Golf Events from the Weekend 9th September 2012

It was another exciting weekend on the Major Professional Golf Tours from around the world. First I will start with the European Tour and Race to Dubai and this week it headed to The Netherlands for the KLM Open and it was played on Hilversumsche GC, Hilversum, The Netherlands. And it was the golfer by the name of Peter Hanson (Sweden) who scored rounds of 66-4, 66-4, 67-3 and a final round of 67-3 for a 72 hole total of 266-14 and he won by 2 strokes. He won € 300,000.00 for the win and moved to 8th position on the current Race to Dubai Money list with € 1,682,093 earned from the 17 events he has played to date this year so far. Rory McILroy (NIR) still leads that list with €2,813,962 earned from the 11 events he has played in to date this year.

It was Peter Hanson (Sweden) fifth European Tour International Schedule victory in his 273rd European Tour event. He recorded his highest single-season earnings on the European Tour, beating the €1,500,590 he won in 2011. He could move to inside the top 25 on the Official World Golf Ranking from 34th position. This victory is his first since the 2010 Czech Open. This victory beats his previous best 2012 European Tour performance of tied second in the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy. He has been in the top ten on 17 occasions in his last 45 European Tour events since his victory in the Czech Republic in 2010. He becomes the first Swede to win the KLM Open. This victory comes in his fifth appearance in the KLM Open. This victory bests his previous best performance in the KLM Open of tied 28th in 2004.

Peter Hanson (Sweden) pumps his fist after holing the winning putt!!

It was his second European Tour victory where he has made up a final round deficit. The only other one was the 2010 Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca. He won with an eagle three on the 72nd hole. He is the first player to eagle the last hole of a European Tour and win since Alvaro Quiros (Spain) did it at the 2011 Dubai World Championship presented by DP World. It was the 92nd Swedish win in European Tour history. It was the first Swedish victory on The European Tour in 2012 and first on The European Tour since Alex Noren (Sweden) at the 2011 Nordea Masters. He extends Sweden’s consecutive run of winning years on The European Tour to 24, dating back to the 1989 season. He gains his tenth professional win worldwide in his career.

He gains a place in the 2012 WGC – HSBC Champions and 2013 Volvo Golf Champions. He gains a two year European Tour exemption until the end of 2014. He moves over €10 million in European Tour Official Career Earnings. He becomes the 19th European Tour victory by a former Challenge Tour player on the 2012 European Tour from 35 events so far. They are: Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) (Africa Open and Maybank Malaysian Open), Branden Grace (RSA) (Joburg Open, Volvo Golf Champions and Volvo China Open), Robert Rock (England) (Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) (Omega Dubai Desert Classic), Justin Rose (England) (WGC – Cadillac Championship), Julien Quesne (France) (Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol), Michael Hoey (NIR) (Trophée Hassan II), Thørbjorn Olesen (Denmark) (Sicilian Open), Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) (Ballantine’s Championship and Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity), Ricardo Santos (Portugal) (Madeira Islands Open – Portugal), Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium)  (Volvo World Match Play Championship), Jamie Donaldson (Wales) (Irish Open), Marcel Siem (Germany) (Alstom Open de France), Richie Ramsay (Scotland) (Omega European Masters) and Peter Hanson (Sweden) (KLM Open). And finally becomes the 303rd European Tour victory by a former Challenge Tour player.

Peter Hanson (Sweden) scored a fine final round of 67-3 which included a front nine of 34-1 with his lone birdie coming on the Par 4, 6th hole. He played a better back nine with scoring 33-2 which included a birdie at the Par 5, 12th hole to get to minus 13. He had a poor bogey on the Par 3, 13th hole to fall back to minus 12, and he also bogeyed the Par 4, 14th hole to fall back to minus 11. But he had a fine birdie on the Par 3, 15th hole to move back to minus 12 with three holes to play. He came to the 72nd hole all tied up with Pablo Larrazabal (Spain), they were both tied at minus 12. Peter Hanson (Sweden) hit two fine shots to be on the Par 5 in two shots and he rolled in his putt for eagle from over 30 feet for the win in dramatic style. At one stage on Friday he was going to withdraw from the tournament and go and support his one year old Son, Tim who had been admitted to hospital with breathing problems. But was convinced by his Wife, Sanna to stay on and compete as the Doctors had already confirmed that his Son, Tim was going to be okay. 

