A fairly modest week in terms of strength in depth of the fields on the European and PGA Tours this week but it still made for some good television.
In both Qatar and especially California it was a close fought contest virtually all the way through. In Qatar, South African, Branden Grace edged ahead of a tight field, in which 4 players had held a share of the lead after 54 holes, with an eagle at the 16th. This was good enough for a one shot victory over Scotland's Marc Warren. It was Grace's 5th victory on Tour and this followed respectable weeks in South Africa and Abu Dhabi. This mini-revival in Grace's form seems to have stemmed from a new putting style which, although looks slightly awkward, appears to get the job done.
The Humana Challenge boasted a stronger field with Kuchar leading much of the way with defending Champion Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson in the fray. However they could not stop a late challenge from 2011 FedEx Cup winner, Bill Haas, whose 67 was good enough for a one shot lead over 5 players. This tournament is played over 3 different courses and seems to yield a magnitude of birdies; 5 people reached 21 under par and still came one shot short. It was almost certainly one of the most hotly contested tournaments I had witnessed in a while; 9 people were either tied for the lead or one back after 6 holes of the final round.
While both events produced exciting and close finishes, the week felt like a sort of non-entity in the golfing calendar, neither event providing a very strong field ( a sign that the top players don't really care about the events themselves perhaps?). However this next week should be the opposite. The PGA Tour travels to Phoenix where we will see the firs glimpse of Tiger's swing under the tutelage of Chris Como. The European Tour continues the Middle East Swing with the Dubai Desert Classic which is always one of the biggest events in the calendar boasting one of the strongest fields of the year including McIlroy.
On the other hand, while the golf itself was perhaps a little dull this was the first week of the year in which I can report some non-tournament related news, in fact three pieces. Firstly, Tiger was in danger of starting his season without a full set of dentures as he lost a tooth to a stray camera whilst watching his professional skier girlfriend last week. I can however follow up on this and confirm he has been sighted in Phoenix with a replacement (amazing what a couple of hundred million dollars in the bank can do!). Secondly, while Tiger was getting a little (perhaps unwanted) limelight a rarer creature was spotted in the media. Dustin Johnson has returned to the golfing world! perhaps not in a playing capacity but at the very least to clear his good name and clear up the nasty rumour that his recent lengthy absence was due to an addiction to cocaine. He denies these allegations now despite the rumour starting almost immediately after his departure some months ago. And finally Darren Clarke seemed to declare the Ryder Cup Captaincy a two horse race between himself and lovable Spaniard, Miguel Angel Jiminez. While I don't doubt the claim these two great golfers have to the honour of captaincy I do wonder why Thomas Bjorn has been dropped from the running? It is widely speculated that Darren will get the nod for 2016 at Hazeltine as he commands greater respect in the States and that Jiminez will don the mantle in France in 2018 but that still leaves the poor Dane without a place. He is a bit younger than Jiminez but surely he deserves his chance!?
FF
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