Golf Events from the Weekend 11th September 2011

Well there was just one Tournament on the Major Golf Tours from around the world this Weekend and it was on the European Tour and part of the Race to Dubai. It was the KLM Open and was played at the Hilversumsche GC, Hilversum, Netherlands and it was the Golfer by the name of Simon Dyson (England) that won his 2nd event on the European Tour this year. He scored rounds of 65-5, 66-4, 71+1 and a final round of 66-4 for a 72 hole total of 268-12 and won by 1 stroke. Simon Dyson (England) for the win at the KLM Open won € 300,000.00 and moves to 9th position on the Race to Dubai Money list with €1,298,904 earned from the 23 events he has played to date this year so far. Luke Donald (England) is still leading with €3,778,199 earned from the 10 events he has played to date this year so far.

Simon Dyson (England) shakes the hand of his caddy after winning the KLM Open

He played a great final round after a slow start to his front nine. He birdied the Par 4, 2nd hole and the Par 4, 8th hole on the front nine, but made a poor bogey on the Par 4, 4th hole to go out in 34-1. He started the back nine poorly with a bogey on the Par 4, 11th hole, but then played awesome golf the rest of the way in with birdies on the Par 5, 12th hole, Par 3, 13th hole when he hit his tee shot to a foot from the hole, and then birdied the Par 4, 14th hole. He made solid pars on the next 3 holes and came to the 72nd hole at -11. He played the par 5, 18th hole just the way it was designed to be played. He hit his drive 300 yards down the centre of the fairway, and then chose a 4 iron from just over 200 yards out from the green which he hit solid and landed 20 feet right of the Flag stick, on the green pin high. He left his eagle putt about 1foot short of the cup and tapped in for an easy birdie 4. Which left him on -12 and he was the leader in the Club House.

David Lynn (England) was his only serious threat still on the course. He came to the 72 hole at -10, and he knew what he had to do to force a playoff and that was eagle the Par 5, 18th hole. He did the 1st part right by striking his drive right down the centre of the fairway. And hit his rescue wood on the green to the right about 35 feet from the pin. He had a good run at his eagle putt, but it just missed and it rolled 3feet past. That meant Simon Dyson (England) was the winner. It was Simon Dyson’s sixth win on the European Tour International Schedule in his 324th European Tour event. He passes €1 million in a single season for the fourth time in his European Tour career. He moves to just outside the top 30 of the Official World Golf Ranking from 55th. It is the 2nd time he has won this season on the European Tour having won the Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland in late July. It was his 3rd third victory in the KLM Open, following his triumphs in 2006 and 2009. Since the event became part of The European Tour in 1972, he becomes the third player to win the KLM Open three times. He joins: Seve Ballesteros (1976, 1980 and 1986) and Bernhard Langer (1984, 1992 and 2001).

He becomes the sixth multiple winner of the season, following Luke Donald (WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship, BMW PGA Championship and Barclays Scottish Open), Thomas Björn (Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy, Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and Omega European Masters), Charl Schwartzel (Joburg Open and Masters Tournament) and Darren Clarke (Iberdrola Open and The 140th Open Championship) and Alex Noren (Saab Wales Open and Nordea Masters). With this latest victory has now won six times on The European Tour. The third time he has won multiple events in the same season – two in 2006, two in 2009 and two in 2011. It was the 11th English victory of the 2011 season. They are: Paul Casey (Volvo Golf Champions), Luke Donald (WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship, BMW PGA Championship and Barclays Scottish Open), David Horsey (Trophée Hassan II), Lee Westwood (Ballantine’s Championship), Ian Poulter (Volvo World Match Play Championship), Robert Rock (BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi), Simon Dyson (Irish Open presented by Discover Ireland and KLM Open) and Oliver Fisher (Czech Open). It was the 267th English victory in European Tour history. He moves over €8 million in European Tour Official Career Earnings and it was his eighth win as a professional worldwide.

Simon Dyson (England) holding the KLM Open Trophy he won

Simon Dyson (England) is just having a fine year, and it is his best season on the European Tour since 2009. I hope he goes on and wins the Race to Dubai at the Dubai World Championship presented by DP World in early December. It will be a huge challenge for him, but I feel he is now ready to step up a gear in his Golf Career and move to the next level. I wish him all the best for the rest of the 2011 European Tour season. In 2nd place was David Lynn (England) at 269-11 and he won € 200,000 for his weeks work and now moves to 38th position the Race to Dubai Money list with €536,310 earned from the 19 events he has played to date this year that includes 5 top 10 finishes.

Rory McILroy (NIR) continued on his fine form he has been displaying this year and was 270-10 after 72 holes in solo 3rd place. He would be disappointed that he never won though because he has been in good position to win the last two weeks on the European Tour, but has failed to do so. He won € 112,680 for his weeks work and that moves him to 2nd position on the Race to Dubai Money list with € 2,151,474 earned from the 15 events he has played to date this year so far. And he is having a career season with winning his 1st Major Championship in record fashion at the US Open Championship in June. And he has made every single cut and recorded 9 top 10 finishes this year as well. But he could of just as easy of won 4 Tournaments and 2 Majors this year. He would be the odds on favourite to win the Race to Dubai Title with Luke Donald (England). I wish him all the best for the rest of the European Tour season and hope he can secure a couple of wins before the season is finished.

