RBC Heritage. G-Mac wins in Play-Off

G-Mac, Graeme McDowell, won the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on the first hole of a sudden death  play-off against Webb Simpson at Hilton Head Island.

Graeme McDowell / Lecka / Getty Images

Graeme and Webb both finished the RBC Heritage tournament at -9 under par, in very windy and inhospitable conditions.

Graeme reported how hard it is to win;

” This game kicks you more often than it gives you a pat on the back, it’s hard to win. I guess the weather was what the doctor ordered. I needed that to get close to the leaders. It’s funny the way things happen, I wouldn’t swap this for a top ten last week.”

The reigning U.S. Open Champion, Webb Simpson, had a chance to win in regulation play, but his twenty two foot putt for birdie went three feet past the hole and set up the sudden death play-off.

Webb stated that he had no confidence coming in to this tournament, but was convinced that the last putt was going in;

” I came in with not too much confidence, but I just stayed true to the process of what we’ve been working on. I never thought I made a putt more than that birdie putt, it was in. With a foot to go, it was in the left side. Coming back, that was a hard putt, because by the grain and the wind it’s supposed to break, but the regulation putt didn’t break. So I was kind of stuck with, ‘What do I do?’ I tried to play it left center. It broke. My caddie and I called 18 holes today 18 acts, as if we were in a play, just because you really cannot think ahead out there. It’s as hard as we’ll ever play.”

A dejected Webb Simpson / Lecka / Getty Images

Luke Donald tied for third place with Kevin Streelman at -7 under par, Luke admitting that the weather forecast from the National Weather Service advising of gust up to 45 mph were accurate, the worst playing conditions all year;

” Extremely difficult, strongest wind I’ve played in all year.”

The 54 hole leader Charlie Hoffman nose dived in the final round, shooting a lackluster 77, which left him tied in sixth place.

Charlie said he played OK, just did not make the putts he needed to;

” I actually hit the ball all right today, I just didn’t make the putts like I needed to make yesterday. It was tough conditions and I didn’t capitalize on the situations that I had. The shots I hit good didn’t turn out like I thought they were going to turn out.”

 

RBC Heritage. Hoffman Handles Harbour Town.

Charlie Hoffman easily handled the Harbour Town Golf Links course in the RBC Heritage competition on Hilton Head Island. His third round of -5 under par 66 has given him a comfortable two shot cushion at the top of the leaderboard, at -11 under par for the tournament.

Charley Hoffman / Lecka / Getty Images

Charley needed only 21 putts, and scored four birdies in his round on Saturday which surged him clear of the field at the 54 hole mark. This is the second time Charley has been in contention in this tournament , the last time was just last year in fact. The narrow fairways and small greens have always troubled Charley, he thinks maybe he was not mature enough to play the course properly before;

” I guess I wasn’t mature enough to play this course. Once you learn what side of the fairway to leave it on and where to miss, you have a real big advantage. I would say I wasn’t mature enough to play this golf course, I didn’t understand how to play it. I guess I would get frustrated when I hit the fairway and didn’t have a shot at the green. It was definitely the best playing round I’ve had in a long time.”

Cruising close behind Charley at -9 under par is Webb Simpson, his excellent third round of -6 under par 65 has put him in position to go for his first win since last years U.S. Open. Webb said he has been working on improving his swing;

“It’s all in my swing, we’ve been working on the same thing all year. We knew where we wanted to get, we just didn’t know how to work on it. Once we found out how to work on it, everything clicked. I think that’s the beauty of this golf course is on paper and even to the eye it seems pretty easy. But the greens are so small that it’s hard sometimes to get it near the pin, especially with the trees overhanging by the green. I’ve always loved coming here, it looks good to my eye. But I never have quite gotten it going like I did today.”

Kevin Streelman is in third place following his third round of -2 under par 69 but to get a win here Kevin will have to take some chances;

“I don’t have much to lose, I’m going to see what the course can give us.”

The Masters. Sergio Sinks, Jason Jumps Up.

It was all change at the Masters on day two with, Sergio sinking while Jason Day jumped up into the outright lead.

Jason Day / Redington / Getty Images

Jason Day shot a -4 under par second round to lead the tournament at -6 under par, and by just one shot from high-flying fifty-three year old Freddie Couples, and Aussie first round leader Marc Leishman.

