with Bryan Angus

Thanks for joining me today. I look forward to your comments . They are always welcome here on FairwaysPlus. Bryan Angus bryanangus4@gmail.com



Tuesday, November 30, 2010

7 Canucks at Q school tomorrow.. Hearn withdraws..

Q school... final stage  Dec 1- 6..Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge.. Orlando Florida...
6 rounds... 108 holes for 25 spots on the PGA tour... I have followed all our Canucks here since Stage 1

Now 7 are left standing, there were 8 but David Hearn who already has his card has WD  I asked him why and he texts.. " No worries, just need to focus on conditioning and getting ready for January"

Chris Baryla already has his card with a medical exemption and will try to improve his status..

Here are our 'magnificent 7'..

JON MILLS  ( Oshawa)

Was 33rd on the Nationwide Tour money list this year  Was last on PGA tour in 2008, was also on in 2005. Won the Canadian Tour's Order of Merit in 2003...Lives down in Pennsylvania with his wife but is an Oshawa native.. David Hearn says " Jon will make it for sure at Q school "

MATT McQUILLAN ( Kingston)

Made 11 cuts on the 2010 eGolf Professional Tour to get him exempt status on the Canadian Tour for 2011. Was a member of Canada's championship 4Nations Squad team back in in 2001, with Jon Mills and David Hearn who he hopes to join on tour this year.. Long shot..

CHRIS BARYLA  ( Vernon BC)

My pal Rick Todd knows Chris better than anyone being his coach at UTEP for 4 years. He says Chris has more talent than any Canuck on tour right now !!

He has a back problem that affects his spine and he ended up finishing 19th on the 2009 Nationwide Tour money list to get his card...In 2010 he played early but he was forced to undergo surgery for a torn labrum in April, earning him that medical exemption... His coach now.... my pal Sean Foley


TED BROWN  (Peterborough)

Was 121st on the Nationwide  money list this year Has played the Hooters and Gateway tours .. Long shot for PGA card

RICHARD LEE ( Vancouver )

I am listing Vancouver here but he lives with his parents in Scottsdale and is a real child prodigy with doting parents who moved him there so he could golf year round... He has been the world #2 junior golfer and damn near won his sectional. If he is on he could surprise and make it.. Turned pro at 16..

Remember at 2007 US Open he qualified at 17 only to hurt his wrist ??. Played on the 2010 Canadian Tour.


MATTHEW RICHARDSON  ( Woodbridge)

Born in Worcester, England, but is engaged to a Canuck and represents the National. Hotshot amateur in Britain from 2000-2004. For example he won the World Junior Champion at the age of 17. He got his Euro tour card when he was 22... Only made 2 cuts last year on our Canadian tour so he is a long long shot here.

DAVID McKENZIE  (Victoria)

An Aussie living as a landed immigrant in Victoria, David played on the PGA tour in 2006 then lost his card. Has played as a regular on the Nationwide and has his only win there in 2005 when he beat Jon Mills of all people. Has played Canadian tour as well, another guy who has paid his dues and is looking to catch lightning in a bottle..

I will be watching and blogging every day so stay with me and join in with your comments

Best regards

Bryan Angus

 

Brilliant Italian Matteo Manassero wins rookie of the year

He makes 21 year old Rory McIlroy and 25 year old Martin Kaymer look like grizzled veterans.
He is only 17 years old and he is the European tour's rookie of the year. Mike Weir played with him at the Masters and told us afterwards that he may be 17 but is "mature far beyond those years!!"
His name ??  read on with this report from Gordon Simpson at the Euro tour office

Italy’s Matteo Manassero is today named The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year for 2010 following a record-breaking start to his professional career highlighted by him becoming the youngest player to win in the history of The European Tour.

Manassero launched his professional career in the BMW Italian Open at the beginning of May and in 14 starts since then has won the CASTELLÓ MASTERS Costa Azahar at the age of 17 years and 188 days; earned €890,401 to finish in 31st place in The 2010 Race to Dubai; and played 54 rounds for which he was 73 under par with only seven scores over 72.

It is a big honour to win the Rookie of the Year award,” said Manassero, who follows many of golf’s greatest names such as Sir Nick Faldo, Tony Jacklin, Sandy Lyle, José Maria Olazábal and Colin Montgomerie, as well as many of today’s biggest stars including Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Europe’s new Number One, The Race to Dubai winner Martin Kaymer, as a recipient of the Award.

I never expected to win on Tour so quickly and to win the Rookie of the Year Award is a perfect way to end my first season as a professional. It is such a special award because you only get one chance to win it so it is a great honour.
When you see the amazing players that have won the Award in the past, you see how important these players were in golf’s history and to have your name beside them is exciting.

Then you see that Martin Kaymer won the Rookie of the Year only three years ago and now he is the Number One in Europe after winning The Race to Dubai. I hope I can follow in Martin’s footsteps one day.”

Manassero creates another piece of history by becoming the first Italian to win the Award which is judged by The R&A, the Association of Golf Writers and The European Tour. He is also the tenth golfer from Continental Europe and 46th recipient in total of The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award which was launched in 1960.

He became the youngest winner of the Amateur Championship in 2009, and the youngest player to claim the Silver Medal for leading amateur in The Open Championship that same year when he finished tied 13th at Turnberry. In April of this year he became the youngest amateur to compete in the Masters Tournament and, furthermore, the youngest player to make the halfway cut.

He created another record when in only his 11th European Tour event as a professional he achieved his maiden victory at the CASTELLÓ MASTERS Costa Azahar at the age of 17 years and 188 days to become the youngest winner in the Tour’s history, beating the previous record of New Zealand’s Danny Lee who won the Johnnie Walker Classic aged 18 years and 213 days in 2009.

Manassero also became the youngest person to become a full European Tour Member, surpassing the legendary Seve Ballesteros who was 17 years and 200 days when he joined the Tour at the end of the 1974 season.

Just another one to add to the future list of stars on the world of golf's stage

Bryan Angus

Monday, November 29, 2010

Lot's at stake as the LPGA wraps their 2010 season, do you care ??

5 Canucks tee it up on Thursday at the Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando Florida at the LPGA's season ending Tour Championship

They are evergreen Lorie Kane, Lisa Meldrum, Samantha Richdale, Alena Sharp, and Adrienne White, but none of them are in contention, they are all hopeful to retain their tour status..

Here is the report from LPGAtour.com on this week
The money race is down to two players, Choi and Jiyai Shin. Choi leads that race by $34,790. As close as that seems, the scoring race is nearly a dead- heat. Choi's average of 69.77 is a mere 0.09 strokes better than Cristie Kerr. The winner will take home the Vare Trophy.


Finally, the race for the No. 1 spot in the world remains tight with the top- six players separated by 1.00 average points. Shin tops the rankings, while Suzann Pettersen is second by 0.36 average points. Pettersen has yet to reach the top spot.

The races will be settled at Grand Cypress Resort, Orlando Florida this week.

The top-six players from the Rolex Rankings will tee it up at the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship, it was announced today. Jiyai Shin (South Korea), Suzann Pettersen (Norway), Cristie Kerr (United States), Yani Tseng (Taiwan), Na Yeon Choi (South Korea) and Ai Miyazato (Japan) will fight for the most coveted awards of the year at the LPGA Tour Championship at Grand Cypress Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, December 2-5, 2010. The battle for Rolex Rankings No. 1, Rolex Player of the Year, Vare Trophy and the LPGA money title will culminate at the $1.5 million season-ending event

Other top players expected to be on-hand include Rolex Rankings No. 7 and Lorena Ochoa Invitational winner In-Kyung Kim, Rolex Rankings No. 9, Song-Hee Kim, the top-ranked player without a victory; Rolex Rankings No. 10 and reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer, defending LPGA Tour Championship winner Anna Nordqvist, Natalie Gulbis and many more.


With one event remaining on the LPGA Tour schedule, Shin, Pettersen, Kerr, Tseng, Choi and Miyazato remain tightly wound in the fight for the No. 1 position in the Rolex Rankings. Shin holds a .49 margin over No. 2 Pettersen who jumped up three spots in the Rankings after claiming her sixth runner-up finish in 2010 at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Kerr, who has made three separate trips to the top spot this year, is No. 3, Tseng is No. 4. Relative newcomer to the mix Choi is No. 5, while the world’s former No. 1 for 11 weeks this season Miyazato is No. 6. The battle for No. 1 has changed hands nine times between three players (Shin, Kerr and Miyazato) since May.


Five of the six players (Tseng, Miyazato, Choi, Kerr and Shin) in the Rolex Rankings No. 1 race also have a chance to still claim the Rolex Player of the Year award. Since winning her second major championship of the year at the RICOH Women’s British Open, Tseng has been the race’s front-runner. Tseng, who did not earn points this week in Mexico, yielded some ground to Miyazato, Kerr and Choi. Kerr made the biggest gain earning seven points for finishing tied for fourth. Miyazato picked up five points for sixth, while Choi secured four points for her tie for seventh-place showing. Rolex Player of the Year points are only awarded to players finishing in the top 10. A win carries a point value of 30.


Choi holds the lead in the remaining two year-ending LPGA contests – Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average and the LPGA official money list. Choi is averaging 69.77 strokes per round, a mere .09 lower than Kerr, making the Vare Trophy contest nearly a dead heat. Two other players own scoring averages below 70.00 – Pettersen (69.92) and Shin (69.95), while seven additional players are averaging less than 71.00 strokes per round. The last time more than one LPGA player finished the season with a scoring average below 70.00 was in 2006, when Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam finished one, two in the race.


The battle for the LPGA official money list title has come down to a two-player race between Choi and Shin. Choi holds a slim $34,790 lead over Shin who is attempting to win back-to-back money titles. Shin was both the LPGA money leader and Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year in 2009.

So best to you if you follow all of that and to be honest I do watch the women every week, but I find myself lost in the constant parade of players, mainly from the far east who are undoubtedly impressive but do little to rile my interest.  I,like most Canadians, am very liberal and  Shin, Choi, Miyazato, Tseng, Song-Hee Kim, In-Kyung Kim etal are all great success stories both on the LPGA tour and particulary in South Korea and Japan, but let me ask you. If the PGA or EUROPEAN tours were dominated players from the far east of this world without the star power of  Westwood, Tiger, Phil, Rory, Kaymer, McDowell, Poulter, Stricker, Kim, would you care ?

I keep coming back to Michelle Wie, but it seems after all the promise she showed and attention she garnered as a 14 and 15 year old, she is just going to be a solid American pro on the LPGA tour, not their salvation. I must say however, her performance in Winnipeg was the LPGA highlight of the year for me.

Now,of course if ever we had a Canuck to compete with these gals on a weekly basis, with a chance to win our CN Women's Canadian Open.... now you're talkin' !!  now I'd really care !!


Bryan Angus

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Dubai World Championship wrap up...

As I mentioned earlier Robert Karlsson (67) overcame Ian Poulter (70) in a play-off to win the Dubai World Championship. In case you didn't see it they ended up tied on -14 274 after Karlsson, who was 3 behind to start play began birdie,birdie,eagle when he holed an 8 iron for 2 at the 3rd, then pitched to 3 feet for a birdie on the par 5 620 yd 18th to force a sudden death  playoff


They both made birdies with great approach shots on the 1st playoff.


On the 2nd Poulter left himself 30 odd feet from the hole while Karlsson stuck his approach 3 feet away, then something weird happened. Poulter was assessed a 1 shot penalty when he dropped his ball on his marker and moved it. His 2 putt for bogey six may have been irrelevant since Karlsson made his birdie 3, but it was a sad ending for Ian looked like he was going to win back to back.

So Karlsson wins first first prize of €910,348 and here are a few other facts about his win..courtesy europeantour..com

ROBERT KARLSSON

• His 11th European Tour International Schedule victory in his 464th European Tour event.

