Townsend leads British Open qualifiers (AP)

January 11, 2012 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Australian Aaron Townsend shot a pair of 2-under 70s
to win the Australasian qualifying tournament for this year’s British Open by
three strokes.

Australians Ashley Hall (71) and Nicholas Cullen (73) took the other two
qualifying spots after beating Champions Tour regular Peter Senior (71) in a
playoff.

The three golfers had finished in a share of second place at 1-under 143
after two rounds of regulation.

The British Open will be held from July 19-22 at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s
in northern England.

The next international qualifying tournament will be Jan. 18-19 at Royal
Johannesburg & Kensington in South Africa.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon WordPress Plugin | Android Forum | Hud Software


Two tied for lead at British Open qualifying (AP)

January 10, 2012 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Australians Neven Basic and Chris Gaunt shot
3-under-par 69s Tuesday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the
36-hole Australasian qualifying tournament for this year’s British Open.

At the wind-swept par-72 Kingston Heath Golf Club, eight golfers shot 70,
including Australian Kurt Barnes, one of three qualifiers from last year’s
tournament. Barnes looked set to lead the tournament after the first round
before double bogeys on 16 and 17.

Four others were two shots behind after 71s. The final round will be played
Wednesday.

“It was blowing a gale out there, the holes coming home on the back nine
were quite windy so it’s pretty tough,” said Gaunt.

The top three golfers in the 45-man field will qualify for this year’s
British Open from July 19-22 at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s in northern England.

U.S. Champions Tour regular Peter Senior shot 72 and was three off the lead,
as was former U.S. PGA Tour player James Nitties.

Peter Lonard shot 73, Craig Parry 74 and Matthew Millar, another of last
year’s qualifiers from the Kingston Heath tournament, had a 75.

Jeong Jin of South Korea, the only player from outside Australia or New
Zealand, shot 73.

Other international qualifying tournaments for the British Open will be held
Jan.18-19 at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington in South Africa, March 1-2 at Amata
Spring Country Club in Bangkok, May 21 at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano,
Texas and June 25 at Sunningdale Golf Club outside London.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon WordPress Plugin | Android Forum | Hud Software


UCLA star Cantlay gets spot in British Open (AP)

November 30, 2011 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP)—UCLA sophomore Patrick Cantlay is going to the
British Open under a new qualifying category for golf’s oldest championship.

The Royal & Ancient said Wednesday that the winner of the McCormack Medal as
the No. 1 player in the world amateur golf ranking at the end of the amateur
season earns an automatic spot in the British Open. That change is effective for
2012, when the Open will be played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

Cantlay, the low amateur at the U.S. Open and runner-up at the U.S. Amateur,
won the McCormack Medal this year as the top-ranked amateur. He already has
earned exemptions to the Masters and the U.S. Open in 2012 for reaching the
championship match at the U.S. Amateur.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement


British Open returns to ‘Home of Golf’ in 2015

October 11, 2011 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Organizers say the 2015 British Open will be held at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

The event has been staged at the famous Scottish venue known as the “Home of Golf” every five years since 1990.

Peter Dawson, chief executive of tournament organizer Royal & Ancient, says “St. Andrews has proved time and again that it is perfectly equipped to host The Open and I am certain we will yet again see a worthy winner lift the claret jug.”

St. Andrews has hosted the British Open 28 times, most recently in 2010 when Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa won by seven shots.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement


British Open returns to ‘Home of Golf’ in 2015 (AP)

October 11, 2011 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

Shots of the Week ending October 9, 2011

Check out the top five shots from the Frys.com Open, featuring Briny Baird, Paul Casey, Ernie Els, Rocco Mediate and Bryce Molder.

Posted Oct 10 2011

More: Golf video

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement


John Daly turned back the clock at St. Andrews, the site of his 1995 British Open win

September 30, 2011 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — John Daly turned the clock on the wall of the R&A Clubhouse at St. Andrews all the way back to 1995 on Friday.



Daly fired a bogey-free five under par 67 at the Dunhill Links Championship that included a stellar run of three birdies from the ninth and a grandstand three at the 18th. He shot one under par at Carnoustie on Thursday and is six under par for the championship, just six shots off the lead.



