The Irish Golf Club Gazette

12/04/2012

Rory Wins 2012 PGA Tour Honour

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Rory McIlroy claimed PGA TOUR Player of the Year honours for 2012, the TOUR announced on Tuesday.

McIlroy and John Huh -- who was named PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year -- were selected via vote by the TOUR's membership for the 2012 season.

PGA TOUR members who played in at least 15 official money events in 2012 were eligible to vote. The balloting process ended on November 30.

"On behalf of the PGA TOUR, my congratulations to Rory and John for their outstanding accomplishments this season," PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem said. "These awards are significant to these players as they are bestowed upon them by their peers, one of highest compliments a player can receive."

McIlroy, 23, becomes the youngest player to earn Player of the Year honors since Tiger Woods in 1998. He receives the Jack Nicklaus Award in recognition of being voted Player of the Year.

McIlroy won four times on the PGA TOUR in 2012, capturing The Honda Classic, PGA Championship, Deutsche Bank Championship and BMW Championship. McIlroy's eight-shot win at the PGA Championship was the largest in tournament history, breaking Nicklaus' record of seven shots in 1980. With six career PGA TOUR victories, McIlroy became the third player since 1960 to win six or more times before the age of 24, joining Woods (15) and Nicklaus (8).

He earned the Arnold Palmer Award as the TOUR's leading official money winner ($8,047,952) and was the runner-up in the FedExCup. He also was the winner of the Byron Nelson Award and Vardon Trophy for adjusted scoring average (68.87). McIlroy recorded a total of 10 top-10 finishes in 16 starts, tied for most on TOUR with Bo Van Pelt.

Following his victory at The Honda Classic in March, McIlroy took over No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and has held the top position for a total of 24 weeks (currently 17 consecutive) through December 3.

The Northern Ireland native is the third European to earn the Jack Nicklaus Award, joining England's Luke Donald(2011) and Ireland's Padraig Harrington (2008).

McIlroy was selected over Jason Dufner, Brandt Snedeker, Bubba Watson and Tiger Woods.

Huh, 22, was the only rookie to qualify for the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and just the fifth rookie to qualify for the TOUR Championship since the inception of the FedExCup in 2007. He was also the youngest player to qualify for the TOUR Championship since Sergio Garcia did so at the age of 21 in 2001.

Huh broke through for his first win at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in February, enduring an eight-hole playoff with Robert Allenby. He finished 29th in the FedExCup and 28th on the final official money list ($2,692,113) and totaled four top-10 finishes in 28 starts, including a tie for second at the Valero Texas Open.

Huh, who was born in New York City and currently resides outside Dallas, is the first player of Korean descent to be voted PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year.

Huh was selected over Charlie Beljan, Jonas Blixt, Bud Cauley and Ted Potter, Jr.

12/03/2012

A Sort of Homecoming for McDowell

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Graeme McDowell closed with a 4-under 68 to win the World Challenge presented by Northwestern Mutual by three shots on Sunday, his first title in two years.

The Northern Irishman held off Keegan Bradley with a couple of key short-game shots on the back nine and finished with one last birdie he didn't need.

Bradley, two shots behind with five holes to play, never got any closer. He wound up with a 69.

Woods, the tournament host and defending champion, didn't make birdie until the 13th hole and closed with a 71 to tie for fourth.

It was the 10th time in 12 rounds at Sherwood that McDowell has shot in the 60s, and he extended his dominance on the course that Jack Nicklaus carved out among the foothills of Conejo Valley. In three appearances, McDowell has won twice and was runner-up.

But this one was meaningful in its own right.

"This really caps off my season," McDowell said. "We try not to put winning on a pedestal, but this one feels very sweet because it's been a grind all year."

McDowell won for the first time since he beat Woods in a playoff at Sherwood to close out a dream season in 2010 that included his first major at the U.S. Open and the winning point for Europe at the Ryder Cup.

