European Tour Money Title for Rory ?

Rory McIlroy /thesidelinesagenda.com

Rory McIlroy can wrap up the European money title this week if he puts in a good performance at the Singapore Open. All his closest rivals will not be competing, and he already leads the race going into the tournament. Rory has already claimed the U.S. PGA Tour money list, and would love to repeat Luke Donald’s 2011 win on both sides of the Atlantic. Rory said he would like to have a strong finish to the season;

“I’m in the lead at the moment and it would be nice to increase that,” McIlroy said Wednesday, a day before the tournament. “There’s still a lot to play for in the next three weeks and I want to finish off the season as strong as possible.”

His nearest rivals, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, who won last week at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, and Branden Grace, have strangely decided not to compete this week. The field is still going to be a strong one, with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomery, John Daly and Miguel Angel Jimenez all teeing it up for the tournament at the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club.

The winners prize cheque this week is $1 million, and Rory will also be playing next week at  the Hong Kong Open, while most of his rivals again will not be competing. Rory did not play at the WGC event last week, because he watched his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki, play in a tennis tournament. A poor decision which bought him world-wide criticism, and especially by the golf tournament sponsor. Rory has admitted that the criticism against him was fairly laid.

“I think the criticism is fair. Shenzhen is a World Golf Championship event, one of the big ones. It was a tough one to miss. But I can’t play every week.”

He then went on to say;

”  If I had I would have played five in a row finishing the season and after playing Turkey and Ryder Cup and all the FedEx Cup stuff, it’s just too much. You have to say no and you have to be selfish sometimes and look after yourself, ; it doesn’t make you a bad person. You have got to put yourself first and foremost, and try to fit in the things you want to do. I’m in the fortunate position where I can dictate where I want to play, what I want to do, where I want to go.”

Seems that is what all the youngsters say these days; I do want I want, when I want to do it.

 

Euro Tour WGC-HSBC Champions, China. Incredible Ian Poulter Wins

Ian Poulter/getty images

The incredible performances of Ian Poulter continue to impress everyone, as he pulled off another wonderful win at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Mission Hills, China, with a grittty -7 under par 65 last round to win in style. It was in the same fashion as his amazing Ryder Cup performance for Team Europe last month where he won all four of his matches, Ian’s putter display was as equally destructive at Mission Hills as he carded eight birdies before dropping a shot at the penultimate hole to finish with a score of -21 under par for the tournament. This victory is Ian’s 12th European Tour title and his second success in a WGC event,  he won the Accenture Match Play Championship in 2010. Ian spoke about his amazing run of recent form;

“ It’s been an amazing five or six weeks with The Ryder Cup, and then coming here in good spirits, I played well last week and took a lot from that. I knew that if I stayed patient I’d be right there at the end. It was a special day, I knew there was a good round of golf in me out there on that golf course. As we saw yesterday, if you start going low and get a number on the board then you’re going to be hard to beat. I feel confident with the putter right now. It’s so nice to get my hands on another trophy and get back in the winner’s circle. I feel fantastic, I feel great. After looking at the board after two days, Louis being five shots clear , if he carried on that way, he was going to run away. But it was nice to put up two scores over the weekend, -14 under for Saturday and Sunday is a decent finish, and nice to get another victory in a year where there one was sorely needed. As well as I’ve played this year, it would have been a disappointment personally to have gone that year without winning, and for me and for how I played this year, it’s obviously a great and fantastic feeling especially after The Ryder Cup to get my hands back on a great trophy like this. I definitely think it is a part continuation of The Ryder Cup. I played great and I felt like I holed putts at the right time, which I did. After two days, I felt I was probably too far back with the way Louis was playing, but as you saw anything is possible on this golf course once you get the putter warm. I’ve already spent the cheque last week. I’m not going to tell you what it is until it arrives and I’ve got it home safe and sound, but yes, it was a vehicle, and yes, it was very expensive. I’ll let you all know what it is when it arrives. Some things don’t change!”

Phil Mickelson shot -4 under par 68 last round which left him with a share of second place with compatriots Jason Dufner and Scott Piercy, as well as Open Champion Ernie Els. Phil missed a makeable birdie putt on the 18th, which would have given him second spot alone. For a good part of the day it appeared that Lee Westwood was going to break his WGC duck at the 41st attempt, but sadly his short game let him down on the 15th and a bogey there saw him sign for a par round of 72, the same as Louis Oosthuizen, as the overnight leaders tied for sixth. Martin Kaymer ran up a triple bogey six at the par three 17th after finding the greenside bunker, and followed that mistake with a poor bunker shot, and he eventually finished ninth behind first round joint-leader Adam Scott.

Congratulations to Ian Poulter, I can not wait to see what car he has bought, on offer last week were Ferrari, Maserati and Rolls Royce, my guess would be Maserati, I think that fits Ian’s style.

Euro Tour, WGC-HSBC Champions in China. Awesome Oosthuizen shoots 63

Louis Oosthuizen/ getty images

Louis Oosthuizen shot an amazing second round of -9 under par 63 at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Mission Hills, China, taking him to -16 under par for the tournament and five shots clear of the field.

Louis won the 2010 Open Championship from five shots clear after two rounds on the Old Course at St Andrews, and now a course record 63 in the second round here at Mission Hills saw the South African establish another commanding halfway lead. Louis thinks this contest is far from over though;

” Scoreboard-wise, it’s probably the same as St Andrews. Looking at the leaderboard, there’s so many great players up there. Like I said, it’s far from over. It was probably the same at The Open. With this tournament I’m in a great position to win it, but it’s not even crossed my mind at the moment. There’s still a lot of golf to be played, and I need to put myself in a great position going down the back nine on Sunday. I played the par fives really well, and I think I was six under on them today, “I played the par fives really well, and I think I was six under on them today, the rest was down to putting really well. I gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdie, and hitting fairways, hitting greens, and if you make the putts, you shoot a low number. The par fives, I think I can reach all of them, which makes it easy, if you’re hitting it well just get yourself around the green. I really didn’t make a lot of eagle putts, I just was really close to the green, which led to getting up-and-down and I hit really good chips on a few today for some tap ins for birdie. You get those days where if you hit it well, you leave yourself in a decent spot for a chip-and-putt for a birdie on the par fives.”

There are two players tied in second spot, five shots off the pace, they are Adam Scott, a first round leader, and Ernie Els, a countryman of Louis. Ernie matched Louis on the day with his -9 under par round, and said he was just happy to be able to play golf this week after a tennis related injury last week that forced him out of the PGA Grand Slam in Bermuda. In a strange twist to that tale, his replacement in that tournament was Padraig Harrington, who actually won the title. Ernie thought his 63 today was a bonus;

“I obviously had a good start and all of that, but I wish I can always play like that. I’m just glad to be here, after going down on the tennis court two weeks ago, to stand here and shoot 63 is quite a bonus.”

In joint fourth spot are Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who is bidding for a second win in three starts and a place in the Official World Golf Ranking’s top 50 for the first time, and American Ryder Cup player Jason Dufner, but they are six strokes behind. Shane said he was happy with his days play;

” I didn’t birdie two easy par fives and made a bad bogey on the sixth, but other than that I played lovely all day and gave myself a lot of chances. What’s not to enjoy? I’m playing a World Golf Championship and I’m up there in the top five going into the weekend.”

The way Mission Hills is playing, calm and easy, I don’t see anyone else catching up to these players over the weekend, the tournament is definitely Louis Oosthuizen’s to lose.