Showing posts with label Abu Dhabi golf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abu Dhabi golf. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Have You Played Golf in Abu Dhabi or Dubai? Let's Go!

Golf for Beginners, through our many internet conversations, understands that fans of the sport love to travel and learn about different cultures while playing some of the best courses around the world. In this blog we would like to share exciting vacation destination ideas and a special discount travel code for UK golfers!

Letsgo2, a UK based luxury holiday provider specializing in accredited package holidays to a selection of striking destinations, is offering our users an exclusive discount code to use when booking your next summer holiday.

Check off some of the golf courses on your bucket list while appreciating unique culture with letsgo2– enjoy a leisurely round or two on manicured fairways and then explore the sights of some of the world’s most famous golf destinations. 

Have you ever been to Abu Dhabi? I have not yet journeyed to AD but it is on my short list of exciting destinations. If you are looking for an exclusive and luxurious landing spot, you can stay at the elegant Yas Viceroy Hotel near the marina and play the Yas Links.

Thinking of visiting Dubai? Enjoy the sheer decadence of a Dubai golf holiday at the Jebel Ali resort, complete with stunning private beach. The on-site golf course is a precursor to the European PGA Tour event, the Dubai Desert Classic, so it must be a real tests of skill.

Yas Viceroy Hotel, Abu Dhabi


If the Middle East doesn’t strike your fancy, why not take a tour of the Belle Mare Plage, with two 18-hole championship paradises set among tropical gardens as well as one of the most beautiful beaches in Mauritius. 

All greens on the Legends and Links courses have been rebuilt to exacting specifications with Tif Dwarf grasses to ensure the perfect roll. Bring your A-Game!



Whether you’re searching for a golf holiday or family trip abroad, letsgo2.com has it covered.  

Quote one of these discount codes below when booking:
GOLF50 for £50 discount on holiday over £2,999
GOLF75 for £75 discount on holiday package over £3,000  
The codes are not limited to use on the golf packages but are valid on any holiday booked through letsgo2. 

Plan your vacation today!

What is your favorite UK destination for golf and relaxation? Let us know on Twitter @Golf4Beginners!


photos: Letsgo2.com

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Will Tiger Woods golf season debut be a hit or a “Miss”?

Tiger Woods has been the target of a golf media thashing for two years and frankly I would prefer to concentrate this golf blog on his debut "form" and career objectives rather than on his latest “unprofessional” slamming by Hank Haney. 

Was Haney justified in releasing a Tiger Woods “tell-all” book, “The Big Miss”, just prior to Woods’ first appearance? Sixty-six percent of fans who were asked said “No”. 

That being said, the 2012 golf season is taking on momentum and Woods will be making his debut this week in Abu Dhabi at the HSBC Golf Championship. The stage for a Woods return was unofficially set in December when Tiger walked away with his first win in two years at the Chevron World Challenge.

Tiger Woods believes, however, that it was in Australia where he gained his greatest confidence, "Australia was big. I hit so many good shots, especially when the wind was howling at thirty mph, with gusts at more than that," and confidence is key to forging ahead. 

Woods also claims that he is the fittest he has been at the start of a golf season in a "long, long time" and is excited to be competing alongside of up-and-coming players (and first round playing partners) Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald. Does Tiger Woods feels it necessary to test himself against the "new generation" to see if/that he can "rise again, like a phoenix from the ashes of his former self?

Ultimately, Woods is focused primarily on winning the majors and using the remainder of the events he will play in as “tune-ups’. Tiger confirmed, “Ultimately, I want to have my game peak four times a year." 

At least he's dancing...  one of his New Year resolutions?


Get to know Tiger Woods a little better on Friday; he’ll be answering questions on his Twitter feed @TigerWoods... should cause Twitter to burst at the seams.  

Voice your opinions on Tiger Woods on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and friend on Facebook

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I would like to share with you the press release I received along with the above Getty Image:
   
TIGER MOVES TO HSBC’S ABU DHABI BEAT

Golfing Giants Get Traditional With Emirati Ayala Dance

Abu Dhabi, UAE. Tuesday 24th January, 2012: He’s been in Abu Dhabi for less than 24 hours, but Tiger Woods - one of the headline attractions at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, which starts tomorrow (Thursday 26 January) – wowed onlookers at Abu Dhabi Golf Club today as he shook off the trans-Atlantic cobwebs and ‘moved’ to the UAE capital’s distinctive traditional beat.

Abu Dhabi debutant, Woods, an eye-catching contender in what is the strongest field ever assembled at a Middle East tournament, was joined by world numbers two and three, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy, for an impromptu celebration of traditional Emirati ayala (celebration) dancing on his first National Course appearance.

 “That was pretty special,” said Woods, a 14-time Major winner. “It’s my first time in Abu Dhabi and although as golfers we are used to travelling all over the world, we don’t usually get welcomes like that. It’s always fantastic to experience new cultures and traditions and I really got into the ayala beat; I’m not sure the canes would be too good on the putting greens this week though.”

The ayala dance celebration officially ushered in the seventh annual Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, which will see triple and defending champion, Martin Kaymer, lock horns with Woods, Westwood and McIlroy, as well as world number one, Luke Donald, in the hunt for the Falcon trophy. Reigning Major champions, Charl Schwartzel (US Masters) and Darren Clarke (The Open), Australian hot-shot, Jason Day, Korea’s top ranked player, KJ Choi, Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington are also in the star studded line-up.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Whisper it! Kaymer reveals HSBC Abu Dhabi golf secret

Germany’s Martin Kaymer returns to the UAE in January as the first of the new generation of golf stars to have both a Major title and a World Golf Championship trophy to his name. Having won last year’s renewal of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and November’s HSBC Champions he is also on the verge of an unprecedented treble. As Tim Maitland reports, there’s a good reason why he has such a remarkable record in Abu Dhabi.

