Saudi win shows there’s plenty more life left in lionheart Graeme McDowell February 3, 2020 First Lee Westwood and now Graeme McDowell; wins for stalwarts of the European team are coming thick and fast at the start of this Ryder Cup year. It’s funny how things pan out. Fittingly, McDowell, held off an American contingent of Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson to win his first European Tour title for almost [...]
Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert give Aussies an extra reason to cheer on Australia Day January 27, 2020 Australians do like their holidays and they celebrate like no other nation – I’ve been there during horse racing’s Melbourne Cup and everything seemed to shut for two days. They had an extra reason to cheer at the weekend, when Aussies Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman marked Australia Day by winning on the European Tour [...]
Ryder Cup talk can wait – evergreen Lee Westwood should just enjoy his latest win January 20, 2020 Lee Westwood’s 25th career European Tour title at the Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday shows that, like the wine he drinks, the Englishman just gets better with age. They threw a lot of good scores at him – Tommy Fleetwood and Victor Perez shot 63s and Matthew Fitzpatrick 67 – but Westwood, 46, seems to [...]
Putting masterclass behind an impressive return to form for Branden Grace at the South African Open January 13, 2020 Louis Oosthuizen held a one-shot lead going into the final day of the South African Open on Sunday and nine times out of 10 his closing round of 68 would have been enough for him to successfully defend his title. But Oosthuizen could do nothing about Branden Grace, who hit eight birdies and an eagle [...]
Review of 2019: Koepka and McIlroy inseparable after brilliant years, Lowry’s Open triumph the stand-out moment December 16, 2019 Golf has enjoyed another great year and with 2019 drawing to a close it is time for me to look back on its stand-out protagonists, moments and more. Player of the year This is a tricky one, but the world rankings don’t lie: Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy are No1 and No2 for a good [...]
Patrick Reed controversy and Tiger Woods’ dual role could help the international team win the Presidents Cup December 9, 2019 One of golf’s simplest rules is that you cannot do anything to improve the lie of your ball, so I was astonished to see what Patrick Reed did on the weekend. The American was handed a two-shot penalty at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas after twice flattening the sand behind his ball with [...]
Pablo Larrazabal’s comeback win at the Alfred Dunhill Championship was a triumph for doggedness and passion December 2, 2019 It all looked to have gone wrong for Pablo Larrazabal during the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Sunday. The Spaniard had led from the end of the second round in South Africa, but struggling with blisters, he shot a horrible first nine which looked to have ruled him out of a first [...]
Race To Dubai winner Jon Rahm gets better each year – his first Major is a matter of when not if November 25, 2019 Many a man would have buckled in the situation Jon Rahm found himself on Sunday afternoon at the European Tour’s season finale, the DP World Tour Championship. Chasing a victory that would also earn him the Race To Dubai title and a combined windfall of £4m, the Spaniard made the perfect start, holing five birdies [...]
Tommy Fleetwood’s in form but Jon Rahm is my favourite to win Race To Dubai in season finale November 19, 2019 With classic catch-up golf at Sun City on Sunday, Tommy Fleetwood put himself in a prime position to claim the Race To Dubai this week for the second time in three years. Fleetwood played fantastically, shooting a seven-under-par final round of 65 that included a phenomenal three eagles in the space of six holes, to [...]
Guy Kinnings interview: European Tour deputy CEO on growing the Ryder Cup, criticism from Rory McIlroy and the prospects of a single global tour November 18, 2019 It has been an eventful first year in the job for Guy Kinnings, golf’s poacher-turned-gamekeeper. The former agent to Colin Montgomerie and head of the sport at industry behemoth IMG joined the European Tour 14 months ago with a wide-ranging brief that includes maximising prize asset the Ryder Cup, overseeing all commercial activity and acting [...]