2015 British Masters Picks

This week is a special week for the European Tour, it's the return of the British Masters. This tournament hasn't been played on the European Tour since 2009 and returns to Woburn Golf and Country Club in Woburn, UK this year. It's being hosted by Ian Poulter, who is also the club's touring professional, and brings a purse of 3 million euros to the table.

The British Masters was first contested in 1946 as a restricted event at the end of the year. It reached peak popularity in the 80's, where the tournament was won by the likes of Greg Norman (81, 82), Seve Ballesteros (86, 91), Nick Faldo (89), and more. However, popularity for the tournament declined in the years after and it was cancelled after 2008, due to a lack of sponsorship. In the past it's been played on courses all over the UK, like The Belfry, Woburn, Royal St. George, Wentworth, St. Andrews, etc. This week, Woburn will play as a par 72 at just under 7,000 yards.

The return of the British Masters has brought many of the European Tour's elite players to the field this week. Tournament host Ian Poulter is on many pick lists this week. He knows this course better than anyone else in the field this week, hands down. Add in the fact that he hasn't won in over three years and we might see some of that Ryder Cup Ian Poulter in the field this week. There's probably no other place he'd like to win too.

Poulter is one of our picks this week, among others:

1) Ian Poulter
2) Luke Donald
3) Lee Westwood

It's an all English pick list this week, some of England's best in recent years. Two former World Number One's in the form of Luke and Lee and a Ryder Cup legend in the form of Ian. Surely one of them will win this week...

 

Play kicks off early tomorrow morning and it's sure to be filled with good golf. Be sure to check out our Weekend Update post to see who's leading at the halfway point.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Ian Poulter is playing his home course this week. Could he win this week?

Thorbjorn Olesen Wins the 2015 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

A breezy cloudy fall afternoon on the Old Course at St Andrews, there's no better place to finish a round, let alone win a tournament. That's just what Danish golfer Thorbjorn Olesen did earlier today, winning the 2015 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with a score of 18-under and a two shot lead over Brooks Koepka and Chris Stroud. This is Thorbjorn's third European Tour victory, his first since the 2014 ISPS Handa Perth International. It also makes him the youngest Dane to win three times on the European Tour.

At the start of his round, things weren't looking promising for Olesen. He double bogeyed the second then bogeyed the third at the Old Course. He fought back though with back-to-back birdies on the next two holes. At this point, the top of the leaderboard was full of players, every update had a new person tied for first or second. Olesen wouldn't make any more birdies until the 15th hole but that was more than enough to secure his victory. Ironically enough, Olesen does have some history with the name Alfred Dunhill. In 2010, he finished second at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa.

St. Andrews was in pristine conditions as always and at times had to rely on the elements to make it tough. Good score were found here on the weekend though, mostly on Saturday. The scoring average today was probably right around 70, which may seem high. The low score of the day was a 6-under 65 shot by Chris Wood.

Newly turned pros Paul Dunne and Jimmy Mullen didn't score the best weekend, but still finished very well considering it's their professional debut. Dunne finished at 12-under T19 and Mullen at 10-under (T30). It may be too early to say, but I think we'll be seeing a lot more of these two in upcoming European Tour events.

Finally, here's how our picks did:

1) Tommy Fleetwood: T13 at 13-under
2) Graeme McDowell: T19 at 12-under
3) Danny Willett: T52 at 5-under


Tommy Fleetwood slipped under the radar this weekend and scored himself a nice T13 finish. Earlier today, GMac was T2 at one point after shooting a 31 on the front nine. Unfortunately he bogeyed the last three of four holes. It's still one of GMac better finishes though this year. Better luck next week to Danny Willett too.

And there you have it, sadly another edition of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship has come and gone. Join us for more European Tour coverage next week at the British Masters from Woburn Golf Club.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Thorbjorn Olesen Wins the 2015 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Mullen and Wall Co-Lead at Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Halfway through this year's edition of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (being played cross-course at Kingsbarn, Carnoustie, and the Old Course at St. Andrews), both Jimmy Mullen and Anthony Wall co-lead with a score of 11-under. Behind them, a log jam of players, including Ryder Cup hero Jamie Donaldson, new professional Paul Dunne (who first made headlines at this year's Open Championship, where he led a portion of it), etc. The cut will be set tomorrow, giving all players a chance to play each course once.

Jimmy Mullen is making his debut as a professional golfer this week, and doing it in good style. The young golfer is from Devon, UK (affiliated with Royal North Devon Golf Club) and had a good amateur career. He played on this year's Walker Cup team, along with Paul Dunne. This week, he shot a 64 at Kingsbarn and a 67 at St. Andrews today. His opening round consisted of seven birdies, an eagle, and just one bogey.

On the other hand, Anthony Wall has been playing on the European Tour for twenty years. He's one once during his professional career, ironically the 2000 Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa (a co-sanctioned event between the European Tour and Sunshine Tour), with several 2nd place finishes over the years. He also has a T12 finish at this year's Open Championship. Wall played the same courses as Mullen and shot a 65/68.

Those who watched the Open Championship this year at St. Andrews will surely remember the then-amateur Paul Dunne. He co-lead the tournament after the first three rounds, becoming the first amateur since 1927 to do so. He also makes his professional debut this week and shot a 64/70 at the same course as Mullen and Wall. He also made a hole-in-one on the 15th at Kingsbarn.

On the pro-am side of things, Rafael-Cabrera Bello (partnered with businessman Dermont Desmond) and Jared Harvey (partnered with businessmanMichael Zamkow) lead with a score of 19-under over Jimmy Mullen and businessman Miguel Duenas.

