Golf Events from the Weekend 31st July 2011

It was another great weekend on the Major Professional Golf Tours from around the world. 1st I will start with the European Tour and Race to Dubai. This week it was in Ireland for the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland and it was played at the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club, Killarney, Co Kerry, Republic of Ireland. And this week it was Simon Dyson (England) that scored rounds of 70-1, 65-6, 67-4 and a final round of 67-4 for a 72 hole total of 269-15 and he won by 1stroke over Richard Green (Australia). He played a fine final round with scoring 34-1 on the front nine with a birdie on the par 4, 8th hole. He then played an even better back nine, scoring 33-3 which included birdies at the Par 3, 10th hole and the Par 4, 11th hole. 2 more birdies on the Par 5, 16th hole and the par 4, 17th hole with a lone bogey on the Par 4, 14th hole. And that added up to a round of 67-4.

Simon Dyson (England) takes his hat off to acknowledge the crowd as he walks to the trophy presentation

But it could be said the Tournament was handed to Simon Dyson (England), because Richard Green (Australia) came to the last green all tied up with Simon Dyson (England) on -15. He hit the Par 4, 18th hole in 2shots but was 45 feet short of the hole. He rolled his birdie putt 8feet past and missed his return par putt to force a playoff. But that is just the way it goes sometimes. Simon Dyson (England) earned € 250,000.00 for the win and it moves him to 9th on the Race to Dubai Money list with €892,840 earned from the 18 events he has played to date this year. Luke Donald (England) still leads with €3,156,696 earned from the 8 events he has played to date this year. It was Simon Dyson’s (England) 5th European Tour International Schedule victory in his 319th European Tour event. He moves just inside the top 50 on the Official World Golf Rankings from 67th position last week. It was Simon Dyson’s (England) 1st European Tour win since the 2009 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. And he had played 50 European Tour events between this win and his last win.

This win beats his previous best performance since his 2009 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship win which was a tie for 2nd in the 2010 UBS Hong Kong Open. This win beats his previous best performance in 2011 of 3rd in the BMW PGA Championship in May early this year. He becomes the 2nd consecutive English man to win the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland following Ross Fisher (England) who won in 2010. This victory by Simon Dyson (England) means that English golfers have won the event every time it has been held at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club. The previous 3 winners were Sir Nick Faldo (England) 1991 and 1992 and Ross Fisher (England) 2010. This victory beats his previous best performance in the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland which was a tie for 7th in 2007.

Simon Dyson (England) kiss the Irish Open presented by discover Ireland Trophy

Simon Dyson’s (England) win here is the 9th English Victory on the European Tour for 2011. His win becomes the 265th English victory in European Tour history. Also gains a European Tour exemption till the end of 2013. And he gains a place in the 2011 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and WGC – HSBC Champions. And this is Simon Dyson’s (England) 8th win as a professional worldwide. I wish Simon Dyson (England) all the best for the rest of the 2011 season on the European Tour.

Richard Green (Australia) will be disappointed with coming 2nd.  But the 2nd place cheque of € 166,660 will keep him happy and he now is in 42nd Position on the Race to Dubai Money list with € 397,578 earned from the 13 events he has played this year to date. I hope he does win another tournament on the European Tour this year. In Solo 3rd place was Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) on -12, In Solo 4th place was the young Professional from Austria, Bernd Wiesberger (Austria), he finished -11 and earned € 75,000.00 for his efforts which is the largest pay cheque he has got this year to date. And he has now earned € 191,127 from the 22 events he has played so far which places him in 98th Position on the Race to Dubai Money list. He gained his card from finishing 5th on the Challenge Tour in 2010 with €99,989 earned from the 22 events he played last season. I hope he builds on this finish at the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland and maybe he can have a win before the year is out.

