Photo courtesy of Asian Tour
Justin Rose today became the 22nd player to reach the number one position in men’s golf since world rankings were first introduced in 1986.
Rose’s runner-up finish at this week’s BMW Championship at Newton Square in Philadelphia moved him past Dustin Johnson and to the top of the rankings for the first occasion and in doing so he joined fellow countrymen Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald as holders of the mantle.
Interestingly, and perhaps highlighting the internationalisation of the game in the past thirty years, 15 of those 22 have been non-Americans.
Seven Americans, four Englishmen, three Australians, two Germans and one each from Spain, South Africa, Wales, Fiji, Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe make up the geographical balance of those reaching the lofty heights of the game’s top mantle.
“Yeah, that’s an end goal dream for sure,” said Rose after his near miss at the BMW. “Obviously today is all about the process, and there will be next week to win tournaments, but to get to world No. 1 is unbelievable. It’s something I can say now in my career I’ve been the best player in the world. I’ve been to the top of the game.
“That’s definitely some consolation – I just wish I could have enjoyed the moment maybe,” added Rose referring to his loss today. “This just slightly dampens it. But tomorrow or the next day, the week after, I’ll look back at this and think it was amazing, an amazing moment in my career.”
Rose began his professional career after a brilliant showing at the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale where, as a 17-year old amateur, he holed from well off the green at the last to finish 4th behind Mark O’Meara.
Rose turned professional soon after, many saying it was too soon as he struggled in so many events, taking seventeen events to finally make a cheque, that coming in June of 1999 when he finished 4th in a European Tour Challenge Tour event in Austria.
One thing that Rose did show however was a determination to learn his craft. I recall being in Portugal in a commentary role in that event in early 1999 when, after missing the cut at the Algarve Portugal Open, Rose spent time out watching play on the Saturday soaking up as much as he could by just observing players.
It is a sight that sticks with this writer in as much as it gave an insight into the mind of Rose. Despite his early struggles in the paid ranks he wanted to get better and get better quickly and he recognised the benefit of learning by example.
It would, however, take him until early 2001 to record his first top ten on the European Tour when runner-up in consecutive events in the land of his birthplace, South Africa, and the rest as they say is history.
His first victory would again come in South Africa when he won the Dunhill Championship in Johannesburg in early 2002 but two years later he began to focus his attention in the US although, as it had in Europe, it took some time to find his feet across the Atlantic.
He quit the European Tour, then, a year or two later announced a decision to return to Europe before some late season form in the USA in 2005 meant he would stay there from that point on.
To say the least, he has become one of the most successful golfers England has produced, winning the US Open in 2013 and finishing runner-up in three other major championship.
Rose has won ten events on the PGA Tour, two of those World Golf Championship events in addition to his major title. He owns six European Tour titles, the Olympic Gold Medal and four other events worldwide including the Australian Masters in 2006.
This year Rose will play his 5th Ryder Cup and with earnings of close to US$50 million on the PGA Tour alone his career is already a huge success with, it would seem, more to come.
Congratulations Justin Rose for overcoming a potentially soul-destroying start to your professional career and now reaching the lofty heights of the game’s number one ranked player.
The Ryder Cup – Bring It On
The Ryder Cup has become not only the greatest contest and spectacle in the world of golf it is now firmly entrenched as one of the sporting world’s most eagerly anticipated encounters.
From the near ashes of the regular defeats experienced by a Great Britain then Great Britain and Ireland side from the events inception in 1927 until the introduction of Continental Europe into the fold in 1979, the event has grown to the point where the outcome in any given year is never a given.
In the period between 1927 and 1977 the USA side dominated, winning 18 of the 22 encounters and sharing honours in another. Great Britain and Great Britain and Ireland (the side embraced Ireland in 1973) won on only three occasions during that period.
Since 1979, however, when Spain’s Severiano Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido brought a Continental European flavour to the side for the first time, the European side has won on ten occasions and lost 8 with one tied.
In fact, since and including 1985 when four Spaniards and Germany’s Bernhard Langer strengthened their side even further, Europe have won ten of the sixteen encounters and drawn one.
