Sports Then and Now

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 →

Paul Casey will look to build on recent success during the upcoming Masters.

Paul Casey has struggled during the past couple of years to produce some of his best form, but will be hoping his recent success at the Volvo Golf Championship in Bahrain is a sign of a brighter future. The tournament win in the Middle East was his first in 20 months and this year already looks to be progressing better than last season.

Casey will line-up at the US Masters next month with a strong record at Augusta which includes four top-20 finishes, the highlight being in 2004 when the 33-year old tied for sixth. There have been disappointments for Casey at the Masters though with missed cuts in 2005 and again last year, but if the Englishman’s game is as tight as it can be then he’ll definitely be one of those in the chase to be awarded the famous green jacket, even if the Masters Golf betting odds suggest he isn’t among the favorites. Read the rest of this entry →

Willie Anderson, four times winner of the US Open between 1901 - 1905.

It is hard to imagine nowadays but once upon a time Scotland dominated the US Open Golf Championship, winning twelve of the first sixteen tournaments, between 1895 and 1910. Amongst those early winners was Willie Anderson who won four times and remains only one of four golfers in the history of the event to have won that many. Anderson is also the only golfer to have won the tournament three times successively, a record that is likely to be in the books forever more.

The first American to win the prestigious US Open golf title was John McDermott, who won twice in succession in 1911 and 1912. His wins in fact sparked American dominance in their home ‘Major’ tournament and was hugely responsible for generating the sport’s popularity in the States.

Scottish success was not completely over however with Willie Macfarlane winning in 1925 becoming the last player from the ‘home of golf’ to have won; he was also the last non-American player to win until Gary Player, the great South African took the title in 1965.

Surprisingly Player only ever won the tournament once but over the years but there have been two golfers from South Africa to have achieved two wins. Firstly Ernie Els, who won in 1994 and 1997 and was followed in by Retief Goosen who claimed the title in 2001 and 2004. Other recent dual winners are the late Payne Stewart, Lee Janzen, Curtis Strange, Andy North, Lee Trevino and Billy Casper.

Tiger Woods is one of only two players to have a hat trick of wins his most recent coming in 2008 when he played his play-off round against Rocco Mediate with a serious injury to his left knee. Woods did not play again that year and has not won another ‘Major’ since. Woods also won in 2000 and 2002 and was second in 2005 and 2007. The other player with three wins is the very popular Hale Irwin, whose third win in 1990 made him the oldest player at 45 to have won the US Open. He also won in 1974 and 1975.

There are three players other than Anderson who have four titles and all three are regarded as legends of the sport of golf, they are Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones, the latter being the last amateur to have lifted the crown. Nicklaus who last won in 1980 was also runner up on five occasions but still holds the record for the most ‘Majors’ won of 18.

In the modern golf era one player who can count himself unlucky not to have won more than once is Phil Mickelson has finished up, like Nicklaus runner up or tied runner up on five times.

The defending champion is Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, who will be looking to join the illustrious list of multiple US Open winners when the 2011 US Open gets underway on the Blue Course at the Congressional Golf Club in Bethesda, Maryland on June 15^th and the US Open betting is sure to have the Ryder Cup hero and current world number four as a strong contender to do so.

His spitting incident in Dubai is just the latest negative setback for Tiger Woods.

On the back of a turbulent, controversial couple of years in Tiger Woods’ private life, Woods has this weekend been at the center of controversy for his actions on the course.

His etiquette and behavior was called into question as he was seen spitting on the Golf course and greens, as he took part in the Dubai Desert Classic in Saturday. He has consequently being fined $10,000 by the European Tour for breach of the tour code of conduct. Fans following the latest golf scores won’t have been impressed.

For all the good that Tiger has produced on the golf course, the dark side of Tiger was not welcomed by the golfing world with sky sports commentators referring to his actions as ‘arrogant and petulant’.  It is also claimed that Tiger was heard swearing on parts of the course. Read the rest of this entry →

Jose Maria Olazabal will have two wild card picks to make for the 2012 Ryder Cup.

New Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal will only have two wild card picks for the 2012 tournament after the tournament committee accepted his proposals to have the number reduced.

Previous Ryder Cup captains had the option of picking three wild cards in addition to the top nine European players in the world ranking list.

Another change sees the European money list take precedent over the world ranking list for automatic qualification for the team. The changes will help Europe’s plight to retain the cup in 2012, and bigfreebet will likely install them as favorites for the tournament.
Read the rest of this entry →