Only ten players have ever won both a Major Championship and a WGC trophy. Since the World Golf Championships series was introduced in 1999, that tiny exclusive club has slowly grown, the founding member being Tiger Woods. Next in was Ernie Els in 2001. Surprisingly late arrivers were the two main challengers to Tiger at his brilliant best: Vijay Singh only claimed his first WGC in 2008, while Phil Mickelson’s 2009 WGC-HSBC Champions victory in Shanghai got him into the group.

Last November in Shanghai, Martin Kaymer, at twenty-six years of age, added the WGC-HSBC Champions to his 2010 PGA Championship.

Given how long we’ve been focused on emerging wunderkinds like Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Matteo Manassero, you’d be forgiven if you don’t immediately grasp how precocious the German’s talent is.

Martinkaymerrorymcilroyabudhabihsbc
Rory McIlroy with Martin Kaymer Round 4 Abu Dhabi HSBC

This simple fact proves it: Kaymer is seven and a half years younger than the previous “baby” of the elite ten, Geoff Ogilvy, and just two days short of nine years junior to the next youngest in the list... Tiger Woods himself.

Just how far Kaymer is ahead of the rest of his generation is felt nowhere more strongly than in Abu Dhabi, where he is aiming for a unique sponsor’s treble. While the rest of the world can claim to have seen a trajectory to the young Dusseldorf native’s career, in Abu Dhabi, but for a missed cut right at the very start of his European Tour career, he has just been consistently brilliant.

It’s hard to believe, now that at the age of twenty, Kaymer was an amateur when he won his first event on the third-tier German-based EPD (European Professional Development) Tour in 2005. He turned professional that year, won the EPD’s 2006 Order of Merit and the chance to play on the Challenge Tour, winning his first event and again, a month later, sealing his European Tour card in just eight tournaments.

The outsider can see a logical development in his career from then on: from five top-ten finishes in his rookie season through to winning his first Major – the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits – and the Race to Dubai in 2010, and claiming the status of the world’s number one player in 2011.

The spectator whose one taste of tournament golf is the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship each year would be forgiven for thinking Kaymer just emerged from the pram that good: in four years he was won the event three times and, in an ‘off year’ in 2009, finished second.

But just as that fan would struggle to understand that Kaymer’s career has actually been one of progressive improvement, so Kaymer would have problems communicating why he now owns three trophies and has played 80-under-par over the past four years.

“It’s tough to explain, but it’s a combination of a lot of things, why I play well there. It’s just the whole package, I believe: I come from five or six weeks’ break, so first of all I’m very motivated to play golf again and to play a tournament again. Then we always stay at an unbelievable hotel at the Emirates Palace. I really like the people there; when I come to the clubhouse – I’ve known them four or five years now – we always recognize each other, we talk a little bit. It’s a very nice environment there. It’s a nice atmosphere and the way HSBC runs the tournament [with the ADTA], it’s very comfortable for us players,” says Kaymer, whose comfort levels must soar once he steps out onto the first tee.

“Every year you get to know the golf course better and better, but I think I know how to play that golf course in the easy way for me; that might be my advantage. I feel comfortable on every tee box I stand on; I really can feel the tee shot, I know where I can miss the tee shot in order to still have a shot towards the green, and another big advantage is that I can read those greens very well,” he continues, seemingly trying very hard not to use the ‘fits-my-eye’ phrase that can only really be understood by those who spend 25 weeks or more each year playing a different layout each week.

“If we compare Abu Dhabi to Augusta, for example, almost every tee shot in Abu Dhabi I stand on the tee box and can hit a little cut into the fairway or I can use a short cut over some bunkers; I just feel very comfortable. Even if I were to miss a shot, I’m still OK. My misses are fine. At Augusta I don’t feel very comfortable on a lot of the tee boxes when I stand there. The look of the hole in Abu Dhabi is very different,” he reveals.

That most temperamental of mistresses – the shortest stick in the bag – has also always behaved like an angel for Kaymer in Abu Dhabi, which probably goes without saying considering he has averaged five-under-par per round over his last four visits.

“I’ve always putted well there. I can read the greens well. I feel comfortable. I can still remember a lot of the putts that I’ve made in the past and that helped me a couple of times last year when I won again. Sometimes you have golf courses where you struggle to read the greens and sometimes you have golf courses where you go there every year and you know you’re going to putt well. It’s just one of those events where I know I will putt well.”

Though Kaymer wouldn’t say it feels like the course was made for him, given the chance, he would make it for himself.

“If I could build my own golf course it would be very close to the golf course in Abu Dhabi for sure. I just play very good golf on that golf course.”

Perfect Practice

There are plenty of theories, most of them proposed in jest, among the tour players as to why Kaymer has been so dominant at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Spain’s Pablo Martin, with tongue firmly in cheek, tested a few of those suggesting the German has no fun during the winter holiday.

“Everyone just competes for second place because Martin must not have any Christmas; he just practices. That’s why he wins by twenty-five shots! Everyone else is at home drinking and eating,” kids the two-time winner of South Africa’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, ignoring the fact that for that theory to stand up Kaymer would also have to fastidiously ignore his birthday, which falls three days later.

In joking around, Pablo inadvertently comes up with an explanation that even Kaymer doesn’t seem to have considered that much. As well as Kaymer, England’s Paul Casey has a ridiculous record in Abu Dhabi, winning in 2007 and 2009. Yes, both are long, straight hitters who can putt, but both share the same winter home, too.

