Category: Golf

The latest Golf news.

Lee Westwood Proving Age Is Just A Number

Former world number one Lee Westwood has had a fantastic career in golf.

Not only has he won 25 European Tour events, but he has also been inside the top-10 of the Major Championships on 19 occasions.

At the age of 47, Westwood is now in the twilight stages of his career. His form in 2021 is up there with the very best players on the PGA Tour. His most notable performance came in the Players Championship where he finished second behind Justin Thomas.

A week prior to his result at Sawgrass, Westwood was also second in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. On that occasion, it was Bryson De Chambeau who he was involved in a fantastic tussle with on the back nine on the Sunday.

Westwood has always been renowned for being a clean striker of the ball. He is an excellent iron player whose tee-to-green game has been up there with the leading players of the last three decades. If there is one area that has let him down at times, it is his putting. His numbers this season are better than average, which is why he is consistently at the top end of leaderboards.

The Englishman will be hoping he can win his maiden Major Championship in 2021. He is generally considered as one of the best players not to lift one of the four big trophies. It would be extra special for the man from Worksop if that was in the Open Championship where he is 28/1 in the golf betting for the tournament at Royal St George’s Golf Club.

Order of Merit Success

Westwood made history last December by becoming the oldest player to lift the European Tour’s Race To Dubai crown. It was the third time in his career that he had won the Order of Merit in Europe.

The Englishman was second in the DP World Tour Championship behind Matt Fitzpatrick, but it was enough prize money to secure the end of season merit ahead of the likes of Patrick Reed and Collin Morikawa.

Although it was his consistency across the season that helped Westwood lift the Order of Merit trophy, he was successful in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. That success helped him to climb up to the top end of the prize money charts very early into the campaign.

Ryder Cup This Year At Whistling Straits

Given how well he is playing, Westwood will be hoping he returns to the European team for the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits later this year. He has not appeared in the playing team since Europe lost to the USA in 2016 at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Westwood is very experienced in Ryder Cup golf. He has featured in 10 different Ryder Cup matches stretching all the way back to 1997. With 23 points, he is one of the most successful golfers in the history of the bi-annual team competition.

It is set to be an exciting year ahead for Westwood. He has started 2021 very strongly and with so many big tournaments to come over the next six months, he could be set for one of the best seasons of his career.

Can Tiger Produce his magic again at Augusta?

Tiger Woods’ victory at the 2019 US Masters at Augusta is not only one of the best storylines golf has thrown up over the last couple of decades, it has been ranked by many sports writers as one of the leading sporting comebacks ever seen.

Woods sealed his 15th Major Championship in Georgia in 2019, 11 years after his last win in golf’s four big tournaments.

Over a career which has now spanned across four decades, Woods has often produced some of his best moments at Augusta. He blew the field away by 12 strokes there in 1997, and who can forget that spectacular chip shot when beating Chis DiMarco in a playoff in 2005.

Woods will now be looking to repeat what he did in 2002 by defending his crown in the Masters. No other champion has been able to follow up the year later since he achieved that feat. You have to go back to 1990 and Nick Faldo for the only other repeat winner of the last 50 years.

Augusta Can Often Find the Best Out of Woods

Although Woods has not shown anywhere near the form he produced last year in 2020 so far, the former world number one will be confident about his chances at Augusta.

Woods proved last year that the course suits his game very well. What was also so impressive about his win in 2019 was the way he closed it out on the back nine. He held his nerve very well on the Sunday which is a great sign for fans of the American.

With five Masters wins now, Woods is one shy of Jack Nicklaus’ record in the event. A victory would also see him two away from Nicklaus’ tally of 18 Major wins in his illustrious career.

Woods is 16/1 in the golf betting for the US Masters in 2020. Those odds suggest he is in with a great chance as he is ahead of Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose in the outright market for the tournament.

If the four-time Masters winner is able to win on the US PGA Tour before then, those odds will most likely shorten.