Not only has the growing strength of continental European players play its role, but so too has the emergence and greater self belief of British and Irish stars such as major champions Nick Faldo, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam amongst others.
Clearly the introduction of players from Europe in 1979 and, in turn, their elevation to the elite of the game however has served to provide Europe with domination in this second Ryder Cup era and created one of the most watched events in sport.
In 2018 the Americans are, on paper for what it is worth, again the favourites but as has so often been shown in the encounters since 1985 that factor is of little importance in the heat and passion that has become synonymous with such.
In 2018, six of the USA side are inside the current top ten in the latest World Ranking as the event gets underway while only one is outside the top 20.
Of the Europeans, they have only four inside the world’s top ten but perhaps tellingly they have six of their team ranked outside the top 20 in the world.
The factors that will balance this discrepancy to a large extent however are the essentially home ground advantage the European side will have, that most have played Le Golf National in Paris on many occasions and that despite the contrasting nationalities and cultures within the European side they have been regularly able to capitalise on the David verses Goliath mentality that can so often work in the favour of the underdog.
Both sides carry rookies, three (Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau and Justin Thomas) amongst the Americans while Europe have five Ryder Cup Debutantes in their line-up. Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrell Hatton, Alexander Noren and Thorbjorn Olesen face the heat of Ryder Cup for the very first occasions and while no doubt excited to be in the team they must now perform at a level of intensity they will have never experienced previously.
Despite the fact that neither side holds any real emotional ties to those of us down here in the southern hemisphere that this event captures our attention perhaps more than any other tells the story of a sporting contest that has captured the attention not only those from the participating regions but the golfing and sporting world as a whole.
Friday can’t come quickly enough.
Ryder Cup fever
Peter Lonard gets Champions Tour opportunity
That a player of the quality of Peter Lonard struggles to earn starts on the Champions Tour tells the story of just what a hard school it is in which to even get the chance to play.
The two time Australian Open, three-time Australian PGA, two time Australian Masters Champion, a PGA Tour event winner (Heritage Classic) and the accumulator of more than US$9.5 million in his PGA Tour career is forced, like most others, to go through the very egalitarian process of accessing the Champions Tour.
In five Champions Tour events which Lonard has been afforded starts through various means, he has earned a cheque, finishing 3rd on debut behind Bernhard Langer and Corey Pavin at the 2017 Senior Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl and in the other events he has been able to access he has finished no worse than 26th but he remains without the necessary status to play the tour on a regular basis.
Lonard missed out on qualifying at last year’s Champions Tour Q School but given that only five players gained a card through that process it was never an easy task and he will again tackle that demanding examination later this year.
Two weeks ago, Lonard missed out on pre-event qualifying for the Champions Tour event in Michigan, losing out on one of five spots when beaten in a playoff after shooting 5 under par.
This week he again missed out in pre-event qualifying for the Sanford International in Sioux Falls in South Dakota but has managed to get a start from the reserve bench following the late withdrawal of Scott Verplank and now gets the opportunity to play his 6th Champions Tour event.
It would seem for Lonard, whose game appears ready-made for success on the Champions Tour, the opportunity to build continuity of play will allow him to fulfill his considerable promise at this level.
This, after all, is just his just fifth event of any type in the last six months so the chance to play competitively once again is a much sought after one for the now 51 year old Sydneysider.
Audio Golf Betting September 20th
Betting this week focuses on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup finale, the Tour Championship in Atlanta, the Portugal Masters on the Algarve Peninsula and the Web.Com Tour’s Tour Championship in Florida.
Both Tour Championships are shaping as potentially career altering weeks for different reasons while the Portugal Masters sees the return to competitive golf of Sergio Garcia.
Important Web.Com Tour finale for Australians
Just under two years after turning professional, Cameron Davis has both an Australian Open and PGA Tour card to his name.
The 2018 Web.Com Tour season comes to a close this week with the playing of the Web.Com Tour Championship in Atlantic City in Florida where eight Australians will fight for not only the title and the US$180,000 first prize but the right to play the PGA Tour in 2019.