Finally, here's how our picks are doing,

1) Tommy Fleetwood: T52 at 3-under
2) Graeme McDowell: T13 at 7-under
3) Danny Willett: T66 at 2-under

Good scores from GMac, who hasn't had the best season so far. Remember that the cut will be set tomorrow, with the final round of the tournament being played on Sunday at St. Andrews. Stay tuned for our results post to see who's won.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

New pro Jimmy Mullen could win his first tournament as a pro this week

2015 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Picks

One of the European Tour's most exciting events starts tomorrow. We are of course talking about the 2015 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. This tournament is probably the most unique event on the European Tour and is personally one of my favourites to watch every year.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was first played in played in 2001. What makes this tournament so different from others? Firstly, it's played at three separate courses over the first three of four days of the event; Kingsbarn Golf Links, Carnoustie Golf Links, and the Old Course at St. Andrews, with all Sunday rounds being played at St. Andrews. Over the course of the tournament, players travel from course to course to play their round for the day. You'll also notice that these courses are all in links-style, which always makes for a much more interesting round of golf.

This tournament is also a pro-am (similar to the AT&T National Pro-Am) meaning that amateur golfers (usually celebrities or persons of note) get the chance to play on a team with professional golfers. Thus there are two parts to this tournament, the individual (professional) part, which is just like a normal professional tournament where the lowest combined 4-day score wins with a monetary reward (one of the largest on the European Tour). The last part is the pro-am portion where a single amateur is paired with a single pro, and the pro-am duo with the lowest score wins this portion of the tournament. Both parts are played consecutively and both the pro and the amateur travel from course to course.

Lastly, this tournament is special since half of it is played at the Old Course at St. Andrews, the physical home of golf. It's filled with so much history and the course itself is such an icon in the golfing world. We saw a bit of what the Old Course has to offer earlier this year at the British Open, but this time around conditions will be cooler. However, the weather and thus the course will probably still be unpredictable as per usual.

Some notables in the field this week are: John Daly, Erik Compton, Ryder Cup Captain Darren Clark, and TGR favourite Graeme McDowell. Will one of them win, who knows, but here are our picks this week:

1) Tommy Fleetwood
2) Graeme McDowell
3) Danny Willett

Play starts very early tomorrow morning on all courses. Be sure to check out our Weekend Update post Friday evening to see who's leading.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

 Graeme McDowell is winless in 2015 thus far, could that change this week?

Jordan Spieth Wins Tour Championship and FedEx Cup

He was on fire when he started the season and that's exactly the way he ended it. That's right, Jordan Spieth has won the 2015 Tour Championship, finishing with a score 9-under and a four shot lead over Danny Lee, at East Lake Golf Club. The win also makes him the winner of the FedEx Cup and most certainly the PGA Tour Player of the Year.

This caps off a truly stellar season from one of golf's elite, yet still emerging talents. Let's go through the year Spieth has had. In December of 2014, he won the World Challenge and went on to finish T10 or better in his next 7 of 8 tournaments, winning one of them (Valspar Championship). Three of these were in the three weeks before the Masters, and already, the golfing community was united in saying that, over the past few months, Jordan Spieth was playing the best golf in the world. Then came his Masters win, one of the youngest winners to date, putting his name up their with golfing legends.

He continued to play great golf after Augusta and had a few more close wins, including a T2 at Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament. At this point, it seemed that Spieth was lingering around the top of the leaderboard in every tournament he played in. Next, was his US Open victory. Although he did not win in the same illustrious fashion as he did at Augusta (Dustin Johnson's collapse almost out-shined his win), he was now 2/2 in majors, something only seen, again, by the golfing greats. He followed up his win with another at the John Deere Classic.

All eyes were on Spieth again at the British Open, where he played excellent golf and needed to hole his final putt to make it to the playoff (let's also not forget his chip that almost holed out and would have most definitely rewritten history). His quest for the career Grand Slam was over, but Spieth was not ready to thrown in the towel yet...

At the last major of the year, the PGA Championship, Spieth rallied against a tough Whistling Straits to finish solo second, capping off an excellent season, even as of then. He finished 1st, 1st, T2, 2nd in majors this year; finishes many players could only dream of. After this, Spieth cooled off a bit, missing the cut at both The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship, before surging again to win today. At the end of it all, he won five times in twenty-five events on the PGA Tour this year, bringing in over $10.5 million plus an additional $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup.

Spieth has shown the world this season that he is the world's best golfer (he also reclaims the title with today's win). He's shown us that he can go toe to toe with golf's elite and break the records they set. He's shown us that he can do all this, while still remaining a humble and down to earth person. Could we be seeing the next Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus? Many think so and that may just be the case.

And there's no better way to finish off a season than to give off a message like that...

In other news, our picks finished off well. Jason Day fell short this week, finishing T10. Dustin Johnson made it to T5 by shooting a low round 6-under today. Rickie Fowler shot a 4-over on his way out of contention.

On that note, that's the end of the 2014-2015 PGA Tour season. Don't worry though, next season is set to start October 12 with the Frys.com Open, just after the President's Cup. Unfortunately we won't be covering the Presidents Cup.

On the European side of things, be sure to check out our picks for this week's Alfed Dunhill Links Championship (one of my favourite tournaments) as well as our European Tour Playoff coverage at the end of October.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Jordan Spieth: 2015 FedEx Cup Champion