The Bombardier Golf's Tips

In the aftermath of the British Open Championship the UK is still praising the latest golf masters champion to come out of Northern Ireland.  Darren Clarke was not even on the raidar, let alone backed to win by any pundits.

Clarke entered over 50 major championships before his maiden victory last Sunday at the  British Open Championship on a very demanding links course in Sandwich, Kent where one Japanese golfer asked why they didn’t stage the Open in the summer!

Following the recent success of young Rory McIlroy who won this years’ US Open, and Graeme McDowell who won the US Open in 2010, I feel for the forgotten golfer from Northern Ireland who only a few years ago had Tiger Woods looking over his shoulder.  But since winning three major championships in 12 months in 2008 (The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship in 2008) Padraig Harrington has failed to be a serious contender; and with all the media hype about the richness of top golfers in Northern Ireland, I didn’t hear Harrington’s name mentioned once.

On the final day Darren Clarke looked composed under pressure from two Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, ranked sixth and seventh respectively, in the world rankings.

Rik Mayall as The Bombardier

Maybe Padraig Harrington can take some tips from Rik Mayall’s character, The Bombardier in this hilarious new video advertisement from Bombardier beer starring Rik Mayall as he gives three tips to improve your golf swing.

Three British golfers head up the official world rankings as Germany’s former no.1, Martin Kaymer drops to fourth after failing to finish in the top eight in the BMW International Open in Munich yesterday.

Following his U.S Open victory Rory McIlroy moves up to a career best third place behind Luke Donald (first) and Lee Westwood.

This is great news ahead of the 140th British Open Championship which this year is being held at the Royal St. George’s Golf Course in Sandwich in Kent, the Garden of England on the south-east coast, in two weeks time.

Rory McIlroy will go into the British Open as one of the favourites, and it will be good to see how he copes with the pressure post that fantastic display of golf at The U.S Open when he led from round 1 and never once showed a loss of concentrate or bottle as he had on the final round of the U.S Masters in April at Augusta.

The U.S Open was Rory McIlroy’s first major win after several near misses and five years of dealing with the heavy burden of expectancy and praise from many of his contemporaries and commentators alike.  Unfortunately, I think if anything the pressure is going to be greater as everyone looks to see if Rory McIlroy can begin to pull away from the rest of the field and dominate the next few years of golf in the same way as Tiger Woods had before him.

If anymore incentive was required, it has been announced that the winner’s cheque for the British Open is now £900,000 as prize-fund money increases to £5m.

Some high profile PGA players will be missing the AT&T National in the U.S to play The Scottish Open at Castle Stuart Golf Links in Inverness as a warming up for the Open Championship.  Those PGA players making the trip across the pond include Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker, who join English golfers Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose.

The Barclays Scottish Open starts on Thursday 7th July with Round 1 of The Open commencing on Thursday on 14th July.

I am really looking forward to this year’s British Open and hope the heat wave continues so the top golfers in the world can do battle with each other, rather than the conditions.

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22 year old Rory McIlroy became the youngest player to win the US Open for 88 years and the first to lead at the end of all four rounds since Tiger Woods in 2002.  In doing so he will have wiped the memory and pain of his disaster at Augusta where he was in a similar position after three rounds, only the fall apart on the final day.

Though he is still only 22 years old, big things have been expected of Rory McIlroy since he turned pro in 2007 at the sprightly age of 17.  The weight of expectation was placed on his shoulders when Tiger Woods stated that McIlroy was the future of golf.  And though over the past four years he has come close, he has never been able to keep in the zone for four days solid; until now.

On completing his final round, 2010 US Open champion, fellow compatriot and close friend Graeme McDowell said Rory McIlroy was the best golfer he has ever seen.  Strong words coming from a man who has played with Tiger Woods on several occasions.

Rory McIlroy has now officially arrived on the world stage.  The US crowds love him and with a deflated Tiger Woods, the biggest sponsors in the world will be queuing up to have a piece of his fame.  But it could have been so different if he had cracked under the pressure, as he did at Augusta in the US Masters in April when he went into the final day with a four stroke lead and finished in joint 15th after a final round of 80. If the same choking capitulation had happened to Rory McIlroy yesterday at Congressional it may have had a lasting psychological effect.  That is something McIlroy had been working on among other things with golf legend Jack Nicklaus who has acted as a mentor to McIllroy over the past two years.

