Lee Westwood finished with two bogeys and a 1-over 73 but still
held off Robert Karlsson for a two-shot win at the Nedbank Golf
Challenge on Sunday.
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Tag Archives: Graeme McDowell
Westwood retains title at Sun City
Luke Donald Tops No. 1 Martin Kaymer at Match Play Championship
MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — Luke Donald spoiled Martin Kaymer‘s rise to No. 1 in the world by winning the Match Play Championship on Sunday with a performance so dominant he never played the 18th hole all week.
Not even the snow and sleet could stop Donald.
On a bizarre final day in the high desert, which began with snow covering the fairways, Donald pulled ahead for good with a birdie on the par-5 11th and a par on the next hole, eventually closing out Kaymer on No. 16 for a 3-and-2 victory.
The consolation prize for Kaymer is going to No. 1 in the career, which he assured by reaching the championship match.
Donald was in more dire need of this trophy, however.
It was his first win in America in five years, and it was only his second win worldwide since he captured the 2006 Honda Classic. The 33-year-old Englishman had done just about everything right except win.
He took care of that in a week like no other in the 13-year history of the Accenture Match Play Championship. Donald played only 89 holes in six matches and never trailed in any of them. In fact, he led after 81 of those holes.
“It feels amazing,” Donald said. “I had a bit of a monkey on my back. I hadn’t won in the U.S. in five years.”
WGC-Accenture Match Play Power Rankings: Euros Lead Ranks
Filed under: PGA
As March Madness draws near, this week’s PGA stop will give you a little taste of the bracket format that makes college basketball so exciting. The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championships is one of the best tournaments outside of the majors, pitting the top 64 available players in the world rankings.
This will easily be the best field thus far in 2011, and it will be particularly interesting to see the top 5 players in the world all in the same location for the first time since Tiger Woods was unseated as No. 1.
We’ve decided to break this week’s power rankings down a little differently due to the match play format. This week we’ll dissect players’ chances by where they’re seeded.
From the top group (seeds 1-4), here are the three that have the best chance:
1. Graeme McDowell — Last time we saw McDowell in a match play format, he was closing out Hunter Mahan to retain the Ryder Cup for Europe. He’s playing in the same half of the bracket as defending champion Ian Poulter, but McDowell is arguably the best player in the world right now.
2. Rory McIlroy — McDowell’s fellow countryman hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 in six starts and holds a 4-2 all-time record at this event. McIlroy has a difficult draw that includes a possible matchup with Martin Kaymer. It would be a coin toss at that point, but I like McIlroy’s game a slight bit more at the moment.
3. Martin Kaymer – Rounding out the European trifecta of favorites, the No. 2 player in the world could very well be the only No. 1 seed to advance beyond Friday. As a Ryder Cup rookie, the German lost just once in four matches. With a potential matchup looming, Kaymer or McIlroy won’t be making the semifinals, but whoever escapes the Player bracket will be a heavy favorite come Sunday.
Match Play Presents Early Intrigue, Often Unfulfilling Final Rounds
Filed under: PGA
This week’s WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, Ariz., could be something really special.
Or it might not.
That’s the tricky thing about match play. When competition begins Wednesday with 64 of the top ranked players in the world, there will be all sorts of intriguing possibilities. A few times over the years, promise has even delivered. In 2000, Darren Clarke beat Tiger Woods in the final. Woods won in 2003 by taking down David Toms in the final and won again in 2004 over Davis Love III. Woods defeated Stewart Cink in 2008. Even last year, although an all-England final, Ian Poulter‘s victory over Paul Casey had its viewing strengths.
But then there was 2001 when Steve Stricker beat Pierre Fulke in the Sunday final. Or 2007 when Henrik Stenson beat Geoff Ogilvy. And who doesn’t remember Kevin Sutherland’s 1-up decision over Scott McCarron in 2002?
Because players are eliminated as the week wears on, it is always possible that by the time Sunday’s final match arrives, there is the possibility of a “Who’s He?” taking on “Who Cares?”
That makes match play events fascinating in that much of the intrigue often occurs early in the week, and the final days can drag.
Tiger Woods Shoots Bogey-Free Round in Dubai, Hangs in Contention
Filed under: European Tour
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Strong off the tee and hitting his shots with exquisite control, Tiger Woods seemed like his old self.
He turned in the day’s best score with a bogey-free 6-under 66 Friday to surge into contention at the Dubai Desert Classic. The round put him four strokes behind leader Rory McIlroy and gave him every reason to believe he can for the first time in more than a year.
Woods was part of a powerhouse group that included top-ranked Lee Westwood and second-ranked Martin Kaymer. But on this day, Woods played as if he were unquestionably No. 1 again.
“It felt good today. I hit a lot of good shots,” said Woods, who likened his game to the way he played at last year’s Chevron World Challenge, where he lost in a playoff to U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.
Woods, who has been outdriving his playing partners, added accuracy to his blistering drives and approach shots. And unlike Thursday, when he missed makable putts and hit approach shots wide of the green, the winner of 14 majors routinely gave himself chances.
He finished with six birdies and was at 7-under 137 entering the weekend at Emirates Golf Club. He won this tournament in 2006 and 2008.
“I felt like I drove it pretty good,” he said. “I feel good. We worked out a few of the things last night that I didn’t like.”
US Golf Star Power Dwindling
Filed under: PGA
Nowhere among the world’s top two ranked golfers will you find Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk or any other American.
