Golf Events from the Weekend 20th March

It was another exciting weekend on the major Professional Golf Tours from around the world.


Gary Woodland (USA) with the Transitions Championship trophy

I will start 1st recapping who won the Tavistock Cup that was played at the Isleworth Golf & Country Club, Windermere, Florida. It was over two days on (Monday 14th March and Tuesday 15th March). It was taken out by the Lake Nona Team that had players of the likes of Oliver Wilson (England), Henrik Stenson (Sweden), Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland), Ross Fisher (England), Peter Hanson (Sweden) and Retief Goosen (South Africa) on their team. They finished 43 under for the 36 holes.

They won by 16 shots over the Albany Team, that had Tiger Woods (USA) in its team. 3rd was Isleworth Team, that was another 2shots back on 25 under and back in Fourth Place was Queenwood Team on -18. So Lake Nona GC has the Tavistock Cup in their trophy cabinet for 2011, and the bragging rights that go with it for the rest of the year.

So to the USPGA Tour and this week it was the 3rd leg of 4 in the Florida Swing. It was the Transitions Championship that was being played at the Innisbrook Resort - Copperhead, Palm Harbor, Florida. And this week it was the young USPGA Tour player that got his card back at the 2010 Qualifying School that prevailed. His name was Gary Woodland (USA). He scored rounds of 67-4, 68-3, 67-4 and 67-4 for a 72 hole total of 269-15. And the amazing thing was his only par on the back nine came on the 18th hole. But the win certainly didn’t come easy to him. On the back nine he was in a tassel with 3 other players.

1st to crash out  was the young USPGA Tour rookie Scott Stallings (USA) who had also got his 2011 tour card for last year’s Qualifying School. But previous to this tournament he had only made one cut this year out of 6 USPGA Tour starts and wasn’t even in the field this week until his good friend and fellow USPGA Tour player Kenny Perry (USA) persuaded the Sponsors to give him a Sponsor’s Exemption. And he made the most of it. He made the Highlights on Saturday with getting the NBC Sports shot of the day for scoring a Hole in One on the long par3, 8th hole. And on the final round on Sunday when he birdied the 14th and 15th holes he had got to -14 that was one shot out of the lead at the time. But to his disappointment he hit his drive on the 16th hole into the water on the right and went on to make double bogey. He eventually finished up at -12 after 72holes in sole 3rd position. And the $US 374,000.00 he earned will help him heaps to securing his card for the 2012 USPGA Tour season.

Brendon De Jonge (Zimbabwe) was 2shots off the lead at -13 after 14holes. But he finished Bogey, Bogey, Par, and Bogey to end up at -10 after 72 holes and was in tied 5th place. So it was down to two players with 4holes to play. Gary Woodland (USA) and Webb Simpson (USA) were tied at -14. Gary Woodland (USA) play poor approach shots into 15th and 16th holes and that led to bogeys on both of them. And it looked like he may have blown his chance of winning. Webb Simpson (USA) scrambled pars on 15th and 16th holes. So Webb Simpson (USA) held a one shot lead over Gary Woodland (USA) with 2holes to play. Gary Woodland (USA) hit a fine tee shot into the long par 3, 17th hole that left him with a 12foot birdie putt. He read the putt that had a tricky break in it perfectly and it went straight in the middle of the cup. That meant Gary Woodland (USA) was -15 playing the 72nd hole. He hit a long iron off the tee for accuracy to put the ball in the fairway which he did. That left him 148yards to the pin. He was so pumped up that he flew the wedge shot he had onto the back fringe, and that left a tricky up and down to the front pin placement. He chose the putter and rolled it down and it was close to going in for birdie, but rolled 10feet past the hole. That meant he had to hole that putt to more than likely force a play-off. And that is just what he did. He cool and calmly rolled it in for par and to post -15.

Webb Simpson (USA) stood on the 17th tee and made a nervous swing that landed the ball in the bunker short right. But then he hit a brilliant bunker shot to a couple of feet, and tapped in for an easy par. He came to the 72nd hole at -15, and knew a birdie would giving him his 1st USPGA Tour win of his career, and a par would force a playoff. But again he put a poor swing on it and missed the fairway, it landed in the Fairway bunker on the left. He hit a good fairway bunker shot out, but in trying to make sure he didn’t come up short he caught it too well and it landed near to the spot that Gary Woodland (USA) was in moments before. He chose the putter just like Gary Woodland (USA) had before him. But wasn’t so lucky and rolled it 20feet past the hole. And he knew now the only chance he had to force a playoff was to hole that putt. He made a good effort at it. But it just missed on the left hand side of the cup. And the disappointment of not winning showed on his face. But with earning $US 594,000.00 for coming 2nd it can’t be all bad. And his 1st USPGA Tour win can’t be too far off. He has now earned $US 902,158 from the 6 events he has played this year. And has already secured his card for the 2012 USPGA Tour season.

