The Irish Golf Club Gazette: Deutsche Bank Championship

Showing posts with label Deutsche Bank Championship. Show all posts

5/18/2016

Irish Professionals - Brendan McGovern

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Brendan McGovern is recognised as one of Ireland's top golfers and is club professional at the 36 hole Headfort Golf Club in Kells, County Meath.

After turning professional in 1984 he qualified for the European Tour in 1990 where he played for over five years.

In 1997 he qualified for the 126th Open Championship at Royal Troon and suffered an opening round of 84 in very difficult conditions. On the Friday hefollowed up with a 74 and missed the cut. T

he Claret Jug that year went to American Justin Leonard after Darren Clarke could only finish on Sunday with a round of 71.

Over the past years McGovern has been a regular at the Irish Open.

Brendan is a Certified PGA Referee and 2003 captain of Irish Region PGA. He is a member of Tartan Golf - Ireland's largest buying group and the Headfort Pro shop supplies all leading brands at best prices.

Brendan offers lessons in all aspects of the game and is regarded as a leading short game specialist in the country with special tuition on pitching, chipping and bunker play.

In 2016 McGovern returned to the pro circuit to play the Senior Tour qualifiers in Portugal and finished third in the final event following rounds of 67-74-70-73 - to earn a place on the European Senior Tour for the 2016 season.

Career Highlights

Irish Assistant Champion 1984

Southern Professional Champion 1993/2002

Leading Qualifier British Open 1997

European Card Holder 1990/1995

Runner-up Boggi Intl. Open 1990

9th Kenya Open 1995/1996

8th Zambian Open 1994

8th European U 25 (Paris) 1989

Irish Order of Merit Winner 1990/1995/2002

Over 60 pro-am wins

Lowest pro score 63 (9 under) Torrequebreda S.C.

Represented GB/Ire in PGA Cup matches v. USA 1996/2003

FactFile

DOB 07/10/2015

Seniors QSchool 2016

Attachment Headfort Gol Club

Turned Pro 1984

9/30/2015

Clarke in Love at Hazeltine

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Darren Clarke insists there will be no controversial gamesmanship at next year’s competition following the uproar at the women’s Solheim Cup.

Clarke said the incident at the Solheim Cup, when Europe’s Suzann Pettersen insisted on penalising the USA’s Alison Lee for picking up her ball after she believed a putt had been conceded, was against the spirit of golf.

Speaking at a news conference with USA captain Davis Love III to mark a year to go to the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, Minnesota, Clarke said: “This Ryder Cup will be played in the manner in which Davis and I respect each other.

“We’ve been friends for such a long time; I hold Davis in the highest regard. He’s been a good friend but probably one of the best gentlemen in our sport.

“The Solheim Cup was an unfortunate thing. What Suzann did was correct in ‘The Rules of Golf’, but in the spirit of the game, it was wrong. And she admitted that on the Monday with hindsight. Hindsight is always a wonderful thing.

“In the Ryder Cup, we are always briefed by the referees earlier in the week and the rules officials, and we do not touch a golf ball until we hear either from our opposite number or from the referees, just one of those things. I hope and I’m sure it won’t happen under our watch.”

Love agreed that sportsmanship would be key.

He said: “Darren and I will set the tone with our teams, and with our messaging over the next year, what we expect and how we expect the matches to be played.

“Something will come up during the three days that is uncomfortable. But we’ll handle it as gentlemen and a sportsmanlike way. It will be fair and competitive and fun.

“In the end, one of us will win, one of us will lose, but we’ll enjoy a cigar and a tear afterwards on Sunday night.”

Love said he was “reluctantly” facing the fact he would not be a playing captain, and expressed his hope that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson could be back in contention.

He added: “Tiger has had some surgeries and that’s slowing him down a little bit.

“I have a feeling Phil’s going to be strongly motivated to make the next team, and obviously Tiger wants to get healthy and play. They are just two of a lot of players that have stressed to me that they want to play on a winning Ryder Cup team.”

10/23/2014

Harrington in PGA Tour Battle at Sea Island

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Pádraig Harrington competes this week at the McGladrey Classic at Sea Island thanks to a sponsor’s exemption, having lost his PGA tour card. The Dubliner aims to win sufficient money to earn back US privileges.

Harrington still also has the fallback of using a one-off season’s exemption for being in the top-50 all-time money winners on the PGA Tour if that doesn’t work.

