The Irish Golf Club Gazette

8/16/2013

Harrington Hits 73 at Wyndam

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Pádraig Harrington could only record a three-over-par 73 in his first round of the $5.3 million Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro in North Carolina.

The Dubliner is hoping for a good showing this weekend to boost his FedExCup play-off position. He currently sits 129th in the FedExCup standings, four places outside of the qualification places for the play-offs, which begin with The Barclays next week.

Chris Stroud’s late decision to play looked like a very good one after he grabbed an early one-shot lead in the opening round. The American journeyman’s long game was poor, by his own admission, but he putted brilliantly to post eight birdies in a six-under-par 64 on an unusually mild summer’s morning at Sedgefield Country Club.

The 31-year-old Stroud led by one stroke from fellow Americans Andrew Svoboda and Robert Garrigus, and Australian Matt Jones, with half the field back in the clubhouse.

“I didn’t play that great today (but) I’m in the lead. It’s a weird deal,” said Stroud, who is ranked 48th in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup points list heading into the play-offs, which start next week.

“It’s a crazy game. I only had one or two really good drives and four or five iron shots (but) kept myself in position and made a lot of good putts – not a bunch of 30-footers, just a lot from eight-to-20 feet.”

Stroud made his first start as a tour pro in Greensboro, on a sponsor’s invitation in 2004, and has been a regular visitor ever since, though he was planning to skip the event this year.

However, he missed the cut by one stroke at last week’s PGA Championship and then decided to enter Greensboro, where he has never finished better than 57th.

“I played pretty well in the PGA and I told my caddie I’m playing too well to go home and just sit and get rusty,” said Stroud, whose best PGA Tour finish was a playoff loss at the Travelers Championship in June.

“This is the nicest weather I’ve seen here, I’m happy to be here and it’s a great golf course that’s even better with new greens.”

Stroud acknowledged he would have to improve his overall game to have a chance of winning on Sunday, so he headed off to the practice range to work on his flaws.

Some of the bigger names in the field also had plenty to work on after struggling to go low in the opening round. Fijian Vijay Singh shot a 70 and South African Ernie Els carded a 71.

8/15/2013

Rory Confirms Trip Downunder

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Rory McIlroy has revealed he will end his season contesting the Australian Open in Sydney.

McIlroy confirmed his appearance after finishing in a share of eighth place in the defence of his PGA Championship title at Oak Hill.

The Australian Open will be staged at the Royal Sydney course from November 28 to December 1.

"It is pretty much locked in place I will be playing the Australian Open in Sydney," he said.

"It's been a couple of years since I last competed in an Australian Open. I competed in 2006 when I was still an amateur and then a year later after just turning pro.

"Both were in Sydney and I've always enjoyed myself in Sydney so I am very much looking forward to returning to Royal Sydney."

On his last Australian Open appearance in 2007 McIlroy finished well down the field in a share of 59th with scores of 74, 74, 76 and 77.

McIlroy is no stranger to the 2000 Olympic Games host city as earlier this year his girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki contested the Sydney International and the pair were photographed atop Sydney Tower. McIlroy has the photograph on his Twitter page.

There had been suggestions McIlroy was all set to compete in last year's Australian Open for a reported $1 million appearance fee.

However, both Golf Australia and his Dublin-based Horizon Sports manager, Conor Ridge, denied the rumour.

But while McIlroy has not tasted success since then he was still expected to command the million-dollar appearance fee to tee up on the Royal Sydney course.

McIlroy said he has also accepted an invitation a week later to play in the Tiger Woods hosted World Challenge from December 5-8 at the Sherwood Country Club course in suburban Los Angeles.

"It will be a great two weeks to finish up my year so I'm looking forward to competing in both events," he said.

McIlroy admitted after his best finish this year in the Majors he had left the Rochester course with the same feelings experienced last year in Ohio in finishing eighth in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational a week before capturing a second Major Championship victory.

"I feel just like I did in leaving the Bridgestone last year as my game is pretty much in great shape.

"There's still enough golf ahead of me this year to turn it into very good year," he said.

"I have four very big weeks coming up to try and finish off the PGA Tour season well.

"I've also got a few events out in Asia, the Australian Open and Tiger's event so I've got plenty of opportunity to round off my year on a good note."

