The UPS Green Monster is at it again.  Louis Oosthuizen shoots 63 in round two of the HSBC Champions World Golf event in Shenzhen, China yesterday to distance himself from the field with a five-stroke lead over Adam Scott and Ernie Els.  His 16-under total is the best two round scoring in WGC tournament history.

I remind you that this is a guy who won the British Open at the home of golf in 2010 by 7 shots.  He would have won the Masters this year if he had not run into the Bubba Express on Sunday.  Hell, the name on his website is “Louis57Oosthuizen.com” to commemorate a 57 he shot at the Mossel Bay Club in South Africa back in 2002.  Now that is a gaudy lapel pin for your internet site if you ask me.  This is a man with confidence and some swagger.

Over the first two days Louis has owned the five pars on the Olazabal Course at Mission Hills.   He is 11-under on the five-pars with nine birdies and an eagle.  When he starts hitting his irons close to the hole this guy can go low and stay there.

Ernie Els played out of his mind yesterday as well matching Shrek’s 63.  Ernie’s 29 on the front side matches his personal low 9-hole score in a PGA Tour event.

Adam Scott who was tied for the lead after day one, made four birdies on the outward nine to keep pace with the leader.  But to Stevie Williams’s chagrin Adam made 3 bogies on the inward half and had to settle for 68 and a second place tie at 11-under.

Phil might have been the story of the day but on the 18^th hole Phil was, how shall I say it, Phil as he made an awkward double bogey in his own amusing way.  After leaving his approach in the heavy rough in front of the green literally between a rock and a hard place (he had one foot on a rock and the other on the hill) he totally missed the ball on his first attempt.  This is a guy with his name embroidered on the side of his bag whiffing like a hacker in a Barclays commercial.  Phil can be so refreshing some times!

With guys shooting in the mid-60’s no lead is safe.  But Louis has his foot planted to the floor at the moment and is unlikely to let up unless someone Tanya Harding’s his ankle over the next two days.  If you can set your alarm for midnight you will likely see more fireworks over this weekend.

November, 2012

With his wire-to-wire win at this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, the young 24 year-old South African Branden Grace has capped an incredible run from surviving the qualifying school to amassing four victories on the European Tour in the last 12 months.  Four European tour wins in a year puts him in some rarified air with guys like Seve, Tiger, Ernie, Sir Nick, Monty, Bernard Langer, Lee Westwood, and Martin Kaymer.

Grace wins $800,000 for his wire-to-wire 22 under score in this prestigious event played over the Old Course at St. Andrews, the Championship Course at Carnoustie, and the Kingsbarns Golf Links.  He set the tone early with a sizzling 60 at Kingbarns on the first day and held a four-shot lead going into the final round at St. Andrews.

But it would be no cake walk with Denmark’s Thorbjorn Oelsen nipping at his heels making three birdies on the front side and pulling even for the championship when Grace bogied the 11th.  He gathered himself making birdies on the next three holes rebuilding his advantage and played even down the last four to hold on for a two-shot win.

This championship has been a site for some heart stopping duels of late.  As recounted in this moegolf post of the 2012 Championship,  an unheralded Northern Irishman, Michael Hoey, outdueled the two previous U.S. Open champions, fellow countrymen Rory McIllroy and Graeme McDowell, to win the top prize.

A product of the Ernie Els development program in South Africa, Branden Grace is in the mold of Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel as possibly the next great player from a country that has produced so many distinguished global champions.

Maybe the most impressive stat is that Grace has won 100% of the time he has had or shared the lead going into the final round of a European Tour event.  No one will challenge his ability to close.   You have to think this young phenom has his eyes on a spot on the President’s Cup team for 2013 and some solid performances when he gets invites to the World Golf Events and Majors next year.

October, 2012

The colossal collapse of the American Ryder Cup team at Medina this weekend is wrought with all kinds of hubris.  Down 10 to 6 going into the Sunday Singles the Europeans gathered themselves winning 8 of the 12 matches outright to snatch victory for the jaws defeat and return the Gold Cup to European soil for the next two years.

So many personal vignettes from this weekend-below are reflections on some of them.

Jose Maria Olazabal: A direct connection to Seve who remains the heart and spirit that drives the European Ryder Cup successes.  Some delayed gratification to Jose for having to putt through the American footprints at Brookline in 1999.

Ian Poulter: The flashy duds are just a distraction.  There is a heart of a champion burning in his chest and the Ryder Cup is a personal display case for this.  He just cannot seem to hasten it in the Majors but maybe it is just a matter of time.  In retrospect, Poulter’s late birdie run in the exhilarating comeback in Saturday afternoon’s four-ball match against Johnson and Dufner may have been the turning of the tide.  Four wins this week and 12-3-0 overall in the Ryder Cup is an impressive resume.

Justin Rose: This man will win a major in the next 18 months.  His gutsy performance making the par saving putt on 16 and the two daggers on 17 and 18 to pull out the seminal singles match against Phil should dispel the notion that Rose cannot putt when it matters.  The bigger the stage, the more difficult the track the better this man performs.

Rory McIllroy: The yoke of #1 in the world can be heavy but he has proven time and again this season that he is strong enough to bear it’s burden.  Besides the small matter of not being able to set his alarm clock for his Sunday appointment, at 23 years old he was a true leader for this team.  He came through with Poulter on Saturday night and had a convincing win  against Keegan on Sunday that helped right the European ship.