Jason spoke of the pressure on his shoulders, on trying to become the first Australian to win the Masters;

” Obviously there’s a lot of pressure on my shoulders, being from Australia and no Australian has ever won the event.  They have been very, very close, but I’ve just got to try to get that out of my mind and just plug away. It’s all how you look at it. If you look at it as pressure, you’re going to worry about it more. If you look at it as a challenge and an opportunity to be the first and stay positive with it, you know, it only motivates you to play well. So I’ve just got to really not think about it at all I really need to stay committed to the game plan, stay aggressive to my target and just not worry about anything else but hitting the shot in front of me.”

Freddie had a -1 under par 71 second round while Marc Leishman stumbled to a +1 over par 73, the same score as David Lynn, David is now tied in the group of players sitting tied in seventh place. There are seven competitors in that position, including Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Jason Dufner, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and K.J. Choi.

Angel Cabrera, Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker are all tied in fourth place, at -4 under par.

This Championship is still wide open, anyone shooting a real low round tomorrow will definitely put themselves in the box seat for the final round on Sunday.

It was a day of bad luck for some, Chinese amateur Tianlang Guan was penalized one shot for slow play, the first player ever to be punished for this offence for 77 years at Augusta National. A very harsh penalty when you witness some of the slow play out there today, the second round took thirty-six more minutes to complete than the first round, hard to believe that only one player is penalized for slow play. Makes you wonder why none of the Professional players were not penalized. Tianlang still made the cut, right on the number of +4 over par, along with defending Champion Bubba Watson.

Before he started play today Tianlang said ;

” If I can make it, I would be really happy for it, but if I didn’t make it, it’s still a great week.”

A great week indeed for the Chinese youngster.

Gary Player remarked about the Tianlang incident;

” One of the saddest things I’ve seen in golf. When I heard, I prayed that he would make the cut.” 

Tiger Woods had an approach shot hit the pin and ricochet into a water hazard on the par 5 fifteenth hole. Tiger assessed the shot as being a good one;

“ The sun was in my eyes, so I knew I started the ball on the flag. I didn’t know if I cut it enough, but evidently it was a really good one.”

Finally on this incident impacted day, the big names who managed to miss the cut;

Last weeks winner Martin Laird, Matteo Manassero, who played alongside Tianlang, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Webb Simpson, Ian Poulter and Padraig Harrington.

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.

 

Northern Trust Open, Bill Haas the Defending Champ leads after round three.

Bill Haas / Getty Images

The defending Champion at Riviera Country Club, Northern Trust Open, Bill Haas has topped the leaderboard after the third round, with a round of -7 under par, 74 for a tournament score of -2 under par. The only thing he thinks about is winning this tournament;

“It’s very difficult in this game to just pull away from the rest of the field. You’ve only seen a few guys ever really do that, and those are guys like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson. So I think I’ve just got to stay in the moment, don’t let my emotions get the best of me. I was just kind of plugging along out there and then all of a sudden, made a nice putt at 9, chip-in at 10, good up-and-down at 11.”

Webb Simpson and John Merrick from the U.S. with South African Charl Schwartzel are tied in second place with totals of -9 under par, three shots off the leading score of  Bill Haas;

Webb Simpson thinks Bill Haas has got the tournament in the bag, if he plays well in the final round;

” I think Bill is in a position, if he keeps a three-shot lead and goes and plays well again, that it’s going to be hard to catch him. But with the golf course this tricky, you get a guy that has a good front nine, he could be tied or even in the lead with nine to go. So anything can happen tomorrow.”

Charl Schwartzel said it was easy to make bogey on this course, especially for the last groups of the day;

“It’s easy to make bogeys, the course got a bit firmer and, playing in the last few groups, the greens get a bit more bumpy. So it’s hard to make birdies and also to keep the bogeys off the card. I probably won’t change anything, just keep playing the way I am and see if I can give myself chances and see what happens. I know the game is good enough to be able to win tomorrow. I’ve had a good run and been consistent, just see if we can keep going with it.”

