Just About Golf

27/10/2014

It was so close (again) for Brendon de Jonge searching for his first PGA Tour win.

An incredible tournament (68 – 64 – 69 – 65) put him in the clubhouse at 14 under par for the McGladrey Classic. He had started his final round with 3 back-to-back birdies and then sank a 40 footer on the 10th and a 19 footer on the 12th to have high hopes at Sea Island, Georgia.

But two more walked in on that score, meaning a play-off where Brendon lost to a brilliant birdie on the second play-off hole.
Rory Sabbatini was T22 at 7 under.

Earlier, Tyrone van Aswegen and Richard Sterne missed the cut.

26/10/2014

Charl Schwartzel was the top billed player going into ISPS Handa Perth International event.

Charl had a solid start with a 68 and 69, but the weekend’s 70 and 72 finish saw him end T15.

It hasn’t been his best calendar year with no wins on either the US or European Tour and only 5 top 10 finishes. But there’s still time to claim a victory in the events remaining before Christmas, especially the Alfred Dunhill Championship which was his in 2013.

26/10/2014

Hainan Island is a golfing paradise in the most southern part of China, about 460 km west of Hong Kong and 480 km east of Hanoi, Vietnam.

It has a been a real pearl of a golfing venue for Lee-Anne Pace, who on different courses has claimed 2 LET wins and now lies on the verge of a third one, this time on the LPGA.

In terrible wet, monsoon conditions, the Blue Bay LPGA event was reduced to 54 holes and only made possible by the incredible drainage systems in place at this state of the art venue (Sanya Jian Lake Blue Bay GC) which was opened in 2012.

Lee-Anne dropped only 2 shots in her opening 67 – 66 rounds which were completed over three days and got her to a joint lead starting today’s third and final round. Three birdies in 9 holes moved her into sole position of the number one spot at 14 under par, 3 shots clear of the field, when torrential rain came down and play was suspended again. After a two hour delay, she came out and birdied the 12th to go 4 ahead with just 5 holes to play when bad light suspended play as she stood on the 13th.

I will have fingers crossed for her making more history tomorrow as she will sleep overnight knowing the only SA lady to win before her on the LPGA was Sally Little whose wonderful record 15 tour haul ended 26 years ago in 1988.

20/10/2014

The weather was much kinder to us this year for the SA Women’s Open played at San Lameer. Only one day was lost to rain, and the 22nd championship was decided over 54 holes.

Lee-Anne Pace is not just a world champion golfer but one of the nicest people in golf and a brilliant ambassador for all it stands for.

Literally, she left her best till last shooting a final round tournament low of 67 (having opened with 28 pars on her 71, 73 scorecards) to get to 5 under in the clubhouse. 6 ladies were still out on the course, one of whom was already on that mark and the others needing to catch her. It was an amazing eagle on the par 5 13th, and a wonderful birdie on the 18th, courtesy of an approach shot over the water to just 4 foot short the pin, that took her through the field and onto the leader board for the first time this week.

In the end, it was a shoot out on the 18th, with shared pars the first time around and then on the second attempt yet another brilliant approach shot - this time to 3 foot - that gave her victory, the SA trophy (for the first time) and the R672 000 purse. Arguably, as one of the most popular ‘players’ player’ on the LET her fellow competitors doused Lee-Anne and caddy, Andy, in champagne as the final putt dropped.

There were incidents aplenty on the rain drenched course where wayward shots were captured by water traps and out-of-bounds areas. The rules officials worked hard! Overall scores ballooned particularly in the first two rounds leading to a cut mark at plus 9 for 62 players (including 9 Southern Africans) for the finale. In the end, only nine could beat the course par.

Stacy Lee Bregman (75, 74, 69) had 12 straight pars on the final day before coming right with 3 closing birdies in 6 holes. She ended T14 at 2 over.

Melissa Eaton had the best SA first round with a 2 birdie 70, and American-based SA-born, Paula Reto (for whom San Lameer is the first and only course she has played in this country) the same score on Saturday. However, their respective 80 and 79 other rounds left them out of contention going into Sunday. Final 72 and 71 scores had them tied with Ashleigh Simon (79, 71, 72) at 6 over par on T30.