“Paul and Martin both live in Arizona; either there is something in the water in Arizona or it doesn’t feel like Christmas in Arizona because it’s too hot!” Pablo Martin adds.

 “I really should get myself to Arizona next Christmas!” he laughs.

He should.

Specifically, if Pablo wants to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, he should probably get himself to the Whisper Rock Golf Club, because the more Kaymer thinks about it, the more he realises the weeks he spends preparing for the season at his winter home is the perfect preparation for the tournament.

“It has nothing to with the water! Paul and I, when we practice in Arizona, we have very similar conditions and facilities [to the course in Abu Dhabi]. It’s a very similar golf course that we play in Scottsdale,” says Kaymer of the course, which is reported to have over 30 Tour professionals as members, including the designer Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddely.

Among the winners of the annual club championship there are PGA Tour regulars Kevin Streelman (a former Whisper Rock caddie), Todd Demsey, Chez Reavie and Billy Mayfair, which instantly tells you the course is set up as close to tournament standards as you can get week-in and week-out.

The similarities are endless. The Upper Course at Whisper Rock even has exactly the same yardage from the back tees as the Abu Dhabi Golf Club will have for the 2012 tournament: 7,600 yards. Right down to the desert air, Kaymer couldn’t have picked a better place to practice.

“That’s what Arizona is about; it’s got a lot of desert. It has very similar bunkers and the sand in the bunkers is very similar. The greens are a little grainy, but not too much. Everything is very similar. The ball goes a similar distance. The weather is very similar; it’s 20 to 25 degrees [Celsius] when we practice there and when we go to Abu Dhabi it’s the same. So there’s no adjustment necessary when we come from the break,” Kaymer explains.

In a nutshell, in spending his winter preparing to challenge the world’s best for the next season, Kaymer is inadvertently yet very specifically preparing to excel in Abu Dhabi in the first week of his season. 

Champions’ Boost

By his own reckoning this winter’s preparations were energised by finishing the 2011 campaign with a World Golf Championship record-setting comeback at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

“To win such a big event, the HSBC in Shanghai, a World Golf Championship event with the best players in the world participating, it definitely gives you a boost. All of a sudden you want to practice even harder, you want to win more tournaments; it gives you a little bit more motivation for the next year. I can’t wait to tee it up in Arizona when we play the next one [the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship] and when we play Doral, another World Golf Championship event, and going towards the Masters,” says Kaymer, whose nine-under-par 63 was the lowest final round by a winner in the history of the WGC stroke-play events.

“Before the win in Shanghai it was not a great season, but if you win such a big event – the year before, I won a major; last year I won a World Golf Championship – in Asia! I’ve won a few tournaments in Europe already, I won a Major in America and now I’ve won in Asia: in all three continents, I’ve done something very special. The win proved myself again. It proved …that hard work will pay off! I worked really hard in the summer time and the fall; I was practising very hard on my game and I was working out really hard in the gym and I really wanted to achieve something. I was running out of tournaments, so was really happy that it still happened and for it to be such a big event. I wouldn’t say it saved my season, but it definitely made it more satisfying.”

That season certainly had not lived up to the anticipation created by the way he opened the year. Much to his own amazement, Kaymer’s winning in Abu Dhabi had lifted him above Tiger Woods in the world rankings. Reaching the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he lost 3 & 1 to Luke Donald, took him to the top spot for the first time. What followed – including missed cuts at the Masters Tournament and the US PGA Championship, and only five other top-ten finishes between his personal HSBC double was, by the standards of his seemingly inexorable rise, a relative disappointment.

Kaymer has repeatedly said it was down to the unexpected aspects of topping the Official Golf World Rankings. The golf world, including many players, has talked about Kaymer altering his game with an eye on the Masters, something he emphatically denies.

“Everybody says I changed my swing for Augusta, which is not true. I’m not changing my swing for one golf course! With my golf swing I’ve become number one in the world; there’s no reason why I should change it! The only reason why I wanted to adjust my golf swing was because I saw room for improvement. That improvement, if I could get there, would help me in Augusta and maybe that’s why people might say ‘He changed his swing for Augusta’, but it’s not true,” he explains patiently.

What is true is that Kaymer did work hard last winter to try and improve his ability to shape the ball right-to-left to complement his natural fade. He views it as adding another weapon to his arsenal, but asserts that the fact that other people don’t interpret that way doesn’t bother him.

“To be able to hit the draw if you can add another option to your ball flight it will definitely make you into a better player. I would have more possibilities for golf shots on different golf courses of course in Augusta and I think that would make me more comfortable in Augusta if I could add a couple of things to my golf.

“I know what I need to do and I know what I do, and I talk to my coach about it and that is the most important thing. What people make out of it in the end is not in my hands. If people ask me, I will tell them the truth and what I feel about it; what they write and say after that is out of my hands. It doesn’t bother me and it doesn’t disturb me.”

Being #1

What he does admit disturbed him was the reaction to his becoming world number one. Compared to the sport’s traditional heartlands, a successful German golfer lives in relative anonymity. That changed when his Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship win and runner-up finish at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship thrust him above first Tiger and then Lee Westwood.

Looking back at that period immediately after his WGC-HSBC Champions win in November, Kaymer told a packed press conference why it was a struggle.

“It was a tough stretch of months, because it's not normal that at my age you become No. 1 in the world.  All of a sudden, you have more attention: Doesn't matter really where you go. In my own country, I became the German golf face. In America, a lot of people recognised me because obviously golf is a little bit bigger in America than in Germany. But it has been, you know, a little awkward situation sometimes, because I was just not used to be that much in the spotlight,” he said at the time.

With a little more time to consider, Kaymer says it wasn’t just how number one status affected him, but that it affected everyone to whom he was close.

