Golf: HSBC Champions Tournament Preivew

Tiger is missing, but the field that has assembled for this tournament suggests that Asian golf is on the up and up. The world ranking points and the 5 million dollar prize money probably helped too.

Some of the top players that have turned out include:
Phil Mickelson
Ernie Els
Vijay Singh
Angel Cabrera
Padraig Harrington
K.J. Choi

For some reason Ernie Els pops up in my mind as my tip for the event. However Angel Cabrera has been is some kind of form this season and could take out his second event in as many weeks. Luckily for me China falls within my timezone so I will be watching closely.

Golf News: Cabrera wins Singapore Open

Most people probably thought the Singapore Open was virtually won on the third day, but Vijay Singh had other plans. The big Fijian, who has recently remodeled his swing, charged home on the final day to draw level with Angel Cabrera on the final hole only to see Cabrera sink a putt of his own to win the tournament. Two time winner Adam Scott could not match his previous performances and finished 5 off the pace in third.

The biggest disappointments of the tournament were that Ernie Els missed the cut and the big lefty Phil Mickelson shot a final round 79. Take nothing away from Angel Cabrera though who has been in fine form this year!

Cabrera wins Grand Slam of Golf

US Open champion Angel Cabrera overcame an atrocious start with a spectacular finish to win the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, outlasting Padraig Harrington in a playoff.

Cabrera recovered from a triple bogey on the opening hole that put him five shots behind with a birdie-eagle finish to close with a two-under 68 and get into a playoff with the British Open champion at Mid-Ocean Club.

He finally beat Harrington on the third extra hole with another booming tee shot and a 4-iron into 18 feet on the par-5 18th.

Cabrera took two putts for birdie, which was all he needed when Harrington hit into a deep bunker off the tee and still had four feet for par when the Argentine tapped in.

It was the first time Harrington, who closed with a 69, had trailed all afternoon.

Cabrera finished at 4-under 136, earning $US600,000 ($A674,574) from the tournament restricted to major champions...

Read full article here

The biggest disappointment of this event was that Tiger didn't play and it almost felt like the tournament didn't mean anything because of it (well for me anyway!).

HSBC World Match Play Championship

This is another of my favourite European Tour golf tournaments, maybe I just like it when things are a little different or something. For those new to the game match play this little snipet from wikipedia.org might help explain things better:

Unlike stroke play, in which the unit of scoring is the stroke, in match play the unit of scoring is the hole. On each hole, the most that can be gained is one point. Golfers play as normal. The golfer with the lowest score on a given hole receives one point. If the golfers tie, then the hole is halved.

Match play scores of a game in progress are kept with a running tally. At the start of a match, the score is "all square" or tied. The score is then recorded in terms of one player's lead over another player. For example, if Player A has won 3 holes, Player B has won 1 hole and they have halved 2 (or any number of) holes, Player A is said to be leading, "2-up" (3 holes won minus 1 hole lost).

These are the results from the first round (source www.europeantour.com):

Match : 1 Paul Casey v Jerry Kelly Paul Casey won 3 & 2 Match : 2 Retief Goosen v Angel Cabrera Angel Cabrera won 6 & 5 Match : 3 Justin Rose v Hunter Mahan Hunter Mahan won 5 & 4 Match : 4 Rory Sabbatini v Søren Hansen Søren Hansen won 4 & 3 Match : 5 Padraig Harrington v Anders Hansen Anders Hansen won 4 & 2 Match : 6 Henrik Stenson v Woody Austin Henrik Stenson won by 1 Hole Match : 7 Niclas Fasth v Andres Romero Andres Romero won 3 & 2 Match : 8 Ernie Els v Colin Montgomerie Ernie Els won 6 & 5

For me the most interesting results were Ernie Els thrashing Colin Montgomerie and Angel Cabrera also thrashing Retief Goosen, who I rate as a very good player. I also liked the look of Andres Romero and after his British Open heroics could be one of the players to watch next year!

In the Quarter finals we have:
Paul Casey V Angel Cabrera
Hunter Mahan V Søren Hansen
Anders Hansen V Henrik Stenson
Andres Romero V Ernie Els

I think the match to watch out for will be Romero and Els both coming off impressive performances yesterday!