U.S. golf supremacy, once as dependable as the American dollar, well, still is. While the PGA Tour’s Bob Hope Classic was playing out Sunday as a final-round battle between everybody’s favorites, Jhonattan Vegas and Gary Woodland, far across the world Germany’s Martin Kaymer was winning the Abu Dhabi Championship and vaulting into the world No. 2 spot behind England’s Lee Westwood ahead of Woods.
Kaymer, the 26-year-old who made last year’s PGA Championship his first major title, shot a 6-under-par 66 to finish 24 under and eight shots clean of Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. Retief Goosen and Graeme McDowell were another two shots back in third.
Kaymer’s winning score and victory margin were the best in tournament history.
Making those facts particularly impressive is the Abu Dhabi field featured all four reigning major champions in addition to
Westwood, Mickelson and a total of seven of the world’s top 12.
Golf Point/Counterpoint: 2011 Season Observings
Filed under: PGA
FanHouse Golf Writer Mick Elliott runs through a point/counterpoint on the early weeks of the 2011 PGA season:
Fact: World No. 1 Lee Westwood (pictured) heads the field this week at Abu Dhabi, joined by Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy.
Observation: Not to be outdone, the PGA Tour’s Bob Hope Classic, with its pro-am format, has Alice Cooper, Craig T. Nelson, Sterling Sharpe and a Rush Limbaugh listener.
Fact: Of the 26 rookies who made their season debut last week at Sony, only five survived the cut with the best finish belonging to Chris Kirk, a former Ben Hogan Award winner at Georgia (T30).
Observation: Do you wonder if the Bulldogs elected Kirk team captain?
Notebook: Jonathan Byrd Keeps It Simple
Filed under: PGA
Some times it’s as simple as keeping on.
That’s really the only explanation Jonathan Byrd offered after Sunday’s season-opening victory in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
Coming down the home stretch of last year’s season, Byrd was on the verge of losing his PGA Tour card for this year. Then he won a playoff in Las Vegas during the Fall Finish — the walk-off hole-in-one as darkness fell.
Now, after dispatching Robert Garrigus on the second-playoff hole Sunday in Kapalua, Hawaii, Byrd, 32, has won the last two events he played, has five career wins and suddenly is being mentioned as a quiet, talented performer whose talents are under appreciated.
“It’s strange what can happen if you don’t change anything, keep it simple and keep playing and waiting for your stretches,” he said. “It’s amazing how things start to go your way and you get a few breaks and you find yourself in contention. That’s kind of just how it happened. It’s not real complicated.”
Byrd’s week-long results proved the balance and promise of this over-all game. He averaged 271.4 yards driving distance, 21st in the field. He hit 48 of 60 fairways, an 80 percent accuracy that tied for 11th. He was 10t in greens hit in regulation (62 of 72) and ranked third in putting, averaging 29 per round.
Monday Movers: Jonathan Byrd Takes Flight in Hawaii
Mick Elliott: Byrd ‘Grateful’ to Open Season With Win
Mick Elliott: Byrd ‘Grateful’ to Open Season With Win
Monday Movers: Jonathan Byrd Takes Flight in Hawaii
Filed under: PGA
Each week, Monday Movers will look back on the previous week in the golf world to see whose stock is rising and who will likely be heading back to the range.
On the Rise
Jonathan Byrd – Byrd qualified for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in dramatic fashion 11 weeks ago with a walk-off ace in Las Vegas, and he found himself in familiar territory again on Sunday. Unable to birdie the par 5 final hole, the 32-year-old was headed back to extra holes with Robert Garrigus. Par held up on the second playoff hole, giving Byrd his fifth career win and two straight. It has been an improbable few months for Byrd, who needed a solid finish in the Fall Series last year just to retain his tour card. Now he heads into the first full week of the 2011 season with earnings that nearly match all of 2010.
Louis Oosthuizen — The 2010 British Open winner seems to be using the European Tour to tune his game before he makes his PGA Tour debut in the coming weeks. Oosthuizen’s playoff win at the African Open Sunday follows a third place finish at the South African Open in his last tournament out. The best news for the South African might be that he appears to be fully recovered from an ankle injury suffered in September that sidelined him for two months.
Jonathan Byrd ‘Grateful’ to Open PGA Tour Season With Win
Filed under: PGA
Jonathan Byrd will not get the credit he deserves for Sunday’s PGA Tour season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions victory in Kapalua, Hawaii.
Lost in a distant time zone on an NFL playoff weekend, Byrd’s sudden-death victory over Robert Garrigus on the second playoff hole will be very much like a tree that falls in the forest when no one is around to hear.
All the same, a final-round 67 and 24-under-par goes into the record book as Byrd’s fifth career win (second in four months) and sets a high standard for the next 11 months to chase.
“I can’t sit here and not think about where I was toward the end of the season last year, fighting for my (PGA Tour) card,” he said. “I’m just thankful. I’m overwhelmed. I’m grateful, all of the above.”
Obviously, Byrd does some of his finest work in overtime. He earned his invitation to the previous year’s winners-only field by becoming the first player in PGA Tour history to win a playoff with a hole-in-one in Las Vegas back in October. Sunday’s win on the Plantation Course was nowhere near as dramatic — Garrigus missed a 3-foot putt for par on the second playoff hole that would have extended the playoff — but it was every bit as satisfying.
