Buzzin Golf

The US Open was plagued by torrential rain yesterday and as a result, the final round will be completed today starting at 2pm UK time.

The Bethpage State Park public course is difficult enough to play at the best of times.  But the weather made it harder still.

That said, unknown American Ricky Barnes, currently ranked 519th in the world rankings is still in the lead on a very respectable -7 after completing just one hole of their fourth round yesterday.  A lead he now shares with fellow American, Lucas Glover.

Phil Mickelson is still in with a shout on -2 along with Hunter Mahan and the only real British contenders, Ross Fisher and David Duval.

Tiger Woods is seven shots behind the leader (level) after completing 7 holes.

Luke Donald believes the wrist injury which cut short his 2008 season could end up being a blessing in disguise. The Englishman missed the final two majors and the Ryder Cup at the end of last year, but is now preparing for his comeback.

Luke Donald is set to take part in the Wentworth PGA Championship alongside Darren Clarke and Jeev Milkha Singh this week.

Speaking before the event, the 31-year-old spoke of the wrist surgery he had and revealed that rather than hinder his game, the injury could actually have ‘helped’.

Luke Donald will certainly hope this is the case because he hasn’t recorded a tournament victory since the 2006 Honda Classic in Florida.
The closest he has come in the last three years was at Wentworth last year when he finished two shots behind eventual winner Miguel Angel Jimenez.

With the remainder of 2009 ahead of him though, Luke Donald has said that people should not rule out tournament success for him.

He says that there is ‘no reason’ why he can’t win this week at Wentworth because he is ‘as good a player’ as he was before the injury setback.
One thing that has happened during his spell on the sidelines is that he has become more focused on achieving his goals. He admits that he now has a renewed ‘appreciation for the game’.

Whether this will be enough to record a victory this week though, remains to be seen. There are a lot of players that will fancy their chances, including Lee Westwood, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and Ernie Els.

The PowerSwing Trainer can improve your golf swing

With regular use, the Golf Gym PowerSwing Trainer can improve your golf swing and help you exercise, too.

The PowerSwing Trainer comes in two editions- Masters Edition and the Personal Edition.

Each one includes a very strong rubber “PowerCord” with either a left or right-handed grip, an illustrated exercise program, an exercise DVD and a neat pouch to keep the PowerCord clean and tidy. The PowerSwing Trainer Masters Edition includes the same contents as the Personal Edition but includes three PowerCord resistance levels: green lighter resistance for juniors and ladies, yellow medium resistance, and red for heavy resistance.

The PowerSwing Trainer is a useful golf aid that can be used as both for fitness and as a warm-up before a round. The Exercise Program includes warm-up, stretching, skill strengthening, general conditioning and injury prevention exercises.

The PowerSwing Trainer is a portable golf specific training and conditioning aid that helps to develop muscle memory, strength and flexibility; and its beauty is that it fits into its own zip bag the size of a pencil case, so can be used anytime, anywhere.

Choosing the correct resistance, this golf swing aid can really help you train your body to memorise how it feels to turn your upper body in the correct way. Similarly to the Golf Gym Weighted Club and the Explainar, the PowerSwing Trainer has started to train my body to turn and swing better, helping to iron out a common problem among higher handicap amateurs - my tendency to add a fade on shots, especially with my driver. The problem is caused by not rotating my upper body on the backswing and not following through on a straight plane, but slicing across the ball on impact. But I can honestly say, the PowerSwing Trainer is helping me here.

Regular exercise with Golf Gym’s PowerSwing Trainer is helping me to feel more flexible and less rigid in my swing. The result is, I am hitting longer, straighter, more accurate shots, with more frequency.

Joey D is currently coaching several pros on the US PGA Tour and uses Golf Gym’s PowerSwing Trainer as part of their warm-up exercises.

The PowerSwing Trainer Masters Edition costs $69.95 and the Personal Edition costs $39.95.

For more information visit www.GolfGym.com

Henrik Stenson became only the third European golfer to win the US PGA flagship event, The Players Championship in Sawgrass, last night with an excellent 12 under par. The other European winners were Sandy Lyle (1987) and Sergio Garcia (2008).

The 33 year-old Swede was joint second with Ian Poulter and Tiger Woods going into the final round,  five shots behind German Alex Cejka.  But Cejka had a disastrous start to his fourth round and never recovered his game, leaving the door wide open for the chasing pack.

Stenson hit six birdies in a very impressive final round to finish on 66 (-12) and it was only this amazing score that stopped Ian Poulter from winning the title.  Poulter finished second with a solid round of 70, leaving him 8 under.

I’m sure plenty of bets were placed on Tiger Woods to win another tournament after round 3.  But like Cejka he had a disappointing final round of 79 to finish in eighth place overall on 5 under.

Tiger Woods has failed to find consistency over four rounds since returning in February after eight months out with a knee injury.  But both Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter continue to move up the world rankings and are both looking to cement their positions with a majors victory in 2009.

Henrik Stenson is a good, solid, consistent golfer.  But I love Ian Poulter’s cockiness and flambuoyant personality.  Like snooker’s Ronnie O’Sullivan, Poulter brings excitement and cool to the game.

Poulter stood up to the extra publicity he received as Nick Faldo’s controversial Captain’s Pick for last year’s Ryder Cup team and appears to be cementing his place as one of the best golfers in the world.

The next step is for Ian Poulter to win a major; and the way he’s playing right now, this could be his year.

Tiger Woods is determined to put right a poor recent record at the Players Championship at Sawgrass. The American is yet to register a top-ten finish at the tournament since winning the so called ‘fifth major’ back in 2001.

The Stadium Course at Sawgrass is one of the most famous in golf and Tiger Woods admits that even though it is ‘the best field’ around, it is also a ‘very demanding’ 18 holes.

Since returning from a long term injury, Tiger Woods has managed to finish ninth, first, sixth and fourth in his four strokeplay tournaments. This is far from a spectacular comeback, but considering the changes he has made to his game, he has done very well.

The player himself says that he thinks that he has ‘done alright, all things considered’. Amongst other changes, Tiger Woods has experimented with different drivers in recent weeks.

As a result of this, Tiger Woods believes that it is going to take a ‘little bit of time’ to hit the ball the same distances as he could prior to his injury. However, he believes that ‘it is coming’ and that he could be back to his best soon.

The World No.1 went on to reveal that his body ‘is starting to get more comfortable’ with everything, including being able to ‘practice after a round’.

Overall, things are slowly slipping into place for Tiger Woods and perhaps he can move his form up a notch this week at Sawgrass.

Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia both missed the cut for the tournament, but Tiger Woods and the rest of the field will be taking part in the Players Championship between the 7th and 10th of May in Florida.