Tied for 5th were Ignacio Garrido (Spain), Alexandre Kaleka (France) and Soren Hansen (Denmark) who is now placed in 99th position on the Race to Dubai Money list with € 189,510 earned from the 20 events he has played to date this year. They were all on -10. Rounding out the top 10 in tied for 8th position were Lorenzo Gagli (Italy), Peter Lawrie (Ireland) and David Howell (England) they were all -9. Best New Zealander this week was Mark Brown (NZL), he scored rounds of 71 even, 67-4, 68-3 and a final round of 70-1 for a 72 hole total of 276-8 and he finished in tied for 11th position. He earned € 25,125.00 for his weeks work and it was his best finish on the European Tour for the year. He has now earned € 91,705 from the 21 events he has played to date this year, and he is placed in 142nd position on the Race to Dubai Money list. It will do great things for his confidence after missing his last 5 cuts. But he will need to have some more Top 10’s in the weeks to come if he is going to keep his card for the 2012 European Tour Season. But I wish him well for the rest of the 2011 season.

The other New Zealander in the field was Michael Campbell (NZL), he scored a great 1st round of 66-5 that placed him well inside the top 10. But a shocking 2nd round of 77+6 meant he scored a 36 hole total of 143+1 and missed the cut by 2 strokes. He has now missed his last 3 cuts after having a promising Scottish Open where he finished in tied 49th position in early July. He has only made 7 cuts from the 19 events he has played to date this year. And he is in 169th Position on the Race to Dubai Money list with € 58,804 earned from the 19 events he has played to date this year. I hope he can improve on that position because we all know he is a better player than this, and just over 6 years ago he won the 2005 US Open Championship. So I wish him well for the rest of the 2011 European Tour Season.

Next week the European Tour and the Race to Dubai head to America for the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and it is being played at the Firestone CC, Akron, Ohio, USA. There is a huge prize purse of $US 8,500,000 up for the taking, there will be the very best players in the world there as it is co-sanctioned with USPGA Tour and the FedEx Cup. Tiger Woods (USA) is even making an appearance after coming back from injury. Hunter Mahan (USA) is the defending Champion and will be looking to win back to back titles. It starts on Thursday 4th August. I will report back who next week.

The 2nd event I am reporting on this week is on the USPGA Tour and is part of the FedEx Cup and it was the Greenbrier Classic and was played at the Old White TPC, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. And it was the rookie professional by the name of Scott Stallings (USA) that came away with the Trophy. He scored rounds of 70 even, 65-5, 66-4 and a final round of 69-1 for a 72 hole total of 270-10. But two other players also finished on that score and they were Bill Haas (USA) who scored rounds of 71+1, 67-3, 65-5 and 67-3 for a 72 hole total of 270-10, and Bob Estes (USA) who scored rounds of 69-1, 72+2, 65-5 and a great final round of 64-6 which was the lowest final round of the day. His 72 hole total was also 270 -10. So those 3 players went back to the Par 3, 18th hole for the 1st playoff hole. And it must be the year of the playoff on the USPGA Tour because so far out of the 33 events played there has been 13 playoffs.

Scott Stallings (USA) in action during the final round of the Greenbrier Classic

Bill Haas (USA) drew 1 out of the hat and teed off 1st. He hit his short iron shot to about 25 feet short of the hole but got it over the ridge that was in the middle of the green, so he had a flat putt. Bob Estes (USA) drew the 2 out the hat and he hit a better short iron shot just short of pin high 12 feet to the right of the pin. Scott Stallings (USA) hit last, and he hit a brilliant short iron to 7 feet just left but short of the pin. Bill Haas (USA) putted 1st for his birdie from 25 feet, but he just missed to the left and tapped in for his par. Bob Estes (USA) was next from 12 feet and he too missed his birdie putt when he pushed it to the right, and he tapped in for an easy par. So the Stage was set for Scott Stallings (USA), and he rolled in his left to right breaking 7 foot birdie putt and had won his 1st ever USPGA Tour event. He pumped his fist in the air to celebrate. It was an amazing comeback after starting the final round at -9, he went out and scored a shocking front nine of 38+4 and was well of the pace at -5. But he had just an awesome back nine with birdies on holes 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 16th. A silly bogey on the Par 5, 17th hole when he hit his drive in the right hazard, meant he came to the 72nd hole needing a birdie to force a playoff. But that is exactly what he did, by hitting his tee shot within 5 feet of the hole and making the small tricky putt for birdie to force the playoff. He scored 31-5 on the back nine for a final round 69-1.

