GolfShot for Golf News

Branden Grace is one of the latest sensations in the sport of golf but despite his great performance at the start of the year many people have the feeling that the real golf season is actually starting this week. On Sunday, Mr Grace played a fantastic game of golf and was able to beat more established players such as Els and Goosen. His victory meant that he claimed his second title in a week.

There was a time that Els and Goosen were two of the biggest players in golf but in recent years they have shifted away from the centre stage as their game has become less competitive. Many people are feeling that Tiger Woods is making a comeback to the game of golf and after winning a title at the end of 2011 many golfers fear his return.

Despite his record of great performances he is now having to compete with a new generation of golfers such as Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy. Many people are eagerly anticipating the golf tournament taking place in Abu Dhabi as part of the European tour. This is a competition that Tiger Woods is playing in and he is going to be competing against four of the best players currently in the game.

Many people in the UK are going to be particularly interested by this match as three of the top four players are from the UK, namely Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood. The defending champion is Martin Kaymer who has previously won the tournament three times. This suggests, along with the rest of the line-up, that it is going to be a very competitive game of golf.

Many people are looking forward to seeing the return of Tiger Woods and how he’s going to fare against the new players to enter the golf scene since his departure from the game a few years ago. Another player who spectators are going to be looking out for is Sergio Garcia who has had a very impressive career but has still to fulfil many of his career goals. He has recently made a comeback after many people feared that his golf had entered a downward spiral.

Mr Garcia is currently ranked 17th in the world which is significantly higher than Tiger Woods. Of the last four tournaments he has played he won half of them and last year he finished a game 27 under par. Both wins last year showed that he had brought significant improvement to his game, particularly in regard to his putting. Many people are seeing this as the year that he is going to break through and become a champion player.

Mr Garcia is known to suffer from a short temper but in recent games he has been seen to bring this under control and this has helped improve his game. A notable incident occurred in Thailand last year while he was playing a game and he was frustrated and ended up throwing a golf club into the water.

Mr Garcia is hoping to start his 2012 season in excellent form and gain the many world ranking points that are associated with this first tournament. It is going to be very interesting for the spectators to see how he performs against both Tiger Woods as well as the other four leading golfers.

Rory McIlroy has recently said that the world number one, Luke Donald, should be recognised as the best golf player in the world even though he has never won a Major. Mr Donald has recently become the only player to be at the top of the money lists in Europe and America after he finished in third place at the Dubai World Championship.

Many critics have said that despite his skills he is incapable of winning a Major tournament, and this is something that he hopes to correct in the next year. A win in a Major is one of the only things that he seems to be missing in his golf career and it would solidify his position as the worlds best golfer.

McIlroy is the world number two and he has recently commented, “Lucas had a fantastic year and he deserves the recognition he gets as the world number one. Many critics are wondering whether he really should be in the position of being the world number one if he has never won a Major but in the golfing community he is clearly regarded as the best player.

He deserves all of the wins he has achieved and has earned his place at the top of the money lists.” Luke Donald has said, “I feel like I’ve achieved everything but a Major and I am planning to correct that next season.”

Rory McIlroy has recently said that the world number one, Luke Donald, should be recognised as the best golf player in the world even though he has never won a Major. Mr Donald has recently become the only player to be at the top of the money lists in Europe and America after he finished in third place at the Dubai World Championship.

Many critics have said that despite his skills he is incapable of winning  Major tournament and this is something that he hopes to correct in the next year. A win in a Major is one of the only things that he seems to be missing in his golf career and would solidify his position as the worlds best golfer.

McIlroy is the world number two and he has recently commented, “Lucas had a fantastic year and he deserves the recognition he gets as the world number one. Many critics are wondering whether he really should be in the position of being the world number one if he has never won a Major but in the golfing community is clearly regarded as the best player. He deserves all of the wins he has and has earned his place at the top of the money lists.”

Luke Donald has said, “I feel like I’ve achieved everything but a Major and I am planning to correct that next season.”

Luke Donald has said that finishing on top of  the historic money list, which will be finishing in Dubai, would be the greatest achievement he has ever made in golf. The only challenger to him is Rory McIlroy and he said that if he wins he will be dedicate the game to his father who died just last month.

Donald is currently the world number one and recently was the champion of the PGA tour which finished in October. He is currently ahead of McIlroy in prize-money  by nearly £700,000.

The first prize for the champion in Dubai is nearly £800,000 and even if McIlroy finishes first, Donald would have to finish outside of the top 9 to not be crowned the highest earning player in Europe.

The Englishman said, “If I win on Sunday this is going to be the greatest achievement I’ve ever made in golf. No one has ever done this before and if I achieve this goal I will be very happy.” Tiger Woods has won the most money in golf, but he has not played enough tournaments in Europe to be the highest earning player in the region. Donald recently took a month off from golf due to his father’s death and the birth of his second daughter.

Recently he commented about his father, “He was the man who got me interested in golf and I owe everything I have to him. The emotions I felt during this time were deep and it was a very hard time for me. The birth of my new daughter is the only thing that brought light into my life in this dark time. When I play on Sunday I will be doing it for my father and I want the golf I play to be a tribute to him.”

Despite the odds being quite significantly in its favour he has commented, “McIlroy is a fantastic player and one of the most talented golfers in the game. Personally, I think that right now he is a more talented player than Tiger Woods. I think in terms of raw talent, Rory has a bit more than Tiger and when he won the US open this was really a testament to his sheer skill.”

McIlroy won the US Open earlier in the year in spectacular fashion. Previously in the year he had a four shot lead and looked like he was going to be the champion in Augusta at the Masters tournament but he blew it and his victory in the U.S. Open was an amazing event.

The two players will be teeing off together at 8:30 AM, GMT and they will be certainly taking centre stage at the event. However, many people will also be watching Sergio Garcia closely as he will be looking to achieve his third victory in a row as he recently won at Valderrama and Castellon.

There is a great deal of evidence that show the recent cycle of supremacy by Europeans is leaving the US in its wake. Nothing counts before the Thursday at the major championships of golf. But those in search may have found some meaning at the 7^th tee in Washington DC at the Congressional Country Club the site of the US Open this week.

There was Phil Mickelson the American star in the absence of his nemesis Tiger Woods and there next to him was Dustin Johnson, Jeff Overton and Hunter Mahan the three young guns of American golf and the backbone for the next Ryder Cup team and around them stood a crowd of less than 200, quite the desultory audience for a much trailed money game that was guaranteeing some competitive golf.

No doubt come Thursday the galleries will be bigger but the luster is diminishing on American golf and it does not look like it will be restored any time soon. It may be that the most watched group on Sunday at the Open will be Luke Donald, Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood.

These three Europeans have taken golf by storm over the last 12 months and are the three top rated players in the game. America’s sporting culture is quite insular but now with three Europeans ranked one, two, three in the world the stars and stripes are lagging behind. Still the US has representation in the top ten with Steve Stricker at No 4, Phil Mickelson at No5,  and Matt Kuchar hanging on the No 6.

But deeper down the line you will see that the US game is not doing well. There are currently only 37 US players in the top 100 the lowest number since the world ranking were first used in 1987 when only 59 US players were in the top 100. The latest majors are another key indicator with all four majors currently being held by non-Americans the first time that has happened since 1994.

Many do not want to hear it, Tiger is not around and EVERYONE that plays should post an asterisk beside their ranking because if he were at his best, everyone would be one ranking lower.