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 work we have setup a Golf Society in which we are hoping to play some of the best golf courses around Cheshire.

We would welcome any challenge to our current team which consists of -

Nala Kconrahc the left handed golf shark. He has often been seen at Adlington Golf Driving Range fine tuning his aggressive golf swing or in the pub drinking Stella.

Etch McGee the dark horse of the group. He relies purely on his driving from the tee as his iron play and putting on the green needs improvement.

J B the points scorer of the group. J B is the consistent performer of the group who’s sublime golf swing and eye for the green will always bring in 20 plus points from a round.

Organisers of the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain have made a decision to change the date of this year’s tournament to avoid a clash with USPGA Tours Tour Championship event.

Both Volvo and IMG hope that by moving tournament back from the 24 - 27 October to October 29 - 1 November 2009. The move should ensure that the top players are at the 16 man tournament.

The event in Finca Cortesn near Marbella in Spain has a total prize fund of over £3,000,000 with the overall winner taking away a cool £700,000.

The Inaugural tournament will see 16 winners of the organisers match play events throughout the year all compete in a round robin style event. So far only South African Ernie Els has qualified after winning the HSBC Match Play at Wentworth. However the second name will be confirmed in a few weeks after the Volvo China Open, with the winner lining up along side Els.

Danish Golfer Soren Kjeldsen maintained his lead from his stunning round of golf Saturday to win the Andalucia Open from Scotlands David Drysdale by a margin of three shots.

Saturday’s brilliant round saw Soren break the course record after hitting a stunning round of 62 and from that point he was in a very strong position to win his second title in Spain in only a 6 month period after winning the Volvo Masters in Valderrama.

Both Kjeldsen and Drysdale made hard work of the last few holes with by players bogeying and double bogeying some holes. The water also made it a very interesting end to the round.

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.

After the success over the weekend of Argentine Estanislao Goya’s maiden European Tour Victory at the Madeira Islands Open it was yet more proof that currently in Golf it is the Golden Age for young professionals who are making a big name on the tour.

The win of Goya has followed wins from Rory McIlroy who is producing good performances all over the world presently and England’s Danny Lee.

In 2008 it was American Anthony Kim and German Martin Kaymer who where making waves on the golf circuit, now both players turn up to every event with the mind set of finishing well and even hopes of winning.

Argentine Estanislao Goya held off a good fight from Scotland’s Callum Macaulay to win the Madeira Islands Open by a single stroke.

Estanislao started the day with a comfortable three stroke lead but a course record of sixty four for Macaulay ensured it turned into a good finish and that the Argentine was going to have to fight to win this European Tour Event.

The final few holes became a roller coaster for Goya as a double bogey at 16 really put the pressure on but two pars of the 17th and 18th holes meant he finished a stroke ahead of the field.

Ireland’s Damien McCrane and Holland’s Wil Besseling tied for third spot with a four under par total.

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.