“The whole thing in the beginning was very strange because no-one in my inner circle [had experienced it]: my manager had never had a player who was number one in the world; all of a sudden my family and me had more attention in Germany; and, the people I work with found it a little bit difficult to begin with. Now we know what’s going to happen,” he says, revealing just how high being number one again sits in his list of priorities.

“I will set new goals for the new year: to play well again in the World Golf Championship events and in the Majors. And for sure the goal is to get back to number one in the world, now I know how it feels to be number one; how to approach it and how to handle that position. Obviously it was fun and I learned a lot and I’d love to be back on top.”

Fearless Defender

Getting back to the top might depend on whether the current incumbent, Luke Donald, continues with his run of stunning consistency in 2012. All Kaymer can do is get back to playing at the level with which he bookmarked his 2011 season.

Of course he starts in his happiest of happy places, Abu Dhabi, where his domination could be described as Tiger-esque. Living up to such a fantastic record would eventually weigh on most players, but like Woods, Kaymer seems to react differently: wins follow wins.

If you group together his three Abu Dhabi wins as one packet, three more of his career victories came in three successive appearances in 2010, when he sandwiched a victorious Ryder Cup appearance in between winning his Major and claiming the KLM Open and the Dunhill Links, while his two wins in 2009 came in back-to-back weeks. That’s eight of his 10 stroke-play wins since earning his European Tour card neatly bundled in bursts of unbridled confidence.

When you consider all of that, it’s no wonder that once again facing all the attention that comes with defending his title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship doesn’t bother him in the slightest.

“I don’t think it’s more pressure at all. If you’ve won a title there shouldn’t be more pressure at all. It should give you even more confidence to do it again because you know you’ve been successful at that golf course already, so it shouldn’t add any more pressure. I don’t feel that at all. I really like defending titles because if you’ve got all that good experience from the previous year I think it gives you the belief that you can win again. I can approach the tournament in Abu Dhabi with a very, very positive mindset.

“It could happen that I don’t win this year – I could not even finish top 10 there this year – but the combination that I come from a long break and am motivated to play again, that you go to a golf course where you’ve been successful and a golf course that you know very well and that you feel very good about… The last four years worked out quite well for me, but I don’t know what’s going to happen in 2012. The predictions are quite good!”

This year he will have to overcome the best field he’s ever faced in Abu Dhabi, and what organizers say will be the best ever assembled in the Middle East, as well as his own hero.

“It’s great for Abu Dhabi that Tiger Woods is coming and more international players are coming from America. Last year Phil Mickelson played and it proves how good that tournament is and how much fun it is to be in Abu Dhabi and play the HSBC tournament. It’s not making it easier to win there, but I’m not going there to pick out an easy win. It’s nice to have the challenge and see if I can win again.

“Tiger Woods, in the last couple of years maybe he didn’t play great golf, but he’s played unbelievable golf since 1996, since he first came to the Masters. He’ll always be one of the big players at any tournament he goes to. He’ll always be great for us players as well, to have him there,” says Kaymer, who was almost in awe when he learned after his Abu Dhabi triumph in 2011 that he had passed Woods in the rankings.

“It was something very special; he’d been number one in the world for around eight years and there was no-one really close, ever! Then all of a sudden you overtake the best player who ever played the game,” Kaymer marvels.

“It felt a little unreal, but it also told me that I was able to do things that I maybe thought I wasn’t able to do in the beginning.”

 

Martin Kaymer in Abu Dhabi

2011: 1st 264 -24

2010: 1st 267 -21

2009: 2nd 268 -20

2008: 1st 273 -15

2007: MC 144 EVEN

The 10 Major and WGC winners

Tiger Woods (USA)

b. December 30, 1975 (1975-12-30) (age 35)  

14 Majors and 16 World Golf Championships (plus 2000 World Cup)

Phil Mickelson (USA)

b. June 16, 1970 (1970-06-16) (age 41) 

4 Majors and 2 World Golf Championships

Ernie Els (South Africa)

b. 17 October 1969 (1969-10-17) (age 42) 

3 Majors and 2 World Golf Championships (plus 2001 World Cup)

Vijay Singh (Fiji)

b. 22 February 1963 (1963-02-22) (age 48) 

3 Majors and 1 World Golf Championship (2008 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational)

Geoff Ogilvy (Australia)

b. 11 June 1977 (1977-06-11) (age 34) 

1 Major (2006 US Open) and 3 World Golf Championships

Darren Clarke (N. Ireland)

b. 14 August 1968 (1968-08-14) (age 43) 

1 Major (2011 Open Championship) and 2 World Golf Championships

Martin Kaymer (Germany)

b. 28 December 1984 (1984-12-28) (age 26)

1 Major (2010 PGA Championship) and 1 World Golf Championship (2011 WGC-HSBC Champions)

Stewart Cink (USA)

b. May 21, 1973 (1973-05-21) (age 38) 

1 Major (2009 Open Championship) and 1 World Golf Championship (2004 WGC-NEC Invitational)

David Toms (USA)

b. January 4, 1967 (1967-01-04) (age 44) 

1 Major (2001 PGA Championship) and 1 World Golf Championship (2005 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship)

Mike Weir (Canada)

b. May 12, 1970 (1970-05-12) (age 41) 

1 Major (2003 Masters Tournament) and 1 World Golf Championship (2000 WGC-American Express Championship)

Martin Kaymer Profile:

Personal

Nationality: German

Born:  28th December, 1984 Dusseldorf, Germany

Height/Weight: 6ft 1/2 in/11st 9lb (184cm/74kg)

