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Before I review last week’s effort, I’m going to cut to the chase and get this week’s tips out of the way.
I’ll start in Europe at the fantastic Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The guy I’m looking to at odds of about 20-1 is Michael Campbell. He has been in phenomenal form over the past six weeks with a string of top-10s and I couldn’t help but hear a snippet from his caddie who advised that this would be the week to back Cambo.
The former US Open champ will be in his element if the wind gets up but he’s a fantastic links player no matter what.
The guys I’ve got to go with him are perennial links specialist  aul Lawrie who has been slowly battling into some respectable form and Ernie Els, who loves these conditions and whose solid US form should translate well across the Atlantic.
In the US, it’s hard to get a bead on the Turning Resort Tournament as the players have only seen the course once. But on revealed form at that venue coupled with current form, I like Bill Haas.
Haas is a genuine battler, he battles himself and struggles to have faith in his ability. But he is a good, reliable, honest player who deserves a win.
Regulars at Golfdelerium know that I’m big fan of Kevin Streelman and I’ll look to him again even though he hasn’t played for a few weeks. For a third pick, I guess you can’t go past Robert Allenby. He’s been playing well in better company than this and more receptive greens than those he encountered at the Tour Championship will help his almost desperate cause to turn his persistent good play into victory.
Now, a note on last week, where Campbell got home for third at Belfry for a top placing there behind the mercurial Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez Castano and the evergreen Lee Westwood, who blew the playoff against the Spaniard.
Across the ditch it was the other way around with Spaniard Sergio Garcia blowing the playoff against Camilo Villegas in a really dramatic finish to the Tour Championship.
Villegas, after so much promise, has finally delivered and he looks like he’s here to stay. He battled back amazingly from a double bogey and bogey couplet early in his round to rattle off a birdies like bullets from a machine gun.
His dynamic swing is impressive but moreso is how he can drill those putts when he gets his eye in. he hits so many fairways and greens that once he gets his eye in with the putter he can go on streaks of birdies.
The final word on him is that he’s way good enough to win a major. I think he’ll get one in the next two years.
September 24th 2008 04:27
What an amazing Ryder Cup. It will be forever memorable as the Ryder Cup where the Americans rediscovered their passion for the contest and the Europeans went septic over the crowd.
The Americans were inspired by their young guns – Anthony Kim, Boo Weekley, JB Holmes and Hunter Mahan in particular. In contrast the Europeans were let down by their experienced campaigners. The fact Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia couldn’t win a match between them over the three days says it all.
To my mind it’s not hard to work out where the Yanks won it: passion. Over the past three editions the Europeans were a together team who kind of circled the wagon and were able to focus on a common enemy. In contrast the Americans in those three successive losses were dishevelled and unfocused.
What captain Paul Azinger was able to do was focus them by using patriotism, and encouraging the crowd to get in to it. All those chants of “USA, USA, USA” worked a treat.
The Europeans in contrast were upset by what Weekley called “hootin’ and hollerin’” and allowed themselves to lose focus. This is where Nick Faldo let them down as a captain. My one fear about Faldo was that he would be too divisive but in the end he was simply too aloof.
But what of the crowd. Is it right for fans to be shouting and cheering especially when the Europeans missed a putt or fluffed a shot? I think it was more a case the American fans were celebrating the fact their team had won the hole – they didn’t go out to disparage the Europeans, it’s just when the Europeans made a mistake it meant the Yanks won the hole, hence the cheering.
Occasionally there was too much cheering while the hole was still alive but what the heck this kind of thing happens only once every two years and the fans should be allowed to enjoy it and express themselves. I think golf can be a bit too staid sometimes and as long as fans don’t yell during a player’s backswing, anything goes within reason.
Anyway, normal service resumes this week with The Tour Championship in the US and the British Masters at the Belfry.
At the Tour championship I’m going outside the favourites. I really like the form of Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker over the past few weeks. Hopefully they can come down from the hype of the Ryder Cup and play the steady golf that has marked the latter part of the season for both of them. My other pick is a roughie in the form of DJ Trahan. He’s been consistent all year and while he snuck in as one of the lower-ranked players in the top-30 for this field the fact is he can play and he can play well on tough courses.
At the Belfry, Michael Campbell stands out. The Kiwi had top-10 finishes in this event in 2006 and 2007 when he wasn’t playing all that well. Right now he’s playing superbly with a great run of form and I can see him hitting top gear and recording a well deserved win.
The others I like are Italian Francesco Molinari, who has been hot recently and David Howell, whose return from injury continues to gather momentum.
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September 15th 2008 09:31
I’ve come up with a completely improvised but interesting way to work out who will win the Ryder Cup at Valhalla this week.
