Monday 27 December 2010

McDowell wins RTE Sportsperson of the year/ Shot of the year/ Awarded an MBE.

Graeme McDowell, the joint winner of The European Tour Race to Dubai Golfer of the Year with German Martin Kaymer, has been named 2010 RTE Sportsperson of the Year.

The Portrush star picked up the award from Ireland's national television and radio broadcaster after a stunning year which saw him win the Celtic Manor Wales Open and the Andalucia Valderrama Masters on The European Tour,Graeme won his 1st Major when he collected the US Open, holed the winning putt to clinch the Ryder Cup for Europe and ended the year with victory in the Chevron World Challenge in the US, beating Tiger Woods in a play-off.

The new year saw Graeme pick up even more awards. He won the " shot of the year " for his approach to the par 4, 16th for a winning birdie that won the Ryder Cup for Europe and on January 1st was awarded the MBE in the New Years Honour's list.

Sunday 12 December 2010

McDowell pips Tiger in the Nedbank Challenge.

Graeme McDowell is walking on air after his 2010 golf year.Having taken up an invitation last year from Tiger to play in the Nedbank Challenge tournament he finished 2nd which moved him into the worlds top 50.

It was like the break he needed. This year Graeme won the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, then followed up his trilling win at the US Open. Won the battle with Damien McGrane & Gareth Maybin to win the Andalucia Masters at Vallderamma and now with a fantastic play off victory over Tiger Woods at the Nedbank Challenge at Sherwood Country Club in California he can look forward to the 2011 season as the Worlds No 7 golfer.

Ireland down to 10 players for the 2011 European season.

Over 1,000 hopeful's entered the qualifing school looking for one of the 30 cards available for the 2011 European golf tour.Amoungst them were 48 Irish Amateur & Professionals.

After stage one only 9 of the 48 survived. Damien Mooney thanks to a 2nd round of 66 at the windsweeped Dundonald links in Scotland took 2nd place on 2 over par. He was joined by Gareth Shaw, Michael Collins, Barrie Trainor and Irish PGA Champion David Mortimer.

Michael McGeady was 3rd best qualifier at the London Club and was joined by Niall Turner. Mervyn Owens & ex professional footballer Stephen Grant came through at the Fleesensee golf club in Germany.

The 9 were joined at stage two by John kelly, Gary Murphy, Johnny Caldwell & Niall Kearney.The 13 Irish were spread out over 4 courses in Spain with only 2 making it through to the final stage.

Once again Damien Mooney was in great form. He hit rounds of 70,70,69 and 72 to easily sail through in 3rd place on 7 under par at the Costa Ballena course. He was joined by 23 year old Niall Kearney who hit a 65 in the 3rd round.

The only other one to come close was Warrenpoint golfer Barrie Trainor. Barrie took a triple bogey at the par 5, 16th hole in round one for a 75.He followed up with a 73, 67 & 70 at the El Valle course in Murcia to miss out by one shot for a place in the final qualifing.

Mooney and Kearney were joined by Colm Moriarty from the Challenge tour and Simon Thornton from the main tour for a 6 round marathon at the PGA Catalunya complex in Northern Spain. 176 players played 72 holes with the top 70 making it through to the final 36 holes.

Mooney was the best starter with a 68 but he followed up with a 75 & 77. His final round of 67 was not enough to get him through to the final 36 holes. Colm Moriarty took 5 shots too many with rounds of 74,69,72 and 71. Simon Thornton was unlucky. He hit scores of 72,69,68 and 73 to miss the 3 under par cut by one shot. The only Irish survivor was Dublin's Niall Kearney. Kearney was in trouble with an opening 76 before recovering with a 65, 67 and 72 to go through on -4. He fell back over the final 36 holes with 76/72 to finish on level par, but can still take some satisfaction with a Challenge tour card for 2011.

Simon Wakefield won the school with a 6 round total of 21 under par. With no Irish qualifiers and having lost Gary Murphy & Simon Thornton, we will have only 10 players on tour for the 2011 European Tour.

Pablo Martin defends his Alfred Dunhill title.

Pablo Martin overcame a back-nine blip to successfully defend his Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club,in South Africa. This tournament signals the start of the 2011 year even though it is played in early December.

Having gone five shots clear at the start of the back nine, the Spaniard saw his lead reduced to one after a triple bogey at the 17th. He held his nerve to birdie the last for a third European Tour title with an 11 under pat total and a 2 shot win from Thorbjorn Olesen, Charl Schwartzel and Anthony Michael.

