WGT Golf News : lee westwood

Ryder Cup Euro Story: Whole Greater Than Sum Of Parts

WGTwildcat — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:42:00 GMT

Contributed by Vartan Kupelian for GlobalGolfPost

The uniqueness of the Ryder Cup is this: Try as you might, it is difficult – maybe even impossible – to identify the seminal moment of the competition.

It ebbs and it flows until the drama reaches a compelling and ultimate conclusion. And that’s why the Ryder Cup is what it is – an event so riveting and so impossible not to embrace for anybody with a sporting soul.

Captain José Maria Olazábal gathered 12 sturdy golfers from Europe, brought them to Medinah Country Club and authored a story about spirit, fate and extraordinary shotmaking against unbelievable odds. And right there, every step of the way and with every swing of the club, was the memory of the late Severiano Ballesteros, the swashbuckling Spaniard who changed the course of the Ryder Cup with his verve, his manner and his immense golf game.

Europe was determined to honor his passing in the first Ryder Cup played since Ballesteros’ death in May, 2011, in a way that would memorialize his massive contribution to golf in Europe. Mission accomplished.

The sum of the parts enabled Europe to win the Ryder Cup, 14½-13½, over the United States, equaling the greatest final day comeback in the history of the matches. The United States rallied from the same 10-6 deficit in 1999 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.

“Seve, Seve, Seve, Seve,” said Ian Poulter, Europe’s talisman. “Ryder Cups are what dreams are made of.”

Sergio Garcia, the young Spaniard who follows in the footsteps of Ballesteros and Olazabal, said it was about Seve every step of the way.

“I have no doubt that he was with me today all day,” Garcia said after his 1-up victory over Jim Furyk. “Because there’s no chance I would have won my match if he wasn’t there. It was amazing and it feels so good to be able to win it for him and for our captain, José.”

“Brookline was just one of the worst experiences of my life,” Paul Lawrie said. “Obviously, today is the opposite. Everyone’s been brilliant.”

Medinah was Lawrie’s first Ryder Cup appearance since Brookline, and he made amends with a decisive 5-and-3 victory over Brandt Snedeker. Lawrie was one of three golfers who experienced the crush¬ing defeat at Brookline, along with Lee Westwood and Garcia.

“The last time it was done it was the American team in America,” Westwood said. “This is the greatest comeback in the Ryder Cup, ever.”

Olazábal said, “This one is for the whole of Europe, period.”

The winning stroke was made by Germany’s Martin Kaymer and that, in itself, is the kind of poignant moment that takes over the Ryder Cup. Kaymer’s par putt on the 18th hole of his match against Steve Stricker gave him a 1-up victory and assured at least a tie in the match, enabling Europe to retain the Ryder Cup. When Francesco Molinari followed with a conceded halve against Tiger Woods, it was an outright victory.

Kaymer grew up with countryman Bernhard Langer as his mentor and idol. Langer is the two-time Masters champion and was captain of the 2004 European Ryder Cup team that routed the United States at Oakland Hills. It was in 1991, at the War by the Shore on Kiawah Island where antagonism ruled over golf for the most part and ultimately re-shaped the tenor of the matches. On the 18th green of the final match against Hale Irwin, faced with the same situation as Kaymer, Langer missed a putt of almost identical six feet in length. Had Langer made the putt, Europe would have tied the United States and retained the Ryder Cup.

“I was so nervous the last two, three holes when José Maria came to me and said we may need (my) point to win the Ryder Cup,” said Kaymer, the 2010 PGA Champion and only second German to play in the Ryder Cup. “Just to have that Cup, to win the Ryder Cup, that is what I practiced for the past 10, 15 years.”

Kaymer came to Medinah with his ranking in disarray and was benched for the Saturday matches. On Friday, he sought out Langer for help.

“I talked to him a little bit about the Ryder Cup because my attitude wasn’t the right one,” Kaymer said. “I know how important the Ryder Cup became. Bernhard helped me so much just to sit down with me and talk about it.”

The 12 singles matches Sunday produced nail-biting excitement, uncontrolled emotion, tears, passion and captivating golf. Olazábal front-loaded his team, just as U.S. Captain Ben Crenshaw had 13 years earlier at The Country Club, and the blue representing Europe on the scoreboards was prevalent from the start.

“The first two days we just got beat up,” Graeme McDowell said. “But there was a sense of relief in the room (Saturday night), something good had to happen to us. When we saw the singles draw we just figured we could win a lot of matches.”

The Europeans had hope because they knew the story of Brookline. There was so much of Brookline at Medinah. Upsets and comebacks, by necessity, have similar origins.

