Qualifying School: Second Stage recap

2014 European Tour Qualifying School: Second Stage

While the "big boys" of the Tour have been playing in the money-filled Final Series events, those who will be looking to gain a European Tour card at the Final Stage (November 15-20) were battling it out for 17 spots at four Second Stage sites across Spain.  Here is a rundown of the notable qualifiers from each site, as well as those who failed to advance:

Las Colinas Golf & Country Club (results)

Those who qualified:  Several Englishmen made it through (seven of the 17), including the winner Chris Paisley, Sam Walker, Jamie Elson, and Richard McEvoy.  Asian Tour regulars Carlos Pigem and Jaako Makitalo also progressed.  

Those who failed to qualify:  Budding stars of the future, Nathan Holman and Jordan L. Smith, did not advance.  Keith Horne, Raymond Russell, Joel Sjöholm, and Gary Boyd were a few shots too high to finish among the top-17.  

Campo de Golf El Saler (results)

Those who qualified:  Matthew Fitzpatrick, the 2013 U.S. Amateur winner, finished tied-fifth.  Tim Sluiter and Espen Kofstad will look to regain their places on the main Tour after struggling the past few seasons.

Those who failed to qualify:  Dominic Foos, a promising talent from Germany, missed out.  2014 European Tour members Jamie McLeary, Jack Doherty, and Andreas Hartø all failed to advance.  

Lumine Golf & Beach Club (results)

Those who qualified:  Ricardo Gouveia, the winner of this event, has had an incredible last month or so, with a win in a Challenge Tour event being the highlight.  Garrick Porteous, Nathan Kimsey, Jason Scrivener are potential stars of the future who also made it through.

Those who failed to qualify:  2014 Tour members James Heath, François Calmels, and Jens Dantorp failed to advance.  1999 Ryder Cup team member Jarmo Sandelin (five European Tour wins) and Mathias Grönberg (four European Tour wins) were among those who did not qualify.

Panoramica Golf & Sport Resort (results)

Those who qualified:  English prodigy Toby Tree finished second.  Joël Stalter, who turned professional this year, finished in a tie for third.  Hadyn Porteous (no relation to Garrick) is a South African with loads of talent.  Renato Paratore will be the next Italian big name on Tour.

Those who failed to qualify:  2014 Tour members Adam Gee and Brinson Paolini did not make it through to the Final Stage.  Young South African Brandon Stone did not advance.  Longtime Tour member Maarten Lafeber, who lost his card last season, did not qualify for the third and final stage.     

The week in review

Marcel Siem triumphed in a playoff over Ross Fisher and Alex Levy in the first event of the Final Series, the BMW Masters in Shanghai, China.  The German moved to number four in the Race to Dubai and recorded his fourth European Tour win in the process.  Siem had undergone two surgeries already this season and was struggling with a knee injury prior to the event.  The emotional and fiery player moved to 70th from 143rd in the Official World Golf Rankings.  Levy, who had a four-stroke lead going into the final round, shot 78 but he continues to have a breakout season.  Fisher shot an impressive 67 and was lucky to get into the playoff, but it was nice to see the Englishman return to form in time for the Turkish Open next week and the Dubai World Tour Championship the following week.

On the Challenge Tour, I was absolutely delighted to see Nick Dougherty finish in a tie for ninth place.  The three-time European Tour winner lost his main tour card in 2011 and has struggled for the most part since then, with five top-tens (all on Challenge Tour) being his best results since then.  But there has been reason for optimism based on his last three events.  His missed the cut by one stroke in the Wales Open, finished T58th in the Dunhill Links Championship, and then his top-ten last week.  With the final stage of Qualifying School (November 15-20) fastly approaching, the Englishman is coming in with some form and I expect him to perform well in Spain.

