2012 Irish Open at Royal Portrush
I am currently on my holidays back home in Ireland but have found the time to write a quick blog post on my thoughts for the Irish Open at Royal Portrush. Before I start on the golf this week I would just like to mention the British Amatuer win for Alan Dunbar last weekend at Royal Troon. Congratulations! I was fortunate enough to nip over and watch the 36 hole final on Saturday and the standard of golf on display in testing conditions was unbelievable from both players. I don't think I have ever seen an exhibition of putting like I seen from Dunbar, he holed so many putts to keep himself in it when his long game deserted him. It's another trophy to add to the list for Northern Ireland golf and don't count out a strong showing from him this week in his home town. A few of the lads and I got a picture with the champ on the 18th green with the trophy and when I get my hands on the the photo I will upload it for you all to have a look at (massive trophy!).
I am lucky enough to have first hand knowledge of the course this week as I was a member there for two years when at university. The main thing that the players will have to contend with is the strong breeze which is a permanent feature at Royal Portrush. It doesn't matter how good a day it seems to be there's never any let up with the wind. The fairways are tight and precision driving is key to set up birdie chances, as the greens will be tough to hold from the wispey rough. When I played there (and fought every week to break 80) I used to wonder what sort of scores the tour pros could post, this week I will find out! McIlroy shot 61 a few years ago in the qualifying for the match play stage of the North of Ireland Championship. At the time I was baffled at how he managed to post that number, 28 shots on the back nine is mental! That's really when Irish golf took notice of the Holywood man, although he didn't win 'The North' that year he was the name that everyone remembered.
The 5th hole at Royal Portrush
The first selection this week is Brandon Grace. Already a three time winner this year Grace ticks a lot of boxes this week at Portrush. The South African has already had a couple of wins on links courses and the course set up should really suit his eye. The Par 5's will be key this week as they are scorable if you manage them well and he has shown in the past he can plot his way round a links golf course. He has found himself in a crowd pulling group of Rory McIlroy and Keegan Bradley and I fancy him to steal a little piece of the local hero's thunder and set himself up for a weekend tilt at the title.
Brandon Grace
My second selection for the Irish Open is Padraig Harrington. Harrington is in great form but has seemingly struggled to finish off tournements in the last couple of years. A past winner of the tourney this might be the week he finally puts four rounds together. To do that he will have to avoid any silly mistakes which he seems to constantly make. Athough I can't find the quote I remember reading somewhere a few years ago that Harrigton said the 12th hole at Royal Portrush was his favourite hole in golf. My home club (Ballycastle GC) are marshalling that hole this week and I suspect they will see some scrambling from the players, the green is elevated and narrow, so if the iron shot isn't precise they could be playing their third from a pot bunker.
My third and final selection this week is another local hero in the shape of Graeme McDowell AKA GMAC *sings..like a GMAC, like a GMAC.* GMAC is fresh from a runner up finish at the US Open and like the other Northern Irish golfers will be determined to put on a show for the crowd. Along with Clarke he was very vocal in trying to get the Irish Open north of the border. Although this hasn't been his finest season he is sure to take a lot of heart from Olympic Club where he didn't play his best on the Sunday but still managed to nearly force a play off. I will be at Portrush for all four days of the tournament and irrespective of how the Northern Irish lads play they will be take alot of pride in the fact that their golf in the last few years has forced (maybe pursuaded) the tour to move the tournament north of the border and everyone will he hoping that if (*when) the tournament is deemed a success the Open Championship won't be far away from a visit to the North Coast.
My selections:
Brandon Grace each way @ 35/1 with Paddy Power
Padraig Harrington each way @ 12/1 with Skybet
Graeme McDowell each way @ 10/1 with Paddy Power
2012 AT&T National at Congressional
This week the PGA Tour visits Congressional, which played host to the 2011 US Open. McIlroy won then and obviously was stuck between a rock and hard place when it came to choosing where he would tee it up this week. When the dust settled he chose (correctly) to play the Irish Open and therefore leaves this week's host Tiger Woods at the head of the market.
Every time Tiger turns up in a non major this weather I go through the same arguement in my head, is he too short? (his odds, he's 6' 1'') I'm obviously a massive fan but I write this blog for the gambling side and although I feel if he turns up with the game he had at Muirfield Village he wins, but at 11/2 I can't post him on here as a 'tip.' The majority of people who read my blog are golf fans anyway and don't really need me to tell them that if Tiger Woods turns up in form he probably wins. When chatting to mates about the dilemma of his short odds I do get reminded that I had a hefty sum on Tiger to win the US Open in '08 on one leg, but that was different, well sort of!
So this week I am going to stick to a couple of players who have been on the blog in recent weeks. First up, Hunter Mahan. Hunter was a real slow starter last week as one of my blog picks at the Travellers Championship but finished like a steam train. He posted a final round 61 before the leaders had even reached the first tee box. Course form-wise he missed the cut at the US Open here but has had a couple of Top 15 finishes and that's good enough for me. He tends to have slow starts of late but in his last two PGA Tour sanctioned events he's been among the low scorers on the Sunday (61 @ Travellers, 68 @ Memorial), so let's hope he gets off to a good start and puts himself in the slip stream for the W on Sunday.
Hunter Mahan
My second and final selection this week at Congressional is Dustin Johnson. Dustin is a friend of the blog after his victory in the St Jude Classic returned a nice 22/1 winner and I fancy him this week to bounce back from his missed cut at the Olympic Club (US Open). I suppose when coming back from an injury finding consistancy is the main goal so getting a win on his first start was great but he needs to start contending more often and won't want to be getting into a run of missed cuts in Ryder Cup year (currently 11th on the list). Johnson finished T-23 in the US Open here in '11 (or T-22 in the race for 2nd place behind McIlory *giggles*). Hopefully gets a W this week which would surely guarentee his place in the Ryder Cup team for Medinah in September.
As I am sure many of you noticed my blog post is a day later than usual, as I usually post on Tuesdays. Next week's blog will probably be Wednesday as well as I don't fly back to London until late Tuesday night. Although I didn't get a full write up done I hope a few of you got a few quid back off Fernandez-Castano last week, he finished in a T-3 in the BMW International (SP 70/1), Mahan in T-11 was the best of the pair of PGA Tour selections I posted. Enjoy!
My Selections:
Hunter Mahan each way @ 14/1 with Stan James
Dustin Johnson each way@ 16/1 (General)
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