On the 17th green against Phil Mickelson, England’s Justin Rose made an unlikely, curling 35-foot birdie putt to square the match. Rose won 1 up with another birdie at 18. On the 17th green at Brookline 13 years ago, Justin Leonard made a massive 50-foot putt for birdie, the point to clinch the Cup and a serious case of American euphoria.

Leonard’s opponent that day? José Maria Olazábal.

No surprise there. In the Ryder Cup, fate has become a part of the game.

PHOTO: Getty Images

Another Playoff Payoff For Rory

WGTwildcat — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:46:00 GMT

Contributed by GlobalGolfPost

There can be no doubt, no question, no dispute. Rory McIlroy is the No. 1 player in the world, and given the kind of golf he has displayed in the last month, he will hold that spot for some time.

McIlroy won the BMW Championship on Sunday for his second consecutive PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff event and his third victory in his last four starts, which includes the PGA Championship in August at Kiawah Island.

He is by far No. 1 in points in the three playoff events going into The Tour Championship next week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The playoffs take a week off following the BMW Championship.

McIlroy has now won four events on the PGA Tour this year and is a certainty for Player of the Year honors. And he can win the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup playoffs at East Lake.

“I knew I could win big tournaments but I didn’t think it would come this quickly,” said the 23-year-old McIlroy. “I’m on quite a little run right now and I’m trying to keep that going as long as possible.”

McIlroy shot a final-round, 5-under 67 to post 20-under-par 268 at Crooked Stick Golf Club – site of the 1991 PGA Championship – good enough for a two-shot victory over playing companion Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson.

This playoff event created the most buzz because of the quality of the field that was on the leaderboard most of the last two days. Joining the top three players in the fray were Dustin Johnson, Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott all pushing toward the lead at some point during the weekend.

But McIlroy put his nose in front with four birdies in his first 10 holes to move ahead of 54-hole co-leaders Singh and Mickelson and took the lead for good with birdies at the par-5 15th, which he reached in two, and a birdie at the par-4 16th. He had a three-shot lead going into the final hole and made his first bogey in 27 holes for the final winning margin.

Woods shot 68 on Sunday to tie with Robert Garrigus (69) for fourth at 17 under. Johnson and Scott were next at 16 under. Singh shot 73 and went from safely inside the top 30 to outside the list with three bogeys in his last five holes.

Bill Haas, last year’s FedEx Cup champion, fell outside the top 30 and failed to advance to The Tour Championship with a 78 on Sunday. Garrigus and Ryan Moore were the only players outside the top 30 to play their way in, replacing Haas and Kyle Stanley, who fell out.

Photo: Getty Images

Ryder Cup Team Europe Finalized

WGTwildcat — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 18:52:00 GMT

Ryder Cup captain of Team Europe, Jose Maria Olazabal, announced his 2 wildcard picks, including Nicolas Colsaerts and Ian Poulter, to finalize the European golfers playing in the 2012 Ryder Cup,

Left off the European Ryder Cup team was top player Padraig Harrington who appeared in the last 6 Ryder Cup championships.

Below are the final 12 golfers on Team Europe competing in the Ryder Cup 9/28 to 9/30 at Medinah Country Club in Chicago.

Ryder Cup Team Europe

Nicolas Colsaerts
Luke Donald
Sergio Garcia
Peter Hanson
Martin Kaymer
Paul Lawrie
Graeme McDowell
Rory McIlroy
Francesco Molinari
Ian Poulter
Justin Rose
Lee Westwood

Team Europe official site

Read more from WGT

Check out Team USA’s Ryder Cup Picks

Ryder Cup 2012 Team Europe Golf Players

WGTwildcat — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 22:10:00 GMT

The 2012 Ryder Cup features the world's best PGA and European Tour players in a head-to-head battle at Medinah Country Club in September.

The following professional golfers from Europe should qualify on 8/26/12 to represent Team EUROPE in the 2012 Ryder Cup...

POS	PLAYER	POINTS
1	Rory McIlroy	4,050,288.10
2	Justin Rose	2,602,910.21
3	Graeme McDowell	2,375,790.52
4	Paul Lawrie	2,088,718.02
5	Francesco Molinari	2,062,525.67
6	Peter Hanson	2,022,431.76
7	Luke Donald	1,885,170.56
8	Martin Kaymer	1,871,797.49
9	Nicolas Colsaerts	1,735,223.95
10	Lee Westwood	1,692,029.78

European golfers on the bubble who could be selected as the two potential coach's picks by Jose Maria Olazbal include...