But it was Gary Woodland’s (USA) day and it made up for the disappointment he suffered early in the year, when he was beaten at the Bob Hope Classic by Jhonattan Vegas (Venezuela) in a playoff. Gary Woodland (USA) earned 500 FedEx Cup points for the win which takes his total for the year to date to 945 Points from the 7 events he has played this year. He is 141 points behind the leader Mark Wilson (USA) who is still on top with 1,086 points from the 8events he has played this year to date. Nick Watney (USA) is 2nd on 960 points from 6 events. Gary Woodland (USA) also gains a start in the US Masters the 1st Major of the year in 3weeks time, and he gets into the Players Championship in May and the US PGA Championship in Mid August. Plus many more spoils from the win. He won $US 990,000 for the win as well. He moves to 3rd on the USPGA Tour money list with $US 1,850,064 from the 7events he has played. 1st is Nick Watney (USA) with $US 2,278,000 from 6events.

The win just reinforces what a talent Gary Woodland (USA) really has for golf, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won again this year, or even finished strong in the Majors. After qualifying for the USPGA Tour in 2009 he had a poor rookie season finishing 207th on the money list. He spent 2010 playing the Nationwide Tour, and once he gained his card at qualifying school last year, he wasn’t going to let his 2nd time round go to waste. I wish him all the best with continued success in this season. In 4th place was Brandt Snedeker  (USA) on  -11, tied for 5th was Marc Turnesa (USA) on -10 he also had the best round of the day which was 66-5, also tied 5th was Martin Laird (Scotland), Roland Thatcher (USA), Chris Couch (USA), Justin Rose (England) who was leading at -13 at the start of the day by 1shot. But 4straight bogeys from the 7th to the 10th holes ruined his chance, and he too tied for 5th at -10. And Brendon De Jonge (Zimbabwe) as I mentioned earlier tied for 5th. Defending Champion Jim Furyk (USA) had a solid defence on his title, tying for 13th at -8, along with low Australian John Senden (Australia).

Next week the USPGA Tour has the 4th and final leg of the Florida Swing. They play the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard and it is being played at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida. It starts on Thursday (24th March). The two big American Guns are playing, and they are of course Phil Mickelson (USA) and Tiger Woods (USA). With $US 6,000,000 up for grabs it is going to be a real shootout. And Arnold Palmer (USA) is always there on Sunday to present the Trophy to the champion. Maybe this will be the week that Tiger Woods (USA) finally wins again? I will report back who took home the spoils next week.

Raphael Jacquelin (France) with the
Sicilian Open trophy

So to the European Tour and the Race to Dubai. And this week it was a brand new tournament called the Sicilian Open and was played at the Donnafugata Golf Resort & SPA, Sicily, Italy. The tournament was forced into a 5th day because thunder storms early on Sunday morning meant there wasn’t enough light to finish the tournament in the scheduled 4days. So nine players had to come back on Monday morning to complete their final rounds.  The leader when play was suspended due to darkness on Sunday evening was Rapheal Jacquelin (France) on -11, He had a 1shot lead over Anthony Wall (England) who was on -10. They both have 6holes left to play when play resumed early on Monday morning. So to the last 6holes the leaders had to play.

When play resumed early on Monday morning it was Rapheal Jacquelin (France) who played the last 6holes in -1 and he finished 72holes on -12. He scored rounds of 66-5, 69-2, 69-2 and 68-3 for a 72hole Total of 272 -12. He won by 1shot and earned € 166,660 euro’s for the win. The win was his 3rd win on the European Tour and his 1st since the BMW Asian Open in 2007. With the win he moves to 22nd place on the Race to Dubai money list with €221,935 Euros from the 6events he has played this year. Luke Donald (England) is on top with €1,221,411 euro’s from the 2events he has played this year.

The win also give’s Rapheal Jacquelin (France) an exemption on the European Tour till the end of 2013. The win should also give him a lot of confidence to go on to bigger and better things in 2011 season. And in my opinion he has always been one of Frances leading Golfers. And I wish him well for the rest of the 2011 season, and hope he will be in the Top 60 on the Race to Dubai Money list at the end of the season so he can play in the Dubai World Championship presented by DP World that is being played at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, United Arab Emirates in early December.

Anthony Wall (England) came in 2nd at -11 after 72holes. It was a fine tournament for him and his best finish since winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2000. Tied for 3rd were Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) and Joel Sjoholm (Sweden) on -7, in tied 5th place were Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium), Carlos Del Moral (Spain), Simon Dyson (England), Jamie Elson (England), Oscar Floren (Sweden), Lorenzo Gagli (Italy), Scott Jamieson (Scotland) and Peter Whiteford (Scotland), they all finished at -5. The only New Zealander in the field was Michael Campbell (New Zealand) and he made his 1st cut of the year. He scored rounds of 73+2, 71even, 69-2 and 74+3 for a 72 hole Total of 287+3 that left him in a tie for 58th place and earned him € 2,900 euro’s. He is now on the Race to Dubai money list with €2,900 euro’s from 5events that he has played this year, which places him in 237th place. He will need some good finishes to improve his position. But at least making a cut is a positive move in the right direction.

Next week the European heads to Spain. It is the Open de Andalucia de Golf by Turkish Airline and it is being played at Parador de Málaga Golf, Málaga, Spain. With €1,000,000 euro’s on offer it is sure to attract another good field. And with defending champion Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) ruled out due to an eye infection, there is guaranteed to be a new Champion. I will report back who won the trophy next week.

So until then remember drive it straight, hit the greens in regulation and make the putts is the recipe to a good score.

 

Source: pgatour.com, europeantour.com