Victory tastes so good!
Perhaps she was just what he needed to break his year-long win drought. Sergio Garcia, who had his girlfriend Katharina Boehm on his bag, won the Thailand Golf Championship at the Amata Spring Country Club by four shots over Henrik Stenson, firing a final-round four-under 68.
(L-R) Charlie Tingey, Senior Director, EurAsia Golf, PGM Chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, Datuk Mohamed Razeek Md Hussain, Chief Operating Officer, Services and Properties, DRB-HICOM and Asian Tour Chairman, Kyi Hla Han (EuropeanTour)
Asia will provide Europe with a warm-up match play event before the Europeans face the Americans later in the year for the historical biennial matches at the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles next October. This new exhibition, the EurAsia Cup, will be held at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club in Malaysia from March 28-30, 2014, according to the EuropeanTour.com.
PGA Tour official Jonathan Yang (second to the left), VP Greg Gilligan (third from left) and Chinese Olympic Sports industry officials at the Presidents Cup
The PGA Tour is in close talks with the China Golf Association (CGA) and the Chinese government to form a partnership that would launch PGA Tour China, a new professional developmental circuit, according to sources in China with knowledge of the pending deal.
Nice guys do finish first
Because I need my beauty sleep before bringing you nearly-exclusive coverage of The Match between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy from Mission Hills at Hainan Island on Monday, this is going to be relatively quick.
But fear not! — I’ll touch on everything you missed or need to know (since you probably spent your weekend watching football at waking hours instead of golf in Asia in the middle of the night in the U.S.).
Rory jumps up to 2nd!
Things appear to be looking up for Rory McIlroy. After starting the round ten shots out of contention on Sunday, McIlroy posted a final round four-under 67 to finish T2 (three-under total) at the Kolon Korea Open, where the world no. 6 headlined the fledgling field. However, he had a little bit — actually, quite a lot — of help from a fellow competitor.
McIlroy was near the top of the leaderboard the first two rounds, but blew up with a four-over 75, moving the wrong way on Saturday. Then, playing around six groups behind the ultimate twosome on Sunday, he bounced back to place strong. However, late in the day, a bizarre rules controversy involving the leaders Kim Hyung-tae and Kang Sung-hoon, detracted from the actual golf.
Westwood: If only there were a major in Asia...
Lee Westwood put on a rather impressive clinic at the Thailand Golf Championship last week, snagging his third victory in Asia by a decisive seven shots over Masters champ Charl Schwartzel. Westwood fired 12-under 60 in the opening round and followed it with a 64 (in windy conditions — arguably a better round than the first, he tweeted) to match the Asian Tour’s lowest 36-hole total.
Reflecting on his play after rolling in the final putt, the Englishman reckoned it was the finest of his career:
McIlroy eyes golf's biggest payout
After opening with a bogey-free, eight-under 64, Rory McIlroy shot a three-under 69 to take a two-shot lead at the Shanghai Masters at the midway mark. McIlroy struggled a bit on the front nine, finding the water hazard off the tee on the par-4 ninth to post a double-bogey, but he regrouped and carded four birdies on the back nine, including the 18th.
Rickie and Rory: golf's future
The horror of seconds and thirds, I know! But for a player of Rory McIlroy’s caliber and talent, it stinks. The U.S. Open champ had to settle for another runner-up finish in South Korea following last week’s Dunhill Links Championship. Rory placed third in the previous two events, the KLM Open and the Omega European Masters. Which is fantastic, but Rory wants the W.
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