The Irish Golf Club Gazette

11/06/2012

McIlroy Set for European Tour Title

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Rory McIlroy looks set to win the European Tour money title with nearest rival Peter Hanson and the next four challengers declining to contest the last two tournaments.

McIlroy only has to finish in the top 10 at the Singapore Open this week to clinch the Race to Dubai as he is ?764,776 ($978,000) in front of the second-place Hanson.

English pair Justin Rose and Ian Poulter are next, followed by South African Branden Grace.

Ernie Els had his name removed from the European Tour money list on Monday and is no longer eligible for the £5million DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in two weeks. Or a share of the £2.4million end-of-season bonus pool.

Tour members are required to play 13 counting events in a year and the 43-year-old South African's joint runner-up finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China this weekend was only his 10th appearance on the circuit.

To stay on the Order of Merit and play in Dubai Els would have had to compete in this week's Singapore Open and then either the South African Open or Hong Kong Open next week. But his next scheduled tournament is the Asian Tour's Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia on December 13-16.

All five players under McIlroy are sitting out the tournaments in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Singapore Open organizers were holding an invitation for Hanson but he's cited tiredness and has returned to his Florida home.

"I've been on the road three weeks now since playing the India Open, and that's a long enough time to be away from my young family and they're more important," the Swede said. "It's disappointing that it won't sort of add spice to these next two events but then given the season I've had, winning the KLM Open, playing in a winning Ryder Cup team and beating Rory last week in Shanghai (the BMW Masters) to win three out of four, I have to be very happy."

"In the bigger picture, I still have plenty of years to win the Race to Dubai and besides, given the way Rory has played this year, I feel as though he deserves to end the year No. 1.

McIlroy arrived in Singapore on Monday night for his first appearance in the co-sanctioned event.

Also back home in Orlando is Poulter and Rose. Poulter plans to play in the Australian Masters next week, when the Hong Kong Open will be held.

11/03/2012

Super G-MAC Overcomes Pain

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Graeme McDowell clawed back some ground with an improved four-under-par 68 in the third round of the WGC Champions in China.

However, at two under overall, the Northern Irishman is out of contention as he is 16 shots behind joint leaders Lee Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen.

McDowell had started the tournament with a 71 and then had a disappointing 75 in Friday's second round.

Offaly's Shane Lowry lies on 10 under par, eight shots off the lead.

Lowry, who qualified for the event after winning the Portugal Masters recently, carded a level-par 72 in his third round.

At one stage on Friday McDowell thought he could be forced to miss the rest of the WGC-HSBC Champions - if not also the rest of the season - after suffering a hand injury after he trapped his hand in the door of his hotel room.

However McDowell did manage to play through the pain, but afterwards complained that he thought his hand felt like it was broken, although medical tests proved that it was merely bruising.

The former US Open winner McDowell shot a 75 at Mission Hills on Friday and his manager Conor Ridge says there was some concern.

"He got it treated this morning. It was obviously quite sore because he said it feels like it's broken," said Ridge. "They've confirmed since that it's not broken, it's just bruised.

Ridge added that McDowell's busy end-of-season schedule could have also been in doubt:

"He's not going to want to miss any of them," Ridge added. "He's looking forward to going to Australia, he hasn't played there for a long time.

"He's certainly not winding down. He won't want to miss the last two rounds here either, let's be honest. Hopefully he's OK but knowing him he'd have to be pretty bad not to play."

McDowell's three remaining events after Mission Hills are schedule to be the World Tour Championship in Dubai, the Australian Masters and the World Challenge in California.

11/01/2012

Lowry Shares Third Place at HSBC

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Shane Lowry fired an opening round of 66 at the the WGC - HSBC Champions on Thursday to finish in a share of third place, alongside Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Peter Hanson, after a round that include eight birdies. The last two holes saw the most recent European Tour winner sign for a six under par end the day one stroke off the joint leaders.

Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott – both runners-up in Major Championships this year – share that lead after opening with seven under par rounds of 65 at Mission Hills.

Former Open Champion Oosthuizen, who was pipped to the Masters Tournament by Bubba Watson, had seven birdies in his round including from 15 feet on the ninth.

That looked good enough for the first round lead until Australian Scott – whose Open Championship dream was dashed by Ernie Els at Royal Lytham & St Annes – hit a stunning second shot to 12 feet at the same par five, like Oosthuizen his last, and sunk the resulting eagle putt.

Oosthuizen, whose two European Tour wins this season include victory in Malaysia a week after his Augusta heartbreak, admitted he had not expected to get off to such a good start.

“I don't think I saw a really low number out there but once you look at the leaderboard and see the guys are firing it up, all of a sudden you started seeing birdies,” said the 30 year old.