The best of the Irish was Belfast man Michael Hoey. Hoey hit 74 and followed up with 3 rounds of 72 to claim a share of 30th on 2 over par. Damien McGrane struggled on the greens to finish down in 43rd place on 5 over par and just like Hoey he failed to break par on any round.

Gary Murphy lost his tour card for the 2011 season and failed to come through the 2nd stage of qualifing. He got an invite to the Alfred Dunhill but failed to take advantage when he scored 74/73 to miss the cut by 1 shot.

Johhny Caldwell also got a start without a tour card, but never got to grips with the course. He struggled with rounds of 79 and 77 to miss the cut by 10 shots on +12.



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Monday 6 December 2010

European Tour Race to Dubai order of merit 2010.

1 Martin Kaymer €4,461,011
2 GRAEME MCDOWELL €3,896,996
3 Lee Westwood €3,222,423
4 Ian Poulter €3,027,008
5 Francesco Molinari €2,799,692
6 Robert Karlsson €2,296,486
7 Ernie Els €2,261,607
8 Charl Schwartzel €2,207,965
9 Miguel Angel Jimenez €2,179,418
10 Louis Oosthuizen €2,070,763
11 Edoardo Molinari €2,009,337
12 Paul Casey €1,888,850
13 RORY MCILROY €1,821,050
14 Alvaro Quiros €1,750,255
15 Luke Donald €1,678,072
16 Ross Fisher €1,393,686
17 Peter Hanson €1,322,391
18 Rhys Davies €1,218,636
19 Anders Hansen €1,166,041
20 PADRAIG HARRINGTON €1,145,017

Other Irish
---------------
30 Darren Clarke €892,388
36 Peter Lawrie €845,718
40 Gareth Maybin €784,076
41 Damien Mcgrane €782,719
62 Shane Lowry €501,728
90 Michael Hoey €322,120
123 Paul McGinley €159,770
141 Simon Thornton €116,954
194 Colm Moriarty €43,770
227 Gary Murphy €19,152

USPGA Tour final order of merit 2010.

The end of a long season on the USPGA Tour took place at the . Matt Kuchar took the top spot for the first time with a grand total of $4,910,477. Kuchar was just over $100,000 ahead of FedEx Cup and Golfer of the year, Jim Furyk

As a non tour member Graeme McDowell only played in 10 events but managed to finish in 50th place on the merit table, thanks to his brilliant win in the US Open. Rory McIlroy took home over $2.5 Million from 16 outings and a win at Quail Hollow.

Padraig Harrington played in 18 tournaments and finished 64th with $1,381,453. Tiger Woods failed to win a tournament in 2010. He only played in 12 outings and took home $1,294,765 and finished 68th in the order of merit.There was 90 players who won more than $1 Million.

1 Matt Kuchar 26 events $4,910,477
2 Jim Furyk 21 events $4,809,622
3 Ernie Els 20 events $4,558,861
4 Dustin Johnson 23 events $4,473,122
5 Steve Stricker 19 events $4,190,235
6 Phil Mickelson 20 events $3,821,733
7 Luke Donald 20 events $3,665,234
8 Paul Casey 17 events $3,613,194
9 Justin Rose 22 events $3,603,331
10 Hunter Mahan 25 events $3,574,550

Irish Players.
----------------
26 Rory McIlroy 16 events $2,554,280
50 Graeme McDowell 10 events $1,589,337
64 Padraig Harrington 18 events $1,381,453

Sunday 5 December 2010

Westwood cruises to Nedbank Challenge win..

1 Lee Westwood 68 64 71 68 ( -17. )
2 Tim Clark 73 67 68 71 ( -9. )
T3 Retief Goosen 72 70 70 68 ( -8. )
T3 Miguel Angel Jimenez 69 69 71 71 ( -8. )
T5 Ernie Els 71 68 71 73 ( -5. )
T5 Ross Fisher 67 68 73 75 ( -5. )
T7 Robert Allenby 70 70 73 72 ( -3. )
T7 Padraig Harrington 66 72 72 75 ( -3. )
T9 Anders Hansen 72 70 68 76 ( -2. )
T9 Justin Rose 70 72 72 72 ( -2. )
11 Edoardo Molinari 71 67 73 76 ( -1. )
12 Louis Oosthuizen 71 73 72 74 ( +2. )