John Merrick was happy to see some UCLA cheerleaders around the course;

“I saw some UCLA cheerleaders out there, pretty psyched. Got a lot of support out there from fans and friends and family coming up from Long Beach. So it was a good time. I played the par fives great. You’re going to have to make a lot of putts out here because you’re not going to hit every green.  You know you’re going to be chipping and you have to make those putts inside ten feet. But I was generally happy with the day. You really need to pick your spots here, definitely, you can’t shoot at every flag, and that’s kind of one of those things around here, it just baits you into being more aggressive than you need and you need to putt well obviously.”

Looks like Bill Haas has this repeat win sewn up, but anything can happen on a golf course, tomorrow will tell.

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.

 

Belly Putter Ban Imminent ?

It is commonly understood an official from the R&A will make presentations to the golf playing professionals at this week’s HSBC WGC Champions event in Shenzhen and then at next week’s Barclays Singapore Open. Mike Davis, the chief executive of the USGA, has already held such a seminar with PGA Tour players. It is likely that they will take a formal vote in March, to decide if, and when, the ban will come into force. It is possible that a ban could be in place for competition from the start of 2013, or they may wait until the end of the current rules cycle which runs through December 2015. Either way it looks fairly certain that  they are going to eradicate the belly putter altogether. The catalyst for this action seems to be the fact that three of the last five major winners have used belly-putters. Strangely enough there is no mention of the broom-stick putter in this decision-making process, but if the ruling is based on Anchoring, rather than the length of the putter, jamming a putter under your chin, or chest would also be eliminated.

Davis Love 111, the US Ryder Cup captain, attended the meeting with the USGA representative in Georgia, he expressed the view that whatever path the authorities took, they should proceed with haste.

” If they said today, we met with the Tour and we’re going to change putters; Keegan Bradley is going to get himself a conforming putter and he’s still going to be a really good putter. He’s just going to have to make a change, but you’d rather not talk about it for three years and have it be a distraction.”

Webb Simpson, the US Open champion is already practicing with a conventional putter, in readiness of a rule change, although he disagree’s with the argument for a ban;

” I’m friends with a lot of the R&A and the USGA guys and I know they are trying to do it for the betterment of the game. But I don’t think it’s a good decision. If you look at the stats, last year there was no one in the top 20 of the strokes gained category who anchored a putter. So you have to throw out the argument of  it’s an advantage right there. There’s a bunch of arguments going around but I haven’t heard a good one yet.”

Players like Matt Kuchar, who use a long putter but do not Anchor it will be free to continue using such equipment if the ban itself is centered on the anchoring point and not just the length of the putter. It will be extremely interesting to see how this event pans out, is it really going to make the game better, or fairer, I actually doubt it.

PGA Grand Slam of Golf, Padraig Harrington Wins in Bermuda

 

Padraig Harrington/Getty Images

Padraig Harrington won the  PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda, while the other guys were surveying the view Padraig surprised them with  a 35 ft birdie, and went on to win the tournament, fully focused on golf.

The eighth green at Port Royal Golf Course, offers pleasure seekers an ocean view that can leave you breathless, it was certainly spectacular when Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley, and Bubba Watson decided not to survey their birdie putts on eight; instead, they marched to the back of the green, accompanied by their caddies, Paul Tesori, Steve Hale, and Ted Scott, respectively, and the six of them put the business of golf on hold to indulge a sight that left them in awe.

Keegan Bradley said;

“It’s up there with any view in the world, it’s nuts. I am amazed at the view and since it was so calm out, it was better than I’d ever seen it.”

Webb Simpson agreed;

“Pebble Beach is the most beautiful place I’d ever been, until I came to Bermuda. It’s like Pebble, the same views, but with clear water. It’s beautiful. I could stay there all day.”

Padraig was more interested in his golf, mainly because it was only five days ago he was hitting balls back home in Ireland, preparing himself mentally for a lengthy flight to play in China at the BMW Masters. Out of the blue Ernie Els somehow managed to hurt his ankle and had to pull out of the Grand Slam of Golf. The very next day, Padraig’s entry was confirmed, so he skipped China, and joined the tournament in Bermuda. Talking about the viewing antics of the American trio, knowing full well why Simpson, Bradley, and Watson were paying so very little attention.

” I felt very lonely !  It was as beautiful a scenic spot as you could find anywhere in the world, and when you made a birdie and holed a long putt, it’s even nicer. Hard to believe. It was always the right decision to come, no matter what.”

 

 

 

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 ?