Tuesday, March 9, 2010

“Golf-Great Europeans are behind England's golden run, says Casey (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports)” plus 3 more

“Golf-Great Europeans are behind England's golden run, says Casey (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports)” plus 3 more

Golf-Great Europeans are behind England's golden run, says Casey (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports)

Posted: 09 Mar 2010 11:03 AM PST

By Simon Evans

MIAMI, March 9 (Reuters) - English golf is enjoying a spell of rare global prominence with three players in the top-10 rankings and number six Paul Casey believes the credit lies with a great generation of Europeans led by Seve Ballesteros.

Ten years ago there were just two Englishmen in the top 100 but with Casey now just below fourth-ranked Lee Westwood and fifth-placed Ian Poulter, the transformation has been impressive.

"My take on it is, it's the result of the great European golf that I was watching when I was a kid back in the 80s and early 90s," Casey told reporters on Tuesday ahead of this week's WGC-CA Championship at Doral.

"Nick Faldo, Seve, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Monty (Colin Montgomerie) … (Jose Maria) Olazabal was quite young but he was sort of part of that movement too. Those Europeans got me interested in the game.

"That was when I loved to watch and I got to see them live. I think if you asked these other Englishmen, Brits and Europeans who have now risen among us in the world rankings that was the reason they got hooked," said Casey.

"It's just taken 20 years or so for us to hone our skills."

For the 32-year-old Casey it was five-times major winner Ballesteros who made the biggest impression.

SEVE'S PASSION

"I remember each one of those great golfers for different reasons. For Seve it was the passion, it was the sort of spirit he played it in and the recovery shots.

"More often than not the memories are the shots he hit out of trouble, difficult situations … I don't remember the pure shots he hit from the middle of the fairway even though I'm sure they were fantastic," said Casey.

"It was that 'anything's possible' attitude and usually he pulled the shots off. I got to see it live and I feel very, very lucky I got to see it in person."

Casey, Westwood and Poulter are now mentioned among the contenders in each tournament they enter but it is the search for a major title—the last Englishman to win one was Faldo at the U.S. Masters 14 years ago—that animates them the most.

"It's a bit of a race right now. I think a big challenge is each one of us wants to win a major … who is going to be the first guy to do it?," said Casey.

"When you think of how many good Englishmen there have been, potential is one thing but these guys are starting to fulfil it and show everybody we have a lot of great players."

(Editing by Tony Jimenez. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Golf's Senior Stars Ready for a Rocky Mountain High (PGA)

Posted: 09 Mar 2010 11:34 AM PST

This is the third in a series featuring prominent members of the 156-player field that will compete in the 71st Senior PGA Championship, May 25-30, at Colorado Golf Club. This week's player is Paul Azinger, the 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup Captain and 1993 PGA Champion.

Paul Azinger
Captain, 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup Team
1993 PGA Champion

On Competing in his first Senior PGA Championship ...

"I'm looking forward to the Senior PGA Championship. I'm looking forward to all the majors.

I've got a book coming out in May, so I've got a lot of things going on in my life. But, I do want t play as much as possible.

The Champions Tour is a stroke of genius. It has some weeks off, and it has allowed this Tour to bring to each site a 'Who's Who' in the game of golf.

To me, it's a lot like NASCAR. You have some weeks off, but once back on you get the best players out virtually every single tournament. And that is especially true of the majors, like the Senior PGA Championship.

One of the complaints on the PGA Tour is that you don't always have the best guys going after each other all the time. You play so many times."

On Playing in Colorado ...

"To be honest, I never liked the altitude change. I suck at math. Whether it was 7 or a 10-percent difference, my trajectory was never right. I could not put my finger on it.

If a calculator were legal, I probably would have played more.

My memories of Colorado are how absolutely pretty it is. I have played on courses that Ben [Crenshaw] has built and he does a great job with the land he's presented. He's one of the best."

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Golf-Tournament clash to make Malaysia a 'laughing stock' (Reuters via Yahoo! Sports)

Posted: 08 Mar 2010 09:03 PM PST

KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Reuters) - Malaysian golf chiefs are threatening to withdraw their endorsement of the U.S. PGA's first event in Southeast Asia over a clash of dates with an existing Asian Tour event in the country.

The $6 million Asia Pacific Classic, co-sanctioned by the U.S. PGA and Asian Tour, and the Iskandar Johor Open are both scheduled to take place in Malaysia from Oct. 28-31. "In my view, the timing is wrong. There cannot be two big golf tournaments going on in the country at the same time," Malaysian Golf Association (MGA) president Robin Loh told Tuesday's Star newspaper.

"This does not happen elsewhere and we will definitely be the laughing stock of the world. If they come to talk to us, we will ask them to reconsider the dates.

"We understand the Asian Tour is looking at the Iskandar Johor Open as one of their main events and we do not want it to be interrupted.

"Otherwise, in the event of this conflict, we will write to the Sports Commissioner's office to ask them not to issue the licence."

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Asian Tour said meetings were taking place between the interested parties in order to sort out the schedule.

The Asia Pacific Classic takes place at The Mines resort in Kuala Lumpur, while the Iskander Johor Open, which the Star said would have a purse of $2 million this year, will be hosted by the Royal Johor Country Club in the south of the Malay peninsula. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Beijing; Editing by John O'Brien; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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'Dog briefs: Women's golf team gets solid start (The Fresno Bee)

Posted: 09 Mar 2010 09:04 AM PST

The Fresno State women's golf team sat in fourth place after the first two rounds Monday of the Juli Inkster Spartan Invitational in San Jose.

Fresno State shot a 300-304--604, bested only by tournament leader San Jose State (295-300--595), UC Davis (304-297--601) and Cal (301-301--602) in the 16-team field.

Fresno State's Louisa Lies was tied for second, shooting 73-71--144.

San Jose State's Cristina Corpus was the first-day leader at 72-71--143. Oklahoma State's Caroline Hedwall was tied with Lies, tallying 69-75--144.

Darkness halts Fresno State's golf tournament

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