been saying it from the first day that I have not felt comfortable and I am not happy with my game.”

 

Louis Oosthuizen leads at completed third round @ Maybank Malaysian Open

Louis Oosthuizen (Getty Images)

Louis Oosthuizen lead the Maybank Malaysian open after the completion of the storm affected third round at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.

Danny Willett and Rafael Cabrera-Bello both enjoyed early birdies to move into a share of second with Stephen Gallacher. A lot  time was lost to lightning storms on days two and three, the final round was underway immediately. Will catch up with this tournament later in the day, to see who finally comes out on top.

Rafael Cabrera-Bello Wins in Dubai

Rafael Cabrera-Bello won the Dubai Classic by one shot from Lee Westwood and Stephen Gallagher, his faultless last round of 68 giving him an unbeatable total score of -18 under par. Westwood had led by two strokes, following a superb eagle at the second to take the  advantage, but was unable to master the breezy conditions as well as Rafael. The Spaniard was very happy with this result;

“It’s an unbelievable feeling and it’s been a really spectacular week for me. With so many big, big names I felt really proud of myself. I wanted to fight, I stayed calm, I did everything that I’ve read we should do in these type of situations. I really, really feel happy and proud that my name is going to be written down on the same trophy as Seve Ballesteros and José María Olazábal and Jiménez and my great friend, Alvaro. It’s a really amazing feeling for me to be a little bit a part of the same history they are. This will open a lot of doors and this was really the quality jump in my game I was looking for, and I had been practising hard for it.”

 (Getty Images)

Stephen Gallacher and Lee Westwood both missed putts to force a play-off on the 18th, and Westwood has now finished as runner-up in this event on three occasions, yet he does have the small consolation of taking the World Number Two spot back off Rory McIlroy – by 0.004 ranking points.

Stephen rued the last missed putt in 18;

“I would have loved to have made the play-off,” said the Scot. “But fair play to Rafa, he played well, and 18 under is a good score in these conditions.

“I struggled a bit off the tee today but I hit a lot of good iron shots and made a few putts at the right time.  But I had a chance to sort of get into the play-off on the last, so I’m just a wee bit disappointed but happy overall.”