Peter Hanson (Sweden) holds the KLM Open Trophy aloft

It was also a timely win as he is going to represent Team Europe in the Ryder Cup Matches at the end of September in America when they play Team USA. It was also his 5th win on the European Tour of his career. Here they are from the first to the most recent: 2005 Jazztel Open de España en Andalucía, 2008 SAS Masters, 2010 Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca and Czech Open 2010 and the 2012 KLM Open. He has had a great season with having already had six top 10 finishes before this win and that included a third place finish at the first major of the year which was the Masters Tournament in April where he held the 54 hole lead. And he must be one of the most consistent players on the European Tour in 2012 with only missing two cuts to date so far. I wish him all the best in the remaining events on the European Tour in 2012 and he might even be a contender to take out the Race to Dubai Money Title in late November.

Coming in tied for second position at 268-12 after 72 holes was last week’s winner at the Omega European Maters, Richie Ramsay (Scotland), it continues on his amazing form he has displayed in his last three tournaments with having top 10 finishes in all of them. He has now won € 919,594 from the 20 events he has played in to date this year so far and he is currently in 17th position on the Race to Dubai Money list. Also tied for second position was Pablo Larrazabal (Spain), he will be disappointed with his final round of even par 70 but will be pleased that he has now easily kept his European Tour card for the 2013 season with € 627,890 earned from the 23 events he has played to date so far and he is in 31st position on current Race to Dubai Money list. It was also his 4th top 10 of the season. Coming in at solo 4th position at 269-11 after 72 holes was Scott Jamieson (Scotland). It was his best finish on the European Tour to date so far this season. Coming in tied for 5th position at 271-9 after 72 holes was Henrik Stenson (Sweden); he had a great finish to his tournament with having eagles on both the Par 5, 12th and Par 5, 18th holes in his final round.  It was his 4th top 10 so far this season from the small amount of tournaments he has played in which is 10. And it also was his best finish of the season to date so far. Also tied for 5th position was Graeme Storm (England); and with this finish it looks like he has kept his European Tour card for the 2013 season with € 220,444 earned from the 23 events he has played to date this season so far. He is now in 84th position on the current Race to Dubai Money list. The final player to tie for 5th position was Gonzalo Fdez – Castano (Spain); he will be disappointed with his final round 73+3. But he has still had a good year with recording 3 top 10 finishes and only missing 2 cuts.

Rounding out the top 10 in tied for 8th position at 272-8 after 72 holes was Gregory Bourdy (France); it was his first top 10 of the season so far. He has now earned € 221,964 from the 19 events he has played in so far this year and has easily kept his card for the 2013 European Tour season. Also tied for 8th position was Anders Hansen (Denmark); he has had a great couple of weeks on the European Tour with this being his second consecutive top 10 finish in as many weeks. He is on target to make the top 60 on the Race to Dubai Money list that make it into the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in late November. He has already earned € 479,049 from the 17 events he has played in to date this year so far which puts him currently in 43rd position on the Race to Dubai Money list. Also tied for 8th position was Richard Sterne (RSA); it was his 5th top 10 of the season and he has now earned € 535,663 from the 18th events he has played in to date this season so far. He is in 39th position on the current Race to Dubai Money list. The final player to tie for 8th position was the long hitting, Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium); he is having just a brilliant season with recording now 9 top 10 finishes from the 21 events he has played in to date this year and that includes a win at the Volvo World Match Play Championship in mid May. He has only missed 2 cuts all season so far. His earnings of € 1,541,554 place him in 9th position on the current Race to Dubai Money list. Richard Finch (England) who finished in tied for 12th position at 273-7 after 72 holes achieved the rare feat in golf when he holed his second shot for an Albatross on the Par 5, 72nd hole. 