Every time the 1995 British Open champion tees it up at St, Andrews the memories come flooding back for spectators and Daly himself. Back in the day, the 29-year-old Wild Thing sported a mullet and a green windbreaker, and he had a penchant for a stiff drink to go with the stiff St. Andrews breeze plus a serious Coke habit (the beverage kind). The 45-year-old Mild Thing has a bellyband to curb his voracious appetite and thirst, but he is still a walking fashion faux pas with a shaved head, a penitentiary-orange shirt and, ahem, matching multicolored flower-power pants.



Back in the day, Daly gripped and ripped his drive at the 18th and watched his ball bounce off the steps of the clubhouse and back onto the green before he beat Costantino Rocca in a playoff. Now he slammed a drive just short of the Valley of Sin, tossed a cigarette onto the hallowed turf, chipped to four feet, holed out for birdie and waved to the spectators who still love him here. He must more at home in St. Andrews, the home of golf, than he does in Austria, the home of lederhosen, where he walked off the course last week at the Austrian Open after yet another disagreement with a tour official.



But he was all smiles after his round on a glorious afternoon in Fife that required sunscreen rather than windbreakers.



“I saw people swimming in the sea. That’s gotta be a little cold,” Daly said laughing. “I’m happy. I drove it well and don’t think I missed a green. I love it every time I come here. It don’t matter if I’m 10 over or five under or whatever.



“Just to play it, you know, is so special. The memories of ’95 pretty much come back when I’m here,” Daly said. “I fell in love with this place even before that when Payne Stewart, Freddie Couples and I won the old Dunhill Cup in ’94. Gotta keep driving it good at Kingsbarns. The guys have been eating it up today.”



They certainly had, and it’s doubtful Daly had even heard of the two names on top of the leaderboard. There’s a Northern Irishman leading the Dunhill Links Championship but it’s not that one, or the other one, or even the older one with the Claret Jug. Forget Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke, the little-known Michael Hoey continued the theory that, even here at the home of golf, the center of excellence of the golfing universe lies in Northern Ireland. The 32-year-old World No. 271 and 2001 British Amateur champion backed up his 66 on Thursday at St. Andrews with another at Kingbarns to sit at 12 under par with the most difficult test of Carnoustie still to come.



He shares the lead with 20-year -old Englishman Tommy Fleetwood who tamed Kingsbarns with a nine under par 63. The English Golf Union (the governing body for amateur golf in England) predicts Fleetwood will be a World Top 20 player and he is now beginning to live up to the hype. Fleetwood leads Europe’s second-tier Challenge Tour and he won his first professional event recently over the far-flung fields of the Kazakhstan Open. A victory over the rather better-known St. Andrews might just rank slightly higher on the list of his achievements that includes a victory at the 2010 English Amateur championship.



“I’ve watched it on TV for years,” Fleetwood said. “Hopefully I can play with somebody like Kaymer and Westwood. That would be cool. My name is in pretty good company right now.”



There are indeed some big sharks circling the little fishes with Louis Oosthuizen 11 under par, Graeme McDowell 10 under par, Martin Kaymer 9 under par, and Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood 7 under par.



Oosthuizen has returned to the form that saw him win the British Open at St.Andrews last year. He scorched Carnoustie with a five under par 67 to be just one shot off the lead. He can now look forward to two rounds over the Old Course, fueled by a barrel-load of memories from the greatest week of his career.



“There’s nothing better than holding the Claret Jug at St Andrews,” Oosthuizen said. “Hopefully the end of the week it’s just a different trophy.”



McDowell, too, has rediscovered his golfing mojo at the Dunhill. His playing partner at Carnoustie was McIlroy. This time last year G-Mac and Wee Mac were joined at the hip at the Ryder Cup in Wales. In Scotland, they were back to being mates and rivals. McIlroy sprinted out of the blocks with four birdies in the first five holes, leaving McDowell jogging along with pars. But McDowell was playing tortoise to McIlroy’s hare. Honors were even with 67s, but McIlroy is still three shots behind his pal on the leaderboard along with Westwood, who stumbled into the clubhouse at Carnoustie with a 69 after bogies at the final two holes.