Two tournaments this week, but my focus is on the Hong Kong Open

After an incredibly frustrating week at the Portugal Masters in which the event was reduced to 36 holes due to rain, the European Tour comes back this week with two events.  The Volvo World Match Play Championship, the 50th anniversary of the event's initial staging, began today at The London Club in Kent, England.  The Hong Kong Open, which will be included twice on this season's schedule (the event was also staged in December), is once again being held at Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling.  Both tournaments have their unique history, but I must admit that my focus will be mostly directed towards the event in Hong Kong, due to the course and the players fighting to get inside the top-110 on the Race to Dubai to keep their playing rights.  That being said, the Match Play being staged in England is quite exciting due to the country's lack of events, but there is positive news on the horizon in terms of tournaments being staged in England, which I will explain in a separate blog entry.

In Hong Kong, Miguel Angel Jimenez will be going for his third consecutive win in the event that he has won a total of four times.  The tournament became a co-sanctioned event with the European Tour in 2002 and boasts winners such as Jose Maria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy, and Padraig Harrington.  The old-fashioned course measures only 6,699 yards, but the rough is thick and the greens are small, so accuracy off the tee and into the greens will be paramount this week.  While the field is not its strongest, their are still some notables taking part: Jimenez, Ernie Els, Nicolas Colsaerts, Soren Hansen, Anirban Lahiri, Y.E. Yang, and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

The pre-tournament favorite has to be Jimenez, even if his form has not been up to his usual standard over the past couple of months.  But you cannot discount the fact that the ageless Spaniard is a four-time winner of the event.  Another favorite is Colsaerts, who has recorded two top-five finishes in his last two events (T4 in Wales and 2nd in Portugal).  The "Muscles from Brussels" seems to have rediscovered the form that saw him qualify for the 2012 Ryder Cup.  With the short course this week, he could have a field day.  Plus, his putting has been better of late, which was on display in last Thursday's 60 (-11) in Portugal.

The main reason I am interested in the Hong Kong Open is the battle for the top-110.  Lucas Bjerregaard is the man sitting in the 110th spot, but he is by no means safe.  Any player outside the top-100 should be playing this week and next week in the ISPS HANDA Perth International in Australia.  It is certainly a nerve-racking time for players in that situation, but two solid weeks should be enough to get the job done.  Sometimes players play great golf when faced with a challenge such as this.

It should be an enthralling week in England and Hong Kong, with prestigious titles up for grabs.  For viewers in the United States, Golf Channel provides the coverage of both events:

Volvo World Match Play Championship 

Thursday (6:30-11:30 AM)
Friday (6:30-11:30 AM)
Saturday (6:30-11:30 AM)
Sunday (7:30-11:30 AM)

Hong Kong Open (*tape delayed)

Thursday (11:30 AM-2:30 PM)
Friday (11:30 AM-2:00 PM)
Saturday (11:30 AM-2:00 PM)
Sunday (11:30 AM-2:00 PM)

Luiten wins ISPS Handa Wales Open for 4th career European Tour victory

Joost Luiten (-14) held his composure on the 18th hole at the Celtic Manor Resort to beat Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood by one stroke in possibly the last Wales Open.  It was the Dutchman's 4th European Tour win and he continues a very solid season, in which he now has a win and six other top-10s.  The win should propel him to somewhere around the mid-30s in the Official World Golf Rankings.  The 28-year-old was in contention for a Ryder Cup spot but I firmly expect him to be on the 2016 team.

Lowry shot one-under today and Fleetwood looked completely out of it before he made his way to the back nine, but shot 30 to finish tied-2nd.  He'll be sickened at the double-bogey he made on the par-3 12th hole, but it's another great week for the young Englishman.

Sadly, this is the last time the 2010 Ryder Cup course will host the Wales Open, at least for the for the foreseeable future.      Tournaments in Britain are always top-class, but maybe that means a tournament in England will make its way onto the 2015 schedule.  The Wales Open could still be held next year, but on a different course.  We'll have to wait and see.

