Tag: PGA Tour Australasia

Golf: Spieth conquers The Australian, wins Open

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How good is Jordan Spieth going to be?

Well, if Sunday’s final round of golf in the Australian Open is anything to go by, then damn good.  The 21-year-old American shot a course record 63 to completely dominate the local challengers and seal victory by a mammoth 6 shots.  His bogey-free final round at the otherwise difficult course separated him from a host of well known local players including Rod Pampling, Brett Rumford, Adam Scott, Robert Allenby and Greg Chalmers.

The Australian course proved too much for most of the field, bar Spieth who made it look tremendously easy with three consecutive birdies between 5 and 7, and back to back birdies twice on the back nine.  Spieth’s impeccable putting within ten feet and his unflappable scrambling were the standout features of his golf.  Inevitably the unflappable nature of the Titleist player’s closing issued a seriously strong statement to other top ranked golfers.

Golf’s best player issued a remarkable complement on Twitter saying, “you could give me another 100 rounds today at The Australian and I wouldn’t sniff 63…. Well done @JordanSpieth very impressive!”  Illustrating the difficulty that he and others faced on the wind swept course.  His weekend scores of 76 and 72 further highlighted his struggles, yet he still finished in a tie for 15 with other notables Boo Weekley and Steven Bowditch.

Pre-tournament favourite Adam Scott couldn’t quite build the momentum that is necessary to win golf tournaments.  His 4-under total was never going to be enough, and he will understandably rue his horror opening nine of 40 for curtailing his chances.

Spieth though; moves to 11th in the World Rankings; records his second win of his career; proves that he can go really low under pressure and in difficult conditions; and emphatically answers the writer’s first question – he’s as good as anyone and along with Lydia Ko and Rory McIlroy one of the most exciting youngsters in the game.

Australian Open Preview

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The duel between the World’s best golfers is the obvious talking point of the Emirates Australian Open starting Thursday.  The pair meet again at the Australian Open after an enthralling final round in the same tournament a year ago, and despite not being paired together for the first two rounds are destined to be the focal points of much of the tournament coverage.  Competing for attention are a host of local journeymen (Allenby, Appleby, Ogilvy), some younger starlets (Oliver Goss, Cameron Smith), and overseas visitors (Jordan Speith).  The result of which should be an epic Australian Open.

The Course

The patriotically named host of the Australian Open is one of Australia’s most exclusive golf clubs.  The Australian is old too; potentially the oldest in Australia, just beating out Royal Melbourne and Royal Sydney.  The private members course, that is only available to join by invitation only, has hosted countless Australian Open’s, including the first tournament in 1904.  In doing so, the course has seen the best players in the World vie for the Stonehaven Cup, in what many pros think should be the fifth major.  The likes of Nick Faldo, Raymond Floyd and Jack Nicklaus have all visited and rated the course highly; Niklaus even etching his name on the silverware in the process.  The most recent Australian Open winner at the 6610m, Par 72 course was current joint course record holder, Craig Parry.

The Sound Bites

“I just remember it as a long, tough, demanding golf course and that suits me” – Adam Scott

“I’ve spent more than a year of my career at number one, so if I’m not used to it by now, then there’s something wrong. I enjoy it. It’s where I want to be. I want to be the best in the world and I want to keep it for as long as I can” – Rory McIlroy

The Defending Champion

Rory McIlroy – Last year Rory McIlroy made a birdie at the final hole to stop Australia’s Adam Scott from completing a rare triple crown of Australian wins.  McIlroy put a torrid year of management and equipment issues behind him to record his only win of the year at the Royal Sydney Golf Club.  Rory is paying just $3.50 at Luxbet to repeat his Australian Open win.

The Field

Notable Australians*

Adam Scott – $5

John Senden – $23

Geoff Ogilvy – $26

*Australian Open odds for local picks courtesy of Tom Waterhouse.

 

Notable Internationals*

Jordan Speith $12

Brendon de Jonge $34

Kyle Stanley $61

*Australian Open odds for International picks courtesy of Centrebet.