Thomas, Rahm and McIlroy All in Good Form

The top three players in the world golf rankings – Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy – are all at the top of their games at the moment. If they continue to remain in hot form, it could be one of the best Masters tournaments.

Thomas recently won the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational, his 13th success on the PGA Tour. A victory at Augusta would help him cement that spot at the top of the rankings.

McIlroy is also desperate to win his maiden Green Jacket. The US Masters is the only Major Championship the Northern Irishman has not won so far. He has performed well at Augusta though, which suggests it is likely to be only a matter of time before he completes the Career Grand Slam.

This year’s US Masters is set to begin on the 12th November in a later than normal tournament at Augusta National.

 

Who Were the Top Five Standout Golfers of 2017?

An exceptionally strong core of young American golfers asserted its dominance over the sport in emphatic style in 2017.

US stars with an average age of 25 won three out of the four available majors and the future looks extremely bright for the American Ryder Cup team. Fans across the world were treated to another thrilling 12 months of golf in 2017, a year packed full of intriguing storylines, star turns from budding giants of the game and plenty of nail-biting finishes to big tournaments. Here are the top five stars of 2017:

  1. Justin Rose

Rose achieved T10 finishes in his final 10 tournaments of 2017 to move up to sixth in the world. He won three of his last six, including a sensational eight-shot victory at the Indonesian Open, and heads into 2018 in fine form. He went into a sudden-death playoff against his great friend Sergio Garcia at The Masters, only to miss out on winning a second career major. But he responded superbly and improved as the year went on. At the HSBC Champions in Shanghai in October, he went into the final day trailing by eight shots but stormed back to overhaul world number one Dustin Johnson on the final day to claim an improbable victory. He will be a real threat to the golfing elite at this year’s majors thanks to his all-round brilliance.

  1. Hideki Matsuyama

Matsuyama can now lay claim to being the world’s best player without a major to his name. The Japanese has long held down a place in the top five of the Official World Golf Ranking chart and rose as high as number two when he finished runner-up at the US Open in June. He shared the lead at the halfway stage of the PGA Championship before falling away, and it seems like only a matter of time before the 25-year-old joins an elite club of major winners. But he still won three Tour titles, including his first World Golf Championship, along with $8.4 million in prize money in 2017, and displayed great consistency throughout the year.

  1. Dustin Johnson

It is testament to Johnson’s prowess that he held onto the world number one spot throughout 2017, despite suffering an injury that kept him out of the Masters. He did not add to his tally of majors in 2017, but he did win four Tour titles for the first time and moved up to sixth in the career money list. He also became the first player to ever win all four WGC crowns after a dominant performance at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event. Johnson is on the ninth longest streak atop the world rankings in PGA tour history and nobody looks like dislodging him any time soon.

  1. Jordan Spieth

Spieth roared back to form in 2017, winning his third career major at The Open and taking two further Tour titles. Spieth was named PGA Rookie of the Year in 2013 and continued to impress the following year, but really hit the big time in 2015. That year he won the Masters and the US Open at the tender age of 22, establishing himself as a superstar of the present and the future. He reached number one in the world and was expected to continue his dominance in 2016, but his form tailed off.

He suffered one of the most spectacular collapses of all-time at The Masters, blowing a five-shot lead, and dropped to third in the world, with just one title and no majors to his name.

2017 was a comeback year of epic proportions as Spieth, who took his 10th PGA title with a playoff win in the Travelers Championship. At Royal Birkdale he claimed The Open, becoming only the second man after Jack Nicklaus to win three of the four majors before his 24th birthday. A couple of runner-up finishes put him in contention for the FedEx Cup title, but he ultimately finished second, as well as ending up second on the 2017 money list. He is expected to continue his resurgence in 2018 and is currently the favourite in the US Masters 2018 odds as he has been exceptionally strong at Augusta over the years.

  1. Justin Thomas

Thomas enjoyed a breakout year in 2017 and usurped childhood friend Spieth by topping the money list, winning the FedEx Cup and claiming a first major.

