5/11/2014

Game of Two Halves for McIlroy

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Rory McIlroy remains perplexed by the front nine at TPC Sawgrass where he has struggled during the opening three rounds of the Players Championship.

After just making the cut on Friday, the Northern Irishman returned on Saturday to post a third round 69 - his lowest score of the week.

But, once again, the front nine caused him problems with McIlroy needing 38 strokes to reach the turn before notching five birdies coming home - including a hat-trick on the last three.

Teeing-off early, he made a bogey on the first, had a double-bogey on the fourth and another bogey at the sixth.

On day one he suffered three bogeys on the front nine which then required 42 strokes on Friday - when he carded a 74.

So far this week he has played 117 shots - nine-over-par - on holes one-to-nine and has had just 96 on the homeward journey.

And McIlroy said: "If I had just kept it around even par for the front nine, I'd be up near the leaders.

"I'm really happy with how I've been able to come back the last couple of days but it's also a little frustrating that I've had to come back because I feel like I'm playing good enough to not have these little stretches of bad holes.

"I felt like I wasn't playing as badly as the score was suggesting today. I'd hit five greens in seven holes and I was four over par.

"I hadn't really done much wrong. I had three really big lip-outs on the front nine also."



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5/10/2014

Rory McIlroy Makes Cut

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Rory McIlroy signed for a 74 in the second round at the Players Championship on Friday with four birdies on the back nine, having made the turn in 42 strokes at TPC Sawgrass to sneak in on the cut line.

McIlroy remains 2 shots behind Martin Kaymer who continued his streak with a second round 69 to lead by one from Jordan Spieth.

The Masters runner up reached 36 holes without a single bogey.

Spieth only turned professional in December 2012 and was a 19-year-old special temporary member on the PGA Tour when he won the John DeereClassic last July, the youngest winner on Tour since 1931. But he held a two-shot lead after seven holes of the final round on his debut at Augusta before finishing joint second behind Bubba Watson.

Kaymer, who won the US PGA Championship in August 2010 and became world number one the following February for eight weeks, said: "I was very happy the way I played golf the last four or five weeks, so the next step is just putting yourself in contention, hopefully win.

"If not, it's okay, but as long as you put yourself in contention for the next few weeks, especially now we're coming up to the US Open and British Open."

Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia were all six shots off the lead after adding rounds of 71 to their opening 67s, with England's Brian Davis a shot behind after a 67.

Adam Scott endured a long wait before discovering his latest bid to become world number one remained alive, the Australian rebounding from his opening 77 - which featured double bogeys on the 17th and 18th - to return a 67 with three birdies in his last four holes.

Scott, who could have overtaken the absent defending champion Tiger Woods by simply staying at home, needs at least a top-16 finish and eventually discovered he had made the cut with nothing to spare.

"I don't think I played that much better than yesterday to be honest," said Scott, who revealed he married his long-term girlfriend Marie Kojzar in a small ceremony in the Bahamas last month.

Henrik Stenson, Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar are also able to overhaul Woods depending on their results, with Stenson needing a top-six finish, Watson to finish alone in second and Kuchar requiring a victory. European number one Stenson and two-time Masters champion Watson were three under, with Kuchar two under after a second consecutive 71.

Graeme McDowell added a 71 to his first round 69 to share 19th place.

Darren Clarke though misses the cut as his second round 73 was not enough to recover from an opening round of 76.


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5/09/2014

GMAC Fares Better at Sawgrass

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Graeme McDowell signed for a first round 69 in thursday of The Players Championship after three birdies on the back nine at TPC Sawgrass and remains the better paced Irish challenged. Albeit by a one stroke margin.

Rory McIlroy was 70 strokes at the end of play on the opening day - seven behind tournament leader Martin Kaymer.

The two-time Major champion made the turn in 33 after four birdies and the first two holes on the way home to reach five under. But then three bogeys - on his twelfth, fifteenth and seventeenth - left him just two under for the day. 

“I played really solid for the first 11 holes but let a few shots get away from me at the end,” said McIlroy. “Guys are going low so 70 is going to be pretty average by the end of the day but I feel like my game is in good enough shape that I can go out tomorrow and shoot something in the 60s.

“It’s a course that has frustrated me in the past but I feel like I learnt how to play it last year. I’m coming in disappointed with a 70 when maybe a couple of years ago I would have been happy.”

Lee Westwood shrugged off an unusually early start to lead the European challenge for a rare victory at Sawgrass.

Westwood hit the opening tee shot of golf’s so-called ‘fifth major’ at 7.15 local time, but showed no ill-effects to compile a flawless five-under-par 67.

That score was matched 10 minutes later by Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and then equalled by compatriot Sergio Garcia and US Open champion Justin Rose to boost the chances of just a fourth European win in 41 attempts.

