7/02/2014

Sam Backs McGinley at Gleneagles

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Sam Torrance believes European captain Paul McGinley will leave “no stone unturned” as he bids to retain the Ryder Cup in September.

Torrance, who skippered Europe to a memorable victory at the Belfry in 2002, has been appointed as assistant captain for this year’s contest at Gleneagles.

The Irishman has been a regular visitor to the Perthshire venue to oversee the course set-up and ensure it favours his own team’s strengths.

"Having the Ryder Cup back in Scotland is fantastic for golf. This is the home of golf and it rightly should be here, and it’s a wonderful venue here at Gleneagles." 
Sam Torrance

Torrance is at Gleneagles this week to assist with the preparations, and he is delighted that the Ryder Cup is returning to Scotland for the first time since Muirfield hosted the event in 1973.

“It’s just great to be here, and the course is looking fantastic,” Torrance told Sky Sports News. “The rough is not where it’s going to be in September but it’s well on its way.

“Paul has been up here numerous times making sure that it is set up to suit the Europeans, which is what home advantage is, so it’s all in hand and all working well.

“Having the Ryder Cup back in Scotland is fantastic for golf. This is the home of golf and it rightly should be here, and it’s a wonderful venue here at Gleneagles.

“It’s a spectacular golf course. It was designed by Jack Nicklaus, but we can make it suit us.

“Paul will be meticulous. He’s a great people person and the players respect him. He’s very knowledgeable and he will not leave a stone unturned.

“This will be his tournament and I think he will do a fantastic job. He was captain in the Seve Trophy a couple of times and did a great job. That job was leading in to being the Ryder Cup captain captain and he rightly got the job.”

Torrance also hopes to have Scottish representation on the team, and he backed Stephen Gallacher to qualify following his strong run of form this season.

“Stephen Gallacher is right on the brink at the moment and he’s playing well and in the top 50 in the world,” Torrance added. “He’s in all the top events, and he’s got a great chance of making it. Obviously we would love to have a Scotsman in the team.”

Torrance also played down suggestions that the American players do not have the same hunger and desire for the Ryder Cup as the Europeans.

He said: “Obviously we can win it again but so can the Americans. The one thing you must never do is under-estimate your opponents.

“There’s talk that the Americans don’t care much about the Ryder Cup, but trust me they do. They want to win it just as badly as us and they will be trying just as hard as us. We’ve got to keep that in mind and be wary of them.”

Meanwhile, three-time European captain Bernard Gallacher believes McGinley's prospective team is coming together nicely just three months ahead of the contest.

With Rory McIlroy winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, Martin Kaymer's runaway victory in the US Open and Justin Rose ending his title drought last weekend, Gallacher is delighted to see Europe's biggest stars coming into form.

"I think it’s brilliant for Paul McGinley that he’s going in there with Martin Kaymer. He won the Players Championship and the US Open, and then Justin Rose won at Congressional last week," Gallacher said on Sky Sports News.

"It’s a terrific boost for Paul McGinley and I think his team is taking shape.

"I think Europe are only favourites because they are at home, but I think the contest itself is very even. Hopefully the home support will just push it our way."


Deja-vu for GMAC at Alstom

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Graeme McDowell will go in search of a successful title defence for the first time in his illustrious career at this week’s Alstom Open de France, but a world-class field stands between the Irishman and a repeat triumph at Le Golf National. 

The World Number 20 cruised to victory by four shots on the outskirts of Paris 12 months ago, but with his fellow Major Champion Martin Kaymer, rising star Victor Dubuisson and the current Race to Dubai leader Thomas Björn all amongst the protagonists, McDowell will be hard pushed to match the feats of Jean-François Remesy, the last player to mount a successful defence of the title in 2004-2005. 

McDowell’s last competitive appearance was in the Irish Open, where he narrowly missed out on delivering what would have been an emotional home victory. But a tied sixth finish was McDowell’s best performance in a stroke play event this season, and boosted his hopes of a fourth successive Ryder Cup appearance in September. 

Kaymer all but secured his place in Captain Paul McGinley’s team after his stunning US Open triumph, but the German – who took the Open de France title in 2009 after a play-off with Lee Westwood – will be keen to bounce back from a disappointing homecoming in last week’s BMW International Open, where he missed the cut. 

Björn, who was recently sidelined for three weeks with neck and shoulder injuries, fared rather better on his return to duty in Germany, recording his sixth top ten finish of a superb season to extend his lead over Kaymer at the top of The Race to Dubai to €62,126. 

But with a €3million prize fund available at the 98th edition of the Open de France, which was first played back in 1906, victory for Kaymer would see him usurp the Dane at the top of the standings. 

Fabrizio Zanotti will bid to become the first player to win back to back titles this season after his breakthrough victory in the BMW International Open. 

Having become the first Paraguayan to win on The European Tour, Zanotti will now hope to join a roll call of winners which includes no fewer than 20 Major Champions. 

Welshman Jamie Donaldson, currently in fourth place in The Race to Dubai, also arrives in Versailles in fine fettle after his tied fifth finish behind Zanotti in Cologne, where he missed out on making it a five-way play-off by a single stroke. 

The same applies to Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee, currently in a rich vein of form after claiming his fifth European Tour title in the recent Nordea Masters. 

Other notable names in the field include former winners Thomas Levet and Marcel Siem; European and US PGA Tour champion Kevin Stadler of America; rising English star Matthew Fitzpatrick, who continues his education in the professional ranks; and hot young French prospects Julien Brun and Jérôme Lando Casanova.