Rather Late Weekend Wrap - Golf Week 15.02.2016

Euro Front:

The tour turns to the last leg of its desert swing before returning to Africa’s southern tip. The event, The Omega Dubai Desert Classic, held on the beautiful Emirates GC. Twenty-six years before, it was simply a square of green amongst the desert sands, come 2016 the event is played between the heaven touching skyscrapers of one of the most incredible cities in the world. Attracting the top players is not difficult for such an event, and the crowd’s were not disappointed to see McIlroy strolling the fairways. Unfortunately for the Northern Irishman, a slow second round, saw him slide just out of reach of the winning spot. That honour went to Englishman Danny Willet, who has been battling an injury in the early parts of this season. However, with this victory that went right up to the 72nd and a necessary birdie on that hole, it would seem his injury concerns are at an end. The win, his fourth, saw him lift the rather impressively sized trophy and importantly boosted his R2D rankings up to 3rd.

Turning from the green gem, between the island of iron, the tour returned to South Africa and the Tshwane Open. The event was played once again between the tall air bunkers of the tree lined Pretoria Country Club. With the course playing tough, it was evident very early on in the week that it would be the golfer who managed to stay away from the numerous trees, of which I have personally visited on far too many occasions. Looking to the stats of the week, it would seem that is exactly what the eventual and truthfully runaway winner did. Charl Schwartzel, dominated the field off the tee, averaging 325 yards, and led the green in regulation column, hitting close to 80 percent of the fast running surfaces, adding these two stats together with a fine putting display on the final day. A fourth round 63, placed him eight shots from his nearest challenger, capping off his second victory of the season and a welcome return to consistent form.

State Side:

Two weeks ago, the PGA Tour found its way to the raucous show that is the Waste Management Phoenix Open. A fine show was given to the cheering crowds and the players did not back down from the challenge of the stadium hole on number 16. To the delight of the fans, the event continued past the 72-holes of regulation play, thankfully in part to Rickie Fowler bogeying the 17th, before he and Matsuyama birdied the 18th and sending them into a playoff. Four holes of effort and sweat later, and once again the 17th proved to be the downfall of the orange clad puma star, putting his ball in the green side water for the third time that week (9th time in his career) and opened the door for the two putt that would see Matsuyama to his 2nd tour win, finally banishing the demons of his fluffed chip from last years President’s Cup.

Last week saw South Africa’s sweet swinging Schwartzel in fine form, but across the large pond of the Atlantic another far more unlikely story was unfolding at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, one that took its actors until Monday to finish playing their parts. As true as fairytales generally are, they need a hero, one rather improbable, but not without hope. Former champion Vaughn Taylor certainly is one such individual. Taylor overcame the many seasons since his last win way back in 2005 and his last full season on the Tour in 2011, overcame the stigma of using stand bag, the lack of sponsors, and the need for an alternate spot to actually make it into the event. For all the set backs and obvious strains of the past years showing, he fought back to the memories of 2004 and 2005, and once again found the game on Monday to fire a 65 and overcome a large final round deficit to finish first. The win earns him a regular spot on tour and jumps him an incredible 347 places in the world rankings to 100th in the world. Congratulations and certainly welcome home to golf.

Other events of note included:

• South Korea’s Ha Na Jang, kept her composure, notching two birds over the closing holes, on the final day of the Coates Golf Championship in Florida, to claim her first LPGA win.

• Sebastion Munoz, the Colombian native, turned pro in 2015 and after playing a year on the Latin American Tour, he has taken his trade to the competitive ranks of the Web.com Tour, and has done rather well indeed. Winning in only his second event, good things to look forward to from the 22-year-old.

• Terence Boardman (RSA) shot a superb 65 in the final round of the Kyalami Challenge, to lift the trophy and put him back on the path to gaining his Sunshine Tour Card later this year (IGT Gauteng)

To look forward to this week –

• Maybank Championship Malaysia (European Tour)

• Northern Trust Open (US PGA Tour)

• ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open (LPGA)

• Centurion Classic (IGT Gauteng)