“I played well - I made five birdies on the par fives, and that got the round going, and then I made two more birdies. I hit a few bad iron shots, but made good up-and-downs for pars and just glad to have a bogey-free round, I'm always happy with that.

“There are three rounds left and a lot of golf to be played. The main key is to try to put myself in a spot to win it on Sunday.

“If I can keep doing what I'm doing on the par fives and hitting fairways, you've got a good chance.”

Scott was delighted with his finish as he chases a second WGC title after claiming last year’s Bridgestone Invitational.

“It was a solid day that all of a sudden turned into a really good day,” said the eight-time European Tour winner.

“I hit a lot of good shots, and they ended up finishing close on the last couple holes and I took advantage of that.

“With five par fives, it sets up well for my game, and the plan is to just take advantage of the fives and hopefully hang in there with the leaders all week.”

Mickelson, seeking a third victory in the event, matched Scott's eagle on the ninth, in his case from 25 feet, and said: "My game feels really good.

"It's gotten better each week since the PGA Championship and hopefully I can carry on - I certainly feel confident that I will be able to."

Watson mixed seven birdies and three bogeys with an eagle at the long 11th, while Lowry looked to be surging into a clear lead when he holed a six footer for birdie at the 15th and gained another shot from ten feet at the 16th.

However, he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker at the 17th and paid the price for driving into sand at the last - the two closing bogeys souring the Irishman’s round somewhat.

“I'm happy with six under and I'm in a good position with three days to go,” he said. “Obviously was very disappointed bogeying the last two – I felt like I had the ball on a string all day and felt like it came very easy to me today.

“Just to bogey those last two was disappointing but six under is a good score out there, and I'm looking forward to the next few days.”

10/31/2012

Harrington Returns to Fanling

Padraig Harrington joins Korea’s Y E Yang for the UBS Hong Kong Open at Hong Kong Golf Club from 15-18 November.

Harrington, who reaped a rich harvest of three Major titles during a wonderful 13 month spell in 2007 and 2008, returns to Fanling where he launched the 2004 European Tour International Schedule with a one shot victory over South African Hennie Otto.

The Irishman, fresh from a confidence-boosting victory in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda last week, will be playing in the event for the fourth time. He finished joint runner-up to Miguel Angel Jiménez in his defence of the title 12 months after his victory.

Yang, who succeeded Harrington as US PGA Champion in 2009 after a dramatic battle down the stretch with Tiger Woods, produced his best placing in four previous appearances in the UBS Hong Kong Open when he came tied seventh behind World Number One, Rory McIlroy, last year.

Harrington said: “I have fond memories of winning the UBS Hong Kong Open on my debut in the event and I look forward to returning to Fanling next month. There is always a great atmosphere surrounding the tournament and Hong Kong itself is an exciting place to visit.”

Yang, the first Asian golfer to capture a Major Championship, commented: “I love returning to Hong Kong for the UBS Hong Kong Open. There is an incredible energy in the city which adds to the enjoyment of the week. It would be great if I can step up on last year’s top ten finish and challenge for the title this time around.”

Ms Kathryn Shih, CEO UBS Wealth Management Asia Pacific, said: “UBS is delighted that two more world-class golfers in Padraig Harrington and Y.E. Yang have joined this year's UBS Hong Kong Open. Their participation promises to make the competition this month even more exciting.”

HSBC Critical of McIlroy Absence

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The sponsors of this week's WGC-Champions event have criticised world number one Rory McIlroy and 14-times major winner Tiger Woods for turning down the chance to play in the tournament.

The pair played in a lucrative head-to-head exhibition match on Monday at Jinsha Lake in China.

McIlroy is now in Bulgaria watching his tennis-playing girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki competing while second-ranked Woods moved on to Singapore to fulfill corporate engagements.

"On the one hand we have by far and away the strongest field in Asia this year, 13 of the top 20 are here. But of course we are disappointed the top two are not here," said HSBC's worldwide head of sponsorship Giles Morgan.

"We are looking at a true world golf championship. As a sponsor we can provide the prize money and all of the wonderful facilities for spectators, customers, the media etc. But the one thing you need of course is the players.

"We believe very strongly in supporting golf around the world at all levels because we believe the sport has great potential to grow. But in order to showcase itself particularly in emerging markets for golf such as China we feel as many of the top players should be here."

Morgan said that with so many sporting sponsors suffering during the recession, golfers should be wary of upsetting them.

"Without the sponsors there isn't professional golf and I speak on behalf of the industry," he added. "Here in China we have built something very big, very quickly so we need to continue to try to invest and encourage people to play.

"I feel very strongly as I know a number of sponsors do, that particularly in a downturn, particularly when there are financial difficulties around the world, that golf cannot be immune."

The $7 million WGC-Champions event starts on Thursday.