The Irish Golf Club Gazette: Zach Johnson

Showing posts with label Zach Johnson. Show all posts

4/21/2016

Captain Clarke Hails European Masters

Darren Clarke at Portrush Golf Club

Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke has hailed the “wonderful” performance of Europe’s top players at the US Masters.

With champion Danny Willett one of seven Europeans in the top 15 at Augusta, Clarke said the final leaderboard had delivered a real positive ahead of the much-anticipated showdown with the United States in the autumn.

Clarke also spent time with golf fan Alex Ferguson at Augusta and said he intended to visit him again in England to pick the former Manchester United manager’s brain.

The former Open champion, who missed the cut in Georgia, was at his home club at Royal Portrush on Tuesday to launch the start of a Ryder Cup trophy tour.

“It was a wonderful week from a European perspective,” Clarke said of the Masters.

“With the winner Danny Willett and indeed Lee Westwood playing a lot better and Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick, there were so many Europeans up there in the top 10.

“So it was a very positive week for the Europeans.”

Willett’s victory was the first major of the Yorkshireman’s career, but Clarke said it came as no surprise to him.

“He’s been playing really well now for a couple of years, I am a good friend of his, I’ve spent a lot of time with him and his game has just been getting better and better,” said Europe’s Ryder Cup captain.

“It’s certainly no surprise whatsoever. He’s performed really well, especially of late again, and from a personal point of view I was delighted to see him win.”

Clarke, 47, said it was also great to see his close friend Westwood — who finished joint second at Augusta — contending in a major again.

“To see him playing in the manner and fashion that I know he can is certainly very, very heartening,” he said.

With so many up and coming stars emerging, Europe’s team is predicted to have quite a few fresh faces as they look to win the Ryder Cup for a fourth successive time.

Clarke insisted there was a long way to go in qualifying, though.

“It’s a long way off before the team is finalised, a lot of big tournaments, a lot of Ryder Cup points to be played for,” he said.

“While the make-up of the team at the moment may look slightly different to what we are used to, come the end of August I think it might be a little bit different.”

Clarke said Ferguson had given him “lots of advice” at Augusta.

“There would be very few people who have had as successful a career as he has had,” he said.

“He was very, very helpful. I will go over and spend a bit more time with him shortly over in Manchester — he was more than willing to help me.

“As a Liverpool fan it was quite difficult, but you know the man is a legend.”

The trophy tour will see the iconic prize travelling around Europe and the US ahead of September’s encounter. Its next stop will be Belfast City Hall on Wednesday.

“To have the Ryder Cup trophy tour start off here in Northern Ireland is very, very special,” said Clarke.

“To have it here at Royal Portrush, I only live up on the hill up there, so it’s wonderful to start off here.”

The 2016 Ryder Cup is being held at Hazeltine in the United States and takes place from September 30th to October 2nd.

8/16/2015

Rory Retains Whistling Chance

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Rory McIlroy was frustrated at being unable to build on a "dream start" to his third round at the 97th PGA Championship, as his lengthy injury lay-off caught up with him at Whistling Straits.

The defending champion was nine shots off the lead at the halfway stage following a pair of erratic 71s, but he made early strides up the leaderboard when he birdied the second and fourth and then holed a monster 65-foot putt for eagle at the fifth.

But a poor wedge cost him a shot at the next, and he also bogeyed the eighth before mixing four birdies with two further shots on the inward half to post a 68 - six under for the tournament.

McIlroy will have to break the tournament comeback record if he is to retain his title on Sunday, and he admitted his lack of competitive golf while recovering from ankle ligament damage over the last seven weeks had hampered his chances.

"I got off to a dream start, really," said McIlroy, who had not played since the US Open in June after suffering his ankle injury playing football with friends on July 4. "To be four under through five, having not birdied the first and third, was a bonus.

"I knew six was a chance and the way the wind was on seven and eight, they weren't playing as tough as they had been earlier in the week. If you get a good tee shot down on nine, you've got a wedge in your hand there and all of a sudden you're thinking about shooting 30 on the front nine and then you've got some chances on the back nine.

