The Irish Golf Club Gazette: European Tour

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4/26/2016

McGrane Returns to Volvo China Open

McGrane - Getty Images

Damien McGrane returns to the Volvo China Open this week and plays in an event where he emerged as the outright winner in 2008 when it was hosted in Beijing. As a former winner McGrane enjoys an exemption and so returns to a European Tour event following his loss of playing rights at W School in PGA de Catalunya last year.

Michael Hoey joins him this week as the only other Irish player and will be keen to recover from the missed cut last week at the Shenzen International. Next week Hoey is due to play the Trophee Hassan in Morocco an event he won in 2012.

A strong international field, including a number of those in action at last week’s Masters such as Bernd Wiesberger, Victor Dubuisson and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, will battle it out overlooking one of the most impressive wonders of the world - the Great Wall of China - when the 22nd staging of the Volvo China Open tees off at Topwin Golf and Country Club next week.

As the entry list closed for the 2016 edition of China’s national open championship, it revealed that a truly international field containing golfers from no fewer than 28 countries will line up in Beijing, as the tournament returns to the capital for the first time since 2009.

It is also Ryder Cup and Olympics year, and players from all over the world will be keen to make a mark and put themselves in contention for an appearance at two of sport's biggest occasions. The line-up includes 13 of the Top 100 golfers in the world, and no fewer than ten former holders of the Volvo China Open.

Wiesberger, Austria’s most successful golfer of all time with three wins on the European Tour, said: “I am really looking forward to playing the Volvo China Open – I have not played the event in seven years so it will be great to see how it has grown as a tournament since 2009.

"I have had a pretty good record in China in recent years and it is a place I always enjoy visiting. Beijing is such a vibrant city, it’s always an exciting place to be and I have heard Topwin Golf and Country Club is very close to the Great Wall of China so it will be a really cool experience to see that.

"My form this year has been steady but I am really keen to push for more titles heading into the summer and hopefully I can do that in Beijing by claiming my first victory on Chinese soil."

Frenchman Dubuisson has a strong track record of top five finishes in Volvo events such as the Volvo Golf Champions, the Volvo World Match Play Championship and the Volvo China Open, and he will have his eyes on the trophy in Beijing. He said: “It has been three years since I competed in the Volvo China Open, so I am looking forward to returning this year - especially at a new venue.

"I have always enjoyed playing this tournament and am determined to get my first win in China at Topwin Golf and Country Club. Chinese events are always great fun and always very well organised, so I’m sure it will be a great week.”

Defending Champion Ashun is keen on keeping the crown and he said: “I’m looking forward to playing in Beijing and I am totally committed to defending my title. There hasn’t been a top international professional golf tournament in Beijing for a long time. I truly believe that with the championship coming back to Beijing, it will have another profound impact on the development of golf in China.”

With the venue so close to the Chinese capital, large crowds are expected to enjoy all that is on offer; world-class golf, the unique environment by the Great Wall, and the chance to experience the Spectator Village where golf and all manner of Volvo activities are on offer.

The 22nd staging of the Volvo China Open will take place from April 28 to May 1. Volvo was the first western brand to engage with golf in China in 1995, and this will be Volvo’s 85th tournament on the European Tour. The tournament is organised by the China Golf Association with Volvo as co-organiser and promoter, and is co-sanctioned by the European Tour and OneAsia.

4/20/2016

Profile - Peter Lawrie

Peter Lawrie, Rabat - Getty Images

Peter Lawrie claimed his maiden European Tour victory at the Open de España in 2008, defeating home favourite Ignacio Garrido in a play-off. Enjoyed a fine performance as defending champion in 2009, finishing tied third.Made history at the end of the 2003 season when he became the first Irish golfer to win the prestigious Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award.

Educated at the University College Dublin where he undertook a golf scholarship. Graduated to The European Tour through the European Challenge Tour, finishing fourth in the Rankings at the end of 2002, helped by a superb victory in the Challenge Tour Grand Final.

The Dublin brn golfer graduated to The European Tour through the European Challenge Tour, finishing fourth in the Rankings at the end of 2002, helped by a superb victory in the Challenge Tour Grand Final. His elevation to The European Tour was testament to his determination, having spent one year on the Asian Tour and three seasons on the Challenge Tour before achieving his goal.