Lives:  Mettmann, Dusseldorf, Germany and Scottsdale, Arizona, United States

Other interests:  Football, basketball and go-karting

Career

Professional wins:

2011:

WGC-HSBC Champions, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China

Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2010:

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Old Course St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, Fife & Angus, Scotland

Ryder Cup, Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Wales

KLM Open, Hilversumsche Golf Club, Hilversum, Netherlands

US PGA Championship, Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin, USA

Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2009:

Barclays Scottish Open, Loch Lomond Golf Club, Glasgow, Scotland

Open de France, Le Golf National, Paris, France

2008:

BMW International Open, Golfclub München Eichenried, Munich, Germany

Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE

European Challenge Tour

2006: Open de Volcans; Vodafone Challenge

EPD Tour

2006: Hockenberg Classic; Winterbrock Classic; ; Coburg Brose Open; Habsberg Classic; Friedberg Classic

2005: Central German Classic (Am)

Other Professional Landmarks:

November 2011 Became only the 10th player to win both a Major and a WGC title with his victory in the WGC-HSBC Champions

February 2011 Moved to career-high 1st in Official World Golf Ranking after reaching final of WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship final

January 2011 Moved to career-high 2nd in Official World Golf Ranking after Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship victory

December 2010 Joint winner of Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Year with Graeme McDowell

November 2010 Winner, European Tour Race to Dubai

August to October 2010 Recorded four wins in four consecutive appearances starting with his first Major and including the Ryder Cup.

January 2010 Moved to career -high 6th in Official World Golf Ranking after Abu Dhabi Golf Championship victory. First time in top 10 of OWGR.

July 2009 Won back-to-back in successive weeks at the French and Scottish Opens.

January 2009 Moved to career -high 34th in Official World Golf Ranking after Abu Dhabi Golf Championship victory. First time in top 50 of OWGR.  At the time, the only player under 25 years of age in the top 50.

November 2007 Became first German to win Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year

October 2006 Earned European Tour card by finishing fourth in the 2006 Challenge Tour Rankings, despite playing only eight events towards the end of the season

photo credit: Zimbio.com 

 

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Posted via email from stacysolomon's posterous

Thursday, January 20, 2011

PGA Tour vs European Tour...Golf Smackdown?

The European Tour continues to grow in popularity and this week is no exception as six of the top ten golfers in the official world rankings embrace the WGC HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship as the competitive "tournament of choice".

Mickelson used to enjoy playing his season-opener at the Bob Hope Classic but is it just the stress of a five-day event that has Phil fleeing or is it the allure of $1 million that is tempting Lefty to visit Abu Dhabi?

In order to entice more PGA Tour golfers to play across the pond, spiffs are an integral part of the deal for notables like Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, who will reportedly receive $3 million to show up in Dubai next month.

The diverse environment also interests Mickelson. "It has been great for me and my family to experience a lot of different cultures and learn from them."

U.S. golfers who add European Tour events to their schedule are being given a royal welcome by their hosts and appearance fees. The grueling PGA Tour schedule with "rigid rules", as mentioned by world's number-one golfer Lee Westwood, also requires play in fifteen events as opposed to thirteen...and the PGA Tour does not offer appearance fees. So, why fly the friendly skies?

Westwood, who gave up his PGA Tour membership, has snubbed in protest various events like the FedEx Cup and most recently, the Players Cup. Other Euro Tour golfers like Rory McIlroy have joined Westwood in his quest to remain Euro-centric and possibly to enhance the importance of their Tour.

In the picture below, newly named 2012 Ryder Cup Captain Jose Maria Olazabal is at the helm of the Abu Dhabi Ocean racing entry with possible picks. Is that Phil Mickelson readying to play for "Team Europe"? Quick Davis, offer an appearance fee...

Abu Dhabi with Phil Mickelson  
credit


I mentioned a few weeks ago that it would be a good idea for the PGA and Euro Tour to mediate in order to give opportunities for the golfers to play either venue.

Westwood's manager, Chubby Chandler pointed out, "There are too many people in power thinking only about their own interests rather than what's good for the game. It does my head in to think the world No 1 in his sport can't play in a tournament he wants to play in, and which the sponsor wants him to play in."

"The Players is a big PGA Tour event – but that's all it is."

To put it in Rory McIlroy's words, "The PGA Tour won’t miss me, because no one player is bigger than the tour.”


I think a Smackdown is on the horizon. Does 'The Rock' play golf?


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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Holes 7-12 with Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer, Quiros, Stenson


Abu Dhabi Golf Club

Q: How do you make one of the best tournaments on the European Tour schedule even better?
A: Lengthen the course, toughen up the bunkering and bring in one of most innovative sponsors in golf.
Tim Maitland sat down with some of the world’s top players to work out how to plot your way to success at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

A great event is just about to get better. The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Abu Dhabi Golf Club have produced some great championships and some great champions: Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey, who seem to have taken out a time-share on the trophy, would feature on anyone’s list of Europe’s elite golfers.


In today's golf blog, Tim speaks with a select group of European Tour golfers including Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer about how best to navigate through holes 7-12 of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.







Hole 7 Par 3 200 yards 182 metres


Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland)
Winner of 2010 US Open Championship at Pebble Beach, California; 2010 Celtic Manor Wales Open and 2010 Andalucia Masters at Valderrama, Spain. Claimed the decisive point to seal Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup win.  

This is an intimidating-looking par three. It’s a 200-yard slightly-downhill shot and you’ve got some rocks at the front of the green sitting up and looking at you. 

It’s an interesting green because the front of it is elevated and the rear of the green is elevated as well. So, it requires a very accurate three to a six iron depending on the wind direction – generally a four or five iron in the prevailing wind – into a bowl shaped green. You’ve really got to just try and beat the front edge. It’s really the hump at the front that you’ve got to be aware of. 