"But to give those shots away again on six and eight, you really have to battle to shoot four under in the end. I guess that probably shows just a lack of competitiveness considering this is the first week back in a few weeks.

"But really positive signs out there. Hitting the ball great. I putted much better today thankfully. So if I keep showing improvement each and every day like I have done, it's a good sign going into the rest of the season."

The 26-year-old conceded that his chances of lifting the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time were remote, but he is refusing to hand over his title without a fight.

"It's all about setting a realistic goal and target," McIlroy added. "I know that the way the back nine's playing there, the leaders could be 14, 15 under by the time the day ends. So, that would leave me eight or nine shots back.

"In the back of your mind, you still think you have a chance, because that's what your competitive nature tells you. But if you're looking at it realistically, I want to go out there tomorrow and shoot the best score that I've shot this week.

"I've stood still a little on Thursday and Friday, but definitely improved today and you want to improve on that again tomorrow. If I do that, I think that, as a whole, the week would be somewhat of a success. It wouldn't be quite what I wanted, but as I said, I can take positives from it and move on."

8/15/2015

Rory Furious on Friday

Rory McIlroy reflected on a day of missed opportunities after settling for a second consecutive 71 at the 97th PGA Championship, while Jordan Spieth went four shots better at the halfway stage.

The defending champion was determined to take advantage of the benign early conditions at Whistling Straits and make strides up the leaderboard, but he managed only pars at his first six holes before finally getting a birdie putt to drop at the 16th.

McIlroy was then furious with himself for scrapping his way to a double-bogey six at the 18th, but he got both shots back with one shot at the long second as he chipped in for a galvanising eagle.

He holed from eight feet for birdie at the sixth, but he bogeyed the next after pulling his tee shot in greenside rough before McIlroy parred in to remain two under for the tournament.

On a day when Japan's Hiroshi Iwata equalled the lowest score in major history with a 63 and playing partner Jordan Spieth shot 67, McIlroy admitted his short-game was not up to scratch following his seven-week lay-off with an ankle injury.

"I felt like tee to green I hit the ball pretty well, I'm probably just not as sharp with the short game as I would like to be," the world No 1 said. "It was good to get the two shots back that I dropped on 18 and I gave myself good chances on the third and fifth, but did not take them.

"There's plenty of chances out there and if I can convert a few hopefully there is a low score in me.

"I felt like I played better than what the score reflected, so I'm a little bit annoyed. I felt like I should have got that ball up and down on seven and then I had a great chance on eight for birdie and didn't take that. A couple of days in a row where I haven't finished the round of golf the way I wanted to.

"I don't know if it's rust or I just didn't putt well, so maybe just work on that a little bit before I tee off tomorrow and it would be great to hole a few more putts, because I feel like I'm giving myself plenty of chances.

"Probably one of the most surprising things about yesterday is how quickly I got back into the mindset of tournament golf and being aggressive. That hasn't really been an issue, it's just being a bit more efficient, whenever you give yourself chances, take them, and be able to get it up and down when you put yourself out of position."

McIlroy now has his work cut out to hang onto his world No 1 ranking ahead of Spieth, who enjoyed a run of four birdies in six holes mid-round as he moved smoothly to six under for the tournament.

The highlight of Spieth's round was a superb bunker escape that found the hole for an unlikely birdie at the 18th, and he was delighted with another good day's work in his bid to become only the third player in history to win three majors in a year.

"We are freerolling now," Spieth joked after making the cut in the tournament for the first time at the third attempt. "I'm just happy to be back in contention and position. If I'd had a bit of a lull today it would have been too hard to make up.

"With a couple of chip-ins for the week and really smart course management and good speed control, we have been able to hold ourselves in there. But in order to keep shooting the rounds like today, I'm going to need to drive the ball a little bit better and make a few more putts, which are really the two keys for me this weekend, because it's just going to get more challenging with pin locations and firmness of greens."

On his holed bunker shot for birdie at 18, Spieth's 16th chip-in of the season, he added: "It's arguably the best of the year given the position it was in. It was a great spark to get things going, get a little confidence, a little pep in my step.