Peter was capped at boys, youths and national level for Ireland as an amateur. In his early days as a professional, he played in Asia and Florida, gaining a ‘Mini Tour’ victory in America’s Sunshine State.

In 2012 Lawrie teed off in his first US Open last year, played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, having secured a spot through UK qualification.

The next year Lawrie managed a strong finish at the ISPS HANDA Perth International to earn just enough to retain his card.

In 2014 an indifferent season ended with €56,040 in prize money earning him 174th place in the Race to Dubai - and loss of automatic playing rights for 2015.

At The European Tour Final Qualifying Peter Lawrie finished in a share of 29th place at PGA Catalunya and outside the first 25 places required to regain status.

In 2015 the Dubliner, who had finished 124th in the Race to Dubai on the back of 17 invitations, missed again.

Despite that result Lawrie felt his chances of regaining his full playing rights from a lesser category were better in 2016.

“I won’t give up,” said Lawrie afterwards, and expected to get around 22 starts next season.

“I have never been a giver-upper, so I will carry on and I will play next year though apart from the Irish Open, I won’t be seeking invites. I have had my fair share and it’s time for somebody else to get them.”

“It’s like anything,” Lawrie said. “Do you enjoy a job that is not giving you something back? The big problem is the potential golden egg. But sometimes you have to look at the expense account and weigh one up against the other.

“So I’ll play whatever I can get into next year. That’s the plan. From there, we will wait and see.”

In 2016 at the Open de España Lawrie finished in a share of 53rd place at the Real Golf club Valderrama, Hosted by Sergio Garcia Foundation. At the Tshwane Open in South Africa the Dubliner missed the cut and it was his first full event since September.

Factfile

Residence Dublin

Date of Birth: 22/03/1974

Place of Birth Dublin, Ireland

Family Wife: Philippa (m. 2003), Children: Jessica (2005), Amelia Jane (2007), Elizabeth (2009), Christopher (2011)

Interests Snooker, football, cinema

Turned Pro 1997 (plus 2)

Qualifying School 1998, 99, (00), (01) (14) (15)

Peter Lawrie - 2016

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4/18/2015

Hoey Sole Survivor in Shenzen

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Michael Hoey carded a round of 71 in the second round of the Shenzhen International at Genzon Golf Club on Friday.

Hoey went into the second day two over par after an opening round of 74 but birdies on the second and seventh followed by a very steady back nine saw him card a one under par round and tied for 49th place.

Damien McGrane signed for four bogeys on the back nine, including the 14th, 15th and 16th, finishing in a share of 73rd spot and missed the cut.

Peter Lawrie carded rounds of 74 and a 75 and was also on the wrongside of the cutline.

Kevin Phelan finished a shot further back on six over par after carding a 76 and so will see no weekend action.

It was Kiradech Aphibarnrat who exploited fine conditions to storm into the lead.

The Thai started day three on eight under par, a shot behind leader Peter Uihlein, but birdied six of his first nine holes to sit 12 under half way through his round, two shots ahead of the American and Pablo Larrazabal, who was seven under for the day going into the closing holes.

Aphibarnrat, having coped well with Friday’s gusts, followed a series of sweet putts with a sensational approach to the sixth for another gain.

Spaniard Larrazabal was on course for a 65, a score already made by China’s Li Hao-tong, who is among a group of seven under, one behind Emiliano Grillo of Argentina.

Li, aged 19, played alongside two-time Masters Champion Bubba Watson for the first time and said: “He's pretty nice guy, so I very much enjoyed playing with him.

“I hit a lot of greens and made a lot of birdies. I was pretty lucky also.”

Watson, who started the day on level par but went round in two over, praised Li, saying: “He's hitting the ball really well. He's making a lot of putts. The key around a golf course is a lot of putts and he made a lot of putts today.”

Richie Ramsay had looked like beating Li to a score of seven under but the Scot dropped his only shot of the day with a bogey at 18, a par four, for a 66 that left him five under overall.