Michael Campbell (NZL) was the only New Zealander in the field; he scored rounds of 68-2 which was his third consecutive round in the 60’s after his final two rounds of 67 he scored last week in the Omega European Masters. But he played a shocking second round of 76+6 and he ended up with a 36 hole total of 144+4 to miss the cut by 4 strokes. It was the 11 cut he has missed in the 17 events he has played to date so far this season. He has now made € 93,813 from the 17 events he has played to date on the European Tour so far this season and that puts him currently in 146th position on the Race to Dubai Money list standings. The 76+6 he scored in his second round he could really dent his confidence because his six rounds prior were all par or better. His best finish to date on the European Tour this year is still his tie for 11th position at the Alstom Open de France in early July. I hope he can have some good finishes in the coming months on the European Tour. I wish him all the best with the remaining events on the European Tour in 2012.

Next week the European Tour and Race to Dubai heads to Italy for the playing of the BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi and it is being played at the Royal Park I Roveri, Turin, Italy. It has a prize purse of €1,500,000 and it is the final European Tour event before the Ryder Cup. Robert Rock (England) is the defending Champion and will be keen to defend his title. It starts on Thursday 13th September and I will report back who won the trophy next week.

The second event I am reporting on this week was on the USPGA Tour and was part of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. It was the third FedEx Cup playoff event and only the top 70 players on the FedEx Cup Playoffs points list after the Deutsche Bank Championship qualified to play in it and it was the BMW Championship. And it was played on the Crooked Stick GC, Carmel, Indiana. Rory McILroy (NIR) scored rounds of 64-8, 68-4, 69-3 and a final round of 67-5 for a 72 hole total of 268-20 and he won by 2 strokes. He won $US 1,440,000.00 for the win and he increased his lead on the current USPGA Tour Money list with $US 7,842,192 earned from the 15 events he has played in so far on this year. Tiger Woods (USA) is in second position with $US 5,885,158 earned from the 18 events he has played to date this year so far. He also gets the Number One seeding on the FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 2500 points in the points reset. He has now earned 7,229 FedEx Cup points from the 15 events he has played in to date this year so far. He is 3,232 points ahead of Tiger Woods (USA) who gets the number two seeding heading into the final FedEx Cup Playoff event which is the Tour Championship by Coca – Cola. Tiger Woods (USA) has 2,250 points in the points reset. After the third playoff event he has 4,067 points on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs Points list from the 18 events he has played in so far this year.

Rory McILroy (NIR) played a great final round of 67-5 which included a front nine of 33-3 with birdies on the Par 4, 2nd hole, Par 5, 5th hole and Par 5, 9th hole. He was 18 under after nine holes and was tied on that same score by Phil Mickelson (USA) and Lee Westwood (England). Rory McILroy (NIR) birdied the Par 4, 10th hole to get to minus 19 and took a 1 stroke lead over Phil Mickelson (USA) and Lee Westwood (England). He then made four pars in a row from holes 11-14 and was still minus 19 with five holes to play but now had a 2 stroke lead over Phil Mickelson (USA) who had fallen back to minus 17 after he had bogeyed the Par 4, 12th hole. But his lead was still one stroke over Lee Westwood (England). Rory McILroy (NIR) then birdied the Par 5, 15th hole to get to minus 20 and the Par 4, 16th hole to get to minus 21 with just two holes to play. He now had a 2 stroke lead over Phil Mickelson (USA) who also birdied the 15th and 16th holes and now had a 3 stroke lead over Lee Westwood (England). Rory McILroy (NIR) made a solid Par 3, on the Par 3, 17th hole but Phil Mickelson (USA) was not so lucky and suffered an untimely bogey which meant he fell back to minus 18 with one hole to play.    

Rory McILroy (NIR) follows his drive during the final round

So Rory McILroy (NIR) took a 3 stroke lead over Phil Mickelson (USA) and Lee Westwood (England) to the Par 4, 72nd hole. He struck his tee shot long and straight as he had been doing all day and it landed in the centre of the fairway. He played his second shot conservative with his mid iron and aim to the left of the green as all the danger was on the right with the Water Hazard. It landed on the left fringe just short of pin high. He hit a good chip shot for his third shot under the circumstances and it rolled about 10 feet past the pin. He was unable to convert the 10 footer for his par but easily tapped in his 3 footer for bogey and scored 34-2 on the back nine to win by 2 strokes and claim his second FedEx Cup playoffs win in as many weeks. It also was his fourth win on the USPGA Tour for the 2012 Season. The most of any player so far and he was the first player to win two Playoff Events in a row since Camilo Villegas (Columbia) did it in 2008. He was the first player to win back to back USPGA Tour events since 2009 when Tiger Woods (USA) won Buick Open in early August that year and the following week won the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational. He has now had 9 top 10 finishes from the 15 events he has played so far. Here are his wins so far to date this year: The Honda Classic in early March; the 94th PGA Championship in mid August; the Deutsche Bank Championship last week and this week at the BMW Championship.