This win followed a year of frustration. He played in the final group of the U.S. Open and British Open but came up short, and he lost some enthusiasm going into tournaments late in the year. He talked all week about a 10-week break, some of it in Northern Ireland and the rest in Orlando, Florida, where he just built a new house and he's opening a tavern outside the gates of Lake Nona.

It was the perfect way to leave golf for the next few months.

Bradley's birdie on the 13th hole for a two-shot swing brought him within two shots with five holes to play. McDowell never let him get any closer, however. He hit a beautiful lag putt from 75 feet just off the green at No. 14 for an easy par, then hit a chip from behind the 17th green that he was hopeful of getting within 6 feet of the cup. The ball was one turn from falling for birdie.

McDowell made a 6-foot birdie on the 18th to finish on 17-under 271 and earn $1 million against the 18-man field.

And he felt as though he earned it.

A light rain fell for much of the round, as it has all week, making Sherwood play so long that McDowell had to hit a 5-wood into the par-4 fourth hole, and a 4-iron for his third shot in the par-5 fifth. His only bogey over the final 47 holes of the tournament came on the 13th hole.

"Certainly I will draw some confidence from this one," McDowell said. "The game hasn't given me a huge amount this year."

Woods needed a fast start and was stuck in neutral. He failed to birdie the par 5s on the front nine and dropped a shot on the seventh hole when his flop shot below the green came out heavy. He didn't make his first birdie until the par-5 13th.

"I struggled with my game a little bit this week," said Woods, playing for the first time in five weeks. "I just managed myself well to get around in these conditions."

Van Pelt opened with two birdies and tried to hang around in contention on the back nine.

But this was a duel from the start.

McDowell started with a two-shot lead and kept his distance until Bradley holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the fifth. Bradley made back-to-back bogeys at the turn to fall three shots behind, and McDowell stretched his lead to four shots by starting the back nine with two quick birdies.

The par-5 13th then set the stage for a nervous final hour.

McDowell laid up, hit a poor wedge and then three-putted for bogey, ending his streak of 41 consecutive holes at Sherwood at par or better. Bradley made a 6-foot birdie putt for a two-shot swing, and the game was on.

Thanks to some timely putts, McDowell was able to close out his first win of the year. The most important stroke might have been a putt he didn't make. From left of the 14th fairway, he had no choice but to punch it under a tree and run it up to right side of the green. From some 75 feet away, he used his putter to lag it up to inside a foot for a safe par to keep his two-shot lead.

McDowell made a 10-foot on the 16th to match Bradley's tap-in birdie, and then he effectively closed out the former PGA champion with a deft chip from behind the 17th green, where the shot went from rough to the first cut, trickled onto the fringe and rolled out to the edge of the cup.

"My heart was in my mouth for a millisecond," McDowell said.

12/02/2012

McDowell Rules World Challenge

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Graeme McDowell rolled in two long putts early in the round Saturday and ran his streak to 29 holes without a bogey on his way to a 4-under 68 and a two-shot lead over Keegan Bradley going into the final round of the World Challenge presented by Northwestern Mutual.

McDowell hasn't won anywhere in the world since he rallied from four shots behind and beat Tiger Woods in a playoff at this event two years ago, capping off a dream season in which he won the U.S. Open and the decisive match for Europe in the Ryder Cup.

This time, he'll be the one protecting a lead, as he carded a 67 that put him in the final pairing with McDowell.

Woods, the tournament host and five-time champion at Sherwood Country Club, kept himself in the game. Even though Woods failed to birdie any of the five par 5s, he picked up a pair of birdies on the final two par 3s and added a third to salvage a 69 that left him five shots behind.

"I'm going to have to shoot a low one tomorrow and see what happens," Woods said.

McDowell was at 13-under 203, and will try to win from the front for the first time since the 2008 Scottish Open at Loch Lomond. His specialty of late has been rallying on the last day -- four shots behind at the World Challenge, three shots behind at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, four shots behind at the Wales Open, all of those in 2010.