Ramsay’s exceptional round matched the best of the week from Huang Wen-yi, whose equally impressive effort earned him the lead at the end of day one, but Li went one better than both.

Ramsay said: “I played lovely all day. I didn't really sort of hole that many putts. I just hit it close quite a few times. I’m a little disappointed to bogey the last but it's not an easy hole, and I just pushed my tee shot and I had to lay up. I hit a lovely putt that hit the edge.”

2/18/2015

Clarke Awaits Ryder Cup Call

Darren Clarke remains a strong favourite to be named European Ryder Cup captain for 2016 on Wednesday.

Clarke, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Bjorn are the contenders to succeed Paul McGinley at Hazeltine in September next year, when Europe will be looking to maintain their recent dominance with a seventh win in the last eight contests.

McGinley is part of the five-man selection panel who will each have a vote when they meet at European Tour headquarters in Wentworth, with predecessors Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie joined by European Tour chief executive George O’Grady and players representative David Howell.

Sources close to Clarke are understood to be quietly optimistic that the Northern Irishman has enough support to get the nod, although the 46-year-old is understandably said to be not taking anything for granted.

Clarke was forced to deny a newspaper report in October 2012 that he had been offered the captaincy for 2014, a role which eventually went to McGinley as the relationship between the former friends became significantly strained.

Clarke had sent McGinley a letter in 2011 supporting the latter’s bid to become captain in 2014, but later changed his mind and also put himself forward for the role.

And when Tom Watson was named US captain in December 2012, Clarke suggested 2010 captain Montgomerie should also be considered as ”whoever it is standing on that stage opposite Tom Watson needs a huge presence”.

With the public backing of players such as Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter, McGinley subsequently won the day, but admitted last year that his conversations with Clarke were now ”short and sweet” and amounted to little more than passing pleasantries.

Graeme McDowell has urged Clarke and McGinley to put their differences aside for the sake of the European cause and immediately after his highly-praised role in the five-point win at Gleneagles, McGinley insisted his relationship with Clarke would not cause any issues in the selection process.

“’Absolutely no problem whatsoever,” McGinley said. “I’m going to be very professional in my input. I’m going to get opinions from a lot of players and a lot of people before I put my opinion forward as to what it will be. Just like I was very much pushed over the line by the players, I want to get the opinion of the players.

”I think we’re very fortunate in Europe, a little bit like the Liverpool soccer team and the boot room, I think a lot of us have benefited hugely from being vice-captains. Darren has been a vice-captain along with many other guys. We will see where that all evolves and I’ll make a professional decision based on the views of people that I respect.”

As with McGinley before him, Clarke has had the support of high-profile players such as McIlroy, McDowell and Lee Westwood and noticeably maintained a high media profile at Gleneagles.

The 2011 Open champion is competing in the Dimension Data pro-am in South Africa this week – along with eldest son Tyrone – but has struggled with his game in recent seasons.

In contrast, Jimenez is still competing on the European Tour at the age of 51 while winning titles on the Seniors Tour, while Bjorn qualified to play at Gleneagles and finished on the winning team for a third time in three appearances.

Whoever is chosen on Wednesday can expect their opposite number to be 2012 captain Davis Love, who will be given a chance at redemption after being on the wrong end of the ’Miracle at Medinah’ according to reports in the United States.

Love, whose side led 10-6 going into the singles in Chicago only to lose by a single point, was part of the 11-man task force created to examine all aspects of the United States Ryder Cup process after the defeat at Gleneagles, but was thought to be behind 2008 captain Paul Azinger and Fred Couples in the pecking order.

12/17/2014

Irish Open Return in Fota Plans

Fota Island Resort is in the market to welcome back the Irish Open to Cork "in the not too distant future", as the city and county prepares to bid for a number of spectacular international sporting events on the back of a successful staging of the European Tour event.

Internal reviews conducted by a number of the tournament’s stakeholders have shone a positive light on the execution and impact of the 2014 Irish Open, which was supported by Fáilte Ireland and counted the Fota Island Resort and Cork’s City and County Councils among its sponsors, with the Irish Examiner as an official media partner.

In addition to the 104,000 people who attended the pro-am and four rounds in June, the television coverage reached an estimated 300 million viewers around the world, with more than 160,000 hours broadcast.