As it is, this morning Rory McIlroy wakes up to realise it wasn’t all a dream after winning his first Major championship and with it will no doubt be the favourite to win next month’s British Open Championship at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, Kent.

Graeme McDowell had an abysmal final round at the Players Championship at Sawgrass in the United States, yesterday. The way he capitulated after leading by one shot going into the final round, was reminiscent of how fellow countryman, Rory McIlroy fell apart in last month’s US Masters.

McDowell never recovered from spraying his tee shot off the first tee and went on to score 79, five over.McDowell was honest in defeat when he told reporters:

“To be honest I felt I ran out of steam a little bit,” said US Open champion McDowell. “After bogeys on six and seven I felt the energy sucked right out of me. I went flat and everything I tried to do went a little wrong.”

McDowell went on to say: “This is going to hurt for a few hours, but we will move on”.

This is KJ Choi’s eighth victory in the United States, more than any other Asian golfer.

“For some reason I felt so comfortable out there,” said Choi. “The swing I have right now just doesn’t break down under pressure situations.

“I was able to be precise and aggressive and keep my rhythm together and that is what brought this performance.”

The Players Championship 2011 at Sawgrass

1st KJ Choi (South Korea) -13
2nd D Toms (United States) -13
3rd P Goydos (United States) -11
4th: L Donald (England), N Watney (United States) -10
6th: J Day (Australia), H Mahan (United States), JB Holmes (United States), A Quiros (Spain), J Dufner (United States), A Baddeley (Australia) -9



Yas Links Golf Course in Abu Dhabi

Links Abu Dhabi, the new Kyle Phillips designed golf course is the “best course in the Middle East” according to the latest issue of Golf Course Architecture magazine.

The world-class development on Yas Island, home to the Yas Marina Formula 1 Circuit, venue of the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and the spectacular Ferrari World, the world’s largest indoor theme park, has received widespread critical acclaim.

It is the first Middle East design for leading course architect Kyle Phillips, creator of World Top 100 Course Kingsbarns, Scotland, as well as the highly rated Verdura Golf & Spa Resort (Sicily), Dundonald (Scotland), and The Grove (London), who has created an extraordinary links overlooking the Arabian Gulf that rides rolling sand hills along three kilometers of coastline, and features nine seashore greens.

This championship course is located on the west shores of Yas Island and includes a 5750 m2 (57000 ft2) luxurious clubhouse and world-class, floodlit practice ranges and academy of golf.

In a unique twist, Phillips was able to design not only the golf course, but the coastline along which the course runs. That’s because the channel along the western edge of Yas Island had to be dredged to produce the 1.8 million m3 (cubic metres) of fill used to construct the golf course. The result is a coastline that lends itself perfectly to exciting golf holes, and one that is also benefiting from an approved environmental programme that has introduced 130,000 mangrove plants.

Yas Links General Manager, Chris White, said: “Kyle has created a breathtaking golf experience at Yas Links and one that is unique in the Middle East. It is a rolling, heaving golf course, weaving through sand hills and wending its way along the shoreline with views of the Arabian Gulf on all 18 holes.

The course opened in March 2010 as a semi private golf club offering both golf and social membership as well welcoming guest play; and in January 2011 some of the world’s top golfers will experience Yas Links for themselves in 2011 when the world’s most prestigious one-day Pro-Am tournament moves to Abu Dhabi.

The Invitational on January 17, 2011, hosted by Abdullah Al Naboodah, will see some of the world’s best players join forces with 50 invited amateurs for a day of great competitive golf. World No.1 Lee Westwood, reigning US Open Champion Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia and Ross Fisher plus more to confirm.

For more information visit www.yaslinks.com.

Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter were mobbed as Hunter Mahan conceded the 17^th hole, giving Graeme McDowell the victory needed to bring the Ryder Cup back to Europe. All the Team Europe players gathered around Captain Colin Montgomerie as champagne and tears began to flow.

Colin Montgomerie told Sky Sports “It’s a proud, proud moment for me.”

Europe needed five points from today’s Singles and got the points they needed with wins from Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Miguel Angel Jiminez & Graeme McDowell; and Rory McIlroy and Edorado Molinari.

