The Irish Golf Club Gazette

11/07/2012

Harrington Hopes to Banish Memory

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Fresh from his victory at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, Padraig Harrington will tee up in this week’s Barclays Singapore Open determined to banish the memories of his “most bitter loss” in 2008.

Harrington captured his first title since the 2010 Iskandar Johor Open when he saw off the American Major-winning trio of Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson in his last competitive outing two weeks ago.

His victory in Bermuda gave Harrington’s confidence a timely lift ahead of this week’s US$6million tournament at Sentosa Golf Club, in Singapore, where the three-time Major Champion feels he has unfinished business after losing out to Indian Jeev Milkha Singh by a single stroke in 2008.

Harrington led by one shot with three holes to play, but made costly bogeys at the 16th and 18th holes – both in unfortunate circumstances – to hand victory to Singh.

The Irishman freely admits that the loss hurt him, but is keen to make amends by claiming his first European Tour title for more than four years.

Harrington, currently in 34th place in The Race to Dubai, said: “In 2008, it was probably my most bitter loss on a golf course. I was two shots ahead with three holes to play, played the last three holes magnificently but managed to play them in two over par. So I can certainly remember those three holes really well!

“I hit a beautiful shot into the 16th that went in the water, and I hit a beautiful a shot at the 18th that got stuck on the bank behind. I felt I got two of the worst breaks I’ve seen coming down the stretch.

“But as much I was bitter to lose in 2008, I was happy to see Jeev win it. You couldn’t ask for a nicer guy to win a tournament. If you’re going to lose a tournament, losing to Jeev is not a bad thing. He really can deliver when he’s on form. He’s a really good player, and a great guy.”

That performance apart, Harrington’s record at Sentosa Golf Club is relatively modest, but the Dubliner feels his form is peaking at the business end of the season.

After this week, Harrington heads to Hong Kong and Dubai for his final two appearances of the year, and the 41 year old will use his Bermuda triumph as a springboard in his bid to end his barren spell.

He said: “There’s no doubt about it, it’s always nice to win. Winning is a habit, it was only 36 holes and there was only four players, but still you get the same feelings when you’re coming down the stretch and you’re trying to hold some guys off and protect your lead. Those are the sorts of experiences you want to have as often as possible, because it makes winning easier when it comes down to it.

“I have been playing quite nicely all year and I have putted well recently, so it was nice to get my rewards. I’m obviously happy to have won, but I’ll need a win or two in regular tournaments to feel I’m really back to my best.”

Sponsor Criticism Deserved - McIlroy

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Rory McIlroy said criticism of his decision to skip last week's Champions tournament in China to watch his girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki, play tennis was deserved.

The world No1 said a break was necessary despite the disappointment of golf fans. McIlroy, who will play at this week's Singapore Open, said: "I think the criticism is fair ... it's a World Golf Championship event, one of the big ones. It was a tough one to miss, especially watching it on television.

"But I can't play every week. If I had played that I would have finished the season having played in Turkey, after the Ryder Cup and the FedEx Cup stuff. It's just too much and one event had to miss out and that was it. I played the course at Mission Hills a couple of years ago and didn't really like it. I thought it was a course where I would get frustrated and am glad the event is going back to Shanghai next year."

McIlroy, 23, who last week decided to cheer on Wozniacki at the Tournament of Champions in Bulgaria, said that since rising to the top he needs to strike the right balance between playing, fulfilling commitments and resting.

"Managing time is a very important part of my life. I thought I did a little bit better this season than I did last year after I won the US Open in 2011. People want more of you, they want you to do more things and you have to learn how to say 'no'.

"You have to be selfish sometimes. First and foremost, you have to look after yourself and fit in the things that you want to do. I am in a fortunate position that I can dictate where I want to play, what I want to do and where I want to go and as long as I am in that position then that's lovely."

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.”