Connie Chen (73, 75, 75) finished T37 on 7 over par, and Kim Williams (75, 74, 77) three further back on T46.

Special mention must go to 16 year old Shawnelle de Lange who was the only SA amateur to make the cut. 10 over par and T46was more than respectable. She is full of potential.

Nobuhle Dlamini played with flu, and braved the week for T60.

The LET and Sunshine Tour used the occasion to announce a 7 year extension of the co-sanctioned event, which is brilliant news for ladies’ golf.

21/09/2014

Congratulations to Richard Sterne and Tyrone van Aswegen who secured their full playing cards for the US PGA 2015 tour.

In the 4 match finale to the season, Richard’s card was secured last week with his second place finish (where he gave up a 3 shot lead in his last four holes), while Tyrone’s went all the way to the wire to today’s final round where his 3 over par 73 gave him a Web.com Championship 5 under for T11. He too made it difficult, repeating Richard’s 3 dropped shots in the last 4 holes.

Nonetheless, their Web.com qualifying rankings for the PGA Tour (9th and 29th, respectively) give Richard a first time experience, and Tyrone a repeat year on the hardest golf tour of them all.

Unfortunately, neither Dawie van der Walt nor Trevor Immelman made it.

21/09/2014

What a weekend for SA ladies!

Connie Chen made a brilliant breakthrough on the LET claiming a maiden win on tour at the Tenerife Open played on the Canary Islands.

She won by 3 shots after a closing 69 which got her to 12 under par (68 – 70 – 69 – 69), and a 2 shot margin. Her final round highlights included an opening birdie and a 10 meter putt for eagle on the 13th.
Stacy Lee Bregman finished 9 shots further back in T12, and Lee Anne Pace a shot further back.

21 year old Connie’s previous best finish was T7 in the Czech Republic earlier in the year, and this fantastic win comes off the back of missing 7 cuts out of 12. However, today’s result marks a turning point in her opportunities and ambitions.

Well done, Connie!....

Meanwhile, on the LPGA, Paula Reto (who only took up golf 9 years ago at the comparatively ‘old’ age of 15, and is in her first year as a tour pro) did brilliantly.

She was tied for the lead going into the final round in Alabama (65 – 66 – 70), only to be steamrolled by the winner’s 66. Her opening 65 was a career best score.

With all the first-time pressure on her, she posted a respectable 73 score today for 14 under par for the tournament and a finish of 3rd alone. 7 shots behind the winner, it was the best finish of her rookie year.

I think we can expect a lot more of this former track athlete.

01/09/2014

Earning a full playing card for the US PGA Tour changed last year from the draining old Qualifying system.

Effectively, all 50 available additional cards now come through the Web.Com tour.

25 cards go to the top money winners for the year, and then 25 more cards go to the top point holders after a four tournament finale to the season.

So last week, and the coming three weeks ending in the Web.com Championship, are events to watch.

Neither Tyrone van Aswegen (151st) nor Trevor Immelman (153rd) retained their 2014 PGA cards so they are playing in the Web.com Finals as are Dawie van der Walt, Branden Grace and Richard Sterne.

Tyrone was the top finisher (T7 at 13 under par) in the opening event - the Hotel Fitness Championship at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dawie finished T60 and Trevor T63, while Branden and Richard missed the cut.

Watch this space.

01/09/2014

The Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston moves into its Monday final round with Charl Schwartzel in T40 at 1 under par after a 72 – 72 – 68 start.

Ernie Els (72 – 71 – 73) is T62 at plus 3.

Their FedEx Cup status is projected as 50th and 44th respectively so they will both want a good final round in Massachusetts to ensure their progress to next week’s Draw for the third leg of the playoffs at Cherry Hills.

01/09/2014

The Northern Island Open Challenge was played at Galgorm Castle and gave Brandon Stone his best finish on the Challenge Tour.

A very consistent week (69 – 67 – 69 - 69) took him to 10 under par and a T5 result.

Earlier, Dylan Frittelli and Jake Roos missed the cut.

