In the Rough

World Number One Tiger Woods was back in winning form after a brilliant final day’s performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the Bay Hill Golf Club in Orlando.

Going into the final round Tiger was 5 shots behind leader Sean O’Hair and in typical Tiger style produced the goods to claim his first title since returning from Injury. The win has also ensured he stays as number one for when The Masters event in a few weeks tee’s off.

On the start of the final day the rain came and unfortunately delayed the start but that only seemed to motivate Tiger into action as by the seventh hole he had clawed back the 5 shot deficit and was sitting only one shot behind O’Hair.

A sixteen foot putt on the last hole then assured Tiger of a win by one stroke.

At this weekends Open De Andalucia Golf Tournament 45 year old Colin Montgomerie reached the landmark of 500 appearances on the European Golf Tour.

The Scot has now been on the European Tour for 22 years and within that time has massed 1722 rounds of golf, which is a like walking from London to Brazil.

The record though for most appearances on the European Tour is held by former Ryder Cup Captain Sam Torrance who in his playing career has appeared at 754 European Tour Events.

Unfortunately Colin Montgomerie didn’t win on his 500th European Tour Event and could only manage a level par overall score, which was 14 shots behind eventual winner Soren Kjeldsen.

South African Retief Goosen has finally ended his four year drought on the PGA Tour by winning the Transitions Championship in Tampa Bay.

Goosen shot a final round of 70 to win over the 72 holes by a single stroke from American duo Brett Quigley and Charles Howell (third).

Goosen finished for the four rounds on nine under par to record his first victory since way back in 2005.

The double US Open champion looked in good form over the weekend and must be starting to feel confident ahead of the Masters in April. A great chip in on the ninth and a long 17ft eagle putt on 11th set Goosen up well and he didn’t look back to claim the victory.

American Phil Mickelson is closing in on American World Number Tiger Woods in the latest world ranking figures released.

Their is now only a gap of two points between the two golfers and come the Masters in April it could be Tiger Woods world number two.

The current gap of two points is the closest it has ever been between the two players and more evidence that Mickelson is in the form of his life although the injury to Tiger has had an effect on his rankings.

Woods does have an opportunity to extend his lead though before Phil tee’s off as he is playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Bay Hill this week.

Chapchai Nirat of Thailand has broken the long standing record for the lowest under par total at an Asian Tour event this weekend.

Chapchai who turned professional at just fifteen produced a magnificent display to break the record and also win the SAIL Open in New Delhi, India.

Chapchai also broke a 36 hole record for an Asian Tour event after he started with two rounds of 62.

The final round of 67 for the 25 year old ensured that he finished on a brilliant 32 under par.

The total of 256 was 11 shots clear of his nearest challengers for the SAIL Open.

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson has done what someone hasn’t done in years, upstaged World Number One Tiger Woods.

Okay it wasn’t through his actual game play but because of some very odd behaviour during the first round of the WGC-CA Championship.

On the third hole Stenson came into a bit of trouble when his tee shot narrowly missed the water and bedded itself into the bank in all the mud.

Stenson decided that this shot was playable though and to save his clothes from getting very muddy / wet through the rest of the round stripped down into a pair of white fronts, which was to the crowd’s amusement.

Okay this headline is probably a couple of year’s off been true and on the cover of all golf magazine’s, newspapers and Internet sites but one day it will be true - according to South African Ernie Els.

After impressive displays since his tour debut McIlroy has won many fans on tour and is arguably one of the main attractions left at the World Golf Championship Accenture Match Play with World number Tiger Wood’s already out to another South African Tim Clark.

McIlroy who is only 19 years old has a very strong game and if he carries on down the right path could well be Golfs next Number One Golfer. It could be a long wait though for the Northern Irishman with Tiger Woods now back on the course surely he will be back to his best soon and extending that world number one lead.
The conqueror of Tiger Woods, Tim Clark found Rory Mcilroy too much to handle and lost 4 and 3 to him.

Rory McIlroy World Golf Champion 2009 is a more realistic target and could become true in a few days.

Young Japanese prodigy Ryo Ishikawa is set to make history at this years Augusta Masters after being given an invite from the Augusta National Golf Club.

Ishikawa will be the youngest ever professional to play at Augusta when he tee’s off on April 9th at this years first major of 2009. When on the first tee he will be 17 years, six months and 23 days.

This will only make Ryo Ishikawa the second youngest player in Augusta history though as the record is held by amateur Tommy Jacobs. The American played in the 1952 Augusta Championship at the age of 17 years, 1 month and 21 days.

With Jacobs only been an Amateur in 1952 it means Ryo Ishikawa will be the youngest ever professional at Augusta in history.

Augusta National Golf Club Chairman Billy Payne said “we see this opportunity to expose an emerging talent on world stage”

it has also been rumoured that Ryo Ishikawa will be playing at the Bay Hill Tournament in March after an invite from golf Legend Arnold Palmer. This event should also see the return of Tiger Woods.

Chris Woods has received a sponsors invite for next week Dubai Desert Classic.

Woods who only last year was a 21 year old amateur who finished fifth in the British Open.

After going through the Qualifying school in November Woods Turned professional and is reliant on a lot of sponsors invite for the European Tour in 2009 to be in the major competitions, however a few good performances could get him into the tournaments without sponsors deals.

Woods as a professional has already finished 10th in the Portugal Masters and sixth in the recent South African Open.

American golfer John Daly who is currently banned from the USPGA tour has been invited to the Dubai Desert Classic as has former British Open champion Mark O’Meara.

England’s Ian Poulter will miss this next week’s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship after deciding to undergo corrective eye surgery instead.

The world number 26 is hoping that by missing the tournament and having the eye surgery it will help his full campaign in 2009 and hopefully help him to move up in the world rankings and challenge for the Order of Merit title.

Over recent times Poulter has been struggling to see in poor light and if some rounds were to finish later on it could seriously hamper his round of golf.

Poulter has listened to his doctor by taking the time out to have corrective surgery as he has been told that continuing to play could deteriorate the problem further and may lead to persistent problems.