The Outsider

Rhein Gibson (Aus) – $51 – BetEasy

Nick Cullen Surprises Scott to Win BetEasy Masters

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Adam Scott’s stranglehold on the BetEasy Masters trophy was wrestled away by Adelaide’s unheralded Nick Cullen on Sunday.  The 30 year-old leftie was sitting just inside the World’s top 600 in the Official World Golf Rankings prior to the final round; a stark contrast to closest rival Adam Scott (T2) who as the second best player in the World was a $3.25 favourite to take the title last week. However, as the final round progressed, Cullen was looking the more composed,and the more likely of the many Australians on the first page of the leaderboard to win the BetEasy Masters title.

His 69, including a fine bunker shot on the 18th, which he later described as the best shot of his life, was enough for a one shot victory over Scott, James Nitties, and Josh Younger, with four others a further shot back at -7.   Scott needed a strong final round to contend and his 68 was just shy of being the perfect tonic.  He was slightly unfortunate to kiss the edge of the cup with a birdie try on the last that may have sent it to a playoff hole, but even the staunchest Scott fans couldn’t deny the former One-Asia Tour player a deserving title, even though he was denying Scott a BetEasy Masters three peat.

Interesting, Nick Cullen’s twin brother Dan Cullen played one test and five one day internationals for the Australian cricket team.  Now the family will be arguing which is the more prestigious achievement and finding room in the pool room for the BetEasy Masters trophy and the coveted gold jacket.

We imagine Cullen will put his BetEasy Masters $180,000 winners cheque to good use by having the gold jacket better tailored.  The diminutive Cullen looked like Paddington Bear playing dress up in an old mans wardrobe as he collected his oversized prize.

Of our predictions, Scott was quite predictably the best finishing.  Although, in our preview post we pretty much covered the entire field, so we don’t deserve too much credit there.

Adam Scott moves on to an Australian Open showdown against Rory McIlroy starting on Thursday.  We’ll preview the odds for that event later in the week.

BetEasy Masters Preview

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Australia’s action packed golfing summer gets properly underway today with the first round of the BetEasy Masters.  While the Australian Open will also see a quality International field embark upon Australia, the BetEasy Masters filed has a quality look to it, including several strong performing Americans.  Boo Weekley is arguably the most well known, having won three times on the PGA Tour.  He’s making the trip to Australia for the first time and is being heavily backed by the BetEasy Masters punters.  Of the local hopes, the obvious onus falls on World number 2, Adam Scott.  Any Scott rustiness (he hasn’t played for weeks) should evaporate over the four days.  Scott is simply too good a ball striker, too experienced in Australian conditions, and too calm not to feature on the BetEasy Masters leaderboard come the business end of the tournament.

The Course

Despite an impressive list of tournament hosting duties, including the World Matchplay Championship in 2001, Melbourne’s Metropolitan Golf Club hosts the BetEasy Masters for the first time.  The highly regarded sandbelt course is widely recognised as one of the greatest competitive courses in Australia.  This week it aims to test a strong field using its bent grass greens and 96 bunkers to protect itself from scoring that could threaten to match the high temperatures forecasted.

The Dick Wilson and J B MacKenzie co-designed course has, in total, hosted seven Australian Opens, five Australian P.G.As, ten other Professional tournaments and in 2001 hosted the Australian Amateur Championship for the fifth time.

The Sound Bites

“It’s a neat golf course. I never played a golf course that had bunkers that ran off or the green that ran off into the bunker.  It’s one of them ones that’s going to be in the Top 10 of golf courses that I ever played.” – Boo Weekley

“But like I said, there’s 120 odd other guys here who also have that dream, and I’m sure there’s going to be tough competition this week” – Adam Scott

The Defending Champion

Adam Scott – Two time defending champion after wins at Kingston Heath in 2012 and Royal Melbourne in 2013.  BetEasy have him as the $3.25 favourite.

The Field

a. Notable Australians*

Stuart Appleby and Steven Bowditch – $23 Beteasy

Oliver Goss – $67 Beteasy

Geoff Ogilvy – $15 Beteasy

Geoff Ogilvy – $26 Beteasy

 

b. Notable Internations*

Boo Weekley (USA) – $26 Beteasy

Kyle Stanley (USA) – $34 Beteasy

Zac Blair (USA) – $26 Beteasy

 

The Outsiders

Michael Hendry (NZ) – $51 Beteasy 

Bronson La’Cassie (AUS) – $101 Beteasy

Nathan Green (AUS) – $51 Beteasy