“Great fun playing with Rory and his dad,” McDowell said. “Trying to stay out of the Jigger Inn is the key to playing well this week. I’ve managed that pretty well so far.”



It was all going swimmingly for World No. 1 Luke Donald with five birdies at Carnoustie until he threw away four shots over the infamous closing four holes including a double-bogey at the 18th. It was worse for World No. 5 Dustin Johnson, who carded a one-over-par 73 at Carnoustie to be even par for the tournament and in danger of missing the Saturday cut. Maybe he needs a new caddie.




Tweet



Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials


British Open standout Lewis turns pro (AP)

September 16, 2011 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

LONDON (AP)—Tom Lewis, the youngster who rose to prominence by taking a share
of the first-round lead at this year’s British Open, has turned professional.

A week after helping Britain & Ireland to victory over the United States at
the Walker Cup, Lewis has brought an end to his impressive amateur career.

In a statement released by the IMG agency, which has signed Lewis as a
client, the 20-year-old Englishman says Friday “I am very excited to get out
there and see how I measure up.”

Lewis will play his first event as a professional at next week’s Austrian
Open.

Named after Tom Watson, Lewis played alongside the American great in the
first round at the British Open in July and shot a 5-under 65 to share the
first-round lead with Thomas Bjorn.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials


PGA Tour Confidential: Women’s British Open, Greenbrier Classic

August 1, 2011 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

Every week of the 2011 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors and join the conversation in the comments section below.







YANI WINS WOMEN’S BRITISH OPEN
Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Let’s get right to the action with the most important action of the week: Yani Tseng won her fifth major at 22 years old. What’s the ceiling for her? Who might challenge her?



Rick Lipsey, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: She’s the best golfer on earth. By a mile. Male or female. She won’t get near the props of many guys, including Rory, but she’ll win a lot more majors than all of them combined. Barring injury, a dozen majors, minimum.



Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Five majors at 22? She’s on pace to win about 35 of them. Especially since the LPGA is going to five majors a year. I don’t see an immediate challenger for her. Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson have the power, but they don’t have Yani’s touch around the greens. She played some very Scottish bump-and-run pitches at Carnoustie. It’s Yani’s tour now.



Mark Godich, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: She’s just going to keep piling them up. Most impressive to me is how relaxed she seems out there.



Jim Herre, managing editor, SI Golf Group: With the extra major Tseng could outpace Tiger Woods and put up some staggering numbers, but let’s see what the next few seasons bring. Tiger was the rare one to truly dominate for a long period of time.



Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: No ceiling for Yani, and no challenger on the horizon. I see a group of players getting wins here and there, but Yani is the dominant player in the world. We have finally identified the next Tiger Woods.



Lipsey: Having seen the LPGA at the Women’s Open, I can confirm: there is NO challenger. Lots of good sticks, but Yani is in a class by herself. She practices (on and off the course) as hard, and more important, as smartly, as Tiger.



Van Sickle: Odd thing about Tseng is, I don’t watch her and say, ‘Wow, she’s the best player on the tour.’ But you see her results and her scores and say, ‘Wow, the rest of the LPGA just can’t play with her.’ Is there such a thing as a stealth dominant player? She’s it.



Farrell Evans, writer-reporter, Sports Illustrated: Yani will best Annika’s 10 majors and rule the tour for the next five to seven years. She’s got power and touch around the green. Paula Creamer, Stacey Lewis, an aging Cristie Kerr, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lang and Ai Miyazato are all contenders, but they don’t have Yani’s finishing power and consistency.



Lipsey: Great point, about the next Tiger. He, er, she, has finally arrived, and funny, isn’t it, nobody’s noticing?



Godich: Nobody’s noticing?



Lipsey: Next week’s SI Golf+ readers won’t know what happened, for example.



Godich: Yes, they will, because GP readers get their news from other sources as well — like PGA Tour Confidential and Golf.com.



Stephanie Wei, contributor, SI Golf+: I don’t think very many people outside of hardcore LPGA fans noticed. I mean, did any of you guys tune in at 9 a.m. Sunday morning?