For the win he earned $US 1,080,000.00 for his weeks work and moves him to 25th Position on the USPGA Tour money list with $US 1,823,325 earned from the 21 events he has played to date this year. Nick Watney (USA) still leads with $US 4,189,233 earned from the 15 events he has played to date this year. He also gains 500 FedEx Cup points which places him in 26th position on the FedEx Cup Points list with 952 points earned from the 21 events he has played to date this year. He is 846 points behind the leader who is Nick Watney (USA) who has earned 1,798 points from the 15 events he has played to date this year. And he gets to fulfil his lifelong dream as a Golfer, and that is to play in the Masters Tournament at Augusta in 2012. He was a spectator there in 2009 and swore he would never go back until he gained an invitation to play. It is amazing to think he has almost won $US 2million with missing 12 cuts from the 21 events he has played. But it proves that a player can gain his card from the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament and go on and win on the USPGA Tour the following year. Because that is exactly what he has achieved. He finished tied for 11th at the 2010 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, which gave him his USPGA Tour Card for the 2011 season. I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2011 season, and I hope he does well in the FedEx Cup playoffs that are less than a month away.

Scott Stallings (USA) with the Greenbrier Classic Trophy he won

For Bill Haas (USA) he will be disappointed he let this tournament slip from his grasp. But he is still having a great season with earnings of $US 2,278,741from the 19 events he has played to date. He has had 6 top 10 finishes and 2 of them have been in playoffs. The only thing he needs now is a win and I feel it will happen soon. Bob Estes (USA) had his best finish on the USPGA Tour in a long time. The $US 528,000.00 he earned for coming tied for 2nd is only the 2nd cheque he has made this year. He lost his playing status last year finishing outside the top 125 on the 2010 money list. So I hope this fine finish can give him confidence to go on and earn enough money to finish inside the top 125 on the money list and keep his card for the 2012 USPGA Tour season.

In tied 4th position was Andres Romero (Argentina) who had another great finish after finishing in solo 3rd in the RBC Canadian Open last week. He has now secured his card for the 2012 USPGA Tour season with $US 1,210,353 earned from 18 events he has played to date. Also tied in 4th position were Brendon De Jonge (Zimbabwe), Cameron Tringale (USA), Jim Walker (USA) and the long hitting Gary Woodland (USA), they were all on -9 after 72 holes. Rounding out the top 10 in tied for 9th position were Kyle Stanley (USA) and Webb Simpson (USA) at -8 after 72 holes.

Next week on the USPGA Tour there are two tournaments. The 1st one is the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and it is being played at the Firestone CC, Akron, Ohio, USA. There is a huge prize purse of $US 8,500,000 up for the taking, there will be the very best players in the world there. Tiger Woods (USA) is even making an appearance after coming back from injury. Hunter Mahan (USA) is the defending Champion and will be looking to win back to back titles. It starts on Thursday 4th August. I will report back who won next week. And the other tournament is for the players that aren’t playing in the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and is the Reno – Tahoe Open and it is being played at the Montreux G&CC, Reno, Nevada. It has a smaller than usual purse of $US 3,000,000 up for grabs. But will give the lesser names a chance to shine. Matt Bettencourt (USA) is the defending Champion and is back to defend his title. It starts on Thursday 4th August. I will report back who took home both trophies next week.

