The Irish Golf Club Gazette: Matt Kuchar

Showing posts with label Matt Kuchar. Show all posts

4/11/2016

Lowry Joins Love III and Louis Oosthuizen

Shane Lowry

Shane Lowry ended a disappointing week on a thrilling note with a hole-in-one in the final round of the Masters at Augusta National on Sunday.

Lowry holed out with an eight iron on the 16th in a final-round 75, his tee shot landing in the perfect spot to the right of the hole and trickling down the slope into the cup.

"It was amazing to have a hole-in-one on 16 around here in the final round," Lowry said. "I just wish I would have been able to come up with more birdies, but it was a perfect shot.

"I just hit it in right of the hole and (the slope) just took it down and in. I feel pretty lucky to have a hole-in-one around this place, in this tournament. It's nice. I'm sure I'll get a picture somewhere and frame it in the house and it will be a nice memento to have."

After picking the ball out of the hole, Lowry motioned as if he was going to throw it into the crowd, but added: "No, I wasn't giving the ball away. My last hole-in-one in competition my parents were there as well in Dubai and I still have the ball from that. So I feel like I'll keep that one."

Lowry was just two shots off the lead after an opening 68, but fell out of contention with a 76 on Friday and struggled to a 79 in Saturday's third round.

"Yesterday it was just a tough day and I just let it get away from me," added the 29-year-old. "Friday didn't go too well obviously either. I feel like my game wasn't there, I didn't hole enough putts. I made a few bad decisions.

"I feel like I could have done a lot better and I'm a bit disappointed with the week as a whole. When I sit back and look at it, this week will definitely help me in the future. So I've got to look at it that way.

"There's a lot of good positives to take out of it. I feel like my iron play was quite good for most of the week, just a few bad breaks here and there the last couple of days and I feel like I could have been a little bit closer to the lead, but that's the way major golf is and that's the way this course is.

"Every week you play a major, especially the Masters, is a learning curve and I learned a lot this week and I'm sure I'll take it with me in the future."

3/25/2016

McIlroy All Smylie After Second Austin Win

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Rory McIlroy, if not exactly firing on all cylinders, made it two wins from two matches in his defence of the WGC-Dell Matchplay championship with a 3 and 1 victory over American Smylie Kaufman in the second day of group play.

As McIlroy marched on in pursuit of back-to-back wins in the championship, with a final group match against Kevin Na set to decide who progresses, there was only disappointment for Shane Lowry, who went from a position of strength in his match with Australian Marcus Fraser, three up at the turn, to collapse on the back nine and end up with only a halved match that ended any chance of progression into the knockout phase.

“Is there any point me coming down?” Lowry enquired forlornly to his caddie Dermot Byrne after hitting his tee-shot on the Par 3 17th into the hazard.

There wasn’t, the ball was never found, and despite Byrne’s best efforts, the ball was never found and that poor tee shot in effect – leading to a bogey on that hole for the second day in a row – ended Lowry’s hopes in the championship a day early. His final group match against Zach Johnson will be purely a matter of pride.

Lowry had started like a train – a birdie-birdie start giving him a two hole lead – and he turned three up and seemingly in total control only to lose the 10th and 11th to birdies and the match was back to all-square after Fraser holed from off the green on the 14th.

For McIlroy, there was again a doggedness about how he went about his business in his pursuit of defending the title. Just as his opening group match with Thorbjorn Olesen swung his way late on, he benefitted from the travails of his opponent, Kaufman, who hit one water ball after another on the homeward run.

McIlroy was one up through the turn but lost the 10th and 11th in what appeared to be a momentum- changer to go one down. He didn’t need to produce any heroics of his own, however, to regain the initiative as Kaufman was twice in the water on the 13th and again found water on the 14th for McIlroy to go all-square and then move one up.

Kaufman’s woes were evident again on the 17th, where a pulled tee shot into the same territory as Lowry ahead of him had found resulted in a concession of the hole and the match to McIlroy. The Northern Irishman will complete his group stage against Kevin Na in a winner-takes-all conclusion to see who advances to the last 16.