Several players stepped up who needed big weeks for either keeping their card or moving closer to the top-60 in the Race to Dubai.  Nicolas Colsaerts finished tied-4th and will look to continue that form in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in just under two weeks.  Robert Rock closed with a 65 to finish tied-9th and, from all accounts, it has been a long time coming.  Andrea Pavan, sitting 139th in the Race to Dubai before the event, also finished T9 and needs one or two decent week to secure his playing privileges for next season (the top-110 on the Race to Dubai have full playing rights for the following season).  The English duo of Anthony Wall (108th on R2D) and Steve Webster (109th on R2D) finished in a tie for 12th to cap off good weeks.

Updated Race to Dubai rankings for above players:

Luiten (10th)
Lowry (14th)
Fleetwood (30th)
Colsaerts (77th)
Rock (96th)
Pavan (120th)
Wall (98th)
Webster (99th)

Four European  Ryder Cup team members took part in the event this week, with very mixed results.  Jamie Donaldson was the highest finisher in his home open with a T4.  Thomas Bjorn finished T58, but sounded upbeat about his game in his post-round interview.  Lee Westwood finished T60 and he is clearly the weakest link on the European side so it'll be interesting to see how much Captain Paul McGinley plays him.  Stephen Gallacher missed the cut after rounds of 78 and 70 but his mind was probably more on next week.  I think "Stevie G" is going to be a real dark horse and will be inspired by the home fans.

The golfing world shifts its focus to Gleneagles for next week's Ryder Cup, an event that I have been looking forward to since that epic Sunday at Medinah in 2012.  It is my favorite sporting event and I cannot wait to watch both teams battle it out over the three days.  In the United States, coverage begins at 2:30 AM on Friday so I'll be looking to get some extra sleep in the days leading up to the competition.  I'll plan on providing blog entries throughout the week

Ryder Cup teams finalized

On Tuesday, September 2, the European and United States Ryder Cup teams were finalized.  The European captain, Paul McGinley, and American captain, Tom Watson, had three picks each.  McGinley chose Stephen Gallacher, Ian Poulter, and Lee Westwood.  Watson chose Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan, and Webb Simpson.  In addition, McGinley today announced that Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez, and Jose Maria Olazabal would be vice-captains, joining Des Smyth and Sam Torrance in assisting the Irishman.  So far, Watson's assistant captains are Raymond Floyd, Andy North, and Steve Stricker.

I was certain that Gallacher and Poulter would be chosen, but the third pick could have gone to three players in my opinion: Westwood, Luke Donald, or Francesco Molinari.  In the end, the captain chose the eight-time Ryder Cup player because he will provide a veteran presence and has the ability to partner different players due to the fact that he's played with nine different partners in the Ryder Cups dating back to 1997.  Donald had a strong April and May, but has not had his usual consistent season.  Molinari has had a great season so far, with a ton of world ranking points earned, but no wins which probably cost him a pick; the Italian has only won three times on the European Tour and that's clearly an underachievement.

On the U.S. side, I was confident that Watson was going to select Bradley and Mahan, but the third pick was up in the air.  Bill Haas, Chris Kirk, Simpson, and Brandt Snedeker were all in consideration.  In the end, Simpson's record in the 2012 edition proved to be too hard to overlook, plus his potential partnership with Bubba Watson gave him an advantage over the other candidates.

With only 23 days until the first ball is struck at the PGA Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland, the excitement level is already pretty high among players and fans.  I, for one, cannot wait because the Ryder Cup is, without a doubt, the greatest sporting event in the world.