"I feel good. I've got a chance to win a major championship. Just thinking about that gets you enough adrenaline that there won't be any issues. I noticed last year for the first time I felt fatigue and felt like I had overworked and kind of burned out the end of the year, as we had to go through the four play-off events without a break and then into the Ryder Cup.

"This year I've done a better job of when I take time off, when you limit the practice coming back, how to prepare. As far as mentally in this position, the way the year's gone, I approach each event as if it's the only event of the year when I stand on the first tee. That gets me through it.

"I'm sure at the end of this year, it will be nice to sit back and hang the clubs up for a couple weeks, but until then we have got a lot to play for."

8/14/2015

Rory Recovers After Wet Start

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Rory McIlroy overcame a nervy start to open the defence of his PGA Championship title with an encouraging one-under 71 at Whistling Straits.

In his first competitive round since the US Open, the world No 1 hit back from a three-putt bogey at the first with a birdie at the next and missed good chances at three and four before producing a stunning par-save from shallow water at the fifth hole.

McIlroy pulled a seven-iron left of the green with his third to the par-five, but he rolled up his right trouser leg, splashed out to 12 feet and calmly knocked in the putt to stay at level par.

He couldn't avoid a bogey after missing the fairway at the eighth, but he responded with a pure approach to four feet to set up a birdie at nine and a huge drive and an eight-iron into the long 11th yielded a comfortable two-putt for birdie.

McIlroy failed to convert mid-range birdie putts on each of the next four greens, but he got one to drop after pitching to six feet at the 16th before he was berating himself for pushing his approach to the last into thick rough, from where he played a poor chip and two-putted for bogey.

But he reflected on a good day's work in tough, blustery conditions, and he had no concerns with his left ankle after completing his recovery from the ligament damage he suffered during a friendly game of football with his friends just before the Scottish Open early last month.

And he was delighted with his highlight of the day at the fifth, where his main worry was getting his feet wet.

"The only thing I was trying not to do was get my feet wet, because if the water gets through this shoe, then the tape [on his left ankle] gets wet and then that would be annoying or uncomfortable for the rest of the day," McIlroy said.

"It was a little bit deeper on the right side, so I just rolled my right trouser leg up and it was fine. I just had to remember to hit it hard. And I was very fortunate to escape with a par there.

"I think anything under par this afternoon was a decent score. I thought trying to shoot something under 70 was realistic. I sort of had a chance to do that after birdieing the 16th. I missed a good chance there on 17. Unfortunate bogey on the last, I guess. Just hit a 3-iron and held it up a little bit too much into the wind and leaked it right."

McIlroy's 71 was matched by playing partner and rival for the world No 1 spot Jordan Spieth, the Masters and US Open champion looking to become only the third player after Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods to win three majors in a year.

Spieth followed 10 straight pars with a three-putt bogey on the 11th, but chipped in on the next and also birdied the 16th.

"We really battled back after 10 and 11, which were disappointing holes for me, to salvage an under par round and really stay in this tournament," the 22-year-old said. "If I didn't get that good break on 12, it could have been a different story the rest of the round."

8/13/2015

Rory Has Strait Chance - McGinley

Paul McGinley expects four-time major champion Rory McIlroy to be firmly in contention for this week's 97th PGA Championship.

McIlroy will return to play his first tournament since rupturing an ankle ligament six weeks ago, but McGinley has backed the 26-year-old's decision to compete at Whistling Straits.

"I think he can contend no doubt," said McGinley.

"He's the world number-one player, he's confident, he's had a good few weeks practice, his game is in good shape, and the golf course suits him.

"He's proven in the past that coming back form a big lay-off doesn't really affect him, he can come back and hit the ground running. But coming back from a serious injury, it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds for him.

"Steve McGregor [McIlroy's fitness trainer] has done a great job on him. He's very highly respected within the game and within this industry knowing exactly what fitness is about.

"He couldn't have been in better hands in terms of this rehab with Steve. I'd say he's in good shape but is he going to be competitively sharp? That's going to be the question."