01/09/2014

Hennie Otto played a blinder!

He claimed his second Italian Open (previously in 2008) and third ET win (the other was the SA Open played at Serengeti in 2011), by winning in Torino today.

His 20 under winning total was founded on an incredible second round 62.

Hennie survived a potential scare on his first hole today (the commentators thought his ball might have moved on his downswing in his second shot) but played so composed the whole day without dropping a shot to record a closing 68 for a wire-to-wire victory and the 250 000 euro cheque.

With the event’s focus seemingly substantially on the nine players who automatically get selected for the Ryder Cup, Hennie possibly sneaked under the radar and received less media attention the whole week and could concentrate on his game.

His win catapults him 65 places on the OWGR to inside the Top 100.

Darren Fichardt’s 71 gave him T18 on 9 under, while Merrick Bremner produced another excellent performance with a final 72 for 7 under and T35.

Five other South Africans started, but didn’t make the weekend.

28/08/2014

The Wild Waves Golf Challenge is on at the magnificent Wild Coast golf course.

The weather has been exceptionally kind to us for the past two days, but things are predicted to change dramatically tomorrow for the final round with 70 km per hour winds predicted which threaten to even make the course unplayable.

So far, the opening 36 holes have all belonged to Colin Nel whose back-to-back 65’s for 10 under par were created totally differently. Whereas yesterday’s 18 was almost perfection the whole way round, today’s involved some amazing scrambling that incredibly also gave him a 5 under par score. He had 8 birdies to 3 bogeys with his putter saving him on a number of occasions.

Colin holds a 3 shot lead over Uli Van den Berg (68 – 65), whose great year is continuing, and Jared Harvey (69 – 64). Jared eagled the 18th and added 5 birdies to his scorecard.

Four others are T4, just one shot further back, including Ockie Strydom who jumped 62 places today by shooting an amazing 8 under par 62, in a round where he said he 'could do nothing wrong'.

With a few still to finish at the time of writing, the cut will most likely be 1 under par, with 49 players left to contend for the R700 000 purse.

24/08/2014

The first of the four events making up the USPGA FedEx playoffs is always the Barclays played at Ridgewood CC in New Jersey.

Each event is an elimination with more or less 30 players dropping out of the running each week for the $35 million overall bonus purse, which includes a $10 million top prize.

Ernie Els had a wonderful final round. Birdies on the 4th, 9th, 13th, 17th and 18th and not a single dropped shot gave him a perfect 5 under par 66. There are six players still on the course, but Ernie’s 11 under par should finish an impressive T5, at a tournament he has won twice before. It jumps him from 91st to 39th in the FedEx Rankings.

Charl Schwartzel’s final round 70 (which included 15 pars) gave him a grand total of 4 under for T30.

Brendon de Jonge had a difficult first nine, dropping 5 shots in 5 holes, before carding 10 straight pars for a closing 75 which was 1 over par overall and T61 - but still good enough to progress to next week, where he will need to do exceptionally well to go to the third event.

Retief Goosen, however, may have finished just one shot worse in T66, but today’s 74 knocked him down 7 places on the FedEx Cup ranking and out of the Top 100.

Tim Clark, like Louis Oosthuizen and Rory Sabbatini, missed the cut this week, but unlike them, Tim still moves on to next week’s event by virtue of his ranking well within the Top 100.

24/08/2014

The Canadian Pacific Women’s Open still has nine holes to play at the time of writing, but it’s all over for the South African players.

Earlier, Lee-Anne Pace and Paula Reto had both produced level par for 36 holes to miss the cut, and today Ashleigh Simon shot a final round 76 for 3 over par, which will probably remain T79. Ash had a difficult start today dropping 4 shots in the first 3 holes.

The real story is the field chasing the three runaway Koreans at the top of the board in Ontario, with the course record falling several times over.

24/08/2014

Jake Roos (74) dropped 9 places today in the final round of the Rolex Trophy played in Geneva on the ET Challenge Tour event.

He had been right in contention starting the day 8 under par, but finished T23 for another good cheque in what has been a great year for him.