“It was nice not to go down the last but then it was a little scary at the start of the match, but I’m happy Smylie did concede there at 17 and I move,” said McIlroy, adding: “I certainly feel now after these two days that the longer the match goes on the better my chances are . . . the pleasing thing over the last couple of days is that when I needed to play some of my best golf, I have been able to do that.”

McIlroy made it two wins from two, as did Patrick Reed with a comprehensive 4 and 3 win over England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick to set up a showdown with Phil Mickelson.

Jordan Spieth also made it two wins from two with a 5 and 4 win over Victor Dubuisson.

Graeme McDowell’s involvement came to an early end, as he halved his match with England’s Paul Casey.

Jason Day, who suffered a back injury in defeating McDowell on Wednesday, received intensive physiotherapy to enable him to play and confirmed his well being with a 5 and 3 win over Thonghai Jaidee that has the Australian set to move on to the knockout phase.

4/17/2015

GMAC with Every Chance

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Graeme McDowell and America’s Matt Every shared the lead after the first round of the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, with Jordan Spieth eight shots off the pace as he came back to earth following his Masters win.

In difficult conditions, with strong winds and a distinct chill in South Carolina, birdies were hard to come by but Every carded six before a bogey on the 18th, while McDowell matched him only in reverse after bogeying the first.

Given the way the course was playing, staying at the top of the leaderboard was as much about survival as anything.

“I was greasy today,” Every said on the PGA Tour website. “It wasn’t my best ball striking, it wasn’t easy out there, but I got the best out of it.

“It was blowing. Back in the trees, when it’s coming from the north and banking off the trees going the other way, it’s dicey, but for the most part I did a good job.”

Sang-moon Bae is alone in third place, one shot back, ahead of a five-way tie for fourth which includes Kevin Kisner, Scott Langley, Morgan Hoffman, Matt Kuchar and up and coming Australian Cameron Smith.

Smith could have been much better placed but for a bogey on the third and a double bogey on the seventh, where his tee shot put him in the trees and he faced a long road back. He had earlier carded five birdies in six holes between the second and seventh holes.

Kuchar’s round was highlighted by a 35ft putt for birdie on the par-five 15th, which was the only hole on which his playing partner Spieth enjoyed any luck.

Appearing tired after a whirlwind week of interviews and appearances which meant he did not have time for a practice round, Spieth three-putted the sixth to drop his first shot of the day and looked lethargic as he missed birdie opportunities on the ninth and 10th greens.

He dropped another shot on the 11th and on the par-three 14th he sent his tee shot straight into the water, setting up a double bogey that put him four over par.

He pulled one back with a birdie on the par-five 15th, but already appears set for a much-needed weekend off.

3/27/2015

Injured McDowell Masters Doubt

Graeme McDowell has been forced to withdraw from the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio with an ankle injury.

The Northern Irishman suffered the problem during practice on Wednesday and, although he managed to play his opening nine holes on Thursday, he pulled out of the tournament before setting his sights on getting fit for the Masters.

McDowell, tweeted: "Apologies to everyone at @valerotxopen for my withdrawal. Strained my lower left leg/ankle area practicing y/day and played with heavy strapping on it in the pro am and this morning.

"With The Masters upcoming I decided that getting fit is imperative. Don't like WDs.

"The week here at @valerotxopen had everything I wanted. Great people and great course. Disappointed this has happened. Thanks to everyone."

McDowell, who won the US Open in 2010, was five over at the Valero Texas Open when he withdrew, having started on the back nine.

The Masters begins at Augusta National on April 9.

9/26/2014

McDowell Hits Fourball at Faldo

Sergio García’s European team-mates sprang to his defence after the former Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo criticised the Spaniard’s performance six years ago as “useless”.

While Faldo praised the 34-year-old’s overall contribution to the biennial contest he also claimed the player had a “bad attitude” in 2008 – Europe’s only defeat since 1999 – in scoring one point from four matches.

García, whose brilliant five-wood approach to the 18th green helped him and Rory McIlroy salvage a half from being two down with two to play against Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler, was reluctant to become embroiled in a row.

“Are you sure you didn’t misquote him? That’s unfortunate,” he said. “I guess he doesn’t feel European, that’s the only thing I can think of.

“You know, there’s a lot of things I could say about Nick Faldo but I’m not going to put myself down to his level.”