• Extends his record as the most prolific Swedish winner, with 11 victories. Now leads Niclas Fasth, Anders Forsbrand, Per-Ulrik Johansson and Henrik Stenson by five. They all have six European Tour wins.
• Finishes sixth on the The Race to Dubai with €1,968,759. He was the only player to jump into the top 15 and therefore earn a slice of the Bonus Pool
• Moves over €13 million in European Tour Official Career Earnings.
• Gains a place in the 2011 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.
• Gains a place in the 2011 WGC – HSBC Champions.



Defending champion Westwood T3 with Alvaro Quiros. Both had a shot at the playoff but Alvaro missed a long eagle putt on18 and Westwood hit his 2nd into water and made par when a birdie 4 was needed.

Westwood retains his world #1 status going into 2011..

Kaymer and  McDowell finished T13, which earned the 25 year old Kaymer a bonus of €1,092,418 and remember this about Kaymer, he might have won this last year until he broke 3 toes riding a go cart in DallasHe came back after missing 6 weeks to finish 3rd behind Westwood and Rory McIlroy.

This most fabulous year for him started with a victory at the Abu Dhabi Championship.Then he won the US PGA Championship after a play-off with Bubba Watson, then added the KLM Open and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on his next two starts !!!
The Dunhill came the week after he had made his winning Ryder Cup debut so as I wrote at the time, he could actually claim four wins in a row.

Now he sets out in pursuit of the great Bernhard Langer to become the greatest German golfer.

MARTIN KAYMER (europeantour.com)


• Becomes the second German to finish The European Tour season as Number One, following Bernhard Langer (1981 and 1984).

• Aged 25 years and 335 days is the youngest player to be crowned Number One since Ronan Rafferty in 1989, who was 25 years and 289 days.

• Has improved his ranking in every one of his four years; 41st in 2007, eighth in 2008; third in 2009 and first in 2010.

• Follows Seve Ballesteros (1976, 77, 78, 86, 88, 91), Bernhard Langer (1981, 84) and Robert Karlsson (2008) as Continental Europeans’ to win the Harry Vardon Trophy

Final Leaderboard

↑+4 1 KARLSSON, Robert -14 18 -5 65 75 67 67 274


1 5 11 ↓-1 2 POULTER, Ian -14 18 -2 69 66 69 70 274
1 15 54 ↑+4 T3 QUIROS, Alvaro -13 18 -5 72 67 69 67 275
1 3 1 ↑+2 T3 WESTWOOD, Lee -13 18 -4 69 67 71 68 275
1 12 10 ↑+4 5 MCILROY, Rory -12 18 -5 71 72 66 67 276
1 11 7 ↑+1 T6 CASEY, Paul -11 18 -3 70 67 71 69 277
1 4 15 ↓-4 T6 MOLINARI, Francesco -11 18 -1 71 67 68 71 277
1 39 85 ↓-6 8 JAIDEE, Thongchai -9 18 +1 68 69 69 73 279
1 40 69 ↑+17 T9 NOH, Seung-yul -8 18 -5 66 73 74 67 280
1 13 8 ↑+2 T9 DONALD, Luke -8 18 -2 74 67 69 70 280
1 58 132 ↑+2 T11 DERKSEN, Robert-Jan -7 18 -2 71 70 70 70 281
1 22 75 ↑+2 T11 HANSEN, Anders -7 18 -2 74 70 67 70 281
1 2 9 ↑+17 T13 MCDOWELL, Graeme -6 18 -4 72 73 69 68 282
1 60 158 ↑+7 T13 AIKEN, Thomas -6 18 -2 70 72 70 70 282
1 16 41 ↑+7 T13 HANSON, Peter -6 18 -2 76 69 67 70 282
1 38 40 - T13 YANG, Y. E. -6 18 -1 71 69 71 71 282
1 37 112 - T13 LAWRIE, Peter -6 18 -1 76 67 68 71 282
1 1 3 ↓-2 T13 KAYMER, Martin -6 18 Par 67 70 73 72 282
1 10 23 ↓-4 T13 OOSTHUIZEN, Louis -6 18 +1 73 66 70 73 282
1 14 29 ↓-11 T13 FISHER, Ross -6 18 +4 71 64 71 76 282


Final Race to Dubai standings

KAYMER Martin GER 22 €4,461,011



2 MCDOWELL Graeme NIR 24 €3,896,996
3 WESTWOOD Lee ENG 14 €3,222,423
4 POULTER Ian ENG 15 €3,027,008
5 MOLINARI Francesco ITA 27 €2,799,692
6 KARLSSON Robert SWE 21 €2,296,486
7 ELS Ernie RSA 15 €2,261,607
8 SCHWARTZEL Charl RSA 24 €2,207,965
9 JIMÉNEZ Miguel Angel ESP 29 €2,179,418
10 OOSTHUIZEN Louis RSA 23 €2,070,763
11 MOLINARI Edoardo ITA 28 €2,009,337
12 CASEY Paul ENG 14 €1,888,850
13 MCILROY Rory NIR 16 €1,821,050
14 QUIROS Alvaro ESP 25 €1,750,255
15 DONALD Luke ENG 13 €1,678,072

Next week the LPGA wraps up their season, Tiger hosts his Invitational at a Thousand Oaks in California, then it's the final stage of Q School at the Orange County National in Florida where we have several Canucks in contention and I will have all that and more here..

Believe it or not the 2011 European Tour kicks off in a fortnight in South Africa !!  It will have to go some to top 2011..

Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com





Karlsson wins the tournament, Kaymer wins the' Race'

Robert Karlsson has just beaten Ian Poulter with a birdie putt to win the Dubai World Championship on the second playoff hole, while Martin Kaymer is Europe's #1 player as he wins the Race to Dubai..

Defending champ Lee Westwood narrowly missed joining them, his -4 68 left him a shot back T3.

Full details to follow on the ending to what must be the most successful year of the European tour with 3 majors winners, the world's #1 player and a Ryder Cup win to boot !!!

T1 KARLSSON, Robert -14 18 -5 65 75 67 67 274

T1 POULTER, Ian -14 18 -2 69 66 69 70 274

T3 QUIROS, Alvaro -13 18 -5 72 67 69 67 275

T3 WESTWOOD, Lee -13 18 -4 69 67 71 68 275

5 MCILROY, Rory -12 18 -5 71 72 66 67 276

T6 CASEY, Paul -11 18 -3 70 67 71 69 277

T6 MOLINARI, Francesco -11 18 -1 71 67 68 71 277

8 JAIDEE, Thongchai -9 18 +1 68 69 69 73 279

 T9 NOH, Seung-yul -8 18 -5 66 73 74 67 280

T9 DONALD, Luke -8 18 -2 74 67 69 70 280

Bryan Angus

"and down the stretch they come !!".. in Dubai

Yesterday at Woodbine I had the great good fortune to stand in with Dan Loiselle, the superb voice of racing as he called the 5th race which had 14 horses in the field and as they rounded the clubhouse turn, 4 abreast, Dan's voice conveyed the urgency of the matter  .."and down the stretch they come"

That is exactly what is happening as they play the final nine of the year's final event in Dubai.

Robert Karlsson is having a great day at -4, -13 total to lead Poulter who is E at the turn -12. Paul Casey is at -3, -11 along with Alvaro Quiros -3,-11 and Lee Westwood -2, -11... Lee has missed a lot of putts within 10 feet over the last 2 days.

I am also watching for Francesco Molinari who is playing in the last group with Poulter and is at +1 -9 but is not out of it.

8 players are within 4 of the lead..

MacDowell finished with a -4 68 to finish at -6 good to T13 and Martin Kaymer is also T13 E today playing the 16th....

36 ↑+4 1 KARLSSON, Robert -13 11 -4 65 75 67 -4 207


1 5 11 ↓-1 2 POULTER, Ian -12 9 Par 69 66 69 Par 204
1 11 7 ↑+4 T3 CASEY, Paul -11 12 -3 70 67 71 -3 208
1 15 54 ↑+4 T3 QUIROS, Alvaro -11 12 -3 72 67 69 -3 208
1 3 1 ↑+2 T3 WESTWOOD, Lee -11 11 -2 69 67 71 -2 207
1 39 85 ↓-4 T6 JAIDEE, Thongchai -9 10 +1 68 69 69 1 206
1 4 15 ↓-4 T6 MOLINARI, Francesco -9 9 +1 71 67 68 1 206

I will update all this as soon as it is over, we could well have a playoff..

Bryan Angus

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Poulter leads the pack by 2 shots after round 3

You know guys, I have been writing this blog this year nearly every day since January 2010 with the Mercedes Benz in Kapalua on the PGA tour and the Joburg Open in RSA on the Euro tour and then there is the Australasian tour going on right now ( their summer), next week the LPGA wraps up with their Tour Championship..... point is there is very important and lucrative golf going on around the globe, around the year...

And silly you thought it was all over after the PGA tour Championship in Atlanta back in September !!

So tomorrow millions of dollars will be doled out in the desert of Dubai at the Greg Norman 'earth course' as the Race to Dubai wraps up...

What do we know tonight ??... Here is the leader board...

1 POULTER, Ian -12 18 -3 69 66 69 - 204
T2 MOLINARI, Francesco -10 18 -4 71 67 68 - 206
T2 JAIDEE, Thongchai -10 18 -3 68 69 69 - 206
T2 FISHER, Ross -10 18 -1 71 64 71 - 206
T5 KARLSSON, Robert -9 18 -5 65 75 67 - 207
T5 WESTWOOD, Lee -9 18 -1 69 67 71 - 207
T7 QUIROS, Alvaro -8 18 -3 72 67 69 - 208
T7 CASEY, Paul -8 18 -1 70 67 71 - 208
T9 MCILROY, Rory -7 18 -6 71 72 66 - 209
T9 OOSTHUIZEN, Louis -7 18 -2 73 66 70 - 209
T11 DONALD, Luke -6 18 -3 74 67 69 - 210
T11 KAYMER, Martin -6 18 +1 67 70 73 - 210

*So Ian Poulter -12 is 2 shots clear of 3 players.. Jaidee, Fisher and here he is again F Molinari all -10. The English star may be -12  but has Francesco Molinari, Thongchai Jaidee and Ross Fisher at -10


* Kaymer, despite his +1 73 is still T11 way ahead of McDowell T30 and he will win the Race to Dubai and a ton of cash..

* Kaymer is at -6, Poulter at -12 , Westwood at -9 so Lee will still be #1 tomorrow

* Top 30 finishes in OWGR get you kinto all the majors so that needs to be worked out...

Here are the final round pairings..

1 07:22 MCGRANE Damien WILLETT Danny

1 07:31 DAVIES Rhys ROCK Robert
1 07:40 KHAN Simon MAYBIN Gareth
1 07:49 PARRY John GARRIDO Ignacio
1 07:58 BJÖRN Thomas BOURDY Grégory
1 08:07 ANDERSSON HED Fredrik JIMÉNEZ Miguel Angel
1 08:16 EDFORS Johan GALLACHER Stephen
1 08:25 CAÑIZARES Alejandro HORSEY David
1 08:34 SCHWARTZEL Charl DONALDSON Jamie
1 08:43 DYSON Simon MOLINARI Edoardo
1 08:58 GOOSEN Retief WILSON Oliver
1 09:08 RAMSAY Richie RUMFORD Brett
1 09:18 ELS Ernie CLARKE Darren
1 09:28 HAVRET Grégory GREEN Richard
1 09:38 FDEZ-CASTAÑO Gonzalo BOYD Gary
1 09:48 NOH Seung-yul MCDOWELL Graeme
1 09:58 HARRINGTON Padraig GARCIA Sergio
1 10:08 HANSEN Søren MANASSERO Matteo
1 10:18 AIKEN Thomas KJELDSEN Søren
1 10:28 FRASER Marcus WOOD Chris
1 10:43 HANSON Peter YANG Y. E.
1 10:53 JACQUELIN Raphaël STENSON Henrik
1 11:03 DERKSEN Robert-Jan LAWRIE Peter
1 11:13 HANSEN Anders LUITEN Joost
1 11:23 KAYMER Martin DONALD Luke
1 11:33 OOSTHUIZEN Louis MCILROY Rory
1 11:43 QUIROS Alvaro CASEY Paul
1 11:53 WESTWOOD Lee KARLSSON Robert
1 12:03 JAIDEE Thongchai FISHER Ross

1 12:13 MOLINARI Francesco POULTER Ian

So it's Molinari and Poulter in the final pairing but the winner could be many others and all the other side bets won't be settled until the final putt !!