So to the top 5 in the Official World Golf Rankings this week, and still the Number 1 Golfer in the World is Luke Donald (England) with 9.49 Official World Ranking Points, coming in at Number 2 is Lee Westwood (England) with 8.18 Official World Ranking Points, coming in at Number 3 is Martin Kaymer (Germany) with 7.15 Official World Ranking Points, coming in at Number 4 is Steve Stricker (USA) with 6.83 Official World Ranking Points and rounding out the top 5 is Rory McILroy (NIR) with 6.82 Official World Ranking Points. Tiger Woods (USA) slips 7 places this week to 28th on the Official World Golf Rankings with 3.49 Official World Golf Ranking Points. Best New Zealander Golfer is still Danny Lee (NZL), he moves up 12 places this week to 295th Position on the Official World Golf Rankings. He has .60 Official World Golf Ranking Points.

Now to the 3rd event I am reporting on this week and it is on the Champions Tour and was the 4th of 5 majors of the season which was the U. S. Senior Open Championship and it was played at the Inverness GC, Toledo, Ohio. And it was the Golfer by the name of Olin Browne (USA) that scored rounds of 64-7, 69-2, 65-6 and a final round of 71 even for a 72 hole total 269-15 to win his 1st ever U. S. Senior Open Championship by 3strokes. And it was also his maiden Champions Tour Victory after joining the Champions Tour in May 2009.  He won $ US 500,000.00 for his win and that moves him to 4th on the Champions Tour Money list with $US 968,238 earned from the 15 events he has played to date this year. Tom Lehman (USA) is still leading with $1,346,276 earned from the 13 events he has played to date this year.

Olin Browne (USA) with the U. S. Senior Open Championship Trophy he won

He also moves to 2nd on the Charles Schwab Cup Points list with 1,330 points earned from the 15 events he has played this year to date. He is 203 points behind Tom Lehman (USA) who is on top of the list with 1,533 points earned from the 13 events he has played to date this year. Olin Browne (USA) played a great final round under the pressure. In the final round he played an average front nine of 38+1 with 8 pars and alone bogey on the Par 5, 8th hole. But he played a great back nine under the circumstances with making 8 Straight pars and came to the 72nd hole with a 2 stroke lead over Mark O’Meara (USA). Olin Browne (USA) was -14 and Mark O’Meara (USA) was -12. But Olin Browne (USA) holed his 30 foot birdie putt for the icing on the cake, and scored 71 even par. I feel this win is well deserved as he had had 5 other Top 10 finishes before this win. I hope he can win again before the season is finished. I wish him all the best for the rest of 2011.

Mark O’Meara (USA) was in solo 2nd place at -12 after 72 holes. He would be pleased with that finish. Mark Calcavecchia (USA) was in solo 3rd at -11, which was also a final showing from him. In tied for 4th Position at -10 after 72 holes was Joey Sindelar (USA) and the evergreen Hale Irwin (USA) who is 66 years old, proving that age is just a number. In Solo 6th position was Peter Senior (Australia) who had another fine showing in a Champions Tour Major finishing -9 after 72 holes. In tied for 7th position was Michael Allen (USA) and Corey Pavin (USA), they were both -8. Rounding out the top 10 in tied for 9th position were Nick Price (Zimbabwe), the defending Champion, Bernhard Langer (Germany), John Huston (USA) and Steve Pate (USA), they were all -7 after 72 holes. 

Next week the Champions Tour heads to Minnesota for the 3M Championship and it is being played at the TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minnesota. David Frost (RSA) is the defending Champion and will be trying for consecutive titles. With a large Prize Purse of $US 1,750,000 for the taking it will attract another fine field of Champions Tour Players. It starts on Friday 5th August and I will report back who won next week.

