Europe Wins Ryder Cup

Europe held off a hard charging U.S. squad to win the Ryder Cup today 14.5 to 13.5. The Americans needed just 14 points to retain the cup, but came up a little short. Phil Mickelson finally came to life, and Tiger Woods played well, but the effort was not matched by the rest of the squad, except for Steve Stricker.

One other bright light was the late charge by Rickie Fowler to get a half point in his match against one of the Molinari brothers. Fowler won 4 of the last 6 holes, including the last three with birdies, to get the half point.

Unfortunately, Hunter Mahan was not up to the task today, as he made only one birdie. Still, he was just 1 down with three to play, but Graeme McDowell closed him out with consecutive birdies on 16 and 17.

Overall, the U.S. performed a bit above expectations and gave the favored European squad all they could handle. Pavin's decision to bury Woods and Mickelson into the depths of the singles lineup may come into question, as they U.S. needed early momentum. Stricker provided some with his victory of Lee Westwood in a match of top 5 players. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get the ball rolling for the U.S.

Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.powergolftraining.net

McIlroy Leads Open Championship, Woods in Hunt

Rory McIlroy took advantage of calm morning conditions to fire a 63 at St. Andrews Thursday, and leads by two shots. Tiger Woods also was among the morning group that benefited from a lack of wind, and fired a 67. John Daly is also a surprise contender after a 66.

Conditions at St. Andrews were unusually calm this morning, which allowed the players with early tee times to get a jump on their competitors. Phil Mickelson was among those unfortunate enough to have an afternoon tee time, and he stumbled to a 73. Still, some players who played late in the day were able to shoot decent scores. Mickelson still seems unable to solve the riddle of links golf.

Weather for the rest of the tournament is expected to be a bit rough, so it is unlikely scores will be nearly as low as today. There were 16 scores of 67 or better today, although only a handful of those players, such as McIlroy and Lee Westwood would be considered contenders for the title against tourney favorite Tiger Woods. Ernie Els did manage to fire a 69 and Vijay Singh shot 68.

From my point of view, the tournament is Tiger's to win. He apparently is on form with his swing, and if he putts well, I only see McIlroy and Westwood as having a chance.

Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.powergolftraining.net

McIlroy wins first U.S. Tour event

Rory McIlroy fired a spectacular 62 in the final round at Quail Hollow this afternoon to win this week's PGA event going away. McIlroy came on the scene in Europe last year with a couple of wins and then played pretty well here in the U.S. as well. It seemed like he was playing a lot of tournaments and I thought he may be getting burned out as his performance had not been nearly as strong this year. Apparently, a bad back was holding him back, which, at 21 years old, is not a good sign. However, it looks those woes are behind him for now!

McIlroy has a very good swing and hits the ball a long way for his size. I also like how he remains aggressive when he gets into contention. McIlroy is another of those young players that has loads of confidence and plays aggressively, and to win. He, and players like Anthony Kim and Dustin Johnson are the type of players that can start challenging the elite. A bit more experience for all of them, and we'll start to see them challenging for majors.

Scott Cole
www.powergolftraining.net
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com