Sports Then and Now

Lee Westwood hopes for a special birthday present on Sunday.

Lee Westwood will this week look to add some extra sparkle to his 38th birthday celebrations with a victory at the Indonesian Masters in Jakarta. The Englishman will be one of only two players currently in the world top-100 that will compete at the Royale Jakarta Golf club, the other will be Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee, who has recently returned to action following a back injury and could be threat and the betting tips reflect this.

The final round of the inaugural $750,000 event will coincide with Westwood’s birthday and the world number-two would love to add to his 33 tour titles on the same day. The golf betting suggests he has an excellent chance of doing just that.

He said: “It will be nice to win because my birthday is on Sunday but it will be difficult as there are a lot of strong players out here in Asia and you have to play well to win.” Read the rest of this entry →

Once upon a time, Scottish golfers dominated the US Open Golf Championship, in fact the Saltire was raised twelve times in the first fifteen tournaments between 1895 – 1910. It was raised once again, for the last time in 1925 when Willie McFarlane took the title, however, it most certainly should have been raised twice since in 1997 and in 2006 and could have also been raised in 1994.

Those three years will sit heavy in the mind of Colin Montgomerie, who will go to his grave knowing that he should have won at least twice, but had to settle for the runners up spot in them both and in the other he had to endure the disappointment of having tied for first place with two others, where he failed behind both in the subsequent 18 hole play-off, having to settle for a tie for second.

In those first two defeats, 1994 & 1996 it was Ernie Els of South Africa who triumphed on both occasions and in 2006, it was Australian Geoff Ogilvy who took top prize.

In the 1994 US Open, played at Oakmont, Monty actually finished first, but unluckily for him and the Scots, it was equal with Els and American Loren Roberts, who all finished on five under par. This meant, as this is the case at the US Open, an 18 hole play-off the following day between the three players.

Once again, unluckily for Montgomerie, he could only manage third place in the play-off, leaving his two rivals to fight it out on a sudden death basis which Els won at the second extra hole. It was elation for Els, but abject despair for Europe’s best player at that time, who had finished third at the US Open just two years previously.

In the 1997 US Open at the par 70 Congressional Blue Course, where the 2011 US Open will be played, ‘Monty’ fired in a first round of 65, described as the one of the greatest rounds played in US Open History. That bogey free, six under par round gave him a first round lead, but only by one shot from Americans Steve Stricker and Hal Sutton. Nonetheless the Scot was made a clear favourite to become only the third non-American to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1971. One of those winners was of course, Els who had won in 1994 and was desperately looking for his second title. He fired a first round of 71 and was six shots off the pace.

As good as Monty’s round was on day one, his second round score was equally as bad. He shot a round of 76, which to this very day remains inexplicable and it left him four shots off the lead which by this time was held by another American, Tom Lehman, who had fired a 67 followed by a 70, which put him on 3 under, two clear of Stewart Cink and the improving Els, who both shot 67.

Monty put his woes of the second day behind him on day three, establishing himself on the leaderboard with a three under par 67, two shots better than Els, which put them both on 3 under; they had been joined on this score by yet another American challenger, Jeff Maggert . Lehman however still held sway after a solid 68 which put him two shots clear of the field. By the end of the third day these four were the only players under par.

The final round however was all about Els and Monty; they were paired together and slogged out it over the next 16 holes remaining virtually neck and neck all day. Unfortunately on the 17th the Scot could only make bogey, leaving Els with a one stroke advantage going to the 18th. Monty needed a birdie badly or for Els to drop a shot, but neither happened and once again, the European number one had to concede to the ‘Big Easy’ who claimed his second ‘Major’.

Several years of disappointment followed at the tournament, with Monty never got any closer to winning than his tie for 15th in 1999 and the game looked up for him. Not only had he failed to pick up a US Open, he had earned the tag of being the best player not to win a ‘Major’ anywhere.

Then, completely ‘out of the blue’ in 2006, the great Scot decided it was time for a swan song and he chose the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot tom perform it. ‘Monty’ fired the only sub-par round of the day with his 69 giving him a surprise one stroke lead, from a group of players on par, which included Phil Mickelson who was looking for his third consecutive ‘Major’ win.

Monty was still in the picture after round two, his round of 70 put him on even par, just one behind Steve Stricker and one ahead of Australian Geoff Ogilvy; fortunately for Montgomerie there was no sign of Els this time.

By the end of the third round, where he fired a disappointing 5 over 75, he seemed out of it with Mickelson sharing the lead with little known Englishman, Kenneth Ferrie who were three shots clear on two over. Between them sat Ogilvy on three over.
The final round will go down as one of the best ever known in the US Open, with a mix of incredible shots being made and missed equally by all of those in contention. Monty had closed the gap midway through the round and was in contention without looking like the winner until the 17th when he fired in a quite amazing 75 foot putt on the 17th green to tie the lead with Ogilvy. All he needed was a par on the last to win or a bogey to tie. It was now or never for Monty!