His round contained 4 birdies, but a sad 9 on the 475 meter par 5 eighth hole.

24/08/2014

What a great week for Merrick Bremner in the D+D real Czech Masters played at Albertross Golf Resort!

He wasn’t in the original draw but after his Monday practice round was desperate for a late entry as he said the course gave him the same comfort feel as Copperleaf back home.

In any event, the late entry came and Merrick played excellent golf in all four rounds. His 70 –68 – 70 – 69 tally of 11 under par left him T3 for his best performance in Europe, and some guaranteed invitations for the next few months.

He had a difficult back nine in not the best conditions with winds over 30 kph, but a brilliant second shot and great putt gave him a 72nd hole birdie to earn 56 300 euros, and an entry to Italy next week.

Hennie Otto was the only other South African on the better side of par. 1 under, meant finishing T39. Only his Saturday round let him down.

Keith Horne and Haydn Porteous (1 over, T60); Dylan Fritelli (3 over, T70); Brandon Stone (4 over, T75) and James Kingston (5 over, T79) also made the cut.

11/08/2014

Ricky Fowler’s amazingly consistent performance in the 2014 majors (T5th, T2nd, T2nd, T3rd) is the best by anyone who DIDN’T win a major in a calendar year since at the very least 2000 (that’s when my own detailed records start).

Ernie Els comes closest back in 2004 when he came 2nd, T9th,2nd (having lost the play-off) and T4th.

I wonder if there has ever been a better NON-winning performance in the history of the majors?

Ernie did come 2nd (or T2nd ) in each of the first three majors of 2000, but then came T34 in the fourth.

On a random choice, I looked up Arnold Palmer. In 1966 he was T4th, 2nd,T8th, and T6th. Has there ever been a better performance than Ricky's without a win?

11/08/2014

What incredible golf at Valhalla! This was possibly one of the most exciting US PGA tournaments I have ever watched, with great scoring and a constantly changing leaderboard.

First, Charl Schwartzel’s brilliant 66 with 7 birdies got him the clubhouse lead at 9 under par (eventually becoming T15) and then Ernie Els rolled back the years to be in contention. Ernie had 4 birdies in a row (the 3rd through the 6th) and after the 11th was 6 under par having putted amazingly to get to 11 under for the Championship. He finished bogey, birdie to stay on that number and finish T7.

Louis Oosthuizen never got it going today and his 71 left him 9 under and T15 with Charl. He was level par on both nines.

Richard Sterne thrilled the commentators using his driver for his second shot over water off the fairway on the par 5 7th. He eagled the 18th for a final 70, and at 3 under par was T36.

Brendon de Jonge matched that 70 via 4 birdies and 3 bogies, for a 2 under par total and T41, which was one shot better than Branden Grace (72, T47).

Somehow the course drained incredibly and was totally playable, despite severe criticism from some players which included the fact that no ‘clean and place’ rule was applied.

(Ps: Rory McIlroy is supreme)

10/08/2014

Louis Oosthuizen has improved his bogey count each day at the US PGA Championship. From Thursday’s four and Friday’s three, it was only one yesterday. And that came on the driveable (292 yards) 4th hole, where he found the water.

In any event, he produced 5 birdies for the day including the 17th and 18th (for the third day in a row) and a great 67, which moves him to 9 under par and T6. He is 4 behind, but has to be in with a great chance today.

Ernie is T23, after a 35 – 33 day and had 3 birdies coming home for 5 under par. That’s one ahead of Charl Schwartzel who had gone out brilliantly with 3 birdies in a 33, but produced 3 bogeys on the back nine for a 72 to leave him T32.

Branden Grace (68) and Richard Sterne (72) share T42 at 2 under. Richard had turned 6 under par.

Brendon de Jonge’s 72 was made up in a similar fashion to Richard’s, and at 1 under is T50.

The rain has severely softened up the course and the scores are low, so the most likely winners will start the fourth round within 3 or 4 of the lead. The weather forecast includes more thunderstorms throughout the day.

10/08/2014

Brandon Stone eagled the 16th and produced 3 more birdies for a third round 68 in Norway.