8/12/2015

McIlroy Praises Lowry Steel

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Rory McIlroy praised the "ballsy" performance of his friend Shane Lowry at the weekend in Akron after the Offaly man claimed victory at the Bridgestone Invitational at the weekend.

Showing nerves of steel to hold off the challenge of three Major winners to secure the biggest win of his career and a cheque for €1.45m, McIlroy was watching on was impressed by the resolve shown by his fellow Irish golfer.

"Shane's victory was fantastic," he said. "I played 18 on Sunday morning and came back to the house we are renting to watch it.

"Once he got into the lead, he hit a couple of wonder shots- that shot on 10, which was incredible. And he holed some big par putt putts down the stretch

"I texted him and said it was a pretty ballsy victory. And yes, he could be in the Olympics too, depending on how everything goes the next 52 weeks."

McIlroy has spent the past few days practising on the Wisconsin course, having been sidelined since early July when he suffered a rupture of his left ankle ligaments during a game of football with friends.

"If anything, my ankle feels even better when I swing hard," he told the Daily Mail.

The 26-year-old's injury ruled him out of the Scottish Open and the defence of his Open and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational titles, but he has been playing since the Monday that Zach Johnson inherited his Open crown.

"I've played a lot of golf since then, just finding the middle of the clubface again," he said. "And I've been chipping and putting basically since it happened, with my protective boot on...

"I did think about coming back last week at the Bridgestone but Steve (McGregor, his fitness coach) held me back. He thought it important for me to basically play a tournament behind closed doors and after I completed that successfully, it felt the right time to come.

"I'm ready to play and I expect to do well."

The four-time major winner has been paired with Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson for the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday.

He has not played a competitive round since a closing 66 in the US Open at Chambers Bay on June 21.

"Obviously it's important to remain world number one, I've made that clear. It's been a year since I got it back,"

"But it's just about playing well and winning tournaments and that's my main focus this week."

In his absence McIlroy has seen others such as Lowry make progress and he was quick to praise the 28-year-old for his victory in Bridgestone - even if he is now another rival.

8/10/2015

Spieth Relishes Rory Return

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Jordan Spieth is relishing the prospect of Rory McIlroy returning from injury in time for next week's US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

Spieth would have replaced McIlroy at the top of the world rankings with victory at this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but finished in a tie for 10th despite posting a four-under 66 during the final round.

The Masters and US Open champion has been grouped with the world No 1 for the first two rounds at Whistling Straits, with Spieth delighted that McIlroy appears set to return from injury in time to defend his title.

"It's going to be great," Spieth told Sky Sports 4. "I'm very, very happy that he is back, everybody is. He certainly takes the interest in the game to a different level.

"It will be cool to battle it out with him hopefully for the No 1 spot if it comes down to Sunday. I am certainly ready to be in that position and hopefully we can do so."

McIlroy played full practice rounds on Saturday and Sunday at Whistling Straits, telling reporters that his rehabilitated left ankle was a “non-issue”.

"Obviously, getting around a golf course like this, playing 18 holes, it felt fine," McIlroy told the Golf Channel. "I've come a long way in five weeks. This has been the five-week mark today from when I did it."

8/08/2015

Rory Whistles While He Works

Photo: James Haddock

Rory McIlroy stepped up his bid to play in next week's US PGA Championship by playing a practice round at Whistling Straits on Saturday.

The world No 1 has been sidelined for the last month after rupturing ligaments in his ankle while playing football with his friends.

That injury forced him to miss the defence of his Open title at St Andrews, but he published videos of a training session earlier in the week before heading to Wisconsin.

Speculation that McIlroy would play in the final major championship of the season stepped up a notch on Friday when he was handed a 1.20pm local time (7.20pm BST) grouping for Thursday's opening round.

The Irishman will, assuming he is fit to play, go out alongside Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson, who claimed the Claret Jug in thrilling fashion last month.

McIlroy enjoyed success on his last visit to Whistling Straits, a tough links-style course, when he finished third at the 2010 US PGA, one shot away from getting into the three-hole play-off Martin Kaymer went on to win.

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