Rory McILroy (NIR) poses with the BMW Championships Trophies he won

It was his 6th win of his USPGA Tour career and here are his wins from the very first to the most recent: 2010 Wells Fargo Championship, 2011  U.S. Open, 2012 The Honda Classic,  94th PGA Championship, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship. And he is also leading the current 2012 Race to Dubai Money list as I mentioned earlier. He is now starting to fulfil the early predictions of greatness that was expected from him. He would have to be the odds on favourite to win the FedEx Cup in two weeks time when the climax event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs is played at East Lake GC, Atlanta, Georgia? I wish Rory McILroy (NIR) the best of luck in the rest of the tournaments he plays in the 2012 season.

Coming in tied for 2nd position at 270-18 after 72 holes was Lee Westwood (England); he has now had 7 top 10 finishes from the 14 events he has played on the USPGA Tour to date this year so far. This was also his best finish on the USPGA Tour in 2012. He has now earned 2,726 FedEx Cup points for the 14 events he has played in to date this year so far and he is in 8th position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 1000 points in the reset. Maybe winning the FedEx Cup will define his career and fill the void of not winning a Major Championship in his Career to date so far after going so close on many occasions? The other player to tie for second position was Phil Mickelson (USA), he has now had 7 top 10 finishes from the 21 events he has played in on the USPGA Tour so far this year and that includes a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro – Am in early February. He has also earned 3,420 FedEx Cup Points from the 21 events he has played to date this year so far and he is in 4th position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 1,800 points in the reset. Maybe this will be the year that he finally wins the FedEx Cup after playing so well in it since it began in 2007?

Coming in tied for 4th position at 271-17 after 72 holes was Tiger Woods (USA); it was his 8th top 10 finish of the season from the 18 events he has played in to date this year so far, and that includes wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard in late March, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance in early June and the AT&T National in early July. He has now earned 4,067 FedEx points from the 18 events he has played to date this year so far and he is in 2nd position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 2,250 points in the reset. It is his first time back at the Tour Championship by Coca – Cola which is the FedEx Cup Playoff finale event since he won the FedEx Cup for the second time in 2009. Perhaps he can win it for the third time in his career in 2012 and the $US 10, 000, 000 that goes with it? Also tied for 4th position was Robert Garrigus (USA); it was his 6th top 10 finish from the 23 events he has played to date this year so far on the USPGA Tour and that includes two second place finishes. He has now earned 1,945 FedEx Cup points from the 23 events he has played this year so far and he is in 20th position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 310 points in the reset. He did very well to make it to the final 30 players that made it in to Eastlake because he was right on the bubble in 31st position on the FedEx Cup Playoff Points list heading into the BMW Championship and now is a long shot to win the FedEx Cup.

Coming in tied for 6th position at 272-16 after 72 holes was Dustin Johnson (USA); he has now had 8 top 10 finishes to date this season from the 18 events he has played in so far and that includes a win at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in early June. He now has earned 3,097 FedEx Cup points from the 18 events he has played in to date this year so far and is in 7th position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 1,200 points in the reset. A win at the Tour Championship in two weeks time could see him win the FedEx Cup for 2012. Also tied for 6th position was Adam Scott (Australia); he has had 5 top 10 finishes from the 15 events he has played to date this year so far. He is in 21st position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 1,923 FedEx Cup points and he has 300 points in the reset. Perhaps winning the FedEx Cup can make up for his Open Championship meltdown he suffered in mid July?