Team Europe won four Singles matches today:

Luke Donald beat Jim Furyk (1up)
Ian Poulter beat Matt Kuchar (5&4)
Miguel Angel Jiminez beat Bubba Watson (4&3)
Graeme McDowell beat Hunter Mahan (3&1)

The United States also won six Singles matches today:

Dustin Johnson beat Martin Kaymer
Jeff Overton beat Ross Fisher (4&3)
Tiger Woods beat Francesco Molinari (4&3)
Phil Mickelson beat Peter Hanson (4&2)
Zach Johnson beat Padraig Harrington (3&2)
Steve Stricker beat Lee Westwood (2&1)

Rory McIlroy v Stewart Cink – halved
Edorado Molinari v Rickie Fowler – halved

Graeme McDowell will have a boost of confidence after his amazing victory at last month’s US Open at Pebble Beach; and Tiger Woods will be looking to win his third British Open Golf Championship title and become the first golfer to win three British Opens at St Andrews, following his victories in 2000 and 2005.

As with most tournaments he enters, Tiger Woods is favourite to win but it’s a surprise to see Graeme McDowell isn’t heading the European list of contenders.  That goes to Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy, closely followed by Padraig Harrington, along with South African Ernie Els and American left-hander Phil Mickeslon.

Lee Westwood will go to St. Andrews boosted by his own recent victory on the US golf circuit at the St Jude Classic in Memphis Tennessee after a three-way play-off with American Robert Garrigus and Sweden’s Robert Karlsson.

As for Rory McIlroy, he is still looking for his first major title after being touted as a serious contender for the past few years now.  It may be the pressure of such high expectations, but McIlroy has not been able to stay with the leaders over the course of four days, and as a rule fades in the latter part of the big occasions.  But as always I will be hoping the young golfer from Northern Ireland will be lucky this time around.

Due to his low stature in the world rankings these days, Ryder Cup captain, Colin Montgomerie had to qualify for the 2010 Open at St Andrews.  But like Tiger Woods, St. Andrews is a special place for Monty, who has never missed an Open Championship since making his debut in 1990 at St Andrews.

The 139th British Open Golf 2010 will take place at St. Andrews, Scotland between Thursday 15th and Sunday 18th July.

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Over the past few years the British contingent has become ever stronger with the likes of Ian Poulter, Padraig Harrington and Paul Casey leading the charge.  But as critics continue to place high accolades on Northern Ireland’s Rory McIllroy, no one mentioned the name of Northern Ireland’s quiet man, Graeme McDowell.

It was because Tiger Woods was returning from another injury that for the first time in many years Woods was not favourite to win the 2010 US Open, that mantle was placed on the shoulders of Americas’ favourite golfer, Phil Mickelson.

But Mickelson never really got going, and when Graeme McDowell lost the lead to Dustin Johnson going into the fourth and final round, and Tiger Woods had helped boost his chances with a fantastic round of 66 on the third day, I was erring towards another Tiger Woods grandstand finish.  But McDowell kept his nerve to win by one shot over Gregory Havret.  Ernie Els was third and after a late charge by Phil Mickelson, he tied with Tiger Woods in fourth place, three shots behind McDowell.

At just 30 years old, 2010 currently belongs to Graeme McDowell as his amazing US Open Golf Championship victory at Pebble Beach follows his victory in this month’s Wales Open at Celtic Manor.  Next up, the British Open at St. Andrews.

The golfers will be leaving their rivalries behind on the course to come together for the Genworth Financial ‘Putts For Charity’ Pro Challenge.

The cream of Europe’s golfers will raise money for charity by picking a ball with monetary figure on it and then attempting to putt the ball. If they succeed they donate the figure to charity.

The golfers also share their views on their current form and achievements over this year and the final stages of the European Tour. Also general chat about next years Ryder Cup, the Road To Dubai and their thoughts on golf being accepted into the Olympics for 2016.

Renewing the rivalry from the World Club Championships last week, Woods hit a faultless first round finishing five under par on 67. Harrington is one shot down on Woods, recording a 68 after hitting a bogey on the tenth, but five birdies in the finish.

Both players appear to be on top of their game right now and practically matched one another around the Hazeltine course.  Australian Robert Allenby who tied with Harrington for second place at the World Golf Championships, is currently one shot behind the Irishman on 69 in third place which is shared with Mahan, Goggin and Quiros.

Lee Westwood shares fourth place with Goydos, Jaidee and McDowell, they are all tied on two under at 70, making up the top ten on the leaderboard.