Two of those eight, Cameron Davis and Curtis Luck, are all but assured of a ticket to the big-time next season but, for all eight, the week provides the opportunity to either improve their current standing for 2019 or force their way onto the PGA Tour.
The leading 25 players from the four event Web.Com Tour Finals at the completion of this week’s event- after those already qualified through the regular season have been deducted – at the Atlantic Beach Country Club near Jacksonville in Florida’s north-east earn the right to play on golf’s most lucrative tour and so there will be many tournaments within a tournament and a lot of anxiety as the week progresses.
Despite missing the cut last week Sydney’s Cameron Davis is currently in 7th position in the race for one of the 25 cards. While already assured of graduation, another good week on top of his 3rd place finish three starts ago will enhance his prospects of plenty of early season starts.
West Australian Curtis Luck dropped two places last week and is currently in 16th place. His total of US$41,000 has historically been enough to get the job done and although mathematically possible to be gazumped this week he appears safe. A cut made would certainly be enough.
Victorian Aaron Baddeley sits precariously in 20th position. The final total required is very much a moving feast as a player not only has to rely on his own efforts but those of others although a top 30 would appear to be enough for Baddeley to regain full PGA Tour status.
Baddeley does enjoy the luxury, if that is what it can be called, of partial status on the PGA tour courtesy of a 132nd placing on this year’s FedEx Cup standings. The chance to regain full status however will assist his cause in 2019 and so his performance this week is important.
Baddeley’s fellow Victorian, Cameron Percy, is currently sitting in 44th place of the 150 players eligible to play ‘The Finals’ and needs another US$26,000 or so to be guaranteed a card for 2019. On that basis a top 11 finish might be enough so the Victorian faces a big task this week.
Lismore’s Rhein Gibson is currently 58th in the standings and a finish inside the top 7 this week appears necessary for him to be on his way back to the PGA Tour where he played two years ago.
NSW’s golfer Brett Drewitt began well at last week’s Boise Open but struggled over the weekend to finish 43rd. He now appears to need a finish inside the top 6 or better to return to the PGA Tour where he played in 2017.
Queenslander John Senden is playing his way back into competitive golf after a break away from the game to attend to his son’s illness. He played several PGA Tour events in 2018 without any real success and therefore needs a big finish this week if he is to return to the PGA Tour where the former Australian Open Champion has previously won on two occasions.
Senden is languishing in 77th position on the Finals money list and therefore needs a top five 5 finish or better this week to regain PGA Tour status.
Victorian Stuart Appleby has also struggled in the Finals missing two of three cuts and he also now finds himself needing a top 5 finish this week.
A lot therefore is at stake for the Australians, the chance to reach the pinnacle of tournament golf a huge incentive to play to the best of their ability.
For those unable to reach that all important top 25 they face, in the main, a year on the Web.Com Tour where purses are typically just 10% of those available on the PGA Tour.
Curtis Luck Graduates to PGA Tour
On top of the earlier success of Australians Cameron Davis and Matt Jones in the Web.Com Tour Final Series, Curtis Luck and Aaron Baddeley have today all but assured themselves of fully exempt status on the PGA Tour next season by finishing well enough at the Albertsons Boise Open in Idaho to be guaranteed of a place in the top 25 by the completion of next week’s season ending Web.Com Tour Championship.
Birdies at two of his final two holes of the final day at the Hillcrest Golf Club has seen Luck finish in a share of 24th this week and, now in a projected 16th position in the Final Series, he can look ahead with excitement to the possibility of playing on the big stage next year.
Baddeley finished 17th this week and is currently 20th in the projected standings and while not yet completely safe he would appear to need only to make the cut in next week’s Tour Championship in Atlantic Beach in Florida to be on his way back to the PGA Tour.
Baddeley already had limited status on the PGA Tour courtesy of finishing 132nd on the FedEx Cup standings in 2018 but the chance to regain fully exempt status will assist in scheduling and in earning starts in events he might not otherwise have been able to.
Luck was of course the US Amateur and Asia Pacific Amateur Champion in 2016 and has long promised big things in the game. He made the cut as an amateur on debut at the Masters in 2017 immediately before turning professional and has always impressed as a craftsman and an artist in terms of his golfing skills.