It’s his 11th event this year on the Challenge Tour and, I am sure, he would be desperate to have another great round to improve his 107th ranking. At 7 under the leader is a distant 8 shots ahead but just 2 more birdies than the field will get him his second top ten for 2014.

Thriston Lawrence’s 77 dropped him to T64 and 1 over par.

10/08/2014

10/08/2014

Lee-Anne Pace is again playing outstanding golf on the LPGA .

This time, it’s at the Meijer Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is T7 through 3 rounds at 6 under par - some distance behind the leader at 13 under.

Paula Reto is T43 at 1 over. In her third round 71 (level par) she had plenty of birdies (5) but gave them all away.

Earlier, Ashleigh Simon missed the cut by just one shot.

09/08/2014

Thriston Lawrence is quietly getting on with his business on the Challenge Tour.

This time in Norway he again made the cut in his young career with a 68 and 70 to be T17 going into the weekend at 6 under par. He has accumulated 10 birdies in 36 holes.

Brandon Stone also made the cut in T46, 3 further back.

They are chasing the leader whose 13 under.

Haydn Porteous and Juan Sarasti missed the cut.

09/08/2014

King Louis had 5 birdies in his opening round 70, and 7 more in a brilliant second round 67 that gets him to 5 under par and T9 after 36 holes of the US PGA Championship being played at the PGA’s own course, Valhalla, in Kentucky.

Fingers crossed that Louis keeps the momentum going. He is 4 behind tournament favourite Rory McIlroy. He is also the only Southern African to make the cut in all 4 majors this year.

Richard Sterne produced his best golf for some time with a 70 and 69 to be 3 under par and well-placed at T17. He has only had 3 bogeys in his two rounds.

Most of the Southern Africans are bracketed at 2 under par.
Ernie Els (who sunk some incredibly long putts) and Brendon de Jonge had a brace of 70’s, while Charl Schwartzel corrected his opening 72 with a 68 (including a birdie, eagle finish) to all be T26. Ernie looked ecstatic as he finished strongly and appeared to enjoy his two days with Ricky Fowler.

Branden Grace qualified for the weekend after a 73 and 70 put him right on the 1 over par cut line.

Tim Clark, Rory Sabbatini and George Coetzee missed the cut.

03/08/2014

Meanwhile, in Nevada, George Coetzee lead the South Africans in the modified points scoring system adopted for the Barracuda Championship.

31 points had him T17, some way behind the 49 scored by the winner.

Retief Goosen was T25, 2 points further back. Trevor Immelman was T57 and Rory Sabbatini T69, but Tyrone van Aswegen by missing another cut needs an exceptional end to his season to have any chance of retaining his card in 2015.

03/08/2014

The WGC events carry incredible prize money. $9,0 million for the Bridgestone Invitational, with $1,5 million going to the winner.

The Firestone golf course, in Ohio, looked immaculate, and so did Charl Schwartzel’s golf for all but one round this week.

Charl’s 65 and 69 on Thursday and Friday were bettered by a brilliant 64 today on the par 70 layout. His Sunday included an eagle on the 2nd, and 5 birdies - 3 of which were in the last 4 holes. What a difference a score better 3 over par on Saturday could have made to his T4, 9 under par eventual result. Nonetheless, although 6 behind another incredible Rory McIlroy performance, Charl shouldn’t be too unhappy with (probably) a $500 000 paycheck.

Branden Grace did well to end 3 under par in T23, one ahead of Ernie Els (68 today and T26 overall).

Brendon de Jonge was level par for his 4 rounds in T37.

Over par were Tim Clark (71; 6 over; T50), Richard Sterne (71; 9 over; T58) and Louis Oosthuizen (75; 10 over; 61st).

Amazingly, 4 players withdrew due to injuries during the tournament.

03/08/2014

So where exactly is Azerbaijan, this week’s stop on the Challenge Tour?

Basically, it borders the Caspian Sea, is north of Iran and south of Russia! And, it’s home for about 10 million people.

Anyway, Thriston Lawrence had a fair result coming T44 at 3 under par, which was 8 places and 3 shots ahead of Brandon Stone, who was the only other South African to make the cut.