Great lunch with Croute at Woodbine, donated 20 bucks over 4 races to keep my karma right...

Let's see how this all works out starting at 3am Sunday EST..

Best

Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com

Poulter in the lead after 9 in Dubai

Ian Poulter is back in his burnt orange and blue plaid pants and shoes and his game is back on form. He has just completed the front 9 in -2 34, -11 to lead playing partner Ross Fisher who was out in -1 35,-10 by a shot.

Martin Kaymer who is going to win the Race to Dubai since Graeme McDowell started the day at T42 and has run out of gas and patience, is currently at -9 through 11 as is his partner, little Thongchai Jaidee.

They still have the back 9 to play and there could well be a 4 way tie for the lead by the time today is over, they are all playing well..

Rory McIlroy shot a great -6 66 and is at -7 T7 and Robert Karlsson has bounced back and is at -4  through 15 -8 total.

Westwood hasn't made many putts today so far and is at +1 -7 T9 through 10.

11 - 1 POULTER, Ian -11 9 -2 69 66 -2 - 135
1 14 29 ↓-1 2 FISHER, Ross -10 9 -1 71 64 -1 - 135
1 1 3 ↑+1 T3 KAYMER, Martin -9 11 -2 67 70 -2 - 137
1 39 85 ↑+1 T3 JAIDEE, Thongchai -9 11 -2 68 69 -2 - 137
1 21 36 ↑+7 T5 KARLSSON, Robert -8 15 -4 65 75 -4 - 140
1 15 54 ↑+3 T5 QUIROS, Alvaro -8 11 -3 72 67 -3 - 139
1 10 23 ↑+3 T5 OOSTHUIZEN, Louis -8 11 -3 73 66 -3 - 139
1 4 15 ↑+2 T5 MOLINARI, Francesco -8 11 -2 71 67 -2 - 138
1 12 10 ↑+16 T9 MCILROY, Rory -7 18 -6 71 72 66 - 209
1 11 7 ↓-5 T9 CASEY, Paul -7 10 Par 70 67 Par - 137
1 3 1 ↓-6 T9 WESTWOOD, Lee -7 10 +1 69 67 1 - 136

I am heading into the Rogers gym now then out to Woodbine for lunch with my pal Glen Crouter and will update this when I get back this afternoon..

Tomorrow will be a great finish, we know Kaymer has won the Race to Dubai, will he win this and become the new world #1 is just one of many questions to be answered.

Later
Bryan Angus

Friday, November 26, 2010

Poulter and Fisher lead as England rule in Dubai

It's all England atop the leader board in Dubai after 2 rounds..

Ross Fisher tied the course record with a -6 64, -9 total and Ian Poulter, my pick to win, started with 4 straight birdies, finished with -6 66 -9 are in the lead..

Poulter and Westwood were paired and provided great entertainment, Lee shot -5 67 and is at -8 1 shot clear of, yes another Englishman Paul Casey -5 67 -7 total...

The Kaymer / McDowell Race to Dubai has McDowell 72,73 145 trailing Kaymer by 8 shots, not much of a race !! Still Kaymer is just 2 shots off the lead at -7..

Robert Karlsson was doing fine til the back 9.. Bogey at 10, double at 12, bogey at 13  +3 75 T12


T1 FISHER, Ross -9 18 -8 71 64 - - 135

T1 POULTER, Ian -9 18 -6 69 66 - - 135

3 WESTWOOD, Lee -8 18 -5 69 67 - - 136
T4 CASEY, Paul -7 18 -5 70 67 - - 137
T4 KAYMER, Martin -7 18 -2 67 70 - - 137

T4 JAIDEE, Thongchai -7 18 -3 68 69 - - 137
7 MOLINARI, Francesco -6 18 -5 71 67 - - 138
T8 OOSTHUIZEN, Louis -5 18 -6 73 66 - - 139
T8 QUIROS, Alvaro -5 18 -5 72 67 - - 139
T8 JIMÉNEZ, Miguel Angel -5 18 -3 70 69 - - 139
T8 NOH, Seung-yul -5 18 +1 66 73 - - 139
T12 YANG, Y. E. -4 18 -3 71 69 - - 140
T12 JACQUELIN, Raphaël -4 18 -2 70 70 - - 140
T12 CAÑIZARES, Alejandro -4 18 -1 69 71 - - 140
T12 STENSON, Henrik -4 18 -1 69 71 - - 140
T12 KARLSSON, Robert -4 18 +3 65 75 - - 140

Saturday tee times

1 07:30 MCGRANE Damien WILLETT Danny

1 07:40 BJÖRN Thomas KHAN Simon
1 07:50 GOOSEN Retief DAVIES Rhys
1 08:00 WILSON Oliver ROCK Robert
1 08:10 EDFORS Johan MOLINARI Edoardo
1 08:20 BOYD Gary GALLACHER Stephen
1 08:30 HAVRET Grégory BOURDY Grégory
1 08:40 GREEN Richard MCDOWELL Graeme
1 08:50 GARRIDO Ignacio HANSON Peter
1 09:00 DONALDSON Jamie SCHWARTZEL Charl
1 09:15 LUITEN Joost MAYBIN Gareth
1 09:25 FDEZ-CASTAÑO Gonzalo HANSEN Søren
1 09:35 HANSEN Anders HARRINGTON Padraig
1 09:45 ANDERSSON HED Fredrik PARRY John
1 09:55 HORSEY David GARCIA Sergio
1 10:05 MCILROY Rory FRASER Marcus
1 10:15 WOOD Chris DYSON Simon
1 10:25 LAWRIE Peter ELS Ernie
1 10:35 AIKEN Thomas KJELDSEN Søren
1 10:45 CLARKE Darren RAMSAY Richie
1 11:00 MANASSERO Matteo DERKSEN Robert-Jan
1 11:10 RUMFORD Brett DONALD Luke
1 11:20 STENSON Henrik KARLSSON Robert
1 11:30 JACQUELIN Raphaël CAÑIZARES Alejandro
1 11:40 NOH Seung-yul YANG Y. E.
1 11:50 JIMÉNEZ Miguel Angel QUIROS Alvaro
1 12:00 OOSTHUIZEN Louis MOLINARI Francesco
1 12:10 JAIDEE Thongchai KAYMER Martin
1 12:20 CASEY Paul WESTWOOD Lee

1 12:30 POULTER Ian FISHER Ross

The Kaymer / McDowell race is over despite a great try by Graeme, but he is 8 back of Martin who would make a great Poker player with his stoic face...

England has never been so strong in world golf but they dominate the final 2 pairings tomorrow, but watch out for Kaymer.. the stage is set for him to win it all !!


Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com

Thursday, November 25, 2010

"He kind of left me in the dust literally out there"....McDowell re Kaymer..

They played together in today's opening round in the desert of Dubai.. Kaymer -5 67.... McDowell E, 72.
So a 5 shot advantage to Martin Kaymer over the Irishman with 3 rounds to play in the Race to Dubai playing in ideal conditions, sunny, warm, no wind..

Neither lead the tournament.. That honour goes to the lanky Swede Robert Karlsson -7,65, who suffered an eye problem 2 years ago which sidelined him for 3 months. He hasn't figured prominently since he won in Qatar earlier this year, but says he is feeling great, and he could have shot 63 until he drove the ball against a tree on the 18th, ended up with a bogey 6.

Kaymer lies 3rd, 2 shots behind Karlsson. Remember if it all comes together for him he can win The Race to Dubai, take home €2,000,000 and become the world's #1 player !!! He holed a 7 iron on the 3rd for an eagle 2 for the shot of the day..

McDowell needs to finish in the top 3 here at this Earth Course at the Jumeirah Golf Estates to have any chance of winning The Race to Dubai but he is T25. He has been suffering from a head cold. 


I watched the 19 year old Korean kid. NOH, Seung-yul who is 2nd after -6 66 and he is another phenom. He made European Tour history in March when, at the age of 18 years and 281 days, he beat K J Choi to win the Malaysian Open, the youngest pro to do that.

Thailand's Jaidee has been playing well all through the far east swing, he is 4th -4 68, then comes the cavalry charge at -3 69... Westwood, Stenson, Garcia, Poulter, Schwartzel who had an ace on the 6th, and Canizares.

Westwood is the defending champion.

Leaderboard

1 KARLSSON, Robert -7 18 -7 65 - - - 65


2 NOH, Seung-yul -6 18 -6 66 - - - 66
3 KAYMER, Martin -5 18 -5 67 - - - 67
4 JAIDEE, Thongchai -4 18 -4 68 - - - 68
T5 STENSON, Henrik -3 18 -3 69 - - - 69
T5 GARCIA, Sergio -3 18 -3 69 - - - 69
T5 CAÑIZARES, Alejandro -3 18 -3 69 - - - 69
T5 SCHWARTZEL, Charl -3 18 -3 69 - - - 69
T5 POULTER, Ian -3 18 -3 69 - - - 69
T5 WESTWOOD, Lee -3 18 -3 69 - - - 69
T11 AIKEN, Thomas -2 18 -2 70 - - - 70
T11 BOYD, Gary -2 18 -2 70 - - - 70
T11 JACQUELIN, Raphaël -2 18 -2 70 - - - 70
T11 HORSEY, David -2 18 -2 70 - - - 70
T11 CASEY, Paul -2 18 -2 70 - - - 70
T11 JIMÉNEZ, Miguel Angel -2 18 -2 70 - - - 70

Tee times round 2

1 07:30 GOOSEN Retief DONALDSON Jamie

1 07:40 WILLETT Danny HANSON Peter
1 07:50 LAWRIE Peter ROCK Robert
1 08:00 MOLINARI Edoardo DAVIES Rhys
1 08:10 WILSON Oliver ANDERSSON HED Fredrik
1 08:20 BJÖRN Thomas PARRY John
1 08:30 DONALD Luke HARRINGTON Padraig
1 08:40 HANSEN Anders MANASSERO Matteo
1 08:50 MCGRANE Damien HANSEN Søren
1 09:00 ELS Ernie OOSTHUIZEN Louis
1 09:15 KHAN Simon GALLACHER Stephen
1 09:25 FDEZ-CASTAÑO Gonzalo MAYBIN Gareth
1 09:35 RAMSAY Richie GARRIDO Ignacio
1 09:45 EDFORS Johan WOOD Chris
1 09:55 QUIROS Alvaro MCDOWELL Graeme
1 10:05 GREEN Richard HAVRET Grégory
1 10:15 DYSON Simon LUITEN Joost
1 10:25 FRASER Marcus BOURDY Grégory
1 10:35 MCILROY Rory MOLINARI Francesco
1 10:45 CLARKE Darren FISHER Ross
1 11:00 YANG Y. E. RUMFORD Brett
1 11:10 DERKSEN Robert-Jan KJELDSEN Søren
1 11:20 JIMÉNEZ Miguel Angel CASEY Paul
1 11:30 JACQUELIN Raphaël HORSEY David
1 11:40 AIKEN Thomas BOYD Gary
1 11:50 POULTER Ian WESTWOOD Lee
1 12:00 SCHWARTZEL Charl CAÑIZARES Alejandro
1 12:10 GARCIA Sergio STENSON Henrik
1 12:20 JAIDEE Thongchai KAYMER Martin

1 12:30 NOH Seung-yul KARLSSON Robert

Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Kaymer joins Westwood and McIlroy..'No' to PGA tour..

