Rory McIlroy made an impressive comeback in the fourth and final round to win the Hong Kong Open today and with it keeps the pressure on Englishman Luke Donald for the coveted European Tour’s Race to Dubai championship.

Rory McIlroy won with a final round of 65 by two strokes with a 5 under score.  The 22 year old from Northern Ireland was delighted to seal the victory and told reporters:

“It is very special to win this. No matter how prestigious tournaments are, this is one of my favourites and I’m really happy to win it,” he said. “To be able to win a golf tournament when you are not at your best is something. Tiger Woods did this all the time. This is a great win, to come from behind and to be able to draw level and then close it out.”

There has been much pressure on the young Irishman’s shoulders since he turned professional in 2007 and eventually won his first major – the US Open – earlier this year.

McIlroy beat off challenges from France’s Gregory Havret who finished second, two strokes behind, and Sweden’s Peter Hanson on 9 under. Ian Poulter was looking to retain the title he won in 2010 and shot a good final round to finish joint fourth on 8 under with Scotland’s Richie Ramsay and Thailand’s Pariya Junhasavasdikul.

After failing to win the Hong Kong Open, Ian Poulter told reporters:

“It’s disappointing obviously. I came to defend and I’ve come up shy. I thought I had a chance when I got to 9 under, but I just flushed it on the 15th. It was a costly bogey at the wrong time,”

Last week Lee Westwood announced that he would be joining the US PGA Tour next year which I assume is to give him a better chance to win either the US Open or The Masters.  By doing so Westwood may forfeit the chance to win the Race to Dubai, based on the highest prize money on the European Tour in a given season, but the US is where the big money is.

If like Lee Westwood you are looking to win your share of prize money then why not check out the golf betting competition at BettingExperts.

They are offering a massive a £5,000 in a free to enter competition.  The competition covers all golf tips for major, minor tournaments including PGA and European Tour during the competition date. The top ten golf tipsters with the highest profit (measured in units) on golf shares the prize pool, which will be paid in free bets & prize giveaways. Tipster with the most overall gets the first prize.

Poulter came from behind in several matches and put his victory down to finding form with his putting.  His victory tasted sweeter as it came on his son Luke’s seventh birthday.

After lifting the trophy, Poulter told reporters:

“I thought it would be pretty special to win this today. I finally started holing some putts. I’ve been frustrated for a few months and you have to hole putts to win.”

Luke Donald, who beat German Martin Kaymer in the semi-final, could have replaced Lee Westwood as World Ranked #1 if he had beaten Poulter.

A disappointed Luke Donald told reporters afterwards.

“I ran out of steam a bit and didn’t take the opportunities I had.”

Ian Poulter pocketed a cheque for €800,000; while Luke Donald received €420,000.  Not bad for a few days golf in the sun!

Ian Poulter, Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and other members of the successful 2010 European Ryder Cup team go head-to-head later this week at Wentworth in the BMW Championship.

Poulter said after the event that his point in the singles was never in doubt, “I said in the morning on the range I would deliver a point. I am pretty passionate about this format, I love the Ryder Cup. I’ve watched so many matches over the years. I love it from the first tee, the songs, and being with all 11 team-mates. It truly is the best tournament in the world, and it always will be.”

Poulter Vision

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

ProQuip’s Managing Director, Richard Head, who personally fitted all the European Team players for their rain suits, sourced a number of suits from the merchandise store and supplied these to USA Team officials.

“We were surprised to be put on standby to help the USA Ryder Cup Team with their rain suits within a few hours of the Ryder Cup starting,” said Richard Head. “However, for the sake of the match, we were happy to help and supply back-up weatherwear.

“From the European Team’s perspective, we had anticipated rain and the team was well equipped for the conditions,” continued Richard Head. “Our exclusive fabric technology has resulted in the lightest and quietest Ryder Cup rain suit ever – and one that is effective in all conditions, keeping players dry and comfortable.”

During the suspension of play, Ian Poulter told Sky Sports: “All I can say is that our waterproofs are keeping us nice and dry.”

Two years ago the European Team, captained by Nick Faldo were odds on favourites to beat a weakened United States team without Tiger Woods who had withdrawn after knee surgery. But the American team ran out comfortable winners at the famous Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky with the help of a boisterous crowd and a few European players for whatever reason underperforming over the three day event.  One of Nick Faldo’s captain’s choices was Ian Poulter.  His inclusion paid off as he was the highest scoring player in the European Team.