He has another event next week to improve his standing in the Web.Com Tour Finals but to a large extent it is a case of mission accomplished.
Baddeley should get there but he will be keen to play well next week.
Katherine Kirk heads Australians at Evian Championship
Katherine Kirk leads the Australasians after day one
The final of five majors on the LPGA Tour is underway in the magnificent Evian Les Baines in France where the Evian Championship will produce a major champion for the 6th time on Sunday.
The event became a major in 2013 after years as one of, and at times, the most lucrative of LPGA Tour events and for five of the six who became major champions at the Evian Masters this was their first major title.
Early leaders this year are Spain’s Carlotta Ciganda and Puerto Rican rookie, Maria Torres, that pair one ahead of American Austin Ernst.
Canadian Brooke Henderson is next along with Korean So Yeon Ryu and 2018 LPGA Tour breakout player Nasa Hataoka.
Three Australians, Rachel Teske (now Hetherington), Wendy Doolan and Karrie Webb have won the event although none while the event has had major championship status and with Katherine Kirk the only one of the six Australians under par after round one their chances of that stat improving are already under pressure.
Katherine Kirk is well enough placed in 7th position at 2 under par 69 but Perth’s Minjee Lee, who has had such a brilliant season in 2018, was round in 1 over 72, Sarah-Jane Smith 73, Sarah Kemp 74, Hannah Green 77 and Su Oh a surprising 79.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, for whom this event became the first of two majors to date, never recovered from a slow start and she is also at 1 over 72 and in a share of 41st place.
With the cut appearing as if it will fall around the 4 over mark tomorrow there is still plenty of hope for the down under brigade but there is much work to do.
Audio Golf Betting Guide September 13th
This week we take a look at the Evian Championship in France, the third event of the Web.Com Tour Finals in Boise in Idaho and the KLM Open in The Netherlands.
Last week by backing a couple of favoured players we went close to winning a multi when coupling up Matthew Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose in Switzerland and Philadelphia but near enough is not good enough as far as the betting agencies are concerned.
Let’s see how this week’s selections go.
Justin Rose # 1 twenty years on
Photo courtesy of Asian Tour
Justin Rose today became the 22nd player to reach the number one position in men’s golf since world rankings were first introduced in 1986.
Rose’s runner-up finish at this week’s BMW Championship at Newton Square in Philadelphia moved him past Dustin Johnson and to the top of the rankings for the first occasion and in doing so he joined fellow countrymen Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald as holders of the mantle.
Interestingly, and perhaps highlighting the internationalisation of the game in the past thirty years, 15 of those 22 have been non-Americans.
Seven Americans, four Englishmen, three Australians, two Germans and one each from Spain, South Africa, Wales, Fiji, Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe make up the geographical balance of those reaching the lofty heights of the game’s top mantle.
“Yeah, that’s an end goal dream for sure,” said Rose after his near miss at the BMW. “Obviously today is all about the process, and there will be next week to win tournaments, but to get to world No. 1 is unbelievable. It’s something I can say now in my career I’ve been the best player in the world. I’ve been to the top of the game.
“That’s definitely some consolation – I just wish I could have enjoyed the moment maybe,” added Rose referring to his loss today. “This just slightly dampens it. But tomorrow or the next day, the week after, I’ll look back at this and think it was amazing, an amazing moment in my career.”
Rose began his professional career after a brilliant showing at the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale where, as a 17-year old amateur, he holed from well off the green at the last to finish 4th behind Mark O’Meara.
Rose turned professional soon after, many saying it was too soon as he struggled in so many events, taking seventeen events to finally make a cheque, that coming in June of 1999 when he finished 4th in a European Tour Challenge Tour event in Austria.
One thing that Rose did show however was a determination to learn his craft. I recall being in Portugal in a commentary role in that event in early 1999 when, after missing the cut at the Algarve Portugal Open, Rose spent time out watching play on the Saturday soaking up as much as he could by just observing players.