Gary Orr (England) was in solo 4th place at 271-9 after 72 holes. He won € 90,000 for his weeks work and moves to 132nd Position on the Race to Dubai Money list with € 143,151earned from the 17 events he has played to date this year. It was his best finish on the European Tour this year to date and his 1st top 10 finish as well. He has made his last 4 cuts and now with a few more top 10 finishes will keep his card for the 2012 European Tour season. I wish him all the best with that. In solo 5th place was World Number 2 Golfer, Lee Westwood (England), He was 272-8 after 72 holes and earned € 76,320 for his efforts. He now moves to 4th position on the Race to Dubai Money list with € 1,913,751 earned from the 16 events he has played to date this year. He has had an amazing 8 top 10 finishes in his last 10 Tournaments played on the European Tour after a slow start to his 2011 season where he didn’t record a top 10 finish in his 1st 6 starts. He too is a short odd favourite to take out the Race to Dubai Title at the end of the season.

Rounding out the top 10 in tied for 6th position at 273-7 after 72 holes and winning € 45,240 each for their weeks work was Ross Fisher (England), David Horsey (England), James Kingston (South Africa), Jose Manuel Lara (Spain), Joost Luiten (Netherlands) and Paul McGinley (Ireland). Both New Zealand Golfers in the field this week missed the 36 hole cut. Best of them was Mark Brown (NZL), he scored rounds of 72+1 and 71+1 for a 36 hole total of 143+3 and missed the 36 hole cut by 3 strokes. He is now in 152nd position on the Race to Dubai Money list with € 96,805 earned from the 25 events he has entered this year to date. He is having rather a poor season with no top 10 finishes at all and will have to play well in the remaining 11 events on the 2011 European Tour Schedule that he is likely to get a start in to keep his playing Status for the 2012 season. I wish him all the best with the quest to keep his card.

The other New Zealand Player to miss the cut was Michael Campbell (NZL), he scored rounds of 73+3 and 71+1 for a 36 hole total of 144+4 and he missed the 36 hole cut by 4 strokes. He is now in 161st position on the Race to Dubai Money list with € 77,804 earned from the 21 events he has played to date this year. He too is yet to record a Top 10 finishes this year on the European Tour. But I wish him to have a strong finish to his 2011 Season.

Next week on the European Tour is the only teams event this year which is the Vivendi Seve Trophy that is contested in a similar fashion to the Ryder Cup between Team Continental Europe and Team Great Britain and Ireland. It is being played at the St. Nom La Breteche, Paris, France. The players in Team Continental Europe are Team Captain, Jean van de Velde (France), Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), Nicolas Colsaerts (France), Anders Hansen (Denmark), Peter Hanson (Sweden), Raphael Jacquelin (France), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), Pablo Larrazabal (Spain), Matteo Manassero (Italy), Francesco Molinari (Italy) and Alexander Noren (Sweden). The players in the Team Great Britain and Ireland are, Team Captain, Paul McGinley (Ireland), Darren Clarke (NIR), Jamie Donaldson (Wales), Simon Dyson (England), Ross Fisher (England), Mark Foster (England), David Horsey (England), Scott Jamieson (England), Ian Poulter (England), Robert Rock (England) and Lee Westwood (England). It is played under the following format of the event will be a match play competition between two teams of 10 players representing (a) Europe and (b) Great Britain and Ireland. On each of the first two days there will be a series of 5 fourball matches. On the third day there will be a series of 4 greensome and 4 foursome matches. On the final day there will be a series of 10 singles matches. It has a prize purse of €1,150,000 for the taking as well. Team Great Britain and Ireland are the defending Champions and will be looking to make it 2 wins in a row.  It starts on Thursday 15th September and I will report back next week which team won the Trophy.   

Luke Donald (England) the current World Number 1 Golfer

So to the top 5 on the Official World Golf Rankings this week. Coming at Number 1 for the 16th week in a row is Luke Donald (England) with 10.48 Official Golf World Ranking Points, Coming in at Number 2 is Lee Westwood (England) with 8.21 Official Golf World Ranking Points, coming at number 3 is Rory McILroy (NIR) with 7.09 Official Golf World Ranking Points, coming in at number 4 is Steve Stricker (USA) with 6.90 Official Golf World Ranking Points, and rounding out the top 5 this week is Dustin Johnson (USA) with 6.80 Official Golf World Ranking Points. Tiger Woods (USA) slips another 2 places this week and is now in 46th position on the Official World Golf Rankings Points list with 2.94 Official World Golf Ranking Points. Best New Zealander is still Danny Lee (NZL), he slips 2 places this week to 255th position in the Official World Golf Rankings Points list with 0.70 Official World Golf Ranking Points.

So until my next report next week remember to keep hitting it long and straight and make all your Putts!!

Source: europeantour.com, pgatour.com