Local hero Chris Kirk is preparing to defend his title at the McGladrey Classic as thePGA Tour heads to Georgia.

The 29-year-old, who beat Briny Baird by just one shot on the Sea Island Course last year, has lived nearby at St Simons Island for six years and approaches this weekend’s tournament in high spirits.

Kirk claimed his third PGA Tour triumph at September’s Deutsche Bank Championship and finished fourth in the Tour Championship.

Tournament host Davis Love III, US Ryder Cup duo Zach Johnson and Matt Kucharand five-time Tour winner Jonathan Byrd are among those expected to challenge Kirk, while Webb Simpson has good form in Brunswick.

His three previous visits have yielded 12th, second and seventh-placed finishes and the 29-year-old recently tied for fourth at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.

Another strong contender will be rookie Tony Finau.

The Utah-born player, who turned professional in 2007, is enjoying a breakthrough season having tied for 12th at the Frys.com Open before claiming a share of seventh place in Las Vegas last week. And will be suitably reluctant to rest on his laurels at Sea Island.

“I think my confidence on the golf course is pretty high,” he added. “I’m coming off a couple of nice finishes.

“But you know, I definitely don’t feel like I’m getting comfortable or complacent or anything.”

8/25/2014

New Family on Horizon for GMAC

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Graeme McDowell will sit out the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston after becoming a father on Monday.

The Northern Irishman's wife Kristin underwent a planned cesarean and 35-year-old McDowell duly tweeted about his new arrival.

He wrote: "Thanks so much for all the well wishes. Mum and baby girl are happy and healthy. Happiest moment of my life hands down. #daddy #love."

Having completed his final round at the BMW Championship on Sunday, McDowell told the Golf Channel: "My caddie has been telling me all year 'You're not going to want to go to Boston', so I've decided to give myself the weekend off and just be with the family. Nice to be able to plan it that way."

By missing Friday's Deutsche Bank, McDowell will not be able to advance his current FedEx Cup standing of 40th, while he also has a Ryder Cup slot to protect on the world points list.

McDowell has also announced he is leaving Horizon Sports Managements at the end of the 2014 season to look after his own commercial affairs.

His compatriot Rory McIlroy left Horizon last year and remains in dispute with the company.

McDowell admitted before The Open that the row had "been a strain on our relationship" but insisted he would happily renew his Ryder Cup pairing with McIlroy at Gleneagles next month.

Explaining his own departure from Horizon, he said: "I am at a stage in my life where it feels right to move on to the next phase of my career - both in golf and business.

"I'm now involved with a growing number of exciting business ventures, many of which Horizon helped me establish, and as the landscape evolves so must I."

10/23/2013

McGinley Delays WildCards

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Paul McGinley has confirmed he will announce his wild card picks for next year's Ryder Cup a day later than scheduled.

The Irishman was originally due to unveil his three captain's selections on Monday, September 2, the day after the final qualifying event - the Italian Open - finishes.

But he has put back the announcement by 24 hours to avoid clashing with the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of the four FedEx Cup play-off events, which will finish on the Monday.

The delay will also avoid a repeat of the situation in 2010, when Justin Rose and Paul Casey played the final round in Boston shortly after finding out they had been overlooked by Colin Montgomerie for the contest at Celtic Manor.

"With no actual qualification points counting in the Deutsche Bank Championship, I was initially prepared to make my wild card announcement on the Monday - the day after the final counting event, the 2014 Italian Open," McGinley said.

"But I have had a rethink and I now want to delay 24 hours as I realise that some potential members of the team might well be playing in Boston that week.

"Realistically, I think it will have minimal effect, but out of respect for any players involved, I want to allow them to finish that tournament before I call them with news, one way or another."

The decision means both teams will announce their wild cards on the same day, with American captain Tom Watson revealing his three selections at a venue yet to be announced.

McGinley will reveal his choices at the European Tour headquarters at Wentworth, which was also the venue when Gleneagles was named as the host venue in 2001.

9/23/2013

Rory Drops and Henrik Rises

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Rory McIlroy has fallen another two places in the latest world golf rankings, the former world number one slipping to sixth in the current standings.

Tiger Woods remains in top spot while Henrik Stenson, who collected a $10 million bonus following his win at the Tour Championship in Atlanta last night, is up to fourth on the table.

Having twice plunged extraordinary depths in his career after scaling impressive heights, Stenson savoured double satisfaction on Sunday after winning both the Tour Championship and FedExCup honours.