It’s a good hole: a bowl-shaped green and you’ve got to be on the correct side of the pin: you want to be beyond the front pins and short of the back pins. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: It’s a difficult green and you don’t want to go missing this one. You certainly don’t want to short-side yourself. To back flags, over the back is not good and to front flags, short’s not good.

Hole 8 Par 5 597 yards 546 metres

Alvaro Quiros (Spain)
 Winner of the 2010 Open de Espana in Seville, Spain and the 2009 Commercialbank Qatar Masters. One of the longest hitters in the game, in 2008 Alvaro eagled the eighth hole when it was playing into the wind, hitting driver and two iron to 10 feet.

This is a very tight fairway at the end. It’s wide, but it turns left. Most of the time you are hitting it to a very small area. They’ve made it 23 metres longer this year, but before I could hit it straight – I didn’t need to hit it with draw. I just focused on two palm trees on my line, so I would finish just to the left of the bunkers that are at the end of the fairway on the right hand side where it turns. 

It depends how the wind is and the conditions, but if I catch the fairway normally I can hit it in two. If I have a little bit of wind helping I could use a five, four or three iron. Without wind I would say three wood or five wood.

For normal human beings? It’s not that bad a situation for the rest of them, because if you can’t reach the green in two the lay-up is not that tight. They have a simple, comfortable third shot with a 58 degree wedge. These guys are really good with a 58 degree wedge.

Obviously if I can reach the fairway I have an advantage. I definitely have an advantage. 

The green receives the ball on an upslope – this is the good thing – this is why I can hit a long club and stop it easily. It’s not one of those typical holes where you really have to stop the ball quickly. The great thing about the golf course is that normally it is in a perfect condition. Everything on the green can finish in the hole if you hit a good putt. It makes a difference!

The mistake you don’t want to make: No, the eighth is a good hole for me, but the 10th I have no advantage over there because the fairway becomes very tight at my distance and not for the others.

Hole 9 Par 4 456 yards 417 metres

Rhys Davies (Wales)
Winner of the 2010 Hassan II Golf Trophy Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco.

You know exactly where you are in the world standing on the tee. I think that clubhouse is fantastic! The falcon is a great starting point for this hole: depending a little bit on the wind you’re looking at picking out a point of the wing as an aiming point. The bend in the wing is a good point if you want to take an aggressive line down the right-hand side; otherwise you might favour somewhere slightly further left. 

You try to get a good solid tee shot away, preferably a strong fade, but it’s a hole you could do with a good drive on.

It’s a long par four that often plays into the wind, so you’ve often got a long second shot. It can be a five, four or even a three iron and you’re looking at a slightly angled green. The bunker comes into play on the right hand side of it, particularly when the pin is tucked away in the back, right corner, which it often is on a Sunday of the tournament. You might look to hit a gentle fade and try and run the ball up the length of the green.

The mistake you don’t want to make: Mistake? If you can put the ball into the middle of the green and pin high you’re always going to be happy on this hole. It is a demanding hole; I think it’s one of the tougher ones on the golf course and if you could find the middle of the green four days out of four you’d be very pleased.

Hole 10 Par 5 582 yards 532 metres

Martin_Kaymer_Abu_Dhabi_TrophyMartin Kaymer (Germany)
Defending champions and two-time winner of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. Winner of the 2010 Race to Dubai and the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. Added two more wins in consecutive tournaments at the 2010 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, Scotland and the 2010 KLM Open in the Netherlands. Also claimed the 2010 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.  Member of Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup-winning team.

I usually hit driver over the left side of the bunkers at the front of the fairway. They’ve added length to the hole with the new tee, but before if I was on the fairway I would have a chance to go for the green in two, probably with a five wood or three wood. If it’s in the rough, I lay it up, but I’m still going for birdie with the wedge approach.

If I go for the green I find it’s always better to be left of the flag. The bunker to the left of the green is never bad, although they’ve made all the greenside bunkers deeper this year, so we’ll have to see. From there you always used to have a realistic birdie chance. 

The pin positions are normally two in the back and one on the right, so three times it was a realistic birdie chance out of that bunker. If the pin is short left it’s a tough one, so then you’re miss should be the bunker on the right in front of the green.

The priority is to hit the fairway in order to get home in two. Otherwise you lay it up to a comfortable number – for me it would be 95 metres or 100 yards. 

The second year I played here, this was my first hole and I started off with an eagle, so obviously it is possible to make putts here.

The mistake you don’t want to make: On the right side of the green there are some trees and that is obviously the worst place you can be.

Hole 11 Par 4 417 yards 381 metres

Ross Fisher (England)
Winner of the 2010 3 Irish Open at Killarney, Republic of Ireland. Member of Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup-winning team.

Eleven is quite a tough par four. It’s not a long hole and you can either hit driver and take on the traps, or you hit something down towards the left-hand trap, probably with a three wood. If you lay-back you’re going at it with anything from a nine iron to a wedge. If you’re a bit more aggressive off the tee, you’re going in with a sand wedge or a lob wedge. 

 I can’t really remember the green that well. From memory there’s a little bit of a tier to the green, but it’s pretty simple, although it’s not the biggest green.

The mistake you don’t want to make: Off the tee you’ve got to put it on the fairway.

Hole 12 Par 3 186 yards 170 metres

Henrik Stenson (Sweden)
Winner of the 2009 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, Florida, the 2007 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic and the 2006 Commercialbank Qatar Masters. Member of European Ryder Cup teams in 2006 and 2008.