This note from europeantour.com

After his practice round on yesterday,  Martin Kaymer confirmed that he, like Lee Westwood, will not be joining the US PGA Tour next season.


The blows to the American circuit have been coming thick and fast, with Rory McIlroy announcing that he is giving up membership next year to concentrate on Europe again.

"Schedule-wise it doesn't really fit to play both," stated Kaymer. "I consider the European Tour as my home - I think you play against the best players in the world. You have all of the great players here."


When Kaymer says ' you have all the top players here' a look at the World Rankings confirms that 12 of the world's top 20 are European Tour members, and Tiger is only at #2 because of the 2 year system golf uses to calibrate the points. He certainly hasn't been in the top 25 this year. 39 of the top 50 have European tour membership

That doesn't mean several of those do not have homes in the States and play the PGA tour as well. Ian Poulter recently moved to Florida and the ultimate globe trotter Ernie Els did as well. Adam Scott and Luke Donald also have homes in the US.

Part of the problem for Euro tour members playing on the PGA tour according to Gordon Simpson the Media Director, European tour is that" members must play 12 for us at the moment and that will rise to 13 in 2011 season. It is 15 on the PGA Tour, and as for the Fed-Ex Cup – the 4 weeks clash with the main holiday weeks for the schoolkids in the UK."

Lee Westwood for one does not want to miss those holidays with his family, nor does he need to anymore.


George O'Grady is the CEO of the tour now but it was the insight of his predecessor Ken Schofield to incorporate the Tunisian Open into the schedule in 1982, then the Johnnie Walker Classic in 1992 that has paved the way to the European tour's co-sanctioned events around the world, including China and the events we have been watching recently in Singapore and Hong Kong.

For a tour that started in 1972 playing for 250,000 pounds it has grown to 51 tournaments in 26 countries for over 93 million pounds and the Challenge tour has 33 tournaments in 24 countries, and their Senior Tour is growing as well.

They now have a European HQ at Wentworth and an International office right in Dubai..

Top European tour players will still build their schedules around the 4 majors and the 4 World Golf Championship events ( 6 of those are in the States) but those like McIlroy, Westwood and now Kaymer can be rewarded handsomely now concentrating the rest of their schedule on the Race to Dubai without having to play on the PGA tour..

World Rankings  ( * denotes European Tour member)

*1 Lee Westwood, Eng 8.57


2 Tiger Woods, USA 8.07 
*3 Martin Kaymer, Deu 7.87
4 Phil Mickelson, USA 7.46 
5 Steve Stricker, USA 6.81
6 Jim Furyk, USA 6.77
*7 Paul Casey, Eng 6.05
*8 Luke Donald, Eng 5.83 
*9 Graeme McDowell, Nir 5.68
*10 Rory McIlroy, Nir 5.57
*11 Ian Poulter, Eng 5.29 
12 Matt Kuchar, USA 5.17 
*13 Ernie Els, Zaf 5.15 
14 Dustin Johnson, USA 4.91
*15 Francesco Molinari, Ita 4.53
*16 Edoardo Molinari, Ita 4.34
17 Hunter Mahan, USA 4.26
*18 Retief Goosen, Zaf 4.21 
*19 Adam Scott, Aus 3.93
20 Zach Johnson, USA 3.92 


(Going into the final event of the European Tour season, Kaymer has a lead of €290,910 over Graeme McDowell, his only remaining challenger, at the top of The Race to Dubai.

However both Kaymer and McDowell would walk away with €1,902,418 for the bonus pool and €910,348 for the first prize should either win.!!!)

Bryan Angus

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

European Tour finale..3 majors and a Ryder Cup plus the world #1 !!!

Tournament organizers have long reserved the right to have a hand in the Thursday / Friday pairings to appeal to the spectators and more importantly TV..

That's why Tiger is nearly always on when you tune in...

Sometimes they will pair majors winners together, sometimes the top amateur will get a plum pairing, sometimes nationality will be considered, but always the rabbits are off early and late...

This week in Dubai, none of this applies.. The European tour officials have paired the guys up in order from 60-1 so McDowell and Kaymer who are in a 2 horse race for player of the year, are in the last group..

They are 9 hours ahead of EST so more late night early morning reporting for me, so please look me up early with the scores and stories...

1 07:30 HANSEN Søren AIKEN Thomas

1 07:40 EDFORS Johan DERKSEN Robert-Jan
1 07:50 BJÖRN Thomas BOURDY Grégory
1 08:00 FRASER Marcus ROCK Robert
1 08:10 STENSON Henrik BOYD Gary
1 08:20 PARRY John WOOD Chris
1 08:30 RAMSAY Richie WILSON Oliver
1 08:40 KJELDSEN Søren RUMFORD Brett
1 08:50 GARRIDO Ignacio GARCIA Sergio
1 09:00 JACQUELIN Raphaël DONALDSON Jamie
1 09:15 NOH Seung-yul JAIDEE Thongchai
1 09:25 LAWRIE Peter YANG Y. E.
1 09:35 MAYBIN Gareth MCGRANE Damien
1 09:45 FDEZ-CASTAÑO Gonzalo CAÑIZARES Alejandro
1 09:55 DYSON Simon CLARKE Darren
1 10:05 HORSEY David MANASSERO Matteo
1 10:15 LUITEN Joost HAVRET Grégory
1 10:25 GALLACHER Stephen KHAN Simon
1 10:35 GOOSEN Retief WILLETT Danny
1 10:45 KARLSSON Robert HANSEN Anders
1 11:00 GREEN Richard ANDERSSON HED Fredrik
1 11:10 HARRINGTON Padraig DAVIES Rhys
1 11:20 QUIROS Alvaro HANSON Peter
1 11:30 DONALD Luke FISHER Ross
1 11:40 MCILROY Rory CASEY Paul
1 11:50 MOLINARI Edoardo OOSTHUIZEN Louis
1 12:00 SCHWARTZEL Charl JIMÉNEZ Miguel Angel
1 12:10 POULTER Ian ELS Ernie
1 12:20 MOLINARI Francesco WESTWOOD Lee
1 12:30 MCDOWELL Graeme KAYMER Martin

Right off the bat I see lot's of intrigue...

Kaymer vs McDowell with Kaymer holding a 230,000 euro lead but with over 900,000 euro as a first prize these 2 will settle the Race to Dubai winner, no one else can catch them... However...

Lee Westwood is rested, fit and is the world #1... Francesco Molinari can cap off a dream year..Ian Poulter is red hot and won last week..Luke Donald has travelled the world this year, will the English bulldog finally have his day in the sun...

Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey... McIlroy won his first pro event here as a 19 year old and has been in the mix all through the far east swing and Paul Casey wants to wrap up a long year ( it seems like years ago he and Louis Oosthuizen battled it out at St Andrews then a week later Ian Hutchison and I chatted with him at St Georges)

Watch for Simon Dyson who played well enough to win last week and may this..

As I wrote earlier this is a week of great celebration on this tour.. 3 majors winners and a Ryder Cup not to mention a world #1 is unbelievable..

Today there was a special presentation... ( courtesy europeantour.com)

US PGA Champion Martin Kaymer, US Open Champion Graeme McDowell and Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen have been presented with European golf’s highest award of Honorary Life Membership of The European Tour.

More to follow

Bryan Angus   bryanangus4@gmail.com

Sunday, November 21, 2010

'My friend' Pat Burns..

The news finally came about the passing of Pat and I would like to take a minute to say a word about the man who became my friend in 1995.

I started working at the Fan590 that year and got to know Pat through Bill Watters who was with the Leafs as an Asst GM at the time and was a regular on the station with us.

Pat, as the Leaf's coach was on the Morning Show at my request on a regular basis and I remember the day in March 1996 when we got word that he had come back from a road trip, out west I think, so the team wasn't at the rink when he was fired. He wrote a note on the board saying goodbye and I called him on his cell in his truck as he drove all the way home to his cottage in Magog, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec..

 " Yeah, that's right I'm gone, and I'm heading for a few Double Diamonds back home so don't call til later tomorrow "

It was the next year 1997 when he was out of work that cemented our friendship as I had asked him to join us on the Morning Show every Mon/Wed/Fri as our playoff analyst at 745am . I paid him $75 a show and he was just great with Pat and John   ( Marsden and Derringer,then my hosts on the show) and remember he was still hot here in Toronto..

All the years following we stayed in touch, through his time in Boston, his favourite rides through the New Hampshire hills on his beloved Harley when the cancer depressed him, his 3 fights with cancer, his time in New Jersey, his years in Florida with Scotty Bowman, the time his house down there was hit by a hurricane, the times he'd call from the truck while he was waiting for Line (wife) to "finish her freaking shopping !!" ...many have been well documented, but like Grapes, once Pat was in your corner, he was always there for you which is why he was so effective as a coach.

He said he always remembered I "gave him a gig" when he didn't have one !! All of $75 bucks !!!

Once he tried to do the interview from one of those plane pay phones, which due to some distortion made him sound like he was slurring his words which of course didn't go unnoticed by Marsden !! In addition the captain kept on coming on the plane's intercom pointing out landmarks below and Burnsy said " It's bad enough I sound hammered but the frigging captain thinks he's a tour guide "

When we moved to Rogers he couldn't come on with me anymore because he was doing a daily morning hit on a rival network in Montreal (CKAC) ..

The last time we spoke, I apologized for having left it so long saying I didn't know what to say since we knew by then his time was nigh.. Typical of Pat he scolded me " Well I'll be dead soon so if you don't start calling you'll never talk to me anyway !"

I guess I won't my friend, but I'll never forget you...

Bryan Angus

Poulter wins in Hong Kong, Canucks moving on @ Q school..

Ian Poulter has won the UBS Hong Kong Open by a shot from 17 year old Italian sensation Matteo Manassero..

First here are all the Canuck scores from this second stage of Q school and congratulations to Matt Richardson, Ted Brown, Matt McQuillan, Richard Lee, David McKenzie and Chris Baryla who will all move onto the final stage.


Brooksville, Florida (19 qualify)


T30 Bryan DeCorso (Guelph) -3 71,70,72,72
T13 Matt Richardson (Woodbridge) -6 74,70,70,68 (born in England, lives in Woodbridge)
67   Cam Burke (New Hamburg) +13 73,72,74,82


Panama City,Florida (19 qualify)

T18 Ted Brown (Peterborough) E 73,74,65,72


Murrieta, California (20 qualify)

5   Richard Lee (Vancouver)-5 65,73,73,72
T3 Matt McQuillan ( Kingston) -6 70,71,71,70
WD Mitch Gillis (Williams Lake BC) +9 74,74,77
58   Ryan Yip (Calgary) +17 73,82,76,74
T12 David MacKenzie (Victoria) E 72,71,70,75 ( lives in Canada but is Australian)


McKinney, Texas (20 qualify)

T40 James Love ( Calgary) -1 72,68,75,72
T40 Peter Laws (Mississauga) -1 74,73,69,71


Seaside, California (19 qualify)

T13 Chris Baryla ( Vernon BC) -8 73,72,66,69
T55 Adam Hadwin ( Abbotsford BC) +3 71,73,73,74
T40 Brennan Webb ( Bracebridge) -1 72,74,71,70
T66 Adam Spiers ( Winnipeg) +12 74,75,75,76
T70 Kent Eger (Regina) +18 78,74,79,75

Now back to Hong Kong where Poulter won his 10 European title. I watched most of this and afterward he said he took 4 weeks off after the Ryder Cup to get rested for the Race to Dubai and is really disappointed he didn't win at least one of the 2 weeks prior to this one..

"I'll be honest, the last two weeks I've been really disappointed. Shanghai I was lying fourth with six holes to play. "

"Obviously last week, I was in the lead for a number of holes. I was in position again to win and I didn't do it  I didn't convert the putts"

He shot -3 67 to finish with a -22 total of 258.