However, once again the US Open ‘bogeyman’ came to visit with him on the middle of the 18th fairway, where Monty’s ball had been superbly driven to and was in prime position. Inexplicably he deliberated over what club to use to find the green and in the event, selected the wrong one, and struck his ball way to the right of what had been a straightforward shot. It was a disaster, he ended up getting on to the green in three shots, which he then three putted for a double bogey and the title belonged to the Australian. It was the last chance saloon for Colin Montgomerie, but is should not be forgotten that he also finished runner up in the PGA Championship in 1995 and the Open Championship in 2005 at St Andrews behind Tiger Woods.

Can Charl Schwartzel regain his magic at the U.S. Open?

All golf players define each season by their performance in the four majors. This means that thoughts will soon turn from the Masters to June’s U.S. Open, played this year at the Congressional Country Club in Maryland. But as preparations start for the second major of the year, who were the winners and losers at Augusta?

These groups are seemingly led by Charl Schwartzel and Rory McIlroy, but there are plenty of other plays who can plan for Bethseda with positives and negatives from the past week. Schwartzel’s stunning calmness under pressure in the closing stages at Augusta, with four birdies to finish, has lifted him to number 11 in the rankings and an accompanying leap in expectations for the U.S. Open.

Adam Scott, Jason Day and Geoff Ogilvy came close to making a mockery of the Australian Augusta curse but actually re-enforced it, especially as Scott seemed set for victory when he hit the front at the 16th hole in the final round. His pleasure at his performance is tinged with regret. Read the rest of this entry →

Ian Poulter will look to put together four great rounds at the 2011 Masters.

At the halfway stage of last year’s Masters Ian Poulter was leading the pack and looked a good bet to pick up his first major, only for a disappointing weekend to see the Englishman drop down the field to finish tied for tenth. While it was Poulter’s highest finish at Augusta, the 35-year old still walked away with more than a tinge of disappointment from the tournament.

This week Poulter will be desperate turn his consistently decent Masters record into a great one. Top-35 finishes in each of his six appearances at Augusta show that Poulter certainly knows how to play this course, but he will need to handle the mental side of winning the Masters, something the golf betting suggests he will struggle to do.

It is certainly going to need a significant improvement in Poulter’s current form if he is going to be in contention come Sunday. His successful 2010 – which saw him taste victory at the Accenture Match-Play and play a key role in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph – has been followed by a disappointing start to this season. Poulter is currently without a top-ten finish in his last six tournaments and that poor run has had seen the Englishman’s ranking drop from seventh down to 16th. The US Masters betting indicates he could struggle at the tournament.
Read the rest of this entry →

Sergio Garcia is looking to recapture past form at the 2011 Masters.

Former world number two, Sergio Garcia, made his long awaited return to the PGA Tour with a decent showing at the Transitions Championship in Florida. The Spaniard was playing his first American event in seven months, and there were signs over the weekend that Garcia could be back to his best. His tournament somewhat drifted away on the third and fourth days after finding himself tied for second after two rounds.

Rounds of 72 and 71 saw Garcia drop down the leaderboard to finish tied for 15th, but there were plenty of positives to take for Sergio following his spell away from the game last year after nearly two years spent struggling with every part of his game. His first two rounds saw Garcia avoid picking up a single bogey and there seems to be a strong base for the fan’s favorite to rebuild his game and the golf odds reflect this.

The 31-year-old displayed his new clawed putting grip, and the evidence suggested the changes have worked, birdying three of the opening four holes despite being attacked by a bee in his stunning second round of 66. Read the rest of this entry →

Despite not winning the Masters since 2005 and not winning a tournament since 2009, Tiger Woods is still the betting favorite at the 2011 Masters.

Tiger Woods is the current favorite in the Masters Golf odds. This can be viewed as either a fair reflection of the pedigree of a 14-time major winner in a wide-open tournament or unrealistic expectations of a player desperately short of form and confidence.

Woods won his first major at Augusta in 1997 and has donned the famous green jacket three times since, which should make him the man to beat whenever he arrives at the idyllic Georgia setting. Current form suggests he is more of an outsider in many people’s eyes.

The Farmers Insurance Open brought Woods his worst ever season-opening finish of his career, a 44th place that hinted at the problems of last year being close to the surface. Woods improved to finish 20th at the Dubai Desert Classic, but his fine for spitting in the final round grabbed the headlines, an incident which said more about his state of mind than the player’s own statements of improvement. Read the rest of this entry →