European Tour - BMW PGA Championship

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They should've called it the KFC PGA Championship this year... Yesterday the anchoring ban, today is the fried chicken saga, plus the McIlroy-Horizon/GMac stuff, no one seems to care that there is a big golf tournament going on this week at Wentworth... And on top of that, some of the top ET golfers don't seem to care either: Oosthuizen, Schawartzel, Hanson, Stenson, Harrington, all gone by the way side...

Hoping for some good golf from tomorrow anyway and hopefully that will get people interested again...

Nicholas Slowh . . . .

Fine effort so far today from Pepperell, surpassing Saltman's achievements in the condiment category.

Just timed Lee Westwood on the 5th tee.

2 min 10 seconds from the time he teed up his ball to the time of impact.

And it took him about 30 more seconds to tee up the ball.

Westwood/Canizares should be put on the clock. almost two holes behind Warren/Manassero.

Sheesh... Westy yaking up another one in the final round?
Demons I tell ya... it's gotta be demons.

GPB wrote:Westwood/Canizares should be put on the clock. almost two holes behind Warren/Manassero.

John Paramor must not have been with that group...

Simon strikes again from the middle of the pack. Hopefully the trophy will be Mannasero's or Warren's this time.

robopz wrote:

GPB wrote:Westwood/Canizares should be put on the clock. almost two holes behind Warren/Manassero.

John Paramor must not have been with that group...

I notice these Brits are strangely silent on slow play when it is one of their own is guilty. Looks like the trailing groups have run into bottlenecks on the final holes so it doesn't look as bad.

And I did use my stopwatch to measure how long it took Westy on the par 3 5th hole. It was a total of well over 2.5 minutes. Inexcusable. The gamesmanship against Canizares was blatantly obvious as Westy just made 3 birdies in a row and Alejandro just bogeyed the par 5. Westy was making him stew on that bogey.

Is there a weaker arse in professional golf sport than Lee Westwood's?

Forza Matteooooooooooooooooo!!!!

What an extraordinary young man!!!!

princedracula wrote:

Ditto....

Congratulazioni Matteo!

Molto impressionante!

GPB,
Just been out watching the VCM. Yes! Westwood did take an age on the 5th tee. Usually he's a very quick player but if he psyched anyone out it was himself.

Someone earlier this week suggested Matteo had not "trained on".
What a response!

I bet they'll be sh1ting in their pants in future whoever gets in a playoff with Matteo... 20-year old and he just got better and better every time they had to play that last hole again...

kwinigolfer wrote:
Someone earlier this week suggested Matteo had not "trained on".
What a response!

I believe that was the infamous SR, who fits every bad stereotype of a Mother-in-Law.

By jove, that young man has just grown two inches taller.

Long time lurker but first time poster.

Went to Wentworth yesterday and really enjoyed the day out. Others have mentioned slow play but yesterday I was really impressed with speed of play, two balls obviously help but most were going around in just over 3.5 hours, inevitably slowed up near the end when the galleries all came together and the pressure was on.

Walked the whole course, favourite holes 1st, 6th and 12th. Tip top condition despite the weather and people on course, tv does not do the depth of the bunkers justice. Saw Sergio birdie the 5th, the crowd very supportive of him, interestingly all the Spaniards impressed me, Sergio aside the all seem to have good attitude going on. Quiros is a sight behold off the tee. A lot of younger players impressed me too, Ulien? Look very good indeed, and really seemed to be enjoying himself.

Only trouble with Wentworth, some hole are only viewable from one side of the fairway, and with the leaders the inevitable bottlenecks occur. Parked at the Sunningdale park and ride, which was ok but needed more buses into the course.

I was inevitably mugged in the course for a hot dog 5.50, diet coke 2.50, pint of lager 4.50 and finally a magnum ice cream 2.20. Thankfully all the walking ensured I will not turn into Shane Lowery. Furthermore the BMW village was good with the big screen, some impressive metal on show.

Overall great day out, very pleasant weather and some great sporting entertainment.

Thanks Snap Hook! Sounds like a great day. Did people seem disappointed to miss out on Donald and Rory?