Simon Dyson 65, England and Italy's Matteo Manassero 62, were a shot back
 
Manassero's -8 62 was just brilliant, the sky is the limit for this 17 year old and how bright a future for Italian golf with him and the Molinari's !!
 
 American Anthony Kang 65, was 4th ahead of Graeme McDowell 68,who faded a little having started the day in 2nd. Still he is now 214,222 euros behind Kaymer going into next week's finale in Dubai
 
Rory McIlroy has been second here the last 2 years at this little Hong Kong Golf Club but never really threatened Poulter who the way he is playing must be considered the favourite to win it all next week.


1 POULTER, Ian -22 18 -3 67 60 64 67 258

T2 MANASSERO, Matteo -21  -8 67 63 67 62 259
T2 DYSON, Simon -21  -5 64 65 65 65 259
4   KANG, Anthony -20  -5 67 61 67 65 260
5 MCDOWELL, Graeme -19  -2 65 65 63 68 261
6 MCILROY, Rory -18  -3 63 66 66 67 262
T7 MAYBIN, Gareth -17  -9 67 67 68 61 263
T7 DONALDSON, Jamie -17  -4 66 66 65 66 263
T7 SINGH, Jeev Milkha -17  -3 63 67 66 67 263
10 FRASER, Marcus -16  -4 68 63 67 66 264

Bryan Angus

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Poulter takes a 2 shot lead after round 3 in Hong Kong...

I just finished watching most of this from Hong Kong on the Golf Channel and there wasn't the same fireworks as yesterday, it was a calm, grey day at the UBS Hong Kong Open, but enjoyable none the less.

Ian Poulter, dressed modestly in pink and grey, made birdie at 17 and 18 to grab a 2 shot lead over guess who, Graeme McDowell going into the final round.  He shot a -6 64 to sit at -19 while McDowell who really got going with an eagle at 10 shot a -7 63 -17 total..

Another Englishman, the blond haired Simon Dyson  fired a-5 65 -16 total to be 3rd, 1 shot ahead of Rory McIlroy (66) and Anthony Kang the Korean American (67) both at -15.

I see Rory has got the grey streaks going in his hair these days, he kind of looks like a younger Hale Irwin with the new 'do'..

By the way Poulter got out of his courtesy car yesterday and told his caddie " I feel like I am going to go 10 under today (60) and his caddy said " if we are going that low, better make it a 59 "

He of course narrowly missed the 59 !!

Remember there is a lot at stake here tomorrow with only the top 60 on the money list going forward to the UAE for next weeks season finale in Dubai where they will play for $7.5 million and of course the $10 million dollar Race to Dubai bonus prize fund..

The European tour has 3 major winners and a win at the Ryder Cup to celebrate next week as well as the world's #1. It is a reflection of the strength of this tour and as such one of the reasons I keep enthusing and writing about it.


1 POULTER, Ian -19 18 -6 67 60 64 - 191


2 MCDOWELL, Graeme -17 18 -7 65 65 63 - 193
3 DYSON, Simon -16 18 -5 64 65 65 - 194
T4 MCILROY, Rory -15 18 -4 63 66 66 - 195
T4 KANG, Anthony -15 18 -3 67 61 67 - 195
T6 BROWN, Mark -14 18 -5 62 69 65 - 196
T6 SINGH, Jeev Milkha -14 18 -4 63 67 66 - 196
T8 DONALDSON, Jamie -13 18 -5 66 66 65 - 197
T8 BOURDY, Grégory -13 18 -5 66 66 65 - 197  ( defending champion)
T8 MANASSERO, Matteo -13 18 -3 67 63 67 - 197

Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com

Friday's play at PGA tour Q school

Out in Seaside, California, Chris Baryla shot himself into contention with a beauty -6 66 to be T21 with a round to go..Chris's teacher, Scarborough native Rick Todd at UTEP has always claimed Chris has as much if not more talent than any Canadian pro. Chris had a long time back injury operated on earlier this year and told me he is feeling good finally.

He will be able to get a medical exemption for the PGA tour therefore this year, and is trying to improve upon that position with a good result at Q school.

Bryan DeCorso T24 and Matt Richardson T29 need good days on Saturday to get in..Ted Brown T17 looks good in Panama City, Fla. and Richard Lee T8 and Mitch Gillis(10) are still well within the number out in Murrieta, California

Both Yohann Benson and Danny Sahl failed to qualify in Humble Texas..

Humble, Texas (19 qualify)
T30 Yohann Benson  ( Montreal) +4, 72,75,70,75
T38 Danny Sahl ( Sherwood Park, Alberta) +3, 77,73,69,75

Brooksville, Florida (19 qualify)

T24 Bryan DeCorso (Guelph) -3 71,70,72
T29 Matt Richardson (Woodbridge) -2 74,70,70
T55 Cam Burke (New Hamburg) +3 73,72,74


Panama City,Florida (19 qualify)
T17 Ted Brown (Peterborough) -1 73,74,65

Murrieta, California (20 qualify)

T8 Richard Lee (Vancouver)-6 65,73,73
10 Matt McQuillan ( Kingston) -3 70,71,71
T56 Mitch Gillis (Williams Lake BC) +9 74,74,77
69  Ryan Yip (Calgary) +15 73,82,76

T11 David MacKenzie (Victoria) -3 72,71,70 ( lives in Canada but is Australian)

McKinney, Texas (20 qualify)

T41 James Love ( Calgary) -1 72,68,75
T47 Peter Laws (Mississauga) E 74,73,69

Seaside, California (19 qualify)

T21 Chris Baryla ( Vernon BC) -5 73,72,66

T45 Adam Hadwin ( Abbotsford BC) +1 71,73,73
T45 Brennan Webb ( Bracebridge) +1 72,74,71
T67 Adam Spiers ( Winnipeg) +8 74,75,75
T70 Kent Eger (Regina) +15 78,74,79


Bryan Angus

Friday, November 19, 2010

Rutledge's gains 'conditional' status on Champions Tour

Jim Rutledge gave it a great try at Coral Springs, Florida, the sight of the Champions Tour Q school

He has just finished his round at -2 70... -10 total good for T8 so he barely missed out on securing full status, but he has earned conditional status which means he is expected to get into almost a third of the regular full-field events apart from his Monday qualifiers,
He was trying to finish inside the top five to get full exempt status..

I hope to hear from him soon and will pass on our chat

Bryan Angus






Keith Clearwater is in, as is Phil Blackmar and Frankie Minosa


1 Keith Clearwater SC 1 14 -15 68 69 63 -- 200



Bryan Angus

Tiger Woods talks about his new life..

Yesterday Tiger decided to speak about where he is in his life now, both to Newsweek and to ESPN radio, in an attempt to "re-connect with his fans"..

When I am writing later this year about 2010 golf year in review, obviously the fall of the game's superstar will be front and center, so I have posted a copy of the Newsweek article for you here..


Last November, everything I thought I knew about myself changed abruptly, and what others perceived about me shifted, too. I had been conducting my personal life in an artificial way—as if detached from the values my upbringing had taught, and that I should have embraced.

The physical pain from that car accident has long healed. But the pain in my soul is more complex and unsettling; it has been far more difficult to ease—and to understand. But this much is obvious now: my life was out of balance, and my priorities were out of order. I made terrible choices and repeated mistakes. I hurt the people whom I loved the most. And even beyond accepting the consequences and responsibility, there is the ongoing struggle to learn from my failings.


At first, I didn’t want to look inward. Frankly, I was scared of what I would find—what I had become. But I’m grateful that I did examine my life because it has made me more grounded than I’ve ever been; I hope that with reflection will come wisdom. Golf is a self-centered game, in ways good and bad. So much depends on one’s own abilities. But for me, that self-reliance made me think I could tackle the world by myself. It made me think that if I was successful in golf, then I was invincible. Now I know that, no matter how tough or strong we are, we all need to rely on others.

Slowly, I’m regaining the balance that I’d lost. My healing process is far from complete, but I am beginning to appreciate things I had overlooked before. I’m learning that some victories can mean smiles, not trophies, and that life’s most ordinary events can bring joy. Giving my son, Charlie, a bath, for example, beats chipping another bucket of balls. Making mac and cheese for him and his sister, Sam, is better than dining in any restaurant. Sharing a laugh watching cartoons or reading a book beats channel-surfing alone. Some nights now, it’s just me and the kids, an experience that’s both trying and rewarding. Probably like the experience a lot of families have every evening around the world.

When I first came back to golf this spring, after taking a necessary break, I was worried about how fans would treat me. But they’ve been kinder and more supportive than I ever imagined possible. That’s true away from the golf course, too. When I go to the store, or to work out, or to grab lunch, I’ve been amazed by the considerate, encouraging words I hear. I’ve realized that those sentiments are not merely courtesies but generous expressions of compassion for which I’ll always be thankful.

I have a lasting gratitude to those who stood by me in ways large and small. Unfortunately, opportunists are trying still to cash in on my troubles, no matter how irresponsible or ridiculous their claims may be. In many cases, I’ve never even met these people. But there’s no way I can dispute each lie without provoking more. Besides, everyone has probably heard more than they ever wanted to about my private life.

I can never truly repair the damage I’ve done, especially to my family. But I can keep trying. What endures in the record books are the achievements won through competition. What endures in our actual lives is the love of our family and the respect of others. I know now that some things can and must change with time and effort. I’m not the same man I was a year ago. And that’s a good thing.

Bryan Angus

Poulter shoots 60 as the pros tear the Hong Kong GC apart

I was up most of the night watching the fireworks that are taking place at the UBS Hong Kong Open.

It's not often you see a guy upset after shooting 60 to lead an event, but Ian Poulter was !! He lipped out on the 6th and just grazed the cup with a birdie putt on 17, and apart from a loose drive into the rough on 16, where he recovered to make par, he put on an absolute clinic on this tight little par 70 Hong Kong GC.

Dressed nattily as ever in a navy blue shirt and matching blue and burnt orange plaid pants and shoes, Poulter looked like he would end the day in second as Rory McIlroy had the lead standing on the 18th tee. He took a long iron for safety and found a fairway trap, then tried to go for the green from 175, hit it fat into the pond and ended up with a double bogey 6.  Earlier he made an albatross on 9 when he holed out from 170 yards.

Look at the scores Poulter 60, American Anthony Kang 61, Simon Dyson 65 playing with John Daly, 17 year old Matteo Manassero 63, Anders Hansen 64, Graeme McDowell 65, Marcus Fraser 63 ...

You have to go down to the 85th player in the field to find a stroke average of E,70. Poulter used only 24 putts, hit 10/14 fairways and was 2/2 in scrambling and 3/3 in sand saves...

Ideal scoring conditions and rain earlier in the week have made the course defenceless, much like our St Georges was for the Canadian Open earlier this year..


1 POULTER, Ian -13 18 -10 67 60 - - 127


2 KANG, Anthony -12 18 -9 67 61 - - 128
T3 DYSON, Simon -11 18 -5 64 65 - - 129
T3 MCILROY, Rory -11 18 -4 63 66 - - 129
T5 MANASSERO, Matteo* -10 18 -7 67 63 - - 130
T5 SINGH, Jeev Milkha* -10 18 -3 63 67 - - 130
T5 HANSEN, Anders* -10 18 -6 66 64 - - 130
T5 MCDOWELL, Graeme -10 18 -5 65 65 - - 130
T5 JAIDEE, Thongchai -10 18 -6 66 64 - - 130
T10 BROWN, Mark -9 18 -1 62 69 - - 131
T10 HANSEN, Søren* -9 18 -3 64 67 - - 131
T10 FERRIE, Kenneth -9 18 -4 65 66 - - 131
T10 FRASER, Marcus -9 18 -7 68 63 - - 131
T10 ZANOTTI, Fabrizio* -9 18 -6 67 64 - - 131

Bryan Angus

Canucks at PGA Q school 2nd stage

Going into today's play we have several Canucks in contention to make it to the final stage of Q school..