That in itself is having a knock-on effect for the region, with Fota Island Resort reporting increased bookings as a result of its staging, and Cork City Council bidding to serve as the departure point for powerboat racing’s world renowned Venture Cup endurance race to Monte Carlo.

“It’s fabulous. Even in the latter half of the year, we’ve seen a lot of Scandinavians, Germans and Dutch visiting and for next year already we’re seeing a stronger flow of UK, European and even North American bookings,” Fota Island Resort director of marketing Seamus Leahy told the Irish Examiner.

“People are telling us they saw us on the coverage or they’re asking ‘tell us a bit more’ because of it. It’s only anecdotal but booking trends were significantly stronger for the second half of this year than for the previous year and the booking trend for next year is a lot stronger than for 2014.

“The big thing for us as well has been the associations we’re making with tour operators, the people who organise golf tours. That’s where I have really seen the benefit from the Irish Open, they’re now putting Cork and Fota on their itineraries.”

Such is the short-to-medium term impact of staging an international event such as the Irish Open that Leahy said Fota would be keen to bring the tournament back to Cork.

“We hosted it in 2000 and 2001 and it has always been a useful tag to be ‘host of the Irish Open’ but its shelf life is probably three to five years in terms of real benefit so it’s good to be a recent host.

“And I’d hope that we’d have it again in the future at some stage. Our view is that it should probably be three to five years before we revisit it.

“It was a fabulous week, we had fabulous weather and a competitive field with a couple of Irish guys competing. The golf course wasn’t beaten up but it was a good test for golf and it would be hard to surpass it from a crowd and whole experience point of view. We had almost universal positivity coming back to us from the people who visited so you’d always be saying, ‘well, how do you trump that?’

“But we’ll take that challenge on again in a few years. When you create these events on your site you build the infrastructure that allow you to host and to host it further. We built and improved our car parks and we lengthened the golf course to allow us to take the event and so those things are there for the future and you wouldn’t want to leave it too long before they become obsolete. But for the most part it’s going to be hard to trump what we did last year.”

With Royal County Down hosting the tournament in 2015 and Lough Erne announced as the 2017 venue, the next staging of the Irish Open in the Republic of Ireland is set for 2016, although that may be a little soon for Fota. Leahy cautioned: “You’d never say ‘never’ but two of the next three years are signed up. We would like it back in the not distant future so we wouldn’t rule it out.”

Damien O’Mahony, the head of Cork City Council’s Tourism, Events, Arts & Marketing, praised the efforts of the European Tour and Fota Island Resort’s owners, the Kang family, and staff as well his counterparts on the county council for playing their part in staging such a successful tournament inside and outside the course. He added the event had also showcased the city and its ability to stage international events in the future.

“The way the tournament was set up by the European Tour and Fota Island in the county council’s backyard and the weather we enjoyed that week meant the coverage we got was fantastic and made Cork look to be staging a truly international standard event that will allow us to stand up in any company.

“And when people do come to Cork on foot of watching the Irish Open or last week’s MTV event in the city, I genuinely think their expectations aren’t shattered because we offer something very, very good from the food and the shopping to the people here. All of these events, we have the credential of having held them now and when we bid for future events we’ll have the references of organisations such as the European Tour to back that up. We (successfully) bid for the Fleadh Cheoil 2016 and used the experiences of those various events, including the Irish Open, in testimonials. Hopefully they concluded we must be doing something right.

“We’re looking at the Venture Cup which is a big powerboat racing event held in Monaco for a number of years as our harbour really defines Cork and we would love to get some more spectacular international events like the Irish Open.

“We can stand up there with the best with the raw materials we have to offer so we’re saying ‘you bring the television cameras and the expertise of running these events and we’ll make all the rest happen’. I think the Irish Open in Cork showed that. Of course the Irish Open has to be in Ireland but it demonstrated that in terms of accommodating events of this scale, you can do something quite spectacular in Cork.”

While the Irish Open enjoyed an international television audience, those actually attending the event were mostly residents in the Munster region, according to estimates and Declan Daly, county council’s divisional manager for South Cork, said a return to Fota for the tournament would see an even better job done to draw in ticket sales from elsewhere in the country.