European Tour returns to Denmark for the first time since 2003

Tournament: Made in Denmark
Course: Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort
Location: Aalborg, Denmark
Purse: €1,500,000
Yardage: 7,033

Preview

The Tour's eagerly-anticipated return to Denmark begins in earnest this week, with the country's most successful golfer, Thomas Bjorn, headlining the field.  A 15-time winner on the European Tour, Bjorn needs one more good result to book his third Ryder Cup appearance.   Over 70,000 spectators are expected to be in attendance over the four days so the Danish fans will be hoping for a home winner.  17 Danes are in the field, with the only notable absentee being Soren Hansen, who is out with an injury.  According to Lucas Bjerregaard, who is playing his first season on Tour and is a member at Himmerland, the winning score should be somewhere around eight or ten under par, depending on if the wind blows.  The course recently underwent a renovation of all greens and bunkers, but it looks like it will provide a stern test.

The international challengers include Paul Lawrie, Nicolas Colsaerts, Marc Warren, Chris Wood, David Horsey, David Howell, Gregory Bourdy, Simon Dyson, Michael Hoey, and Peter Uihlein.  Lawrie is dealing with a back injury and may not tee it up, but let's hope he does because he's been working hard on his game and I'm confident a very good result is in store very soon.  Colsaerts, outside of a tied-second performance at the Maybank Malaysian Open in April, has had an abysmal season in both Europe and the United States; let's hope the month's break will see him play the golf we know he's capable of beginning this week.  Warren finished tied-15th last week at the US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club and sits 33rd in the Race to Dubai; I firmly expect the two-time Tour winner to bag a victory before the season ends.  Wood also played at Valhalla last week and put in a respectable performance by finishing tied-47th; the tall Englishman has all the tools to be a top-50 player but needs to put four rounds together on a more consistent basis.  Horsey won the M2M Russian Open three weeks ago in a playoff over Damien McGrane to complete a wire-to-wire victory and has to be one of the favorites in this week's event.  Howell has shown signs of a return to form, most notably a tied-15th finish in the Open Championship and looks to improve on his 63rd ranking in the Race to Dubai.  Bourdy has made 12/15 cuts this season with two top-10s, but he has way too much talent to be 68th in the Race to Dubai and 134th in the Official World Golf Rankings.  Dyson has played so much golf this season, but has been surprisingly consistent in making 13 cuts out of 20 events and has already earned more euros than he did all of last season; like Warren, I'd be shocked if Dyson didn't win by the end of the season.  Hoey has had his most consistent season on Tour, only missing five cuts in 21 events, but picked up an injury in the Open Championship so it's uncertain how he's going to perform this week.  Uihlein has had a torrid time over the past five or six months, both through injury and poor play; since the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March, the American has yet to make it to the weekend but hopefully this week is the beginning of a strong end to the season for him.

Notable groupings for the first two rounds (all times United States Eastern Time; first round/second round)

Morten Orum Madsen, Felipe Aguilar, and Paul Lawrie (2:00 a.m./7:00 a.m.)
Marc Warren, Thomas Bjorn, Nicolas Colsaerts (2:10 a.m./7:10 a.m.)
David Howell, Richie Ramsay, Anders Hansen (2:20 a.m./7:20 a.m.)
Raphael Jacquelin, Peter Uilein, Chris Wood (7:00 a.m./2:00 a.m.)
Thorbjorn Olesen, Kristoffer Broberg, Brett Rumford (7:10 a.m./2:10 a.m.)
Gregory Bourdy, Julien Quesne, Soren Kjeldsen (7:20 a.m./2:20 a.m.)


TV Coverage in the United States (Golf Channel)

Thursday and Friday (5:30-7:30 a.m. and 9:30-12:00 p.m.)
Saturday (7:00-11:00 a.m.)
Sunday (6:30-11:00 a.m.)

Why this year's European Ryder Cup team will look drastically different than 2012

The race to qualify for captain Paul McGinley's team is nearing its final stages, with only five events left in which to earn points (WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, US PGA Championship, Made in Denmark, D+D REAL Czech Masters, Italian Open).  The next two events offer enormous amounts of points and represent the make or break for those on the outside looking in.