Haydn Porteous and Dylan Frittelli, unfortunately, are both struggling to find their feet at this level of golf. Jake Roos, on the other hand, will be disappointed not to have kept his good record this season going.

27/07/2014

Lee-Anne Pace continues her excellent golf.

Today’s second place in the Czech Republic moves her up to 6th on the ISPS LET Order of Merit.

Lee-Anne finished just 2 behind the winner after another 6 under par round today getting her to 15 under par. She might just think about her double drop on the 8th hole which dipped into her 8 birdies of the day.

Connie Chen had by far her best result of the year. She palyed steady golf in all 3 rounds and ended a brilliant T7 at 10 under par.

But, the talking point of the day has to be Stacy Lee Bregman’s fantastic 31-32 for a closing round of 63 which jumped her 36 places to T9. It contained 5 birdies and 2 eagles, and even a bogey on the last hole!

Kim Williams finished T30 at 4 under par.

27/07/2014

Tim Clark. Amazing!

What a great couple of weeks for our Umkomaas boy.

Tim described his Sunday as ‘a dream day’. His 5 under 65 – with 5 birdies on the back nine – gave him a 17 under par tournament and a one shot win as he slugged it out in the last pairing of The RBC Canadian Open played at Royal Montreal GC.

Tim is a really quiet unassuming guy, and this win (only his second on the PGA Tour, his first being the 2010 Players Championship) is a major rejuvenation for him after his comeback from injury and operations. The $1m winner’s check doubles his on-course US earnings for the year, and takes his career earnings to $22m. That’s incredible for a guy who has only won once before in America!

Ernie Els played well all week to finish T12 on 8 under par, as did Retief Goosen. Charl Schwartzel was T43 at 3 under and Thomas Aiken T72 after a difficult weekend dropped him to 5 over par.

Missing the cut were Tyrone Van Aswegen and Trevor Immelman.

20/07/2014

Well done, Lee-Anne Pace!

Lee-Anne only has conditional entry to the 2014 LPGA season so every opportunity to play well gives her a better chance for more invitations and eventually a full card.

There was a world class field in this week’s Marathon Classic played at Highlands Meadow in Ohio, and Lee-Anne entered the final day tied for the lead at 11 under par - which is remarkable considering she didn’t get in a practice round! She may have struggled to find the fairways, but the rest of her game was brilliant.

Her final round saw the field coming at her with early birdies and Lee-Anne just posting pars until back-to-back bogeys on 14 and 15 effectively dropped her out of contention. She birdied the last hole to finish on 71 for a great 11 under par and T4, which was no disgrace behind the world’s youngest talent, Lydia Ko, who fired a 65 for 15 under par.

Paula Reto had 3 birdies offsetting 3 bogeys in a par 71 score and 1 over for the tournament which gave her a T66 finish.

Ashleigh Simon had her best round with 6 birdies in her 69. She finished 3 over par in T71.

(ps: But how pathetic was the NBC coverage that they closed off while Lee-Anne’s pairing was still out on the course!!!!!)

20/07/2014

Charl Schwartzel played excellent golf today.

He closed out his final round at Royal Liverpool with 5 birdies and no bogeys in 67. He birdied the par 5, 5th hole every day of the tournament and ended on 11 under par in a respectable T7. He had the second most number of birdies for the tournament – 22.

George Coetzee came back strongly with a 68 to end 7 under par and alone in 18th place. George’s tournament was mixed but he played the 16 par 3’s over the four rounds, better than anyone else at The Open (5 under).

Louis Oosthuizen had a quiet day with 14 pars and a level par 72 keeping him at 2 under par which gave him T36, which he shared with Branden Grace. Branden won’t be happy though. 6 bogies in 7 holes cost him dearly in the middle part of his round. He needed a good finish with 3 birdies to get to a 74. His week’s golf included 19 birdies and 17 bogies.

In 2006, at Hoylake, the winning score was 18 under par and 7 players in total reached double figures below par. Today it was 17 under and 11 breached 10. Rory McIlroy joins Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only ones to win three majors by the age of 25.