Hey dude, you going to America? Yeah? Cool, me too, dude.

It seems like just a few years ago the European Tour was gaining momentum in its claim for star power that rivaled the U.S. PGA Tour. Wait, it was!

With the economic downturn in Europe and loss of sponsors, many of its finest players have decided to jump ship and base themselves in America (while still maintaining their European Tour membership but keeping the number of starts at the bare minimum). With the PGA Tour boasting 28 of the top 30 players in world rankings in the upcoming 2013 season, the U.S. defection movement is now complete, wouldn’t you say? (continue reading…)

Pictured: sand.

Still air, sky-high temperatures and soft conditions appear to have a knack for producing low, low scoring. Who knew?

The first round of the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, held this year on Mission Hills’ Olazabal layout (the positively sprawling venue now boasts of 12 “championship” designs and a further 180 holes), yielded two rounds of 65, four of 66 and a further 20 that dipped below the (nominal) par of 72.

Not bad for a shortened field, even if it is one populated almost exclusively by the best and brightest of world golf (no Tiger or Rory, though: they’re the subjects of *sigh* another appearance fee controversy!). (continue reading…)

Phil rolls in birdie to fire 30 on the back 9 on Saturday

No way this Sunday at the Masters will come even close to matching the excitement of last year’s finish, right? After all, Phil Mickelson’s record at the Masters and love affair with Augusta National speaks for itself. In the 19 of the last 21 Masters, the winner has come from the final twosome…

As I was typing the above sentences, Louis Oosthuizen made a double- eagle from 260 yards on the par-5 No. 2. I was watching from our personal mini-TVs in the press center and you know when you just see the ball rolling toward the pin and you have a good feeling about it — you’re thinking, wait, I don’t know if it’s just the angle, but that’s rolling right at the hole. I mean, it looks perfect! And it was. (continue reading…)

Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

AUGUSTA, Ga. — In the near-blinding setting sun on the final hole of the day, Phil Mickelson lined up his putt and prepared to give it a ride. He had done this twice before this week, his final scorecard be damned, and he was prepared to do it once more to try and lock up a spot in the final pairing for Sunday’s final round. Seven-under would be a nice score, but eight-under? Yeah, 8-under would be something else.

(continue reading…)

Paul Lawrie: the world is his oyster.

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie reclaimed his place amongst the sport’s elite by securing his seventh European Tour title at the awkwardly-dubbed Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy this afternoon. (continue reading…)

Tiger Woods: needs just another manic Sunday.

I doubt Robert Rock will sleep soundly tonight. (continue reading…)

Quiros in action during the final round.

Alvaro Quiros arrived at the final hole of the Dubai World Championship– a sinuous, uphill par-5– with a one-shot advantage over Paul Lawrie and two over World Number One Luke Donald. (continue reading…)

Cool customer: Alvaro Quiros made six birdies and an eagle on Friday.

If the form of most players is best represented by a gently rolling sine wave, where modest peaks and troughs betoken a fundamental consistency, that of Alvaro Quiros is best likened to the heart monitor read-out of a hospital patient in spasm.

At his worst, the Spaniard’s a fixture at the outer limits of the golf course; a ball-striker with all the accuracy of a high-powered potato gun. But at his very best, he’s an irresistible talent. (continue reading…)

Peter Hanson made it all look remarkably easy on Thursday.

Lo, Robert Karlsson came down from on high and declared the Earth course a ball-striker’s paradise. And so it came to pass. (continue reading…)

Matteo!

While the 2011 PGA Tour schedule lumbers out of the starting blocks later on this evening with the first round of the Tournament of Champions(!), the 2011 Race to Dubai is already several weeks old– nearly a month older than 2011 itself. This week’s tournament– The Africa Open– is the third of the tour’s South African swing and, prestigious title aside, probably its least competitive. That said, it has managed to attract a couple of the host nation’s leading lights in Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, as well as a raft of up-and-coming talent. (continue reading…)