Both Yohann Benson T15 and Danny Sahl T23 have a chance down in Humble, Texas with 1 round to play. Meanwhile Bryan DeCorso T23 moved into contention in Brooksville, Fla., with at 71,70 start. They have 2 rounds to go..
Out in Murrieta, California Richard Lee T4 and Matt McQuillan T12 are in great shape and in McKinney Texas James Love T20 is right on the number after a sparkling -4 68 yesterday..

Here are the scores

Humble, Texas (19 qualify)

T15 Yohann Benson +1, 72,75,70
T23 Danny Sahl +3, 77,73,69


Brooksville, Florida (19 qualify)

T23 Bryan DeCorso -3 71,70
T44 Matt Richardson  E 74,70
T54 Cam Burke +1 73,72


Panama City, Florida (19 qualify)

T41 Ted Brown +5 73,74


Murrieta, California (20 qualify)

T4  Richard Lee -6 65,73
T12 Matt McQuillan -3 70,71
T46 Mitch Gillis +4 74,74
T69 Ryan Yip +11 73,82

T24 David MacKenzie -1 72,71 ( lives in Canada but is Australian)


McKinney, Texas (20 qualify)

T20 James Love -4 72,68
T62 Peter Laws +3 74,73


Seaside, California (19 qualify)

T33 Adam Hadwin E 71,73
T43 Chris Baryla +1 73,72
T47 Brennan Webb +2 72,74
T58 Adam Spiers +5 74,75
T71 Kent Eger +8 78,74


Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Rutledge continues fine play at Q school...T9 after 3 rounds

Jim Rutledge is fighting hard for his Champions Tour card. Today he fired a 34 out 35 in 69 for a -8 208 total good for T9 going into tomorrow's final round of Q school on the Champions Tour.. I hope to hear from him shortly and will pass on his comments..

Keith Clearwater who has had more issues off the course than on went low today with a -9 63 to grab a 3 shot lead over Lee Rinker..

Only 6 spots are available..

1 T2 Keith Clearwater SC -9 F -16 68 69 63 -- 200


T2 Lee Rinker SC -6 F -13 68 69 66 -- 203
3 T12 John Morse SC -6 F -11 67 72 66 -- 205
T4 T22 Robert L. Thompson SC -6 F -9 72 69 66 -- 207
T4 T7 Phil Blackmar SC -3 F -9 67 71 69 -- 207
T4 T2 Fred Holton SC -2 F -9 67 70 70 -- 207
T4 T2 Trevor Dodds SC -2 F -9 71 66 70 -- 207
T4 T2 Roger Chapman SC -2 F -9 70 67 70 -- 207
T9 T12 Jim Rutledge SC -3 F -8 70 69 69 -- 208
T9 1 Frankie Minoza SC 2 F -8 66 68 74 -- 208


Bryan Angus

McIlroy and McDowell in contention after round 1 in Hong Kong..

A brilliant -8 62 from Mark Brown a journeyman from New Zealand has given him the first round lead at the UBS Hong Kong Open.


The 35 year old, who last won on The European Tour in 2008 at the Johnnie Walker Classic, leads Rory McIlroy and India's Jeev Milkha Singh by a shot at the Hong Kong Golf Club

21 year old Rory McIlroy is trying to win the UBS Hong Kong Open for the third time having finished 2nd  in 2008 and 2009 and his -7 63 led the field until Brown, who has had an indifferent year came in with 62.

Graeme McDowell still chasing Germany's Martin Kaymer in The Race to Dubai  is three shots back after his -5 65.. Kaymer is not in Hong Kong this week nor is Lee Westwood..

1 BROWN, Mark* -8 18 -8 62 - - - 62


T2 MCILROY, Rory* -7 18 -7 63 - - - 63
T2 SINGH, Jeev Milkha -7 18 -7 63 - - - 63
T4 DYSON, Simon* -6 18 -6 64 - - - 64
T4 HANSEN, Søren -6 18 -6 64 - - - 64
T6 MCDOWELL, Graeme* -5 18 -5 65 - - - 65
T6 MCGRANE, Damien -5 18 -5 65 - - - 65
T6 NAM, Young* -5 18 -5 65 - - - 65
T6 DAVIES, Rhys -5 18 -5 65 - - - 65
T6 WILSON, Oliver -5 18 -5 65 - - - 65
T6 FERRIE, Kenneth* -5 18 -5 65 - - - 65

Bryan Angus

Talbot fails in bid to get Senior European Tour card

Daniel Talbot of St. Basile-Le-Grand, Quebec shot a 76 today to finish in a group at 292, well off the pace of American Tim Thelen who's magnificent 65 gave him  the winning 275 score. He and 5 others will have full status on the European Senior tour in 2011. They are :

275 T Thelen (USA) 67 71 72 65,
280 P Errity (am) (Irl) 69 71 74 66, P Dahlberg (Swe) 67 72 73 68
282 F Mann (Sco) 72 71 70 69, A Fernandez (Chi) 71 72 69 70, M Moreno (Esp) 70 70 72 70

Thelen  reached the turn at Pestana Golf Resort in Portugal  in just 29 strokes to put an insurmountable lead between himself and the Irish amateur Pat Errity.

10 others will receive conditional status..

Talbot couldn't match the terrific 71 he posted in stiff winds on Wednesday. Here is his group.
292 N Mitchell (Eng) 74 70 75 73, M Lord (Eng) 72 73 75 72, M Kierstenson (Eng) 71 74 76 71, D Narveson (USA) 73 72 73 74, D Talbot (Can) 73 72 71 76

In an earlier article Graham Gunn now teaching in Ottawa told me he decided not to spend the money required to attend this Q school this year and he will continue to play when invited on his 'conditional' status.

Thanks to Steve Todd of the European Tour's media office for keeping me up to date this week

Bryan Angus

Canucks at PGA tour Q school 2nd Stage.. Lee leads in California

Vancouver's Richard Lee is off to a great start playing the Bear Creek course in Murrieta California where he leads the field with a -7 65. He had 8 birdies and only the 1 bogey and played the 4 par 3's in 3 under par

Here are the other Canadian scores.

Humble, Texas (19 qualify)


T33 Yohann Benson +3, 72,75
T52 Danny Sahl +6, 77,73


Brooksville, Florida (19 qualify)

T66 Matt Richardson +2 74
T58 Cam Burke +1 73
T40 Bryan DeCorso -1 71


Panama City, Florida (19 qualify)

T31 Ted Brown +2 73


Murrieta, California (20 qualify)

1 Richard Lee -7 65T12 Matt McQuillan -2 70

T43 Mitch Gillis +2 74
T33 Ryan Yip +1 73
T27 David MacKenzie E 72


McKinney, Texas (20 qualify)
T43 James Love E 72


Seaside, California (19 qualify)

T53 Adam Spiers +2 74
T26 Adam Hadwin -1 71
73  Kent Eger +6 78
T42 Chris Baryla  +1 73

Bryan Angus

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Fred Couples amazing rookie season on Champions Tour

I mentioned year end awards earlier today and it got me thinking of Freddie Couples rookie season on the Champions Tour... He turned 50 on Oct 3 2009..

I watched Freddie here at our RBC Canadian Open, RBC is one of his sponsors, and he missed the cut on a St Georges course the guys were tearing apart. That's always been my thing about Freddie,it just seems to me when he is in the mood and on he is great, otherwise he just seems to want to be on a couch somewhere with his favourite comfort food and some team from Houston on his TV !!

Anyhow he was sensational on the Senior circuit in this his rookie year..

He played in 17 events.... won 4...was 2nd in 4... was 3rd in 1, won over $2.35m and don't forget he was in the thick of it at the Masters until Sunday.. still he finished 6th

Here's the rest !!.. He was No.1 in six of the 10 statistical categories and set all time records in 3 of them  


Scoring 67.96 (all-time record)
Driving Distance 292.8
Putting 1.693 (all-time record)
Birdies 5.00
Eagles 50.8 (all-time record)
Sand Saves 65.4%

Bernhard Langer led Greens In Regulation (74.9%), Allen Doyle was No.1 in Driving Accuracy (82.23%) and Nick Price claimed the Total Driving (24) and All-Around (52) categories
 
Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com

Jim Rutledge T9 at Champions Q school.. Talbot in the hunt at Sr.European Q school

Jim has just completed his 2nd round at is currently T9 after a battling -3 69 to go with yesterday's -2 70 for a -5 139 total.
He started with 2 birdies then birdied the par 5 8th to go out in 33. Then came bogey's at 11 and 13 but he fought back with birdies at 14 and 15 before parring in.

Right now the clubhouse leader is Trevor Dodds at -7, 137, but Frankie Mimoza is at -10 playing his back 9..

They are playing the TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs Florida..

He is seeking one of the five fully-exempt berths that are available at this year's 72-hole event.


European Senior Tour Q School ( Pestana Golf Resort, Portugal)

Gordon Manson will take a two stroke advantage into the final round of European Senior Tour Qualifying School after a battling two under par 69 in tough conditions in Portugal. He has a 208 total

The cut fell at +9, 222 and 44 players have made it.. 6 full time spots are up for grabs with the next 8 getting conditional status..
2 Canucks are in the field

Ken Tarling 73,71, 79  223 just missed by a stroke ! ( Ken Tarling is a former Canadian Tour winner and one of Canada’s top instructors.. Ken is currently the Director of Instruction at The Ken Tarling Golf Academy in Stouffville)

Daniel Talbot 73,72 71 216 had one of the rounds of the day in stiff wind and rain. Only 4 players broke par of 71. He starts play tomorrow 8 shots off the lead.
 ( Daniel Talbot of Quebec, a six-time winner on the Canadian Tour)





Bryan Angus

Canucks at Stage 2 of Q school

The final stage gets underway December 1-6 in Florida, but this week is Stage 2 and I will keep you abreast of our Canuks...

There are 6 sites and 5 of them start today, one yesterday where Montreal's Yohann Benson got of to a good start with a E 72 good for T11.. He along with Danny Sahl are regulars on the Canadian Tour.

It has not yet been announced how many qualifiers there will be from each site but it is usually from 10-20 and those who make that number will go to the final stage where the top 25 get their cards for 2011.

Humble, Texas

T11 Yohann Benson  E, 72
T53 Danny Sahl  +5, 77


Brooksville, Florida

Matt Richardson
Cam Burke
Bryan DeCorso

Panama City, Florida

Ted Brown


Murrieta, California

Mitch Gillis
Ryan Yip
Richard Lee
David MacKenzie


McKinney, Texas

James Love


Seaside, California

Adam Spiers
Adam Hadwin
Kent Eger

Bryan Angus

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Jim Rutledge T17 at Champions Tour Q school

It is undoubtedly a tough tour to break into, only 5 or 6 spots available but our lone Canuck, evergreen Jim Rutledge is in the field at Coral Springs in Florida and is T17 after today's 1st round..

Lots of former PGA stars in the mix like Phil Blackmar, Keith Clearwater, Trevor Dodds, RW Eaks, Roger Chapman, Barry Lane are all here..