As the European team takes shape, it's amazing to see how different this year's team looks versus the 2012 version.  Here was the 2012 team:

Rory McIlroy
Justin Rose
Paul Lawrie
Graeme McDowell
Francesco Molinari
Luke Donald
Lee Westwood
Sergio Garcia
Peter Hanson
Martin Kaymer
Ian Poulter (captain's pick)
Nicolas Colsaerts (captain's pick)

As it stands now, the 2014 squad would look like this:

Rory McIlroy
Victor Dubuisson
Jamie Donaldson
Henrik Stenson
Sergio Garcia
Justin Rose
Martin Kaymer
Thomas Bjorn
Luke Donald
(captain's pick)
(captain's pick)
(captain's pick)

Out of the nine players currently in the top-9, four were not on the last Ryder Cup team (two rookies).  Luke Donald is trending downward with Graeme McDowell coming fast and furious.  Where is Ian Poulter?  "Poults" is currently 7th on the European Points List (top-4 qualify) and 12th on the World Points List (top-5 not already qualified).  Unfortunately, he's had a poor season and has missed his last two cuts.  He recently was stung by a horsefly in England and had to go to the hospital, and it's unsure if he'll play in the WGC this week.  But we all know what kind of record the Englishman has in this competition so it's very hard to think he'll miss out on a captain's pick if he doesn't qualify automatically.

Another Ryder Cup stalwart not having a good season is Lee Westwood.  The eight-time Ryder Cup team member won the Maybank Malaysian Open in April but is still 20th and 16th on the points lists.  Assistant captain and 2002 Ryder Cup-winning captain Sam Torrance said a few weeks ago that Westwood should be a lock.  If "Westy" doesn't perform well in the next month or so, he could be missing out on his first Ryder Cup.

Where are Lawrie, Molinari, Hanson, and Colsaerts?  Only Molinari is within shouting distance of automatically qualifying for the team. The Italian sits 14th on both lists and I expect him to do everything in his power to qualify for the team (i.e. playing all five events to gather more points).  Wouldn't it be awesome if he won his national open and, by doing so, qualified for the team?

Lawrie (75th and 91st) would be a really compelling pick if he wins an event or finishes well in one or two.  Being a Scot and McGinley stating that he'd love Scottish representation in the team like the Irish team had in 2006, it's not completely over for "Chippy."  The 45-year-old has had an atrocious year with the putter and has seen his world ranking fall to 215th.  He is scheduled to play in the Made in Denmark event so if he performs well, McGinley could give him a thought.

Colsaerts (69th and 73rd) and Hanson (51st and 50th) have both had a rough time since the Ryder Cup and they need to set their sights on the 2016 edition.  We'll see lots more of them in Europe due to Colsaerts announcing that he's finished playing the PGA Tour after he couldn't get adjusted to life in America and Hanson's poor play has seen him probably, barring a miraculous turnaround, lose his PGA Tour card.

Stephen Gallacher is currently 12th and 11th on the lists, but only around eight points (world ranking points) behind Donald for the 9th spot.  He's having the best season of his career and certainly looks like someone who's going to qualify automatically.  Being Scottish doesn't hurt his case either.  There's no way a Ryder Cup in the Home of Golf cannot have a Scotsman in the team.

Two other dark horses are Joost Luiten (10th and 15th) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (11th and 13th).  Luiten's play has tailed off recently but he has the game to perform well in the next two weeks to give himself a better chance.  The "most interesting man in golf" has won twice this season on the European Tour and once on the Champions Tour in the United States.  Like Luiten, the Spaniard has not performed to his usual standard in previous weeks, but it's remarkable to think that a 50-year-old is in contention for a Ryder Cup spot.  Don't rule out the "Mechanic!"

The next two weeks should see the team look about 75% set.  After that, it's up to players outside the top-9 to impress the captain with their play in the next three events, whether they be on the European or PGA Tours.  It obviously makes for compelling viewing!

The 40th Ryder Cup will take place at the PGA Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland from September 26-28.