"I think if we were doing things differently in the morning we might make more of an effort to promote it around the country than we did,” Daly said. “We made some effort to put billboards up around Dublin in key areas and maybe we’d go further afield if we were doing it again but the short run-in of five months from when it was decided it was coming here limited us in what we could do, but we learned as we went along.

“We’d be delighted to have other sporting events, of course. Would we get the Tour back? I suppose the issue there is really more to do with sponsors than anything else. We were told by tournament director Antonia Beggs that the support they got here was ‘unprecedented’ and I’d say they’d be well disposed to us if there was an opportunity to come back. The reality, though, is that if they did find a major title sponsor that they would be the ones calling the shots as to where it goes, as opposed to the Tour.

“Having said that, we proved we did a good job the last time and any company considering taking the plunge and bringing it back here would be very much assured of our active support.

“And because we’re maybe a little bit smaller than some other places, we have an intimacy here.

“We can get people together, working co-operatively towards an end goal. That’s what happened this year and it was very successful.”

11/20/2014

Lowry and McIlroy Joint Earth Leaders

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Rory McIlroy displayed the quality of golf that has made him Race to Dubai champion as the World Number One joined friend Shane Lowry in a share of the lead on day one of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

McIlroy carded six birdies and no bogeys in a flawless 66 on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish alongside Ireland's Lowry in the climax of The European Tour Final series.

That took the 25 year old to an amazing 80 under par for his 21 rounds to date in this event, after previous finishes of third, fifth, 11th, first and fifth.

McIlroy, who wrapped up The Race to Dubai title for the second time in three years with a week to spare, certainly looked ready as he birdied four of his first five holes, the only aberration coming when he missed from eight feet on the third.

A surprising run of nine successive pars followed before birdies at the 15th and 16th ensured he delivered on his promise not to rest on his laurels at the end of a phenomenal season.

“It was a great way to start,” said McIlroy. “You never expect to start like that, but I've been hitting the ball well for the last couple of weeks that I've been practicing and it was just a matter of trying to take that good range play on to the course, and I was able to do that today, which I'm really happy about.

“I feel like it really suits my style of play. I can be aggressive with the driver, and that can set me up to hit shorter irons into greens and obviously give myself a lot of birdie opportunities like I did today.

“I didn't feel like I took as many of them as I could have but it still added up to six under and I'm very happy with that.”

Lowry birdied four of the last six holes as he looked to make amends for his collapse in the final round in Turkey on Sunday, when he eagled the fourth to claim a share of the lead only to triple bogey the next hole and make a double bogey on the sixth.

"The whole day Sunday and the flight down here you're thinking about it," Lowry admitted. "It's one of those things. But I gave myself a chance to win last week. If I can give myself a chance to win again this week, maybe I'll do it.

"I have been playing well for most of the year. I've been very consistent. I've been shooting some great scores, making a lot of birdies and I did that today again."

Scotland's Richie Ramsay and Denmark's Thorbjørn Olesen were a shot off the pace on five under, with defending champion Henrik Stenson another stroke back alongside Argentina's Emiliano Grillo.

Ramsay said: "I'm really happy. Obviously it was a great start, three birdies on the spin, and then played lovely in the middle, had a lot of chances but just didn't take a few.

"But most important was I stayed patient, stayed with it. I kept on hitting good shots and then took a couple of chances on 14 and 15 and then finished off pretty solid coming down the stretch.

"I played great in the middle part of the season. I know the game is there. (It's) just a matter of staying out of my own way and committing to it."

Olesen had reached seven under par at one stage, but double bogeyed the 16th to miss out on the overnight lead.

“It feels like a second home golf course for me really,” said the recent ISPS Handa Perth International winner.

“I played lovely, hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. Hit a few really close, and the putter was working nicely. It was a really solid day.

“When you're seven under going to 16, and you know you have 18 which is a possible birdie chance, also, of course it's a little bit disappointing, but I took a chance and it didn't work out very well.

“I felt like it was going so well and I felt like I could pull it off - that's what happens in golf.”

