This week’s PGA tour event is The Welsh Open from Celtic Manor. The course will be the setting for next summer’s Ryder Cup. Both of the captains, Colin Montgomerie for Europe and Corey Pavin for USA are playing this week to begin their homework.
The course is set in lush, green, rolling countryside and the scale is large, ready for the galleries next year when Celtic Manor hosts The Ryder Cup 2010. The tournament was played at Celtic Manor for the first time last year and the defending champion is Australian Scott Strange. Holes one to eight are very tough and holes 11 to 15 are the potential birdie opportunities.
Pablo Larrazabal Hole-in-One
Today’s main draw are the two Spaniards playing together, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Pablo Larrazabal, who thrills the sparse crowds at the 7th with a hole in one. South Africa’s David Frost, Scotland’s Alan McLean and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn card the best score of the day, each with a 66.
Indian, Jeev Milkha Singh and England’s Robert Rock continue their excellent recent form. Singh rams home five birdies in seven holes to the fourteenth. Scotland’s Richie Ramsay enters the weekend in the lead at -7. Rock posts his second 68 to finish on -6 alongside Ross Fisher. Singh finishes on -5 alongside Ignacio Garrido from Spain, Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson Hed. Nick Dougherty and Colin Montgomerie make up the top ten on -4.
Frenchman Gregory Bourdy Shares the Lead
Day three is delayed by rain which returns throughout the day to slow the run on the fairways. Scoring is difficult and the effect is to create a bunched leaderboard. There are fifteen players within two shots of the lead. Danny Willett is producing some excellent pitches into the greens. At the end of a long day Frenchman Gregory Bourdy shares the lead with Sweden’s Niclas Fasth at -5. Simon Dyson is one back, alongside Finland’s Jeppe Huldahl. Ireland’s Paul McGinley gets to within two shots after a 71, joining Singh and Rock.
Sunday presents an opportunity for plenty of players to win. England’s Gary Lockerbie makes a major move with a 65, setting the clubhouse target at -6, but the unfancied Huldahl is showing no nerves and by the 8th hole is -2 for the round and -7 overall and in the lead. Garrido reaches the turn just one shot behind and Fasth holes a putt from well off the green to get a share of the lead. By the 12th hole McGinley has reached -6 and is a threat.
Fasth Snaky Long Putt
Jeppe Huldahl hits a marvellous approach at the 11th and is up to -9. Fasth follows with a snakey long putt on 13 and is one behind and Garrido holes a curvy 20 foot putt on the difficult 14th to get to within two shots. McGinley’s challenge falters after three dropped shots in four holes and Danny Willett finishes on -6 after a 67 today. Fasth drops a shot on 17 and Garrido thins the ball out of the bunker and over the back of the green on 16. Advantage Huldahl.
Fasth finishes with a birdie and ends at -8. Huldahl shows the first signs of strain as he races a putt ten feet past the hole on the Par three 17th hole, but he holes the return and just needs to par the final hole to win. He duly manages this and in his celebratory interview admits that he was so nervous he could not feel his hands on the last three holes. Ignacio Garrido finishes 3rd, behind Niclas Fasth at -7.
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