P.S. Imagine Lowry if he didn't do all the walking!

pedro wrote:Thanks Snap Hook! Sounds like a great day. Did people seem disappointed to miss out on Donald and Rory?

P.S. Imagine Lowry if he didn't do all the walking!

Yes, regards Rory I was disappointed for a start, but others too! Less rumblings about Donald to be fair. Poulter was interesting getting a bit if stick from two blokes on the bus. Agreed with their sentiment, took his foot off the gas after World Matchplay, telling people that he thought it was unnecessary to play for 3rd place and the cash and points which go with it, promptly lost and his season gone downhill since then, primarily due to lack of events and match fitness. Only played 7 tour events before Bulgaria which is bonkers if true.

Regards Lowery gets a lot of stick, but played an awesome 20yd bunker shot at the 13th yesterday. No denying losing a few stone won't do him any harm mind!

surprised there isn't more talk of Westwood'ds bottle job here. some terrible drives, terrible chips and putts and there wasn't anyone scary in the top 10 to unnerve him, he should have been a lot more comfortable. he was hammered by Howard Clark in the post round interview and rightly so.

Lee gave an honest interview. The line was, Still not swinging it well - no time and space in the swing....early birdies flattered me......when the pressure was I couldn't trust the swing.....pitching was good.....edgy over a few puts.

All understandable, but some others would have coped a lot better by changing their course management and relying on their putting. Lee missed 3 short ones when it counted most.

I accept he is not happy with his swing and of course he will have a few bad swings when the pressue is on, but that's was when he needs to fall back on his putting. Instead, when his long game collapsed in the middle of the round his ability to put could not cope with the additional pressure.

I'm still worried he might not win a Major. For sure he can match the winning score over 72 holes, but you have to be able to "cross the line" on the back nine Sunday under the greatest pressure and it still looks like his putting is not up to the job.

He seemed to accept it too easily for my liking. I would have preferred if he had shown signs of falling out with himself.

I hope he proves me wrong.

it's highly unlikely imo that either Lee or Sergio will win a Major.

Anyone got any scores from Walton Heath?

kwinigolfer wrote:Anyone got any scores from Walton Heath?

Anyone with any updates yet?

I found the final scores from the Japan qualifier (posted in the new OWGR thread) but have not seen any from Walton Heath.

Apparently the Euro Tour is running the sectional, and I found tee times, but have not been able to locate any scoring.

And even one of the pairings is wrong as Matteo is shown. He got an exemption for winning the PGA Championship.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2013/tournamentid=2013044/news/newsid=193883.html

Round up of the morning's play.

EmmDee, Thanks!

Unofficial, but better than nothing...

https://twitter.com/JamesHaddockSSN/status/339018078086115329/photo/1

I'm never wrong wrote:And even one of the pairings is wrong as Matteo is shown. He got an exemption for winning the PGA Championship.

Those pairings were made the other day. Matteo was going to play in the qualifier if he had played bad this past weekend.

Nice to see Ollie in position to go to Merion. I would like to see Monty have a good round this afternoon.

Wow, Casey with a 64 in rd.2... so we may see him at Merrion after all...?

Larrazabal follow the 67 with a 77 in rd.2...

6 man playoff for 5 spots including Ollie and David Howell.

https://twitter.com/JamesHaddockSSN/status/339074414790459393

http://www.independent.ie/sport/golf/lowry-shows-why-hes-one-of-the-great-entertainers-29300589.html

I think this is MM's fourth European tour win and he's only just turned 20 ?
Anyone else had that kind of strike rate at such a young age ? Rory wasn't prolific so I'm guessing not him, possibly Seve ?

Talking of modern era and only the two main tour wins, I don't think anybody gets close to Matteo's 4 wins at the age he is at now... Seve and Sergio had 2 as far as I can tell. But Seve started to win loads very quickly when he was 20, 21, so it'll be interesting to revisit this stat in 1, 2 years time... I don't expect Matteo will have a very similar trajectory anyway, he's a different type of temperament and style compared to Seve anyway... except for the green trousers, of course...