The Swede clinched the PGA Tour’s season finale by three shots after carding a two-under-par 68 on a hot, muggy afternoon at East Lake Golf Club.

Stenson’s fourth career triumph on the US PGA circuit also earned him the eye-popping FedExCup playoff bonus of $10 million and capped an astonishing run of form he has produced since July, featuring six top-threes in his eight starts worldwide.

“Confidence can turn around very quickly in this game, but it can take quite a long time as well,” the 37-year-old Swede, who won the Deutsche Bank Championship earlier this month, told reporters after posting a 13-under total of 267.

“Every player, no matter how good or bad you play, you still have to kind of battle certain feelings, certain times, certain shots you don’t like, and it’s no different for me. It’s just been a great summer, way beyond what I could imagine.

“The play that I have performed since mid-July has been incredible,” added Stenson, whose purple patch started with the Scottish Open in July and includes two wins, a runner-up spot at the British Open and third place at the US PGA Championship.

However, it has twice been a long road back for the Swede, who won the biggest title of his career at the PGA Tour’s 2009 Players Championship at Sawgrass but struggled for form for much of 2001 and 2002, and again during his 2011 campaign.

“It’s been a lot of hard work and a couple of changes,” he said. “I went back to my old sports psychologist last summer and put a more of a long-term plan in place for all the different areas of the game.

“It’s been some good work there that’s starting to pay off big time. It wasn’t like you wake up in the middle of July and you start playing fantastic. I put the work in during the spring.”

Asked what getting back to number four in the world rankings on Monday would mean to him, Stenson replied: “It says that I never give up.

“I went from way, way back down in 2001 and got back up to No. 4 the week after my win at Sawgrass in 2009, so I’m obviously touching my personal best there.

“If I keep on playing well, I will have a chance, I guess, later on in the year to be able to improve on that.”

Stenson is looking forward to a four-week break from golf before he sets his sights on trying to win the European Tour’s Race to Dubai (money list) title to complete a unique double on both sides of the Atlantic.

“That’s obviously next on the horizon,” said the Swede, who leads the Race to Dubai rankings from Graeme McDowell (second) and Justin Rose (third). “Thankfully, I’ve got a whole month now where I can rest and enjoy this incredible run that I’ve had.

“Then have some time to get back into get some good practice down before I head out to the BMW tournament in Shanghai there on the 19th of October. I’m in a great position for winning the money title in Europe. Again, it’s going to take some good play.

“I’m going to try my hardest to accomplish that. No one’s won the FedExCup and the Race to Dubai. Luke (Donald) and Rory (McIlroy) won both the money titles. We’re going to give that our next shot.”

9/02/2013

Rory Labours Through Boston Storm

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Rory McIlroy met the violent electrical storm which hit TPC Boston on Saturday forcing him to re-start his third round.

Yet instead of wallowing in another stroke of misfortune, McIlroy, 24, rebounded to play some of his best golf of the season, shooting a seven-under par 64 to sit eight under for the tournament

Already intensely frustrated by his failure to make any significant headway during the first 36 holes of his title defence at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the Holywood native then had a birdie wiped off by PGA Tour officials.

After scraping through the cut on the mark, one-under, McIlroy made an good start,picking up a birdie four at the long second. However, this effort was declared null and void when the storm swept in.

Play was halted for three hours, 29 minutes and with bad weather forecast, officials felt they'd no option but to re-start the third round from scratch if the tournament was to make its scheduled Monday finish.

The 76 survivors were redrawn in threeballs and sent off from two tees with preferred lies allowed on rain-softened fairways.

McIlroy had completed three holes in one-under when the hooter sounded. Yet those early morning efforts were wiped out and McIlroy had to start again at 10 when play eventually resumed.

After a birdie at the par-three 11th, the Ulsterman slumped to a double-bogey six at 14, where he blocked his tee shot deep into trouble and then missed from inside five feet for bogey.

But there were hugely encouraging signs as he then embarked on a splendid birdie blitz, landing six in his next eight holes before taking another at the seventh and his last hole.

No matter where they finish today in Boston, McIlroy and Graeme McDowell both will make the 70-man field at the third playoff, The BMW Championship.

McDowell was level with Tiger Woods on six-under after following up Saturday's bogey-free 66 with a third round 69. Tiger will retain his lead in the FedEx Cup race even if a one-over 73 left him and McDowell 13 off the pace set by third-round leader Sergio Garcia (-19).

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