"I'm not sure how many times I've won from the front," McDowell said. "Hopefully, I'll add one tomorrow."

On another overcast day with a light drizzle, McDowell picked up a pair of birdies he wasn't expecting.

He laid up on the par-5 second hole and hit his wedge with too much spin, the ball rolling back down a pair of tiers that left him some 40 feet away. He rolled that in for a birdie, and then holed about a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 4. McDowell's best swing of the day came at the ninth, with the pin at the far back of the green. He hit a 6-iron to about 6 feet for birdie, and picked up his fourth birdie with a two-putt on the 11th, the one par 5 he can reach in two.

The damp conditions all week have made some of the par 5s difficult to reach, even for some of the longer hitters, and birdies are no longer sure things. Woods found that out the hard way, mainly by missing the fairway off the tee and making it difficult to get home in two. But he closed strong, and still has an outside chance.

Bo Van Pelt had a 70 and was tied with Woods at 8-under 208. Jim Furyk was another shot behind after trading three birdies with three bogeys for a 72.

Bradley and McDowell are the only players to post all three rounds in the 60s.

Certainly, McDowell is starting to feel right at home in the foothills of Conejo Valley. The runner-up finish in 2009 earned him enough ranking points that eventually got him into the U.S. Open, which he won for his first major, and that win assured him a spot in the Ryder Cup.

He won again in California with his comeback against Woods at Sherwood.

McDowell's only regret Saturday was not making another birdie after the 11th hole, although the pars didn't hurt him.

"I played disciplined golf to some of those tighter pins," McDowell said. "Couldn't seem to get anything to drop, but two shots ahead going into Sunday, I'll take that any week, anywhere, any time, and it's right where you need to be

12/01/2012

McDowell Star's Align in Thousand Oaks

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Graeme McDowell has done a lot right this year without winning but he has one last chance to fix that after taking a three-shot lead going into the weekend at the World Challenge presented by Northwestern Mutual.

Back on the course that has provided two key moments in his career, McDowell opened with three straight birdies in the second round Friday and finished strongly for a 6-under 66.

"A good day's work," said McDowell, whose day was not over until he was escorted away for a drug test.

Bo Van Pelt got up-and-down from the drop zone for bogey on the final hole that gave him a 68, leaving him tied for second with Keegan Bradley and Jim Furyk, who each had a 69. Tournament host and defending champion Tiger Woods was tied for the lead on the back nine until he stalled and settled for a 69. He was four shots behind.

This is the final destination of a whirlwind trip for McDowell, who spent two weeks in China, a short holiday in Dubai, a tournament in Australia, back to Dubai and then across eight time zones to California.

It's also been somewhat of a whirlwind year, filled with opportunity, but no trophies.

He played in the final group in back-to-back majors, the U.S. Open and British Open, without winning. He was on the winning Ryder Cup team again, only he concedes his game wasn't there and he earned only one point.

McDowell always feels relaxed at Sherwood Country Club, with an 18-man field and no cut and the finish line clearly in his sights. Suddenly, though, he has something at stake. The World Challenge doesn't belong to any tour. It offers world ranking points, though he isn't in dire need of them. But there's a trophy, and McDowell hasn't hoisted one of those since that birdie-birdie finish to beat Woods in a playoff at Sherwood in 2010.

"I would love to compete and play well this weekend, really to kind of put a little icing on what's been a mediocre year," McDowell said. "Despite the fact that I feel like I've played some decent golf this year, I really don't have a lot to show for myself, and this would be a nice way to finish."

McDowell was at 9-under 135.

Even though McDowell's win at Sherwood in 2010 capped a dream season -- his U.S. Open title, the clinching point at the Ryder Cup -- it was a runner-up finish in 2009 that set up all those spoils. He was a last-minute replacement for Woods, who didn't play as his personal life unraveled, and McDowell finished second. It was the first year the tournament received ranking points, and McDowell earned enough to get into the Masters and eventually the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which he won.

