Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 7 December 2015
John Daly was the first player to average over 300 yards in driving distance for an entire season. When he achieved that feat in 2001, he was the only one to do it. In 2015, 26 players on the PGA Tour did it, while 27 maintained an average of 300 yards or more on the European Tour. Daly was the original bomber.
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 7 December 2015
Bubba Watson won the Hero World Challenge at the weekend, a tournament he very nearly didn’t enter. Having recently adopted a daughter, Bubba feared that her adoption paperwork and passport would not be sorted in time to allow her to travel, so declined his invitation to participate. “I said no, but if somebody does back out, let me know and...
Written by Rob McGarr on Friday 4 December 2015
Byeong Hun An has been crowned European Tour Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Korean winner of the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award. 24-year-old An made a significant impact early in his maiden campaign in The Race to Dubai, sealing a first European Tour title at one of its most prestigious events, the BMW PGA Championship at...
Written by Stuart Hood on Thursday 3 December 2015
The moment that changed George Coetzee’s life forever came when he was 13. “My mates and I used to play nine holes every day,” he recalls. “One day, my dad said, ‘This rubbish has got to stop. If you want to make it as a golfer you need to practise your putting while they play.’” Fast-forward 16 years and 29-year-old...
Written by Denis Hurley on Wednesday 2 December 2015
If you follow professional golf, you’ve probably found yourself, at one time or another, struggling to understand how the world golf rankings work. It can often seem nonsensical, particularly when players gain top spot in a week when they’ve missed the cut – or even just stayed at home. But there is a system. And it makes sense. You just...
Written by Rob McGarr on Wednesday 2 December 2015
For almost 20 years, Tiger Woods’ press conferences have been twice as popular as any other player’s. Even at this year’s Open, where a 21-year-old Spieth with two Majors under his belt had a shot at making history, his press conference was nowhere near as well-attended as Tiger’s. It doesn’t matter that Tiger hasn’t won a Major since 2008 and...
Written by Rob McGarr on Friday 27 November 2015
We’ve always thought it strange that we play golf for enjoyment but the less we do of it, the more we enjoy it. Go out and shoot 65 and you’ve had a great time. So if you go out and shoot 130, you’ve had twice as much fun, right? Well, as we all know, it doesn’t quite work like that. It’s...
Written by Rob McGarr on Thursday 26 November 2015
Jordan Spieth went into this year’s Open Championship with history in his sights. Having won the Masters and U.S. Open, a victory at St Andrews would have put him three-quarters of the way to a historic single-year Grand Slam. It wasn’t to be, after a bogey on the Road Hole and a disappointing par on the last left Spieth one...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 24 November 2015
Golf can be a confusing game, at times. While the European Tour was wrapping up its season with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai – which, last time we checked, isn’t in Europe – the PGA Tour was playing its seventh tournament of the new season, the RSM Classic. We’re no experts in time differences, but the PGA Tour does...
Written by James Henderson on Monday 23 November 2015
Until last year, it was all too easy to dismiss Rickie Fowler as a likeable lad, helping the game appeal to youngsters but unlikely to ever cause much of a stir on the Sunday afternoon of a Major. He was the kid in orange, trailed by dozens of adolescent wannabes sporting identikit flat-peaked luminous Puma caps. The relaxed Californian looked...
Written by Rob McGarr on Friday 20 November 2015
27 players secured European Tour cards at Qualifying School yesterday. Among them were 2010 Ryder Cup hero Edoardo Molinari, who put together a scintilating back-nine 32 when his hopes of making the European Tour for next season looked lost. Ulrich van den Berg was the oldest qualifier, at 40 years and 310 days. Alongside Molinari, three other former European Tour...
Written by Rob McGarr on Thursday 19 November 2015
Congratulations, Tiger Woods! You’ve just been named as one of Team USA’s vice-captains for the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. “Once I’m fully healthy, I’d like to try to make the team too,” says Woods, battling to recover from a back injury that has plagued him for years. “Either way, I’m very excited to work with Davis [Love III], the other...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 17 November 2015
Increasing number of top European players focusing on PGA Tour European Tour reducing number of tournaments required to retain membership Prize money on PGA Tour more than double that of European Tour The announcement that the European Tour is reducing the number of tournaments players must enter to retain membership from 13 to five again raises the issue of whether having a PGA...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 17 November 2015
The Race to Dubai comes to a close this weekend, with the DP World Tour Championship signalling the conclusion of the European Tour season and bringing Today’s Golfer Fantasy Golf to an end until 2016. There are double points available for this event, so it’s a last chance to make some big moves in your Fantasy Golf leagues. At the end of...
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 16 November 2015
We’ve had to wait a bit longer to compile this week’s Shots of the Week, thanks to a rain delay causing the OHL Classic in Mexico to run over into Monday. It’s worth the wait, though, with fine shots from that event and the BMW Masters in Shanghai, which saw Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg seal a maiden European Tour victory. WIthout any...
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 16 November 2015
There has been 41 holes-in-one on the European Tour this season. That’s six more than last year, and two more than the previous record-holding year, when 2006 saw 39 aces. Miguel Angel Jimenez was responsible for three of them, registering an ace at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, the Open de Espana and the BMW PGA Championship. There were five aces...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 10 November 2015
The European Tour stays in Shanghai for this week, with the BMW Masters following last week’s WGC HSBC Champions, which saw a maiden victory for 30-year-old Scot Russell Knox. It’s the penultimate event of the season, with next week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai drawing things to a close. So if you’re battling it out at the top of...
Written by Garrett Johnston on Tuesday 10 November 2015
Miguel Angel Jimenez has been winning golf tournaments for longer than Jordan Spieth has been alive. He has finished inside the top-100 on the European Tour Order of Merit every year since 1989 (Spieth was born in 1993). This is a man who has spent his entire life at the top tier of golf, and yet there are no signs...
Tuesday 10 November 2015
This week the European Tour’s Season Pass gives you all the best of the action from on and off the course at the star-studded WGC-HSBC Champions, including some partisan Scottish commentary of Russell Knox’s win, Rory’s illness woes, a lucky fan with Shane Lowry’s putter and the unluckiest shot this year.
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 9 November 2015
Scotsman Russell Knox secured a two-shot victory at last week’s WGC HSBC Champions at Sheshan International in Shanghai. His final round 68 saw him finish 20-under, two clear of Kevin Kisner and three clear of Danny Willett, who equalled the course record with a 62. It was 30-year-old Knox’s first victory on either the PGA or European Tour, and will catapult...