11/18/2014

Maybin Times Magic at Catalunya

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An incredible round of 58 for American John Bohn proved the highlight across PGA Catalunya on Tuesday where the nerves of many were tested as the fourth round cut loomed large for half the 156 hopefuls who started out on Saturday morning.

Amongst them five Irish hopefuls.

With two rounds left at The European Tour Final Qualifying four of them made it through to the final 36 holes. With Gareth Maybin mustering all his magic to sign for a stunning 65 - in a round that also included a triple and double bogey - to shoot up 38 places to safety.

Maybin found his touch to make it moving Tuesday and earn the right to play for one of the final 25 spots the hard way having finished within the needed 70 places and ties. If momentum is the key then Maybin's timing could not have been better having been four shots or more on the wrong side of the cut line at the start of the day.

Maybin's ten birdies unravelled the damage of a seven on the par 4 fourth and then a six at the fourteenth – also a par 4.

Michael McGeady started steady without loss through six holes and then carded a birdie on his seventh.

With only a dropped shot on 9 and still level par at the turn, McGeady then bogeyed fourteen and sixteen without reply.

His two over par 72 and a share of 111th place ended hopes of a Tour Card for 2015 for the Derryman.

Simon Thornton slipped 30 places after signing for a four over par round with a double bogey six on the fourth hole of the Tour Course the major problem. But in a share of 34th place there remain still more two rounds to play

If that was to be the bad round out of the six then the timing was also perfect for the thirty seven year old. Three bogeys and two birdies the rest of the Thornton story.

Peter Lawrie on the other hand arrived into the recorders hut with the most colourful card. Or at least on the back nine of the Stadium Course

The Dubliner reached the turn level and proceeded to birdie the tenth, followed by a bogey, an eagle and a triple bogey 7 on the 14th. Finally reaching the clubhouse two over par for am overall -5 and 47th place - a drop of 19 places

Kevin Phelan had his woes and a level par finish kept him at 26th place.

Despite a bright start to the morning where Phelan picked up three birdies through the first five holes. Only to double bogey the 9th to arrive one under at the halfway mark

Then two more losses on the home leg saw Phelan finish with a disappointing 72. Particularly after his five under round on Monday.

11/15/2014

Irish Make Start at PGA Catalunya

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European Tour Final Qualifying Stage teed off on Saturday with a five strong Irish contingent amid the hopeful qualifiers at PGA Catalunya.

Since 1976, The European Tour Qualifying School has been held to establish which players, not otherwise exempt, will gain their playing privileges on the Tour for the following season through a qualifying competition. The Qualifying School is held in three stages - dependent on the individual's status - at a series of venues in the UK and Continental Europe.

In the region of 1,000 competitors enter the Qualifying School each year, all aiming for a European Tour card, awarded to the top 25 and ties following the Final Stage. A player progressing through all three stages will have to play 252 holes under the most intense pressure.

The leading 25 players (plus those tied for 25th place) will earn Category 15 Membership of The European Tour for the following season.

Kevin Phelan leads the Irish challenge after signing for 69 to claim a three under par opening round on the Stadium Course on Saturday. With only one stroke dropped for a share 17th place and just three shots off leader, Christian Gloet of Denmark, who fired 64.

Simon Thornton signed for a two under 68 on the Tour Course after reaching the turn in 34 and then the clubhouse without further loss. Although forfeited a birdie on the back nine when the Bradford born Thornton bogeyed the second last.

Peter Lawrie finished just one stroke further adrift on -1 and a share of 47th place.

A mixed day for the Dubliner who carded an eagle three on the third and then mixed five bogeys and four birdies before signing his card in the recorders hut.

Michael McGeady finished one over par on the Tour Course with a round that showed three birdies. Albeit four strokes were given back either side of the turn.

Gareth Maybin battled for a two over par finish with a double bogey six on the last damaging an otherwise level par round. But a share of 100th places the Ballyclare man trailing the leader by eight strokes after the opening round. And four strokes off the top 25.

The field play two rounds each on both the Tour and Stadium courses to establish the top 70 and ties who will qualify for the final 36 holes.

The closing two rounds will then be contested on the Stadium Course.