Tuesday 9 December 2014
Jamie Donaldson made his European Tour debut in 2001. Ten years later, plagued by back issues, he seemed destined for nothing more than journeyman status. Then, in 2012, he won the Irish Open. It heralded a dramatic upturn that would see him win again in 2013 and 2014, amass some £5m in tournament winnings, make the Ryder Cup team and...
Tuesday 9 December 2014
If Paul McGinley is in any doubt as to the effect a successful Ryder Cup captaincy would have on his life, they are surely dispelled as he drives a golf cart across the 18th fairway of the North course at Quinta do Lago in the Algarve. As he negotiates a route a five-year-old could have managed, spontaneous applause breaks out...
Tuesday 9 December 2014
We look at four vital statistical categories to reveal the golfers who made the biggest gains last year. 1. Rickie Fowler +11.1 yards 1. Ryo Ishikawa +1.20 1. Darren Clarke up 22% 1. Matt Every up 0.831 2. Marc Leishman +11 yds 3. Bubba Watson +10.6 yds 4. Angel Cabrera +9.7 yds 5. Charles Howell III +9.3 yds 2. Ricky Barnes +1.01 3. Jonathan Byrd ...
Written by James Henderson on Monday 8 December 2014
As crowds lining Tower Bridge watched on, and the River Thames glistened underfoot, a hapless Boris Johnson swung aimlessly into the water. Standing alongside him was a smiling Ulsterman, partaking in promotional duty in London, looking every inch the global icon. Rory McIlroy, the Lionel Messi of golf? “I don’t need another year like this one,” laughed the four-time Major...
Monday 1 December 2014
Standing on the small street leading to Lee Trevino’s expansive and expensive Dallas home, it’s nearly impossible to see the size of the lodging from outside the front gate. There is a long, winding concrete driveway, a large creek on the right side and towering trees overshadowing the house. Not until you’re almost touching the window-paned front doors do you...
Monday 1 December 2014
In the 20 years since he won his first US Amateur Championship, Tiger Woods has dominated the game like no other player in history. With the exception of Nick Faldo’s dismantling of Greg Norman at the Masters, 1996 will not be remembered as a particularly vintage year for the major championships. If ever a sport could be accused of living up...
Monday 1 December 2014
Only a privileged few have had the chance to sit down with Tiger Woods, to talk one-on-one and gaze into the eyes that have instilled so much fear and intimidation down the years. Thankfully, the situation in which we are looking at them is not on a golf course during the back nine of a Major championship. It’s on the...
Monday 1 December 2014
Your favourite club? I’ve been asked this many times, it’s all 14. They have to be. In order to win a golf tournament, you’re going to have to use all 14 of them, and they’d better do exactly what you want. You don’t want to have any surprises out there, like hitting a long iron into a tight pin and it’s...
Monday 1 December 2014
Tiger’s career has been defined by miracle shots that most other players wouldn’t even contemplate, let alone attempt. Here is our shortlist of his very best. Second shot, 16th hole, final round It’s the final 18 holes of a tournament he prizes above nearly all the rest. He is playing alongside his closest challenger – Chris DiMarco, a player who will not...
Monday 1 December 2014
Although Tiger Woods has had several high-profile coaches, he has been very much his own man when it comes to nurturing his technique. Whereas in many player/coach relationships the responsibility for developing the blueprint for success lands on the coach’s shoulders, it is clear the reverse is true when dealing with Tiger. During his time working with Butch Harmon, for example, a...
Monday 1 December 2014
Woods has been a hero and inspiration for everyone connected with golf over the last two decades. We asked players, officials and journalists to share their favourite personal anecdotes. Henrik Stenson “He gave me a nice present when we played the Tavistock Cup the week after I played the underwear shot at Doral back in 2009. The whole Isleworth team had signed...
Monday 24 November 2014
Henrik Stenson is eyeing a first Major Championship in 2015 after defending a title for the first time in his career at the DP World Tour Championship. The Swede carded a closing 70 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish 16-under-par, two shots ahead of World Number One Rory McIlroy and fellow Ryder Cuppers Justin Rose and Victor Dubuisson. Victory also assured...
Written by Today's Golfer on Wednesday 19 November 2014
Rickie Fowler has accepted his mate Rory McIlroy’s invitation to play in the Irish Open at Royal County Down. The pair formed a bond as amateurs at the Co. Down links when they were on opposing sides in the 2007 Walker Cup, which Fowler’s United States team edged by 12½-11½ in McIlroy’s last appearance before he joined the professional ranks. Since then,...
Written by Today's Golfer on Wednesday 19 November 2014
Tiger Woods has issued an angry response to a ‘fake’ interview published in US magazine Golf Digest, calling it ‘not true, not funny’. The 84-year-old Hall of Fame golf writer Dan Jenkins wrote the fake Q&A in the magazine’s December issue. Jenkins already had a frosty relationship with Woods after having interview requests turned down. The column prompted Woods to pen his...
Tuesday 18 November 2014
It’s the end of the road for the European Tour and TG Fantasy Golf seasons this week as the Race to Dubai comes to an end. Built in 2008, the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates laid dormant for more than 18 months before its curtain call at the inaugural staging of this event in 2009. Greg Norman’s design features wide...
Tuesday 18 November 2014
‘Tiger and Phil will win again’ Hunter Mahan talks desire, Ryder Cup and why driving is so important The Ryder Cup When you lose it takes a lot out of you because you get two years off from it. It’s such a passionate and emotional event, unlike any other event in golf, but that’s what’s great about it and makes it so...
Tuesday 18 November 2014
‘Rory could be the favourite in every Major for 15 years’ Sir Nick Faldo opens up about the state of the game, technology, Tiger… and the young player who might soon replace him as Britain’s greatest ever golfer Pop quiz, readers. Who was the last golfer to be named BBC Sports Personality of the Year? Too slow. The answer is Sir Nick...
Tuesday 18 November 2014
Time, tide and the Ryder Cup wait for no man. So while we mortals may still be raving about three days of glorious golf at Gleneagles, Ryder Cup Europe has shifted its focus to selecting the host nation for the 2022 matches. At present, seven countries have expressed an interest in holding the event. TG assesses their chances in the...
Written by Today's Golfer on Monday 17 November 2014
European Tour rookie Brooks Koepka bagged his first tour victory at the Turkish Airlines Open on Sunday – crowning Rory McIlroy Race to Dubai winner in the process. The 24-year-old Floridian’s win means McIlroy was confirmed as Europe’s 2013-14 money-list winner ahead of this week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. Koepka fought all day with Ian Poulter when the American struck...
Friday 14 November 2014
Ahead of the Turkish Airlines Open, Victor Dubuisson and Martin Kaymer ignited proceedings in a spectacular target challenge from the balcony of the Maxx Royal Belek Golf Resort, official hotel partner of the Turkish Airlines Open. Following his maiden European Tour win at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal 12 months ago, it was an enjoyable return to Belek for Victor Dubuisson, who...