Oakley You vs Rory McIlroy

After finishing joint third in today’s WGC Champions tournament in Shanghai, Rory McIlroy will be officially unveiled as golf’s world number 2 tomorrow.

Oakley are offering you the chance to play a round of golf against the current US Open golf champion, Rory McIlroy in the second of a series of great interactive video games.

The video sets scenarios as you play the famous Wentworth golf course. The set questions test your golfing prowess as you weave your way around the course making decisions as to which club to use and where you should be aiming your ball.

The answers you give affect the outcome of the video, which is shot in a realistic point-of-view style.

The video is the second in Oakley’s You Vs. series. The first, ealrier this year offered gamers the opportunity to race against the UK’s hottest cycling property, Mark Cavendish.

Rory McIlroy

Taking part in the game is fun enough, but by doing so you can enter Oakley’s exclusive competition too, simply by ‘liking’ the Oakley Facebook page. And if you are so good that you manage to beat Rory McIlroy over 18 holes, then you have the chance to be selected as the lucky winner who gets to meet Rory and have the honour of caddying for him, walking around the Wentworth golf course.

The You Vs. Rory McIlroy interactive video game is great fun and can be accessed from the dedicated Oakley microsite or the Oakley Europe Facebook page.

Firstly, Like the page, select some Oakley sunglasses to wear, and then start exercising your golf expertise for a chance to win a prize any golf-fan would go crazy for!

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Luke Donald World Ranked #1

English golfer Luke Donald tops the world ranking after winning the BMW PGA Championship last weekend at Wentworth.

The thirty-three year old from Hemel Hempstead plays most of his golf these days in the United States but is also a member of the European Tour.  He turned professional in 2001 and first entered the world ranking Top 20 in 2005 and Top 10 in 2006.

He first played in the European Ryder Cup team in 2004 and in the same year won the WGC-World Cup for England with his partner Paul Casey.

Last month he became the second English golfer to be ranked number one player in the world by replacing Lee Westwood. His victory at Wentworth followed his biggest win to date in February 2011 when he beat Martin Kaymer to win the WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship 3&2 in the final.

Watching golf over the past few years I saw Luke Donald as a very reliable, safe and consistent player but am surprised he has become ranked world number one.

Furthermore, previous to his much publicised meltdown, no one would have thought that in 2011 the name of Tiger Woods would not be at the top of the list, let alone falling out of the Top 10!

Official World Golf Ranking Top 20

1  Luke Donald,  England
2  Lee Westwood,  England
3  Martin Kaymer,  Germany
4  Phil Mickelson,  USA
5  Graeme McDowell,  N. Ireland
6  Rory McIlroy,  N. Ireland
7  Matt Kuchar,  USA
8   Steve Stricker,  USA
9   Paul Casey,  England
10 Charl Schwartzel,  South Africa
11 Bubba Watson,  USA
12 Ian Poulter,  England
13 Tiger Woods,  USA
14 Dustin Johnson,  USA
15 Nick Watney,  USA
16 K.J. Choi,  South Korea
17 Jim Furyk,  USA
18 Hunter Mahan,  USA
19 Jason Day,  Australia
20 Francesco Molinari,  Italy

For more information visit the Official World Golf Ranking website.

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.

Jiminez and Wilson both finished today on 11 under to share the lead after 72 holes. Both shot 4 under today.

But the shot of the tournament has to go to Miguel Angel Jiminez who scored a delightful hole-in-one at the fifth. The tee shot went as straight as an arrow bouncing short of the hole, once twice and then dropped straight in on the third bounce – wonderful golf!

As the overnight leader Robert Karlsson faultered, wilson stayed with Jiminez to false a two-way play-off.

There was nothing between Jiminez and Wilson as they re-played the 18th in a dramatic sudden death. So it was back in the buggies and off to the 18th tee once more. Oliver Wilson was again first totee off. Unfortunately, Wilson pulled it right and off the fairway to land in the rough, while Jiminez hit another perfect tee shot that landing in almost the same position as before.

An awkward lie meant Wilson could only use a 9 iron for extra loft that left the ball short of the green, while Jiminez hit another good shot onto the green.

Wilson recovered well with his third shot but it meant tha Jiminez had to drop a shot to keep Wilson in the sudden death play-off. Jimenez won the hole with a birdie while Wilson could only manage a par.

This is Miguel Angel Jiminez’s first maor PGA tour win and Oliver Wilson’s third runner up this season.

Did anyone else look at golf betting and fancy Jiminez at 8/1 before round four?

Paul McGinley had a disastrous start as he chose an iron to tee off from the 1st only to find sand.  He struggled throughout the day with the gusty wind that plagued the course and at times made a mockery of club selection.

McGinley finished round three with a very poor 79 to sink to joint fourth on 6 under par with Argentina’s Daniel Vancsik and Indian Jyoti Randhawa.

Miguel Angel Jimenez played a great round yesterday with a par 72 to finish joint second on 7 under with Oliver Wilson.

Only three golfers managed to go round Wenworth yesterday under 70 – Argentina’s Rafa Echenique, who is tied for seventh, Randhawa and England’s Oliver Fisher.  As a result, Karlsson is the clear favourite for victory according to golf tournament betting.

McGinley finished with a Eagle on the 18th to go back to the top of the leaderboard with a four stroke lead on 13 under.  McGinley is on fire, shooting a second round of 66.

Karlsson went round in 69, while Tunnicliff went finished on 65. They are joint second place on 9 under.

Can Paul McGinley keep his cool heading into the weekend for round 3 & 4? The european tour odds certainly suggest he can!

McGinley had a great round that included birdies at all four of the par-fives, and two magnificent long putts. As a result, PGA Tour betting now has him down as the favourite for victory.

Paul McGinley lives close to Wentworth and admitted to Gary Lineker in a post match interview that he plays the course regularly.  McGinley’s form has been good and consistenet so far this season, though he has still failed to make an impression at the big events.  Maybe this will be his year.

Midway through the second day at Wentworth and Robert Karlsson has finished with a round of 69 and is currently at the top of the leaderboard on 9 under.  Paul McGinley is 7 under at the ninth, and currently in fourth place behind Oliver Wilson & Miles Tunnicliff on 8 under.

Justin Rose won the European Order of Merit last year, and suggested that it was last year’s PGA Championship that was used as aspringboard to his success.

Rose was joint leader with Trevor Immelman after the first round of the US Masters this year but failed to capitalise on his good start.

This is Justin Rose’s first tournament in the UK this year and it sounds like he is revving himself up for Wentworth.

Rose is paired with last year’s US Open champion Angel Cabrera and 1994 champion Jose Maria Olazabal.

See the PGA Leaderboard

Ernie Els wins the World Match Play title by beating Argentina’s Angel Cabrera in the final at Wentworth.

The victory for Ernie Els brings his total prize money for this year up to £1m.  Furthermore, he is on top of the European Order of Merit.

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and England’s Justin Rose, now second and third respectively in the European Order of Merit, still have tournaments to play, but Els dosen’t.  So both will be looking to knowck him off the number 1 spot.