Some of the senior players alongside García in the press conference looked less than impressed. The upbeat mood of how Europe finished the day – with a 5-3 lead – had been brought down a notch by the issue.

“That’s a great question. OK. We’ll take the euphoria we all have from today and just crush it,” Lee Westwood, who with rookie Jamie Donaldson beat Jim Furyk and Matt Kuchar by two holes, said sarcastically.

But García’s team-mates were not prepared to leave him undefended and Graeme McDowell, in particular, felt it necessary to make a point about Faldo’s contribution to that Ryder Cup.

The then captain rested both García and Westwood on the Saturday after they had contributed a point from three matches on the previous day.

“I’ll make a comment on that,” said McDowell. “I’m a rookie playing the Ryder Cup in 2008 and you’ve got one of the best Ryder Cup pairings of all time being sat down on a Saturday morning of a Ryder Cup that we go on to lose.

“I’d say Sergio was fairly useless, yeah, because he wasn’t able to play.”

McIlroy, who asked to play with García and struggled through 36 holes with him on the opening day, put his arm around the Spaniard, and said: “You’re not useless.”

García responded by saying: “Thanks, Nick, I love you, too.”

The pair continued to talk off microphone as the press conference continued but neither looked happy.

9/25/2014

GMAC Responds to Lefty Banter

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Graeme McDowell has responded to comments from Phil Mickelson poking fun at the fact he is involved in Rory McIlroy's court case against former management company Horizon.

On Wednesday the American veteran made a joke about Rory McIlroy's court case against former management company Horizon - which has seen team-mate Graeme McDowell dragged into the dispute as he is still represented by them.

"Not only are we able to play together, we also don't litigate against each other and that's a real plus, I feel, heading into this week," said the five-time major winner.

The remark, whether tongue-in-cheek or carefully placed, did not go unnoticed by the European team but they have brushed it aside with relative disdain.

Horizon still represent McDowell, but the 2010 US Open winner says there is no personal animosity between him and McIlroy because of the lawsuit, and insisted there is no split in Europe’s camp.

He said: “Thankfully, I haven’t been too embroiled in the legal battles. He’s not suing me, thank goodness.

“My involvement was kind of inevitable in the end, I suppose, because I had a foot in both camps.

“Rory is a very good friend and Horizon Sports are still my management company so the inevitability of the awkwardness was there.

“We’re come through that and we’re better friends because of the experiences we’ve been through."

Ian Poulter said: "I did see them (Mickelson's comments) but you need to see how Rory and G-Mac (McDowell) are in the team room," said Ian Poulter.

"They are very comfortable. There's no animosity in there whatsoever. The guys are good so I just have to laugh at the comment."

Martin Kaymer, who holed the putt which retained the Ryder Cup at Medinah two years ago, echoed those sentiments.

"It's not really a topic for us. It's one of those things - you read it, you laugh about it and that's it," said the German.

"I heard about it yesterday for the first time on the bus but I think at the end of the day we should just play golf.

"It's fairly simple. If things like this start I don't know if that's necessary."

Justin Rose said the players took it all in their stride and stressed there was no hint of disharmony in their locker room.

"Of course it's a bit of banter and getting things going. We don't have a problem with that at all," he said.

"There's no real angst between the players from that point of view at all and in our team room, it's a non-issue.

"I've obviously been observing Rory and G-Mac too and they have been getting on great and playing golf and hanging out and having dinners together.

"Of course it was mentioned last night (at the gala dinner). Phil came up to Rory last night and was like 'Hey, this and that'. It's no real big deal.

"I'll call it banter and nothing more serious than that."

The Europeans are not short of a banter or a withering put-down themselves and Poulter's assessment of the American team in a series of pen pics published on Thursday are hardly complimentary.

He described Matt Kuchar as a "20-teeth plodder", said Patrick Reed's admittedly ambitious claim he was one of the best five players in the world was "stretching it" and admitted he could not remember anything wildcard Webb Simpson had done this season.

However, Poulter rejected the suggestion such comments made any difference.

"I think we're all aware and we all want to win this trophy, so I don't really think the mind games come into play," added the Englishman, Europe's talisman in Medinah.