Here are the scores

T1 -- Frankie Minoza SC -6 F -6 66 -- -- -- 66

T1 -- J.L. Lewis SC -6 F -6 66 -- -- -- 66

T3 -- Fred Holton SC -5 F -5 67 -- -- -- 67
T3 -- Phil Blackmar SC -5 F -5 67 -- -- -- 67
T3 -- John Morse SC -5 F * -5 67 -- -- -- 67
T6 -- Jung K. Kim SC -4 F -4 68 -- -- -- 68
T6 -- Sonny Skinner SC -4 F -4 68 -- -- -- 68
T6 -- Joe Daley SC -4 F * -4 68 -- -- -- 68
T6 -- Lee Rinker SC -4 F * -4 68 -- -- -- 68
T6 -- James Mason SC -4 F * -4 68 -- -- -- 68
T6 -- Keith Clearwater SC -4 F * -4 68 -- -- -- 68
T12 -- Tom McKnight SC -3 F * -3 69 -- -- -- 69
T12 -- Mark Mouland SC -3 F -3 69 -- -- -- 69
T12 -- Rick Karbowski SC -3 F -3 69 -- -- -- 69
T12 -- Jeff Hart SC -3 F * -3 69 -- -- -- 69
T12 -- Jay Delsing SC -3 F -3 69 -- -- -- 69
T17 -- Roger Chapman SC -2 F -2 70 -- -- -- 70
T17 -- Matt Seitz SC -2 F * -2 70 -- -- -- 70
T17 -- Chris Starkjohann SC -2 F -2 70 -- -- -- 70
T17 -- Ken Martin SC -2 F -2 70 -- -- -- 70
T17 -- R.W. Eaks SC -2 F * -2 70 -- -- -- 70
T17 -- Jim Rutledge SC -2 F * -2 70 -- -- -- 70

Bryan Angus

Year end awards on PGA tour.. Furyk wins Player of the Year

Now that the 2010 PGA tour season is officially over  ( still have Q school and events like the Shark Shoot-out and Tiger's Chevron Challenge ) it's time to hand out the awards..

On Sunday night it became official that Matt Kuchar would win the Arnold Palmer Award for most money won in 2010. His $4,910,477 beat Jim Furyk by just over $100,000... He also won the Byron Nelson Award for lowest  scoring average with 69.61 just a smidgen better than Steve Stricker

I first interviewed Matt up at Diamondhead when we had the CPGA Championship/ Nationwide event, it was shortly after he turned pro after his dazzling Masters display as an amateur. He always had that great smile and friendly attitude, but his pro game went to hell in a hand basket.

Now a decade later, balding and with a re-constructed swing he has just had a great year with a win at the Barclays and an amazingly consistent 11 top 10 finishes. 

Now minutes ago, Jim Furyk has won the Player of the Year award..
He had 3 wins and 7 T10's. Remember he won the Tour Championship and the $10m FedEx Cup title in September just before flying over to Wales where he was his usual gritty self in the US loss.

As I said earlier, he won over $4.9m this year !!

Over at pgatour.com Stan Awtrey has posted some of the highlights from 2010 and I thought they would bring back some warm memories on this cold blustery Tuesday.. I will have my own list later this week and it will include the return to form of my old fav Ernie Els..


Key shot: The 6-iron that Phil Mickelson struck from the pine straw, between two pine trees, on the 15th hole at the Masters will go down as one of the all-timers. Even though Mickelson didn't make the eagle putt, the birdie was enough to let Lee Westwood and the rest of the contenders realize their cause was lost.

Biggest surprise: Louis Oosthiuzen ran away from the field with a record victory at the British Open. That may be the biggest surprise winner of a major since Todd Hamilton won the Open at Royal Troon in 2004 but he'll likely have more staying power.

Most improved: Brendon de Jonge finished third on three occasions, had seven top-10 finishes, and improved his Official World Golf Ranking from No. 323 to No. 94. Now he gets to experience something new: Life without q-school.

Best moment: Why does the Masters Tournament always seem to give us so many great moments? There's no way you can possibly top the emotional overflow that occurred behind the 18th green between Phil and Amy Mickelson. Only a person with a heart of stone didn't shed a tear when watching that scene.

Best finish: Stuart Appleby was playing every week to try to regain his fully exempt status and end a four-year winless streak. He did OK, shooting a 59 on the final day to beat Jeff Overton and win the Greenbrier Classic.

MediateMost impressive win: The victory by Rocco Mediate at the Frys.com Open was impressive on many levels. The 47-year-old won for the first time in eight years and holed out for an eagle on each day. Nice to know he'll be exempt for the next two seasons. The TOUR needs more guys like Rocco.

Best round: Didn't everybody shoot at least one 59 on TOUR this year? Regardless, the best round belonged to Rory McIlroy, who came up with a 62 in the final round at Quail Hollow to beat Phil Mickelson and win his first PGA TOUR event.

Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com

Monday, November 15, 2010

Garrigus win this weekend just one of many storylines

PGA tour media official Joe Chemycz is one of my favourite guys and when he comes up here to the Canadian Open I always get him on our Fairways radio show to tell stories about the players in the field many of you don't know about.

" To me there are 156 story's every week" Joe often says, and this week at the 2010 season ending Children's Miracle Network Classic that was true again..

Robert Garrigus who turned 33 on Remembrance Day, came to this event last year at 123 on the money list but MC with a pair of 74's and ended up at 127 and played on conditional status all year. So this year's win will be that much sweeter.. He and Bubba Watson are the tour's 2 biggest bombers, he was 1st in 2009 averaging 316 yards, and he has certainly paid his dues since turning pro in 1997. He's been through Q school 3 times,played on the Hooters and Gateway tours, played the Nationwide in 2000,02,04,05, has had a couple of T3 during the Fall Series and of course during the 2010 St Jude Classic he had a three stroke lead going into the 18th hole, needing only a double bogey to beat Karlsson and Westwood. He ended up with a triple bogey which dropped him into a three way playoff which he subsequently lost, ending up tied for 2nd  but he had never won.......... until yesterday

How about Troy Merit.. Not only did he end up at number 125 on the money list, he then went out after the tournament to play a special playoff hole worth $1m in the Kodac Challenge against Fowler and Baddeley

What is the Kodac Challenge ??  (pgatour.com)
Now in its second season, the Kodak Challenge celebrates beautiful holes and memorable moments on the PGA TOUR and challenges players to perform their best on 30 designated Kodak Challenge holes. The player with the lowest cumulative score on his best 18 Kodak Challenge holes wins the $1 million. The 485-yard, par-4 17th on the Magnolia Course was the 30th and final hole of the 2010 Kodak Challenge season

Well they all had wedges in but Merit landed his 18 inches away, nearly holing it !! After Fowler and Baddeley each missed long birdie putts, Merit tapped in for a cool $1m !!

Here's the final top 10 on the money list

1 1 Matt Kuchar 26 $4,910,477 1

2 2 Jim Furyk 21 $4,809,622 3
3 3 Ernie Els 20 $4,558,861 2
4 4 Dustin Johnson 23 $4,473,122 2
5 5 Steve Stricker 19 $4,190,235 2
6 6 Phil Mickelson 20 $3,821,733 1
7 7 Luke Donald 20 $3,665,234
8 8 Paul Casey 17 $3,613,194
9 9 Justin Rose 22 $3,603,331 2
10 10 Hunter Mahan 25 $3,574,550 2

and those around 125..

120 117 Ben Curtis 24 $812,136

121 118 Jeff Maggert 28 $801,579
122 179 Roland Thatcher 26 $796,157
123 140 Mark Wilson 28 $789,681
124 120 Joe Durant 19 $788,755
125 121 Troy Merritt 29 $786,977

126 153 Johnson Wagner 28 $753,802
127 126 Briny Baird 28 $753,577
128 125 Troy Matteson 28 $736,060
129 123 Woody Austin 29 $727,352
130 124 Michael Allen 17 $726,631

Look at Briny Baird (127) who just played himself out of the top 125 on the weekend, as did Troy Matteson (128), Woody Austin (129) and Micheal Allen (130)

On the other hand look at Roland Thatcher who was leading by 4 going into the final round, "vomited it up" as he would say after, to Garrigus but still managed to finish at 122 (up from 179) on the list to become the happiest loser of the week !!

Canucks

Graham Delaet 100,  Stephen Ames 107 and Mike Weir 151 and of course they will be joined by David Hearn (Nationwide), Chris Baryla (medical exemption) and of course the final stage of Q school starts the 1st week of December with Jon Mills amongst those Canucks vying for their cards..


LPGA

This of course is the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico and In-Kyung Kim is your winner, her first of the year, her 3rd career. She is called I.K and is yet another diminutive South Korean starring on the LPGA tour...She donated her winnings to the Lorena Ochoa charity

Suzann Pettersen is now at #2 in the world. Yani Tseng is #1. This was her 6th second place of the year and the14th of her career, kind of like a certain Greg Norman..

The women now have next week off before playing the season ending Tour Championship.

1 In-Kyung Kim -8 F -19 69 68 68 64 269 $220,000


2 Suzann Pettersen -4 F -16 70 65 69 68 272 $113,794
3 Karine Icher -4 F -15 70 67 68 68 273 $82,550
T4 Cristie Kerr -6 F -14 64 76 68 66 274 $57,629
T4 Paula Creamer -4 F -14 68 66 72 68 274 $57,629
6 Ai Miyazato -2 F -13 68 69 68 70 275 $42,054
T7 Angela Stanford -9 F -12 73 70 70 63 276 $31,255
T7 Na Yeon Choi -5 F -12 68 70 71 67 276 $31,255
T7 Stacy Lewis -1 F -12 67 69 69 71 276 $31,255
T10 Hee Young Park -5 F -11 69 71 70 67 277 $23,467
T10 Azahara Munoz -2 F -11 70 67 70 70 277 $23,467
T10 Karrie Webb -2 F -11 70 69 68 70 277 $23,467

Bryan Angus  bryanangus4@gmail.com

Scott wins rain delayed Singapore Open

Adam Scott has just won the Barclay's Singapore Open for the 3rd time, this one by 3 shots..

Torrential rain, heat and humidity plague Singapore at this time of year and this year was no different, resulting in this Monday finish..


This is his 7th European Tour title and he won here in 2005 and 2006. He started today's last 10 holes with a 3 shot lead and ended up with a 68 to finish at -17,  3 ahead of Anders Hansen.

Ian Poulter who was defending his title slipped to a 73 good to T6. His play this morning was sloppy. he missed several makeable putts then doubled the 15th while Adam made birdie to end his chances.

Graham McDowell had another great week T3 and keeps chipping away at Martin Kaymer's lead in the Race to Dubai, I will list the latest numbers in a minute..


1 SCOTT, Adam -17 18 -3 65 65 69 68 267


2 HANSEN, Anders -14 18 -3 71 66 65 68 270
T3 KARLBERG, Rikard -13 18 -4 64 70 70 67 271
T3 MCDOWELL, Graeme -13 18 -1 65 68 68 70 271
5 KANG, Kyung-nam -12 18 +1 66 67 67 72 272
T6 DONALDSON, Jamie -11 18 -1 66 69 68 70 273
T6 POULTER, Ian -11 18 +2 69 63 68 73 273
T8 JIMÉNEZ, Miguel Angel -10 18 -5 66 71 71 66 274
T8 HORNE, Keith -10 18 -3 65 72 69 68 274
T10 WOOD, Chris -9 18 -3 63 73 71 68 275
T10 KAYMER, Martin -9 18 -2 68 68 70 69 275
T10 LIANG, Wen-chong -9 18 -1 69 65 71 70 275
T10 MARKSAENG, Prayad -9 18 Par 69 65 70 71 275

Race to Dubai rankings

McDowell is now 367,600 euros behind Kaymer and is in the field next week for the UBS Hong Kong Open where incidentally Martin Kaymer is not, nor is Lee Westwood, and first prize is 301,446 euros.

1 KAYMER Martin GER 21 €3,283,930


2 MCDOWELL Graeme NIR 22 €2,916,330
3 WESTWOOD Lee ENG 13 €2,362,143
4 MOLINARI Francesco ITA 26 €2,249,324
5 ELS Ernie RSA 14 €1,911,760
6 JIMÉNEZ Miguel Angel ESP 27 €1,907,952
7 SCHWARTZEL Charl RSA 22 €1,873,139
8 MOLINARI Edoardo ITA 27 €1,785,937
9 OOSTHUIZEN Louis RSA 22 €1,767,617
10 POULTER Ian ENG 13 €1,681,697

Bryan Angus

Garrigus wins at Disney, and Thatcher gets his card !!