It’s a cute little par three. I like the shorter par threes and I think most of the really good par threes around the world are a seven-to-nine iron. I’m not too keen on these three iron par threes. This is one of them. The tough thing is to get close to the back pins. There’s always a pin placed back-right. Other than that you’ve just got your wind direction right and hit a good shot. There’s nothing more to it really.

It would take quite a big miss for any of us to hit it in the water; obviously the bunkers are in play, especially for the back pins. Just as they always put some pins at the back, for sure they will put some pins close to the hump at the front of the green. Especially if it’s playing downhill, that makes it a bit harder to stop the ball. You’ve got to land it just precisely at the front and that little hump can make it tricky as well. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: You would leave yourself a tricky up and down if you go over the back. So get your yardage control, hit a good shot and you should be fine. The worst mistake would be the chunk in the water though. I’ll leave that one for you to make (laughs). 

Ian_Poulter_Abu_Dhabi_golf
Ian Poulter in the fairway at Abu Dhabi Golf Club



Thanks again to Tim Maitland for this great interview with European Tour Golfers for the 2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship!

2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Holes 1-6
2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Holes 13-18


photo credits: Getty Images/Tim Maitland


How to negotiate holes 13-18 of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club will be seen on Golf for Beginners blog later this week.

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Monday, December 13, 2010

2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship: Holes 1-6 with European Tour players

Abu_Dhabi_Golf_Club
Abu Dhabi Golf Club
Q: How do you make one of the best tournaments on the European Tour schedule even better?
A: Lengthen the course, toughen up the bunkering and bring in one of most innovative sponsors in golf.
Tim Maitland sat down with some of the world’s top players to work out how to plot your way to success at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.


A great event is just about to get better. The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Abu Dhabi Golf Club have produced some great championships and some great champions: Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey, who seem to have taken out a time-share on the trophy, would feature on anyone’s list of Europe’s elite golfers.

“I don't know if it can be better than the last few years, because it was always fantastic the way they did it.  But I'm sure HSBC the way they are involved in [the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai] – the way they handle that event – I think that they can improve it still a little bit,” mused Kaymer, the defending champion, who returns to Abu Dhabi with his first Major under his belt. 

“I think HSBC since many years is a huge sponsor of golf, a huge supporter of golf, and for us players, it's always nice to go back to Abu Dhabi, especially for me, the last three times I've played there, I won twice.  But HSBC together with IMG, I am pretty sure they are going to put a fantastic event together,” added the 26-year-old German. 

The falcon, the unique and symbolic clubhouse that stands sentinel as the season starts each year, will watch over an event that is new and improved in every way. The trophy is also in the shape of a falcon!

Abu_Dhabi_golf_club

Firstly, the plain and simple fact of the European Tour’s domination of the 2010 worldwide season – the lion’s share of the Majors, the World Golf Championships and the Ryder Cup – has sparked a debate: I many ways it may well now be the world’s strongest pro circuit. 

The course has had an overhaul; greenside bunkers are deeper and more punishing, the sand traps around the fairways have been added to or strategically altered to further complicate the options off the tee.

And then, joining up with the tournament’s driving force the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority – you have the new sponsor, whose main target in year one of their involvement is to help enhance the experience for the golf fan and to make the event more accessible and enjoyable for the golf-curious.

“You wouldn’t, as a sponsor, want to make broad, sweeping claims about improving an event as good as this,” said Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“But we do have a track record in golf and a reputation for state-of-the-art spectator villages, so it’s a good starting point. We’ll reach out to people and see what we can bring to the golf community and see whether we can bring new people out to enjoy the event.” 

While the world’s local bank may sound modest about its potential impact, the players seem to have fewer doubts that a strong tournament is about to get better.

“It’s happy news!” said Peter Hanson, part of the wining European Ryder Cup team.

“It’s been a strong tournament for a number of years, but hopefully it will be even stronger with HSBC coming in. They definitely make a difference. They’ve proven that in [Shanghai]. I played all of [the HSBC Champions] since the first year in 2005 and that tournament just gets bigger year by year.  The Abu Dhabi golf course is good and we’ve been spoiled staying in one of the best hotels in the world. It’s a favourite week of the year!”


Abu_Dhabi_Golf_Course
Let's tee off along with the Euro Tour Golfers as they let you in on the secrets of navigating through the Abu Dhabi Golf Course!

Hole 1 Par 4 405 yards 370 metres


David Horsey (England)
Winner of the 2010 BMW International Open in Munich Germany, numberone ranked player on the 2008 European Challenge Tour.

This is a great chance of birdie really. If you hit driver between the traps and down the right side, you’ve got only a wedge into the hole. As you stand on the tee the ideal line is between the right-hand and left-hand traps; it’s about 280 yards to run out into the left-hand trap, which is about my distance, so I just need to keep it in front of that bunker. Some of the flags are quite difficult to get to because they’re cut quite close to the edge of the green, but generally it’s a great birdie chance. The green is quite slopey and you can spin it back to a right-hand flag because there’s a bit of a backstop there. On the left there’s a little hump in the green so, depending on where the flag is, you need to control where the ball bounces and spins.

It’s a great chance to ease yourself into the round.

The mistake you don’t want to make: It’s a nice gentle start, compared to the rest of the course. You can get a bit cute around the greens sometimes: short is dead. You can spin it off the front of the green and end up with a 40-yard pitch shot, but probably the worst you can do on this hole is bogey.

Hole 2 Par 5 600 yards 548 metres

Colin Byrne (Republic of Ireland)
Caddie for Eduoardo Molinari for his 2010 Barclays Scottish Open win and 2010 Ryder Cup
I’d have to say this is a chance. The hole plays shorter than the yardage: the wind is normally helping and the fairway has got a bit of run to it, so if you can get your drive away you can really get it down there. I know 600 yards looks a lot to amateurs, but these guys have got the name on their bag. They don’t usually struggle for distance.