Harrington Hoping Fedex Delivers

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Padraig Harrington hopes history can repeat itself at the Wyndham Championship this week.

The Dubliner sits 129th in the FedExCup standings, four places outside the qualification places for the play-offs, which begin with The Barclays next week.

Harrington was in almost exactly the same position two years ago when he arrived in Greensboro in 130th place, and a tie for 47th was enough to lift him into 124th.

He made the second play-off tournament too, and is optimistic he will continue his record of always having qualified for the play-offs.

"I need to have a good week. I'm thinking top 25 should be good enough. So that's the goal," he said.

"Well, the goal is to go out there and win, and if I can't win, finish in the top 25 and give myself a chance of playing in the first FedExCup event and trying to move on from there.

"There's certainly a distraction in it. There's a lot of thinking and talking, what you need to do. You kind of prepare for this week very much as an isolated week."

Harrington, who missed the cut at the US PGA Championship last week, feels he is playing better than his results suggest.

He said: "It's just been an odd year. I haven't really scored very well. I can't put everything together in a given week. So you have to have patience and accept that this is going to happen every so often and try and be patient to wait for it to turn around, and hopefully it turns around this week. But I'm very happy with the state of my game at the moment and where it's going, and if it doesn't happen this week, I'm sure it will happen over the next number of weeks."

Harrington is not the only big-name player battling to make it into next week's field. Vijay Singh, David Toms, Trevor Immelman, Ben Curtis, Davis Love III and YE Yang are all outside the top 125.

Defending Wyndham champion Sergio Garcia does not have to worry about such matters but he is trying to become the first player since Sam Snead in the 1950s to win the title back to back.

"The only thing I can do is go out there, hopefully play well like I know I can do," he said.

8/12/2013

Happy McIlroy at Oak Hill

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Rory McIlroy was in a positive frame of mind despite failing to climb into contention in the final round of the US PGA Championship.

The defending champion needed to shoot a low score after starting six shots off the pace but after a bright start blew any chance he had by taking seven at the par-four fifth.

A decent approach spun back into the water and then he pitched his fourth shot over the back of the green, but still managed to shoot a level-par 70.

"I actually didn't hit a bad shot, 168 yards to the pin, hit nine iron, pitched it just in the place where you can't pitch it I guess," he said.

"Obviously it was disappointing but I fought back well. I was four-under at that point and had just missed a short putt on the fourth to get to five.

"After doing that I just wanted to post as good a finish as I could.

"I saw a lot of great signs out there today. Hopefully I can just bring that through to the next few weeks and have a strong finish to the season."

McDowell Delights in PGA Finish

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Graeme McDowell was delighted to post a final round of 66 in the US PGA Championship to give him some momentum heading into the final stretch of the season.

The Majors may be over for 2013, but McDowell has some important tournaments approaching, with the US PGA Tour reaching its climax in the next two months, followed by the Final Series on The European Tour, where he will hope to win The Race to Dubai.

Currently second in money list behind Swede Henrik Stenson, having won the Volvo World Match Play Championship and the Alstom Open de France, McDowell was happy to finish on a high note at Oak Hill Country Club.

“It's been a frustrating few months, but that was a little glimmer of light, something to take away,” said the Northern Irishman, who won the 2010 US Open. “It was nice to get some momentum out there. To make eight birdies was very pleasing.

“The putter has been cold for the last few months. It’s been a disappointing few months even with the French Open win in there. There has been some very average ball striking and very average technique. I feel like I kind of got it back on track a little this week.

“It's very difficult to have your game exacted for these Major weeks. It's hard to peak, it's hard to be ready. I missed the cut at the Masters and I win the week after. I missed the cut at the US Open and won a couple of weeks after at the French Open.

“It's a hard game. It's hard to get it right on the day. The Major Championships are the toughest tests in golf, as we know. They stress you, they frustrate you. That's why great players win Majors, because they are hard to win.”

McDowell will also marry his girlfriend Kristin Snape in the autumn, and added: “It’s a big thing in a man’s life and I’m very much looking forward to it. The first time I’ll tee it up as a married man will be in the BMW Masters in Shanghai.”

8/16/2013

Harrington Hits 73 at Wyndam

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