That U.S. Open title assured him being in the Ryder Cup, where he holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole that carried Europe to a big win.

"Sometimes the stars align," he said.

His 66 gave him a cushion going into the weekend, but light rain overnight and for much of the day made the course soft and vulnerable. McDowell said the greens could only be rolled, not cut, making them substantially slower. That attributed to so many good scores, with half of the field in the 60s.

McDowell believes there's a 63 or 64 out there for someone, especially in these conditions, so his three-shot lead doesn't seem like much only halfway through the event.

Woods fired at flags around the turn, picking up easy birdie putts on the ninth and 10th, handling the par 5s without difficulty and getting to the top of the leaderboard. His momentum slowed with a bogey on the par-3 15th, and a poor chip from the rough to the left of the par-5 16th green that led to a par.

"I had a decent warm-up session, but the work I did last night was some of the best I've hit the golf ball all year," Woods said. "I just had to come out here and trust it, and when I did, I got into a nice little run there. I just need to do that all 36 holes on the weekend."

Nick Watney, who had a 67 on Thursday, fell apart late. His sand wedge from the middle of the fairway on the 16th landed over the green and kept right on going, leading to a bogey that felt like losing two shots to the field. He bogeyed the 18th for a 73, putting him five shots out of the lead. He was tied with Rickie Fowler, who had a 67.

"Just a terrible way to finish, but we're only halfway through," Watney said. "So we'll see if we can make a charge at those guys in the morning."

McDowell is mainly charging to the end of the season.

He plans to go home to Northern Ireland for three days, and then head to Orlando, Fla., where he just finished building a new home. McDowell slept in his new house for the first time Monday, flying to California the next day.

What will he do with more than two months off?

"Try and stay out of the bar as much as possible," he said with a laugh. "December will be very much recharging and relaxing and moving into my new house in Orlando and spending some time with friends and family. And January will be detoxing and practicing and getting ready to do it all again."

11/30/2012

GMAC Shares Second at Sherwood

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Graeme McDowell has made a promising start at the World Golf Challenge carding a first round of 69 at Sherwood Country Club, to finish alongside Americans Keegan Bradley and Jim Furyk for a share of second place on three under.

McDowell's last win was at this tournament in 2010 when he defeated Tiger Woods in a play-off.

The lead after Thursday's opening round is held Nick Watney's five-under 67 gave him a two-shot lead after the opening round of the World Challenge event.

The American started with eight straight pars before a birdie at the ninth sparked him into life.

He added four more birdies on the way home - at the 13th, 14th, 16th and 18th - to complete the only bogey-free round at the 18-man invitational tournament, which is hosted by Tiger Woods

at Sherwood County Club in Thousand Oaks, California.

Watney's form was in stark contrast to his performance at the same tournament last year when he finished dead last on 11-over-par for his four rounds.

And world number two Woods is himself well placed after trading three birdies with a solitary bogey in a round of 70.

Bo Van Pelt and Webb Simpson matched Woods' effort to make it an American trio on two under.

Bradley was pleased to shoot a good round a day after golf's ruling bodies said they planned to outlaw the practice of anchoring the putter, which he employs, by 2016.

Asked if that gave him extra motivation, Bradley said: "Yeah, absolutely. I've been catching such flak on Twitter and these other places, it would be good to kind of quiet them a little bit.

"I had a guy yesterday telling me to send my application in to Burger King for 2016. I feel like the USGA (United States Golf Association) has really put an X on our back and I don't know if that's exactly fair.

"When we started putting with it (the belly putter), they were legal, and they still are. It's a sticky situation and I hope people can see through that. It always feels good to play well but this feels better almost."

Woods said: "I didn't hit the ball very good today but made a few good par putts to keep the round going and I kept myself in the tournament. I could have easily shot myself out of the tournament but I kept myself in it."

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