Thomas was named PGA Golfer of the Year and earned a cool $9.9 million throughout 2017. While Spieth and Thomas were always considered wunderkinds, it was the former that rose to stardom quicker, soaring to the top of the world rankings, while Thomas claimed just one Tour victory in his first two years as a pro and was lurking on the outskirts of the elite. But Spieth’s success pushed him to achieve greater feats and he delivered on his promise in 2017, winning the PGA Championship ahead of Matsuyama.

He took five Tour titles in total and dominated the end of year awards. He finished 2017 at number three in the world rankings and the future looks extremely rosy for American golf thanks to the talents of Thomas, Spieth, Johnson, Rickie Fowler, US Open winner Brooks Koepka and more. But right now Thomas is in the ascendancy and he is the man to beat heading into 2018’s majors.

 

 

Rory McIlroy drops to sixth in world rankings

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy will begin the BMW Championship next week with his lowest world ranking in over three years.

McIlroy missed the cut in the Dell Technologies Championship and has slipped from fourth to sixth in the latest standings behind winner Justin Thomas and Spain’s Jon Rahm.

Not since July 2014 has the former world number one been as low as sixth, when he was ranked eighth after the Scottish Open, before going on to win the Open Championship at Hoylake a week later.

An injury-plagued season has meant that McIlroy has only played in 15 events so far, but has plans for three more events before a several month sabatical to give his lingering rib injury a chance to full recover.

McIlroy defeated Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell in a play-off at East Lake 12 months ago to win the overall FedEx Cup title, and a welcome $10million bonus.

The 28-year-old is keen to avoid just his second full winless season since turning professional, and is due to contest the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with his father Gerry from October 5-8 before calling time on a frustrating campaign.

Jordan Spieth Named TOUR Player of the Year

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After a fantastic season the young superstar has been named TOUR player of the year after winning five times on the tour which include two majors and the FedEx Cup and returns as world number one.

Jordan Spieth was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year and also received the Jack Nicklaus Award but after the performance he’s had this year, it is no surprise. He was elected to win the award over Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler.

During the season, Spieth has racked up a long list of achievements, some of these include: being the first person to win the Masters and the Tour Championship in the same season, the youngest person since Horton Smith in 1929 to win five times in one season and at 22 years, 2 months he is the youngest player to win the Tour Championship as well as the FedFedEx Cup in the same year.

He also won the Arnold Palmer Award by earning the most on tour. He earned a whopping $12,030,465. As well as this, he won the Vardon Trophy and Baron Nelson Award by finishing first in the Adjusted Scoring Average.

The five tournaments that he won was: the Valspar Championship, the Masters, U.S Open, John Deere Classic and the TOUR Championship, becoming the sixth player in history to have five or more wins in one season.

His first major win came at Augusta, where he slipped on his green jacket. All the way through Spieth dominated the field and looked at home at Augusta National. His key to the game, as with many of his wins this season, was his putting. He beat Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson by four shots. He became the second youngest winner of the Masters.

After winning the U.S Open, the Dallas native became the youngest player to win two majors since Gene Sarzazen. He fought of fellow American, Dustin Johnson to win by one. Johnson missed his birdie putt on the 18th to force a playoff with Spieth. This set up hopes for him winning the Open with the course having elements of a links course.

Spieth’s run for the major grand slam came to a stop at the home of golf for the Open, where he narrowly missed out on joining the three way playoff. Zach Johnson went on to win. Spieth showed that he has old and wise head on young shoulders and that he’s a true sportsman by staying behind to congratulate Johnson on winning the Claret Jug.

The start to the FedEx Cup playoffs didn’t get off to the way Spieth would have hoped with two consecutive missed cuts. After this he finished tied for 13th place in the BMW Championship. He then went on to win the FedEx Cup by beating Henrik Stenton, Rose and Danny Lee by four shots. He broke yet another record, by breaking Tiger Woods’ season record for the most FedEx Cup points.

The next tournament that Spieth will be playing in is the President’s Cup.