Off the tee the line is the right column of the temporary arch that is usually there in the distance and there are no real tricks to the hole, although there is a new bunker to the left of the landing area this year that might complicate things. 

Even if you get in the rough, there’s a chance of getting a flyer which can actually help you get there in two.

There’s water to the right of the green, but if you can reach it in two you have to go for it even if the green is quite small. Even playing it as a three-shotter, these guys are absolutely deadly with a wedge in their hands. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: I don’t care what anyone else says, you have to think this is a birdie chance.

Hole 3 Par 4 439 yards 392 metres

Simon Khan (England)
Winner of the 2010 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, England

It’s a deceptive hole. This tee moved back two or three years ago. You never used to hit driver. It used to be a three wood over the corner off the forward tee. They moved it back a good 60 yards and you had to hit driver and the bunkers are definitely in play down the left. So you would hit driver at the right-hand trap over 300 yards. Even though it’s downhill you shouldn’t reach that; I don’t reach that. I haven’t seen how the bunker on the right has been reconfigured, but I’m told it’s more in play, so the game-plan might change this year.

It’s a slightly uphill second shot to a really sloping green from back to front and a bit left to right. On a calm day you’re going to have 130 yards to the front, so an eight iron to the back and a nine iron to the middle. When the pin’s back it’s a hard pin to get to.  You’ve got to be quite aggressive to get back there.

The front right pin everyone hits it to the left of the pin [to avoid the bunker on the right side of the green] but then you’ve got a tricky downhill left to right putt, so it’s not one of the toughest holes but it grab you as well. If you hit your tee shot left and because it’s not easy to hole putts. 

The mistake you don’t want to make: The bunkers on the left tempt you a little bit. It dog-legs left and you think you can just hit it over those bunkers, but it’s a big hit to carry over there. Into the green it’s easy to spin the ball back to the front and you’ve got a tough two putt from down there. It’s not the longest hole, but it’s full of danger.


Hole 4 Par 3 174 yards 159 metres



Peter Hanson (Sweden)
Winner of the 2010 Czech Open and 2010 Iberdroia Open Cala Millor Mallorca. Member of Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup-winning team.

It’s a great hole; a fantastic hole. If the pin is on the front of the green it’s playing a lot easier than if the pin is at the back. All the pins on the back of the green are a lot more difficult. Normally the prevailing wind is off the right, when we play this hole and it can be pretty strong. You need to hit a seven iron or six iron into the wind. A great hole! It can play so differently difficulty-wise when you move the pin around. The green is covered by bunkers on all sides and they’re even deeper and more difficult this year.

The ridge across the green is big enough that you have to get it up there if the pin is up the back. If you’re playing a little too conservatively and don’t get onto the back level the chance of a birdie putting from front to back is very, very small and you might be looking at a three-putt.
I like the shorter par 3s rather than these 240-yard or 250-yard holes where you’re hitting three woods or three irons. This is about accuracy and about controlling the ball and controlling the flight.
The mistake you don’t want to make: The one place you don’t want to hit it is long. If you hit it into the back bunker you have a very difficult up and down. That’s the big mistake. You’re pitching onto a down slope and that’s why the back pins are so difficult. You’re on a little bit of a top tier and from the back bunker you’re in big trouble.

Hole 5 Par 4 469 yards 428 metres

Fredrik Andersson Hed (Sweden)
Winner of the 2010 BMW Italian Open in Turin

The fifth hole is a really tough one. It’s normally played into the wind (if I remember it correctly) and it’s a long hole with a green that’s quite undulated and tough when you get there. It’s 430 metres long and the wind makes it play more like 460 or so; so it’s a tough par four.

I remember it as a driver-three-iron/driver -four-iron hole. We don’t get tested that often for length – there are a few holes in the world that are really long – but it seems the courses, the new courses, get longer and longer.

You definitely have to be on the right level of the green to make putts, but the middle level is quite big so you can still have a chance to hole a decent putt from a decent distance.

The mistake you don’t want to make: If it’s into the wind you can’t fly the bunker on the left and they’ve added a new bunker in the landing area on the right this year. You have to play down the right, but the closer you get to the left side the shorter your second shot.

Hole 6 Par 4 469 yards 428 metres
Abu_Dhabi_Golf_Course_6_hole
Abu Dhabi Golf Course - 6th Hole


Billy “Foz” Foster (England) 

2009 HSBC Caddie of the Year. The other half of Lee Westwood’s rise to world number one; caddied for Lee at the 2010 Ryder Cup. 

I have absolutely no idea about this hole! The one time we played Abu Dhabi Lee missed the cut doing handstands and I can hardly remember this hole! 

It must be selective memory loss. Something like that.

I seem to remember there is water that comes into play down the left and the tee shot sort of snakes to the right. A lot of guys were hitting a three wood off the tee in the region of 270 yards, which would leave probably an eight-iron into the green. Some guys were trying to take it on; being more aggressive, cutting a driver and feeding it down into the neck of the fairway to leave a wedge in. There’s a new tee  and they’ve added a fairway bunker in front of the water on the left so until we see it, it’s hard to know exactly how it’ll play.

Looking at the yardage book, there’s a longer carry to the right side of the green and it breaks from right to left in the middle of the green. It doesn’t look too funky a green.
The mistake you don’t want to make: Driver certainly brings the water into play on both sides off the tee.


Photo credits: Getty Images/Tim Maitland

Golf for Beginners (and Tim Maitland) will bring you hole-by-hole golf tips from European Tour golfers playing in the 2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championships all this week.

2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championships holes 7-12
2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championships holes 13-18


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