I’ve paired off the two teams in head-to-head match ups based on relative similarities between players. It’s quite arbitrary but this is my blog and I’ll do what I want. So here goes:
The undoubted top dogs in either team are Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson. Harrington missed the cut the last time he played but he gave the appearance that he didn’t really care for the FedEx Cup playoff system. He’ll be in this up to his eyeballs and has proved this season he’s the best player in the Tiger-less golf world. Phil has never really fired in the Ryder Cup, maybe because there’s no money at stake … and he’s not really in form, so I give this one to Europe which makes it 1-0
Sergio Garcia v Jim Furyk. Here’s two guys who hit a lot of fairways and greens and rise and fall on their putting. Lately Sergio has been right there with the blade and his razzle dazzle and passion for this event gives him the edge of Furyk – Europe 2-0
Steve Stricker v Miguel Angel Jiminez. These two veterans are with games tailor-made for major tests. Stricker appears the better match player but Jiminez is in form. Hard to split but Jiminez might not fire to the same level as Stricker, so I’ll give this one to the yanks. 2-1
Anthony Kim is the hottest prospect in world golf. Stenson is Europe’s class act. They are the bright young things. Kim has a little more magic. 2-2
Kenny Perry and Lee Westwood appeal as couple of guys who like the simple life and the odd beer. Perry was peerless mid-year and Valhalla is in his home state of Kentucky while Westwood has been in stunning form in the majors. His performance at a higher level and Perry’s tapering form and the pressure of playing at “home” gives the advantage to Europe. 3-2
Stewart Cink and Robert Karlsson – these two guys really are similar. Both are tall and both put themselves in contention week on week. And both went long periods before winning this year; Cink’s Traveler’s Championship win was his first in four years and Karlsson’s win last week was his first in almost three years. Hard to split these two. Europe 3.5-2.5
Justin Leonard and Justin Rose are a pair of steady eddies, or just Justins. They will rattle along doing little wrong and play well if the weather turns bad. They are too hard to split so I’ll call it draw. 4-3 Europe
Ben Curtis v Soren Hansen. These are kind of nondescript players who hover around leaderboards. Curtis had a really hot batch of form going until recently but he can recapture that while Hansen appeals as a player who cannot quite lift to the big time. Give this one to Curtis. 4-4
Hunter Mahan v Paul Casey. Two of the best players from the under-30 age group. Casey is a good player but Mahan is a fierce competitor and will out-passion the Englishman: 5-4 USA
Mercurial defines Chad Campbell and Ian Poulter; they are guys who can be both brilliant and reckless, They birdie with abandon and bogey in the blink of eye. Poulter though has taken his mental fortitude to a higher level this year and he is better suited to this format. That makes it 5-5
JB Holmes and Graeme McDowell. The long and short of it … these two are defined by their driving. Holmes is a big hitting brute who has won the FBR Open twice and his length will help the Yanks immeasurably whereas McDowell is a short-hitter who won’t offer the same advantage to Europe. Distance wins. 6-5 USA.
Boo Weekley v Oliver Wilson; Hmmm. The leftovers. Wilson is the only guy in this whole shebang who hasn’t won on either on the PGA or European Tour but he’s had a fantastic year nonetheless, with a string of seconds earlier on and when he needed a top finish to secure his Ryder Cup place he finished top-10, so he’s mentally strong. Weekley’s is quirky, interesting, down to earth guy and a heck of a player. His backsticks simplicity is charming but it might be lost in this environment, so I give this match to the steadier Wilson. So that makes it 6-all.
So to split the teams, it’s the captain’s pick, as in pick which captain will have more influence. Nick Faldo can be divisive but I think he’ll rally his troops. Paul Azinger is a cancer survivor and a strong-willed customer but this might come down to flair, ability to motivate and knowledge of the matchplay format. I think Faldo has the edge.
So I predict Europe to win a close one.
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September 12th 2008 01:06
A very quick update given there’s no golf on this week bar the European tour event in Germany where I think Miguel Angel Jiminez or Michael Campbell might prevail.
MAJ played exceptionally well last week without being able to make a putt to save his life while Cambo has been back in form for about a month now and when he’s in form, there are not many finer players
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Last week I said it was hard to go past the big three of Vijay, Sergio and Phil and so it proved as Vijay mowed down the field with a final round 63 to capture the Deutsche Bank championship.
He was phenomenal on the last day, bombing it deep, hitting his greens and landing a string of long putts. The simple fact is that when Vijay gets his putter going he is awfully hard to beat because he is just so reliable tee to green
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Out of China and back to my living room post-Olympics and just in time to preview the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, the second leg of the FedEx Cup finals.
All the big dogs came to the top last week in the Barclays and I don’t expect it to be much different this week with last week’s winner and two-time champion here Vijay Singh, last year’s winner Phil Mickelson and in-form Sergio Garcia the big three
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Ni Hao, or hello in Mandarin. Yep still in Beijing and witness the most amazing sporting event I've ever been at: Usain Bolt's 100m win in world record time while seemingly jogging the last 15m while congratulating himself.
It made my heart sing and sent a shiver up and down my back. On a day when Michael Phelps had won eight gold medals it was the trump card
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Hey folks,
Sorry this is a bit late this week but I'm in Beijing for the Olympics and have been quite distracted
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I’ll get to the PGA Championship in a minute but first a quick review of last week.
At the WGC tournament at Firestone, my best result was courtesy of Chad Campbell who was just outside a top 10 dominated by major-class players. At Reno-Tahoe, Eric Axley cruised into a share of fourth which was a good return as he was at 50-1 pre-tournament
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One of my major hates about golf is on centre stage this week: Michelle Wie – the female golfer who can’t win a tournament against women yet insists on playing against men.
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