“It’s probably been about 21 years since I was the first ball in the air at a tournament,” said Westwood. The 41-year-old Englishman, who won his 41st worldwide title in Malaysia last month, birdied the first, second and sixth to reach the turn in 33 and also picked up shots at the 12th and 16th before safely negotiating the iconic 17th.


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5/04/2014

Hurley and McElroy in Lytham Mix


Gary Hurley and Dermot McElroy are leading the Irish challenge after the opening round of the Lytham Trophy over the Royal Lytham and St Annes links on the Lancashire coast.

West Waterford's Hurley and Ballymena star McElroy both fired two-over-par 72s to trail leader Hurly Long of Germany by three strokes.

Hurley slipped to three bogeys on the outward half which he covered in 37 but finished with his only birdie in the round– a three on the last.

McElroy started with a birdie two but then had three bogeys in the next six holes before steadying himself to produce nine straight pars on the homeward stretch.

Naas' Jack Hume took 74 with a mixed round. Headfort's Rory McNamara is on 75 along with Stackstown player Richard Bridges and Tiarnan McLarnon of Massereene, while Gary Collins and Reeve Whitson both returned 76s. Already out of the hunt is the Portmarnock man Geoff Lenehan, who had a disastrous 87.

Leader Long goes into the second round this morning one stroke clear.
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Laguna Luck Holds for Lawrie

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Simon Thornton signed for a final round of 68 to move up seven places in the final leaderboard at The Championship at Laguna National on Sunday to tie for 20th place. 

Peter Lawrie - who carded his third sub 70 round of the week - also finished in 20th place and picked up hist first cheque of the season..

Both players however finished ten strokes off the winner, Felipe Aguilar, after the Chilean produced a stunning 2-2 finish as he came home in 28 shots to snatch victory from Anders Hansen.

Aguilar sank a ten foot birdie putt at the daunting par three 17th after his tee shot barely carried the water, then holed his approach for eagle at the last as a closing 62 saw him finish on 22 under par in Singapore.

Hansen spent much of the day on course for a first European Tour win in five years, but after failing to get up-and-down from sand at the 16th the Dane required a birdie from the last two holes and could not find one.

“Yesterday I didn’t have a good round and you figure that you’re so far back that you have no chance,” said Aguilar, who led the tournament before finding water and double bogeying the 13th during round three. “But today after the front nine I shot two under I knew I had to go deep and I hit the ball one of the best times I ever have and I went for every single pin. 

“Eight under on the back nine to win is pretty strong, especially making the last one on 18 being between clubs. This is something very, very special.

“I was right in between clubs and with the adrenaline you don’t want to hit a half shot. So I took a hard pitching wedge and it went in – it was very special finishing like that.

“On the 17th green I told my caddie if I make a birdie on 18 I might put some pressure on the leader and he said ‘you might make two’. I looked at him and said ‘the way I’m hitting the ball I might make two’, and I did. 

“I didn’t think I had made it until my caddie came back and told me and the others congratulated me. That was the cherry on the cake, definitely.”

The 43 year old Hansen started the day level with Thailand’s Panuphol Pittayarat but surged four shots clear on the front nine.

The three-time European Tour winner had to overcome a bogey at the first after missing a par putt from inside five feet.

However, pitches to three feet at the second and third set up birdies and a 20 foot putt at the fourth completed a hat-trick of gains.

Hansen picked up further shots from five feet at the sixth and 12 feet at the seventh to go four clear, but American David Lipsky responded with gains at the eighth and ninth to bring the gap back down to two.

Aguilar turned in 34 after birdies from 15 feet at the fifth and ten feet at the eighth, but set off for home with four straight gains.

The Chilean, whose only previous European Tour title came in neighbouring Indonesia six years ago, joined Lipsky in second as a result – but both were three behind when Hansen holed form 15 feet on the 12th.

Both Aguilar and Hansen birdied the long 15th, but the former’s incredible finish left the Dane needing another gain over the closing stretch.

Hansen then bogeyed the 16th from the sand, and despite holing a four foot clutch putt for par at the next, missed the green at the last and had to settle for par and a closing 67.

That saw him tie for second with Lipsky, who signed for a closing 65, with India’s Rahil Gangjee fourth on 19 under after birdieing his last five holes. 

Hansen, playing only his fourth event after six months off due to wrist surgery, said: “What can you say? It’s just one of those days. 

“He had a good day, played well obviously. I thought I played well.

“When you are there you want to get the job done and I didn’t, so not particularly happy. 

“The last two weeks have been really good. I’ve hit the ball really well and putted nicely so there is not much to say. I can’t really blame myself for this.”

Garthe Maybin slumped to a 54th place finish after a final round 75.
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