"There's obviously bigger media coverage nowadays than there was so we're more aware of it but I don't think it's a big factor.

"For 103 weeks we're all friends on the golf course and there's no personal vendettas.

"There's no grudges against anybody out there. The fact is, it's healthy for us to be able to go out there as two teams that actually want to win this trophy.

"I see it as great for golf. I see it that we need to bring this thing back to all-square, and they have had the upper hand for so long that we are starting to try to work hard to get that back on an even keel."

8/31/2014

McIlroy's Labor Day in Boston

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Rory McIlroy continued second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship showing some inconsistency as Australian Jason Day continued his form to tie American Ryan Palmer for the lead in Boston.

Despite an unexpected bogey on his final hole, Day carded a three-under-par 68 in fluctuating afternoon winds while Palmer shot a 71 in the morning at the TPC Boston.

They finished level at eight-under 134, one stroke ahead of Americans Matt Kuchar (66) and Billy Horschel (66) on a tightly-bunched leaderboard.

McIlroy, slowed by a double-bogey at the par-four 14th where his approach shot bounded 30 yards over the green into a hazard, fired a 69 to trail the leaders by five shots.

Day, the world number seven whose quest this year to win a first Major title was ruined by a thumb injury, maintained the red-hot form he displayed last week to tie for second in the first of the PGA Tour’s four FedExCup play-off events.

“To be in contention last week and (again) this week goes to show the hard work I’ve put in the last four or five weeks is definitely paying off,” Day told reporters.

Day’s round was a tale of two halves. He was five under on the front nine but two over coming home as the swirling wind made it difficult to judge club selection.

The Australian had visions of a birdie at the par-five 18th when he had an iron in his hands for his second shot, only to drop a stroke after firing his approach over the green and taking four more shots to hole out.

“I made the front nine look very easy today (and) made the back nine look very hard, but overall I’m very happy with how I’ve played the last couple of days,” Day said.

Palmer, meanwhile, says his goal over the final two rounds was to play well enough to “make it hard on Tom Watson”.

He was referring to the US Ryder Cup captain, who on Tuesday will announce his three wildcard selections to complete the 12-man team to take on holders Europe at Gleneagles in Scotland next month.

“I’m proud of the way I hung in today. I had to grind it out,” said Palmer. “It could have got away pretty fast (but I) stayed patient, stayed calm and salvaged even par.”

A total of 80 players made the cut, which fell at three-over 145, and several Americans with hopes of earning a late Ryder Cup spot bowed out early, including Brendon Todd,Kevin Na and 2012 FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker.

The top 70 players on the FedExCup points list after the Deutsche Bank Championship advance to next week’s BMW Championship in Englewood, Colorado where the leading 30 will qualify for the Tour Championship finale in Atlanta.

5/27/2014

Rory McIlroy Moves to Sixth

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Rory McIlroy has risen to sixth in the world rankings after his victory in the BMW PGA Championship.

McIlroy moved up from 10th following a one-shot win over Shane Lowry at Wentworth that saw him only move into the lead on the 71st hole of the tournament.

The Northern Irishman came from seven shots behind to win The European Tour's most prestigious event, carding the lowest round of the final day with a six under par 66.

Sweden's Henrik Stenson has climbed to second after finishing joint seventh behind McIlroy, but that was not enough to overtake world No 1 Adam Scott who won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Latest leading positions and points averages:

1 Adam Scott (Aus) 8.94

2 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 7.78

3 Tiger Woods (USA) 7.64

4 Matt Kuchar (USA) 7.03

5 Bubba Watson (USA) 6.96

6 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 6.91

7 Jason Day (Aus) 6.50

8 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 6.16

9 Justin Rose (Eng) 6.05

10 Jordan Spieth (USA) 6.00

11 Phil Mickelson (USA) 5.64

12 Jim Furyk (USA) 5.42

13 Zach Johnson (USA) 5.24

14 Dustin Johnson (USA) 4.84

15 Jason Dufner (USA) 4.50

16 Luke Donald (Eng) 4.37

17 Jimmy Walker (USA) 4.28

18 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 4.25

19 Steve Stricker (USA) 4.16

20 Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 4.11

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