The last event I am reporting on this week is on the Nationwide Tour and it was the Utah Championship presented by Utah Sports Commission. And it was played at the Willow Creek CC, Sandy, Utah. And it was the professional by the name of J. J. Killeen (USA) that scored rounds of 62-9, 67-4, 68-3 and a final round of 65-6 for a 72 hole total of 262-22 and he won by 4 strokes. He won $US 99,000.00 for coming first. He moves to 5th position on the Nationwide Tour Money list with $US 196,086 earned from the 14 events he has played to date this year. Mathew Goggin (Australia) is still on top with $US 336,964 earned from the 11 events he has played to date this year. I feel J. J. Killeen (USA) has almost earned enough now to gain his USPGA Tour card for the 2012 Season. But another win in the months to come will confirm that. He played brilliant golf from the word go when he scored a 62-9 in the 1st round.  The round included 10 birdies and 1 solo bogey. He backed that brilliant round up with a 2nd round 67-4 and a 3rd round 68-3, and then played a flawless final round of 65-6 that was bogey free. I feel this win will do a lot of good things for J. J. Killeen’s (USA) confidence. And I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2011 season on the Nationwide Tour.

J. J. Killeen (USA) in action during the final round of the Utah Championship presented by the Utah Sports Commission

In solo 2nd place was Jeff Gove (USA) who was at -18. Casey Wittenberg (USA) was in solo 3rd place at -16. Tied for 4th place were James Hahn (USA) and Bud Cauley (USA) at -15. Tied for 6th position was Steve Wheatcroft (USA), Mark Anderson (USA) and David Lingmerth (Sweden) they were all on -14 after 72 holes. Rounding out the top 10 in tied for 9th position was Stephen Gangluff (USA), Danny Lee (NZL) who scored rounds of 71 even, 66-5, 65-6 and a final round of 69-2 for a 72 hole total of 271-13. He won $US 14,850.00 for his efforts and that moves him to 19th position on the Nationwide Tour Money list with $US 111,950 earned from the 8 events he has played to date this year. If he remains healthy and he can have a few more top 10’s or even gain a win, I feel he will be on the USPGA Tour for the 2012 season. I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2011 season on the Nationwide Tour. And the final player tied for 9th was Jason Kokrak (USA); they were all -13 after 72 holes.

Next best New Zealander to make the cut was Steven Alker (NZL) scored rounds of 67-4, 71 even, 71 even and a final round of 69-2 for a 72 hole total of 278-6 and he tied for 45th position. He earned $US 1,955.25 for his weeks work and moves to 116th position on the Nationwide Tour Money list with $US 16,904 earned from the 9 events he has played to date this year. At least he has made 3 cuts this year, because last year he made none. But he will need a lot of top 10 finishes if he has any hope of moving in to the top 25 money earners that earn their USPGA Tour cards for the 2012 USPGA Tour season. But I wish him all the best for the rest of the season. The final New Zealand Golfer to make the cut was Tim Wilkinson (NZL), he scored rounds of 67-4, 68-3, 78+7 and a final round of 66-5 for a 72 hole total of 279-5 and finished in tied for 55th Position. He earned $US 1,746.25 for his efforts and moves to 86th on the Nationwide Tour Money list with $US 29,364 earned from the 13 events he has played to date this year.

2 other New Zealand Golfers were in the field but missed the 36 hole halfway cut. The 1st one was Bradley Iles (NZL) who scored rounds of 68-3 and 73+2 for a 36 holes total of 141-1, he missed the 36 hole cut by 2 strokes. The other New Zealand Golfer to miss the cut was Josh Geary (NZL) who scored rounds of 72+1 and 69-2 for a 36 hole total of 141-1 and he to missed the 36 cut by 2 strokes. Next week the Nationwide Tour heads to Nebraska for the Cox Classic presented by Lexus of Omaha and it is being played on the Champions Run, Omaha, Nebraska. There is a large purse of $US 725,000 for the taking. Martin Piller (USA) is the defending Champion. But there will be a new Champion because Martin Piller (USA) who is on the USPGA Tour now. It starts on Thursday 4th August and I will report back who won next week.

So until then remember hitting Fairways and Greens and making lots of putts is the recipe for great Golf Scores!!!

Source: pgatour.com, europeantour.com