Sergio Garcia: He cannot ever make up for his perception as an underachiever because of his lack of a major victory, but the Ryder Cup has always been his forte.  Teaming with Luke Donald they beat Tiger-Stricker in the other key Four-Ball match on Saturday and a gusty back nine performance Sunday outfitted Jim Furyk for the another goat costume in the singles.  Sergio may not believe in himself but the Europeans sure believe in him and were sure glad to have him back on the team.

Luke Donald: May not be a true #1 in the world but you could see throughout this competition that his competitive grit and amazing short game make him a formidable foe.  He surely silenced the babbling Bubba as the first match out this Sunday.

Nicolas Colsaerts: His 1 and 3 performance as a rookie was only so-so but an eight birdie-one eagle performance to single handedly beat Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in the Friday Four Ball is a thing of Ryder Cup lore.

Martin Kaymer: Proof that, if you have the right stuff, you can 180 a bad career trend in one afternoon.  His steely five-foot par putt on 18 against Stricker erased some bad German memories from the 1991 War By The Shore and put the Cup back in a first class trans Atlantic seat for the ride home.

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Davis Love III: He brought the right temperament to the U.S. squad to make these show ponies feel comfortable.  Some will second guess a couple of line up moves but winning the first three sessions you have to think he put the Americans in a position to be successful.  The abject failure of his hottest players to win a point in the first five matches on Sunday has to fall on the players not the coach.

Steve Stricker: Next time you see him at a team event he will be wearing an earplug as a captain’s assistant.

Tiger Woods: 1/2 a point contribution….really…you have to expect more from your top stallion no matter how poorly his support staff supports.

Zach Johnson: Testimony that it is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog that matters.  His two wins with Dufner may have lacked sizzle but they helped build a formidable American advantage through two days.  A sound drubbing of a struggling Graeme McDowell may have been one of the reasons that the competition came down to the last three games.

Keegan Bradley: The crazed look, the boundless reservoir of energy makes him the ultimate warrior to have with you in the fox hole.  He single handedly revived Mickey’s Ryder Cup performance and that was no small order.

Phil Mickeson: In some ways he may be the greatest sportsman of this golf generation.  There is so much Arnold fire and Nicklaus grace sewn into his competitive personality.  Phil handled the Justin Rose onslaught on the final three holes of their singles match with dignity and aplomb worth sharing with your children.

Jason Dufner: We have to accept his flat line TV persona as a genetic given but he shown in this Ryder Cup that he has the fire and talent set to perform at the highest level in the biggest events.  He, like Rose, will win a major in the next couple of years and maybe more than one.

Jim Furyk: Not withstanding the 5-hour Energy sponsorship, he is a tired figment of his former warrior self.  It has been difficult to watch him be placed in the cross hairs at a major golf competition so many times this summer.  Another one who may be better outfitted with a head set for the next international team competition.

In the end we have seen that the Ryder Cup remains a compelling piece of golf drama and that the Europeans continue to write the script.  They have won five of the past six and, more than anything, this means that home court advantage for the Americans is just a figment of our imagination.

September, 2012

Check out indelible images of the Ryder Cup 2012 from Guardian UK

With the deluge of Golf Channel pre-game coverage for the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah this weekend our heads are bursting from pundit past analysis versus future predictions…..Brandel Chamblee alone has compiled an encyclopedia of data to justify any outcome you could possibly imagine.

Bottom line is that based on history alone the European Team has the advantage no matter what soil the matches are played on.  It is going to take some very stellar team play, something the Americans have not proven to have an high aptitude for, by both veterans and rookies to bring this trophy by the American soil.

The secret weapon may be the putting of rookies like Sneds, Keegan, Webb, and Dufner.  Making putts wins Ryder Cups.

Here is the skinny on the basic stats in the last 13 Ryder Cup Competitions between 1985 and 2010.

…………………….United States     Europe…………………………..

Wins                              4                     8

Ties                                1                    1

Matches Won              142               175

Points Won                  171               193

Foursomes Points       48.5              55.5

Four Ball Points           41.5              62.5

Singles Points              81                  75

Besides the obvious that Europe in the Seve and After Era has dominated the results with a 66% winning percentage they have also won this thing three times on foreign soil.  They can handle the partisan crowds.  The Europeans have also won 56% of the matches outright which goes a long way to explaining the 22 points spread overall in the 13 appearances.

Maybe the most startling and unexpected difference is that the Euros have outscored the Americans by 21 points in Four Ball matches.  It is not obvious why the Europeans would have an advantage in Best Ball matches, the likes of which they have played their entire competitive lives back to the cradle.  Frank Nobilo’s theory is that the Americans do not communicate well with their partners and are not willing to defer their tactics to protect their partners in these matches.

The American’s 7 point edge in the Alternate Shot Foursomes is pretty hard to figure as well.  I guess there is no deference required there, you just have to hit it where your partner put it.

The slight edge of 6 points in Singles makes sense because this is the least team oriented format and, if as so many of these pundits have posited, the Americans are more lone wolves than team players they would fare best in the format where they rely solely themselves only.

Brandel had one very interesting stat he shared the other night.  According to him during this same period the team that won the first match in the first session won the Ryder Cup over 60% of the time.  He said no other first match in any session had such a distinct correlation to overall outcome.  I guess if I am Olazabal I am putting Rory and Graeme out in the first foursomes match on Friday morning.  Not sure who the best duo for DL III would be under this theory.

One last thought.  If the Americans fail once again to take back this piece of hardware home I think they should suggest changing the Ryder Cup format to a Golf-Ping Pong Biathlon.  According to this article, Matt Kuchar could be the Roger Federer of table tennis and Mickelson and Tiger are plus fours and would be a formidable combination in the Ping Pong Foursomes.

September, 2012