Robert Garrigus had one of the rounds of his pro career -8,64 to win the Children's Miracle Network at the Disney resort in Florida ... Roland Thatcher who had the lead, needed to finish second alone to get into the top 125.... and he did !! He shot even par 72 and moved to 122 on the list..

Here is the leaderboard and I will post those arond the 125 mark later this morning..


1 2 51 Robert Garrigus (MG) -21 F -8 68 65 70 64 267


2 1 122 Roland Thatcher (MG) -18 F E  65 63 70 72 270

T3 8 22 Rickie Fowler (MG) -17 F -6  66 70 69 66 271

T3 4 126 Johnson Wagner (MG) -17 F -5  70 65 69 67 271

T3 74 Spencer Levin (MG) -17 F -4  68 68 67 68 271

6 1 123 Mark Wilson (MG) -16 F -4  69 66 69 68 272

T7 8 115 Michael Connell (MG) -15 F -5  71 68 67 67 273

T7 5 102 Chris Stroud (MG) -15 F -1  62 70 70 71 273

T9 6 149 Charles Warren (MG) -14 F -4  67 70 69 68 274

T9 6 60 Charles Howell III (MG) -14 F -4  68 69 69 68 274

Bryan Angus

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Appleby wins in Australia, weather delay in Singapore, Thatcher bids for card

Stuart Appleby came from behind to catch and pass Adam Bland with a birdie, birdie finish to tie the course record and win the JBWere Australian Masters this morning in Melbourne.. He made crucial putts all day but particularly on the back nine to post a -6 65 274 total, a shot ahead of Bland who slipped to 73...

Tiger put on a grandstand birdie,eagle finish 65, 277 good for 4th..

It was a little strange in his victory speech to hear Appleby thank the ranking official from Victoria for helping raise the money to bring "Tiger and a few others" to Melbourne   " hard earned money well spent" I think were the exact words..

While appearance money for international star players is the way of the world except for the PGA tour, it is rarely mentioned publicly.


Tiger who was paid between $2-3m US to show up said he'd love to come back for a third successive year , and "bring his American Presidents Cup teammates with him".

The Presidents Cup is slated at the Royal Melbourne GC at this time next year.


1 Stuart Appleby -6 18 -10 71# 69# 69# 65# 274

2 Adam Bland 2 18 -9 65# 67# 70# 73# 275
3 Daniel Gaunt E 18 -8 65# 72# 68# 71# 276
4 Tiger Woods -6 18 -7 69# 72# 71# 65# 277
T5 Andre Stolz 1 18 -6 67# 67# 72# 72# 278
T5 Jarrod Lyle -1 18 -6 69# 70# 69# 70# 278
7 David McKenzie -2 18 -4 71# 72# 68# 69# 280
T8 Geoff Ogilvy -1 18 -3 72# 70# 69# 70# 281
T8 Robert Allenby -3 18 -3 73# 72# 68# 68# 281
T8 Camilo Villegas -1 18 -3 71# 70# 70# 70# 281
T8 Won Joon Lee -1 18 -3 69# 71# 71# 70# 281
T8 Ryan Haller 1 18 -3 71# 72# 66# 72# 281

Barclays Singapore Open

Bad weather caused a 5 1/2 hour delay in the final round and this event will be completed on Monday weather permitting..More rain is in the forecast..

Adam Scott had a 3 shot lead over Ian Poulter when darkness stopped play with 10 holes to play

1 SCOTT, Adam -17 8 -3 65 65 69 -3 199


2 POULTER, Ian -14 8 -1 69 63 68 -1 200
3 KANG, Kyung-nam -13 8 Par 66 67 67 Par 200
T4 MCDOWELL, Graeme -12 9 Par 65 68 68 Par 201
 T4 HANSEN, Anders -12 8 -1 71 66 65 -1 202
T6 BECK, Darren -10 10 -3 70 67 69 -3 206
T6 LIANG, Wen-chong -10 9 -2 69 65 71 -2 205
T6 MARKSAENG, Prayad -10 9 -1 69 65 70 -1 204
T6 KARLBERG, Rikard -10 9 -1 64 70 70 -1 204
T6 DONALDSON, Jamie -10 9 Par 66 69 68 Par 203


PGA tour
Children's Miracle Network Classic

Roland Thatcher starts play early today, in fact he is just off the 1st tee at 1105 with a 4 shot lead following his -2 70 yesterday.. He's at -18

He started the week 179th on the money list and needs to win or finish 2nd alone to get into the top 125. The win of course would give him full status for 2 years..

This leaderboard is current at 1210pm on Sunday and you can see Garrigus is -3 thru 4 holes making a run at Thatcher's lead

1 79 Roland Thatcher (MG) -18 3 E  65 63 70 198


2 1 71 Robert Garrigus (MG) -16 4 -3  68 65 70 203
3 126 Brett Wetterich (MG) -15 5 -2  68 67 68 203
T4 3 132 Johnson Wagner (MG) -14 5 -2 70 65 69 204
T4 2 93 Chris Stroud (MG) -14 4 E  62 70 70 202
T4 1 77 Spencer Levin (MG) -14 4 -1  68 68 67 203
T7 4 23 Rickie Fowler (MG) -13 7 -2  66 70 69 205
T7 125 Mark Wilson (MG) -13 6 -1  69 66 69 204
T7 49 Rory Sabbatini (MG) -13 5 -1  67 71 66 204
T7 4 52 Brian Gay (MG) -13 5 E  67 65 71 203


LPGA
Lorena Ochoa Invitational
Guadalajara, Mexico

Suzann Pettersen continues her fine play and her bid to be the number 1 female in the world, as she takes a 1 shot lead over a tight leaderboard in perfect weather in Guadaljara, Mexico...

Defending champ Michelle Wie shot 78 then WD with her ailing back...



1 Suzann Pettersen 11:46 -12 70 65 69 204


T2 Ai Miyazato 11:35 -11 68 69 68 205
T2 Stacy Lewis 11:35 -11 67 69 69 205
T2 In-Kyung Kim 11:46 -11 69 68 68 205
T2 Karine Icher 11:46 -11 70 67 68 205
6 Paula Creamer 11:35 -10 68 66 72 206
T7 Azahara Munoz E 1 -9 70 67 70 207
T7 Amy Yang 11:24 -9 71 68 68 207
T7 Karrie Webb 11:24 -9 70 69 68 207
T7 Meena Lee 11:24 -9 72 65 70 207




Bryan Angus

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Thatcher in charge at Disney, Scott and Poulter duel in Singapore..

Roland Thatcher from Hampton Va., therefore no relationship to Dame Margaret, has a 4 shot lead at Disney after a second round 63...

He played on a medical exemption in 2009 after he hurt his wrist in '08 and his best finish this year is a T10, but that's about to change if he keeps playing like this. He had 9 birdies and no bogey's and used only 24 putts !!

1 1 79 Roland Thatcher (MG) -16 F -9  65 63 128

T2 1 73 Chris Stroud (MG) -12 F -2  62 70 132
T2 6 42 Brian Gay (MG) -12 F -7  67 65 132
4 10 100 Robert Garrigus (MG) -11 F -7  68 65 133
T5 27 123 Mark Wilson (MG) -9 F -6  69 66 135
T5 27 146 Brett Quigley (PG) -9 F -6  69 66 135
T5 3 129 Jeff Quinney (MG) -9 F -4  67 68 135
T5 2 74 Jerry Kelly (MG) -9 F -3  66 69 135
T5 9 150 Brett Wetterich (PG) -9 F -5  68 67 135
T5 42 140 Johnson Wagner (PG) -9 F -7  70 65 135


Money list around 125 (as they stand now)

120 4 116 Chad Collins DNP $815,961 $815,961

121 3 118 Jeff Maggert $11,042 $802,516 $791,474
122 2 120 Joe Durant $9,541 $779,966 $770,425
123 17 140 Mark Wilson $153,925 $774,406 $620,481
124 3 121 Troy Merritt $11,042 $771,840 $760,798
125 1 126 Briny Baird $58,099 $768,437 $710,337
126 1 125 Troy Matteson $18,330 $741,658 $723,328
127 4 123 Woody Austin $0 $727,352 $727,352
128 4 124 Michael Allen $0 $726,631 $726,631
129 16 145 Jeff Quinney $153,925 $725,011 $571,086
130 3 127 Aron Price $18,330 $722,432 $704,102
131 2 129 Michael Connell $18,330 $713,214 $694,884
132 4 128 Bob Estes $0 $701,158 $701,158
133 1 134 John Mallinger $29,297 $687,804 $658,508

European Tour
Barclay's Singapore Open

Adam Scott holds a 1shot lead over defending champion Ian Poulter and Korea's Kang Kyung-nam after the 3rd round at Sentosa Golf Club.

Scott shot 69 and is at- 14 , while Poulter's 68 has him at -13.. Yesterday I told you about his monster putt on 18 that may be the shot of the tournament.

It is far from a two-horse race, however, with Kang's 67, a round that included eight birdies placing him at -13 as well. He is ranked 567 in the world !! He has 7 career wins on the Asian Tour

Graeme McDowell continues his magnificent year. He is only two off the lead after a round of 68.

They all played at a snail's pace today in the usual sweltering heat and humidity, with the average round taking over 5 1/2 hours...

1 SCOTT, Adam -14 18 -2 65 65 69 - 199

T2 KANG, Kyung-nam -13 18 -4 66 67 67 - 200
T2 POULTER, Ian -13 18 -3 69 63 68 - 200
4 MCDOWELL, Graeme -12 18 -3 65 68 68 - 201
5 HANSEN, Anders -11 18 -6 71 66 65 - 202
6 DONALDSON, Jamie -10 18 -3 66 69 68 - 203
T7 MARKSAENG, Prayad -9 18 -1 69 65 70 - 204
T7 KARLBERG, Rikard -9 18 -1 64 70 70 - 204
T9 MOLINARI, Francesco* -8 18 -4 69 69 67 - 205
T9 CABRERA-BELLO, Rafael -8 18 -2 67 69 69 - 205
T9 YANG, Y. E.* -8 18 -5 66 73 66 - 205
T9 LIANG, Wen-chong -8 18 Par 69 65 71 - 205
T9 LUITEN, Joost -8 18 +2 68 64 73 - 205

Now down to Melbourne Australia for the JBWere Australian Masters where Tiger has been grabbing all the headlines, but none of the lead.. He shot E,71 and is T14 at 212, 10 shots behind the lead held by a lefty called Adam Bland (70) 202 after round 3..

I watched some of this early this morning despite the technical difficulties the broadcast is experiencing and can report they played in a persistent rain and wind that left puddles in many of the fairways.

1 Adam Bland -1 18 -11 65# 67# 70# -- 202

2 Daniel Gaunt -3 18 -8 65# 72# 68# -- 205
3 Andre Stolz 1 18 -7 67# 67# 72# -- 206
4 Jarrod Lyle -2 18 -5 69# 70# 69# -- 208
T5 Stuart Appleby -2 18 -4 71# 69# 69# -- 209
T5 Ryan Haller -5 18 -4 71# 72# 66# -- 209
T7 Geoff Ogilvy -2 18 -2 72# 70# 69# -- 211
T7 Kieran Pratt -1 18 -2 69# 72# 70# -- 211
T7 Camilo Villegas -1 18 -2 71# 70# 70# -- 211
T7 David McKenzie -3 18 -2 71# 72# 68# -- 211
T7 Anthony Brown 1 18 -2 70# 69# 72# -- 211
T7 Won Joon Lee E 18 -2 69# 71# 71# -- 211
T7 Steven Jones -3 18 -2 71# 72# 68# -- 211
T14 Tiger Woods E 18 -1 69# 72# 71# -- 212

Bryan Angus   bryanangus4@gmail.com