The Ryder Cup is like no other golf competition in the world.  Crowds are rowdy and behave more akin to football supporters rather than quiet, appreciative golf fans.  The US crowd helped their team to a famous victory and unsettled European nerves by cheering and booing; while a small group of European fans chanted “there’s only one Ian Poulter, one Ian Poulter” before teeing off.

Lee Westwood did himself no favours by speaking out when Boo Weekley pretended to ride his golf club down the fairway in a mock Kentucky Derby fashion.  The light-humoured fun was said to be disrespectful by Westwood, which only caused the crowd to get on his back.

Previous Ryder Cup ‘sledging’ incidents include Colin Montgomerie’s outburst when certain members of the crowd likened him to Mrs. Doubtfire.  Everyone else seemed amused by this look-a-likey except Monty himself!

Ian Poulter’s was included in the last European Ryder Cup team over this year’s Ryder Cup Captain, Colin Montgomerie.  It will be interesting to see how Monty handles that situation nearer the time as it is obviously going to be a question that is thrown at him by journalists, especially if Ian Poulter doesn’t win an automatic place in this year’s European team and has to rely once more on being a Captain’s Choice.

The 38th Ryder Cup 2010 will take place at Celtic Manor Resort on the outskirts of Newport in South Wales between Friday 1st and Sunday 3rd October.

What an experience it would be to play the same course as the Ryder Cup players.  There is a growing market in the UK for golf holidays and many websites cater specifically for golfers in the UK by regularly offering special deals at some of the best golf courses in the UK.

Celtic Manor includes no fewer than three top class courses, an award winning  clubhouse and floodlit golf academy; and a golf break at one of the UK’s leading golf courses, including one round of golf on the Montgomerie Course, bed and breakfast can cost as little as £79 per person.

Above all other sports, the Ryder Cup is quite possibly my favourite sporting event, and I for one cannot wait for the European Team to reclaim the cup in October.

Surprising joint leaders going into Saturday’s third round were Lee Westwood & Ian Poulter.  Both had played some great golf over the first two rounds but Tiger played some amazing shots to show he was back!

From the first round Phil Mickelson was in the leading pack and also playing some top quality golf. By the final day’s play Woods was struggling to keep up with Westwood and Mickelson, the overnight leaders, and Poulter and fallen away.

In the end Westwood was a couple of birdies short and Mickelson was playing a brilliant round.  Nothing was going to distract him from winning his third US Masters green jacket for his wife who last year fell ill with breast cancer.  But almost without notice, Anthony Kim was playing some amazing golf and if there had been another 9 holes may well have clinched a victory.

The Final 2010 US Masters Leaderboard:

Phil Mickelson -16
Lee Westwood -13
Anthony Kim -12
KJ Choi -11
Tiger Woods  -9

The US Masters is one of the best golf tournaments of the year, and 2010 was a perfect accompaniment to the lighter evenings a sunny weather we are currently experiencing in the UK.

Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter showed they can compete with the best in the world, though once again Rory McIlroy failed to deliver in a big tournament.

In an interview shortly after completing his final round Tiger Woods said he will now take a break before deciding whether to compete in the 110th US Open Golf Championship which will be held at the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course in June.

Tiger Woods

Woods had started the day with a bogey on the first, hooking the ball into a fairway bunker, but the world number one gradually fought his way back into contention with five birdies and ended the day at the with a share of the lead.

Round one leaders Rory Sabbatini and Steve Marino had mixed fortunes on the second day at Illinois, Sabbatini finished the day sharing second place on six under, but Marino had an awful time, going from five under to one over, with five bogeys and two double bogeys on his way to a pretty awful round of 77.

Sabbatini shares second place with three other players, Padraig Harrington, Marc Leishman and Bo Van Pelt, all hanging on to the shirt tails of the leaders and just one point behind.

England’s Luke Donald hit 69 to move into 13th a place he shares with Sergio Garcia amongst others, while Ian Poulter ended the day two under and in 19th.

Steve Stricker’s

Stricker has also moved up in the world rankings where he now finds himself as number two to Tiger Woods runaway number one position. The pair currently look certain to make the Tour Championship, but last years FedEx Cup winner Vijay Singh was among the casualties in Boston and will not be defending his title.

Padraig Harrington is top of the European players going into The BMW Championship at Illinois tomorrow, he is in seventh place with nearest rival Ian Poulter back in 30th and currently just in the final championship group.

Other Europeans still in with a shout are  Luke Donald 32nd, Paul Casey 36th, Brian Davis 53rd, Sergio Garcia 55th and Fredrik Jacobson at 56th.

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.