Coming in solo 8th position at 273-15 after 72 holes was the 49 year old; Vijay Singh (Fiji) and he will be cursing his final of 73+2, because it meant his 2012 FedEx Cup Playoffs campaign has come to an end. It was his 4th top 10 finish from the 24 events he has played to date this year so far. He finished in 33rd position on the final 2012 FedEx Cup Points list with 1,406 points earned from the 24 events he played in. Coming in solo 9th position at 274-14 after 72 holes was Jim Furyk (USA); he has had 6 top 10 finishes from the 22 events he has played in to date this year so far. He now has earned 1,966 FedEx Cup points from the 22 events he has played in to date this year so far and is in 18th position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 340 points in the reset. Perhaps the 2010 FedEx Cup Champion can win it for a second time and make up for the near misses he suffered at the US Open Championship in June and the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational in August?

Rounding out the top 10 in tied for 10th position at 275-13 after 72 holes was Ryan Moore (USA); he has now had 6 top 10 finishes from the 22 events he has played in to date this year so far. He is in 28th position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 1,568 points earned from the 22 events he has played in so far and has 230 points in the reset. It was a great week for him as he was in 35th position on the FedEx Cup Playoffs points list prior to the BMW Championship. Look for him to have a good performance in the Tour Championship in two weeks time. Also tied for 10th position was Bo Van Pelt (USA); it was his 9th top 10 finish on the USPGA Tour from the 23 events he has played to date this year so far. He now has earned 1,950 FedEx Cup points from the 23 events he has played to date this year so far and he is in 19th position on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list with 320 points in the reset. You never know he could surprise and win the FedEx Cup for 2012 with a win at the Tour Championship?

Scott Piercy (USA) who finished in tied for 37th position on 283-5 after 72 holes was the last player to make it to Eastlake and the Tour Championship in 2weeks time. He finished with 1,499 FedEx Cup points on the current FedEx Cup Playoffs points list after the BMW Championship and has 210 points in the reset and still has a chance to win the 2012 FedEx Cup. Kyle Stanley (USA) was the unlucky player to finish in 31st position on the final FedEx Cup Playoffs points list standings with 1,492 FedEx Cup points earned from the 27 events he played this year and missed out on the Tour Championship at Eastlake by 7 FedEx Cup points!! The defending FedEx Cup Champion, Bill Haas (USA) continued the horror run by defending FedEx Cup Champions with the 5 previous defending Champions also never making it to the final 30 players at the Tour Championship at Eastlake the following year and he will be cursing his final round of 78+6 he suffered at the BMW Championship. His final placing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs points list for 2012 was 32nd position with 1,406 points earned from the 23 events he played in.

Next week the USPGA Tour and FedEx Cup Playoffs take the week off but they are back the following week for the FedEx Cup Playoffs Finale and it is the Tour Championship by Coca – Cola which is being played on the East Lake GC, Atlanta, Georgia. It has a huge prize purse of $US 8,000,000 for the taking and only the Top 30 players on the current FedEx Cup Playoff Points list after the BMW Championship are eligible to compete. Bill Haas (USA) is the defending Champion but as I mentioned before he did not make the top 30 so there will be a new Champion. It starts on Thursday 20th September and I will report back who won the Trophy and also who won the Prized FedEx Cup with the $US 10,000,000 bonus that goes with it two weeks time. 

So to the Top 5 on the Official World Golf Rankings Points list this week and coming in at Number One Position for the 5th week of a 4th spell of his career and the 12th week of his career in total is the 94th PGA Champion, Rory McILroy (NIR) who was fresh off his BMW Championship win with 12.80 Official Golf World Ranking Points; coming in at Number Two is Tiger Woods (USA) with 9.63 Official Golf World Ranking Points; coming in at Number Three is Luke Donald (England) with 9.17 Official Golf World Ranking Points; coming in at Number Four is Lee Westwood (England) with 7.57 Official Golf World Ranking Points and rounding out the top 5 on the Official Golf World Ranking Points list is Adam Scott (Australia) with 6.37 Official Golf World Ranking Points. Danny Lee (NZL) is still the highest ranked New Zealand Golfer in the World. This week he slips 2 places to be at 220th position on the Official World Golf Rankings Points list with 0.81 Official World Golf Ranking Points on the list.

Remember the perfect pace for a putt is for it to finish 6 inches past the cup if it doesn’t go in!!

Source: pgatour.com, europeantour.com