It is a sight that sticks with this writer in as much as it gave an insight into the mind of Rose. Despite his early struggles in the paid ranks he wanted to get better and get better quickly and he recognised the benefit of learning by example.
It would, however, take him until early 2001 to record his first top ten on the European Tour when runner-up in consecutive events in the land of his birthplace, South Africa, and the rest as they say is history.
His first victory would again come in South Africa when he won the Dunhill Championship in Johannesburg in early 2002 but two years later he began to focus his attention in the US although, as it had in Europe, it took some time to find his feet across the Atlantic.
He quit the European Tour, then, a year or two later announced a decision to return to Europe before some late season form in the USA in 2005 meant he would stay there from that point on.
To say the least, he has become one of the most successful golfers England has produced, winning the US Open in 2013 and finishing runner-up in three other major championship.
Rose has won ten events on the PGA Tour, two of those World Golf Championship events in addition to his major title. He owns six European Tour titles, the Olympic Gold Medal and four other events worldwide including the Australian Masters in 2006.
This year Rose will play his 5th Ryder Cup and with earnings of close to US$50 million on the PGA Tour alone his career is already a huge success with, it would seem, more to come.
Congratulations Justin Rose for overcoming a potentially soul-destroying start to your professional career and now reaching the lofty heights of the game’s number one ranked player.
Audio Golf Betting Guide September 6th 2018
This week we take a look at the the third event of the FedEx Playoffs, the BMW Championship at the Aronomink Golf Club in Pennsylvania which includes the leading 70 players on the FedEx Cup standings and the Omega European Masters in the stunning Crans Sur Sierre in the mountains of Switzerland.
Australia chasing Eisenhower defence in Ireland
The 2016 Australian Team with their trophy in Mexico.
The World Amateur Team Championship, or Eisenhower Trophy as it is often referred to, begins in County Kildare in Ireland on Wednesday with Australia represented by West Australian Minwoo Lee, Victorian David Micheluzzi and Queensland’s Shae Wools Cobb.
Named after the US President, Dwight Eisenhower, who himself was a keen golfer, the event has become a must play tournament for many aspiring young professional golfers ahead of their transition to the paid ranks.
A week after the Australian women’s side, Rebecca Kay aside, performed well below expectations in their equivalent Espirito Santo Trophy at the same venue, the Australians take to the Montgomerie and O’Meara layouts at Carton House just outside of Dublin.
Australia are the defending champions in the event, the trio of Curtis Luck, Cameron Davis and Harrison Endycott having won the event at Mayakoba in Mexico in 2016, all three now establishing successful professional careers, Davis the current Australian Open Champion and Curtis Luck on the verge of a PGA Tour card for 2019.
Lee is currently ranked 13th in the World Amateur rankings followed by Micheluzzi in 16th place and Cobb 41st and although they face a huge task to repeat the heroics of the 2016 side they are not totally without their chance.
All three are debutantes in this event and are likely to be representing their country as a team for one of the last times in their amateur careers.
Perhaps the player under the most pressure is Wools-Cobb who has struggled through much of the North American summer, a 6th place finish at the Porter Cup the standout.
Lee, though, despite his impressive ranking, has not played at the level we know he is capable of in recent months, missing the cut at the US Amateur and Players Amateur although producing top tens at the Western Amateur and at the Sahalee Players Championship.
Perhaps as a pre-cursor to a professional career Lee played several events on the Korean PGA Tour earlier in the year and did well enough against the strong competition that tour offers.
Victoria’s Micheluzzi played beautifully in amateur events in Australia earlier in the year and did well at the British Amateur when making the quarter-finals but in just two events in the US he has not played well although back in a European environment things might go better for him.
Australia has won the Eisenhower Trophy on four previous occasions, the second most of any nation, the first of those coming in 1958 at the inaugural staging of the event, the last in Mexico.
The USA as expected has dominated the winner’s list having won the trophy on 15 occasions, the last of those coming in 2014 when Bryson De Chambeau, Beau Hossler and Denny McCarthy took the title in Japan.
Their team of Cole Hammer, Collin Morikawa and Justin Suh suggests they may well add to that record.