POS	PLAYER	POINTS
11	Gonzalo Fdez-Castano	1,613,602.38
12	David Lynn	1,547,127.76
13	Sergio Garcia	1,502,772.60
14	Rafa Cabrera-Bello	1,462,896.55
15	Alvaro Quiros	1,377,894.58
16	Marcel Siem	1,355,364.99
17	Ian Poulter	1,290,985.55
18	Thomas Bjorn	1,178,359.61
19	Joost Luiten	1,103,691.44
20	Jamie Donaldson	1,096,895.04

Other past Team Europe Ryder Cup players include: Miguel Jimenez, Padraig Harrington, Peter Lawrie, Ross Fisher, Edoardo Molinari, Martin Laird and Darren Clarke.

See more at official Team Europe Ryder Cup website

Team USA

U.S. Open Featured Pairings Struggle in Round 1

WGTpete — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:17:00 GMT

The USGA paired some of the world's best players together in the opening rounds of the 2012 U.S. Open, but Round 1 went to the challenging Olympic Club golf course.

The top American group was led by Tiger Woods, who was the only one under par...

Tiger Woods, 69, -1
Phil Mickelson, 76, +6
Bubba Watson, 78, +8

The top European players, and also the top 3 ranked players in the world, struggled even more...

Lee Westwood, 73, +3
Rory McIlroy, 77, +7
Luke Donald, 79, +9

Here are the tee times (Pacific) for Round 2 on Friday...

Westwood/McIlroy/Donald - 7:44am at Hole #9, watch on www.usopen.com live streaming and Golf Channel
Woods/Mickelson/Watson - 1:18pm at Hole #1, watch on NBC and Golf Channel

For the cut, only the Top 60 players (plus ties) after Round 2 on Friday will advance, which is currently +5 to advance, so Woods and Westwood have the best chance to play this weekend, but the others will need to improve.

Meanwhile, here are the leaders of the U.S. Open after Round 1, with their Round 2 starting times (Pacific)...

Michael Thompson, 66, -4, 12:52p at #9
Graeme McDowell, 69, -1, 7:55am at #9
Nick Watney, 69, -1, 7:59am at #1
Justin Rose, 69, -1, 8:10am at #1
David Toms, 69, -1, 1:40 at #1

...and top players at even par include Jim Furyk, Ian Poulter, Matt Kuchar.

Photo: AP

WGT GOLF UPDATE: Bubba Falters, Rose Wins, Tiger Injured at 2012 WGC-Cadillac Championship

pharrison — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:31:00 GMT

Another lead lost in the final round of the 2012 WGC-Cadillac Championship on the PGA Tour.

This time, it was Bubba Watson, who shot a 62 on Friday, but missed most of the fairways and many putts to finish on Sunday with a 74 at -15 in second place. Watson's weekend performance brought the rest of the field back into the tournament, including Keegan Bradley, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose.

It was Rose who swooped in for the victory at the Blue Monster, shooting 70 and finishing at -16. Rose is now ranked #7 in the world, joining McIlroy (#1), Luke Donald (#2) and Lee Westwood (#3) as other UK players who are currently dominating the world rankings of golf.

McIlroy had an impressive charge on Sunday, shooting 67 and just missing several birdie putts, finishing in third place at -14. McIlroy has now finished in the Top 5 in 9 of his last 10 professional golf events.

Tiger Woods withdrew on the 12th hole, after noticeably limping and stretching his left leg. Reports are that Woods has re-injured his left Achilles tendon, which he initially injured at the 2011 Masters. It doesn’t appear to be the left knee, which has undergone surgeries in recent years. His expected return date is unknown.

Full PGA Tour Leaderboard

WGT GOLF UPDATE: 2012 WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral Preview

pharrison — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:01:00 GMT

The 2012 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship kicks off this week at the famed TPC Blue Monster at Doral in Florida.

The TPC Blue Monster at Doral is one of the most well-known courses on the PGA Tour. Measuring 7,266 yards with generous fairways and undulating greens, as well as a number of water holes, including the iconic par-4 18th hole - nicknamed the Blue Monster - where water runs along the left side of the hole from tee to green, ranked as the 33rd most difficult (+0.311) on tour last season, so should make for some exciting finishes.

All eyes are on Rory McIlroy, defending his new #1 world ranking, as well as Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood, who are coming off low rounds last weekend. The defending champ is Nick Watney, and watch-out for Phil Mickelson, a previous winner here and coming off that playoff loss at the Northern Trust last month.

On a related note, Donald Trump is purchasing the Doral resort for $150 million, and planning to renovate the facilities in 2013, so Mr. Trump is sure to keep Doral in the headlines next year.

TV Schedule: The tournament will be broadcast on the Golf Channel and NBC Sports, check your local listings:

Thurs, March 8 from 1pm - 6pm ET
Fri, March 9 from 1pm - 6pm ET
Sat, March 10 from 11am - 6pm ET
Sun, March 11 from 12pm - 7pm ET

Video: Check out some of the memorable moments from the WGC-Cadillac Championship's history.