Lipsey: If a man won his fifth major by age 22 we’d do a commemorative. A woman accomplishes that, and she doesn’t even get the lead story on golf.com. Today’s lead story was the Greenbrier scoreboard. This isn’t a Martha Burk-led rally for equal rights. Just pointing out that women get treated very differently from men, especially in the golfing firmament, as Karen Crouse in the New York Times eloquently outlined in a story this week.



Van Sickle: Women get treated very differently than the men in golf because the levels of interest from the public are very, very different. It’s that simple. The WNBA players don’t get the same salaries as their male counterparts in the NBA, either.



Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: The most incredible thing to me is that her putting stroke doesn’t look really conventional — it’s Billy Mayfairish, at times — but it’s so effective. (She’s a Stockton student.) The only thing that could stop her is boredom.



Tell us what you think: How many majors will Yani Tseng win in her career? Who will be her greatest rival?






Tweet




Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials


Yani Tseng wins Women’s British Open by 4 strokes

July 31, 2011 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) — Yani Tseng won the Women’s British Open for the second straight year, beating Brittany Lang by four strokes Sunday and becoming the youngest woman to capture a fifth major title.

The 22-year-old top-ranked Taiwanese shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 16-under 272. She trailed third-round leader Caroline Masson of Germany by two strokes entering the final round. Masson closed with a 78 to finish tied for fifth.

“It’s very special to win here at Carnoustie where so many great players have made history,” said Tseng, who also won the LPGA Championship last month. “I was a little nervous before the start, but then I hit a good tee shot and I felt good. I feel that, having been in this position in a major a few times before, I am getting more mature and can handle the pressure better.”

Lang shot a 67 to finish at 276, one ahead of Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson, who had a final round 68. South Korea’s Amy Yang had a 67 and was fourth.

Lang was tied for sixth entering the final day, eight behind Masson. She picked up just one stroke by the turn but the American bagged four birdies at Nos. 11, 12, 14 and 17.

“I played great today,” Lang said. “I made some really big par putts early on and from then on played fairly flawless golf.

Tseng dropped a shot at the first hole with three putts, missing a 3-footer for par. She birdied the third with a pitching wedge to 2 feet and the long sixth with a chip to 5 feet to be out in 35.

Playing alongside Masson, who was out in 39, Tseng had taken a firm grip by the turn. She was just short of the green off the tee at the par-4 11th and took two putts for a birdie, but then dropped a shot at two straight holes. She hit an 8-iron over the back of the green at 12 and then hit the pin off the tee on the short 13th but her ball stopped at the edge of a bunker. She stood in the sand to play her second shot.

Tseng birdied the long 14th and finished with two birdies, holing from 20 feet on the 17th and hitting a majestic 9-iron to 3 feet at the last.

Masson also ended with two birdies but had fallen into the pack, dropping four shots in the first three holes on the way home. She finished at 9 under alongside home favourite Catriona Matthew, the 2009 champion, who had a double-bogey 6 on the final hole after pulling her second shot to the green out of bounds.

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist tied for seventh at 280 with South Koreans Sun Young Yoo, Na Yeon Choi and Inbee Pak.

American Stacy Lewis moved up the leaderboard with a 4-under 68, going from a share of 22nd overnight to a share of 11th at 281.

Sweden’s Maria Hjorth was at 282 after a 68 and Americans Katie Futcher and Cristie Kerr were in a group a stroke further back. Futcher equaled the best round of the week with a 64, including an eagle at the long 14th, followed by three birdies. Kerr had four birdies for a 68 to finish at 5 under.

Paula Creamer dropped five strokes in the first five holes to be out in 40, then dropped three more on the back nine for a 79. Brittany Lincicome shot 73 to finish at 287 as did first-round leader Meena Lee, who closed with a 74 after opening with a 65 Thursday.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials


Yani Tseng wins Women’s British Open by 4 strokes (AP)

July 31, 2011 by admin  
Filed under Actuality

Kim interview after Round 3 of Greenbrier

Following his third-round 62, Anthony Kim talks to Doug Bell from the PGA TOUR Network on SiriusXM about his play in the 2011&nbsp…

Posted Jul 30 2011

More: Golf video

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials


Next Page »