Extra incentive at Augusta?

The players contesting the US Masters this week hardly need an extra incentive to win. However for five out of the world’s top seven players, a win at Augusta would catapult them to the summit of the world golf rankings into the number 1 spot. Read more

Furyk wins Chevron World Challenge

The Chevron World Challenge has been overshadowed somewhat by the ongoing media furore into the private life of world number one and tournament host Tiger Woods. However, the show carried on regardless of Woods’ absence and when the dust had settled, it was Jim Furyk who emerged victorious.

Dressed in a Tiger-esque red shirt and dark trousers, Furyk carded a final round 67 at Sherwood Country Club to take the title with a 13-under par total of 275 and record a one-shot victory over Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, who was a last-minute replacement to take Woods’ place in the tournament.

The win was Furyk’s first victory since he won the Canadian Open in 2007, bringing an end to a two-year losing streak.

Furyk had started the day two shots behind overnight leader McDowell and US PGA champion, South Korea’s YE Yang but Furyk dug deep to record his second successive round of 67 and edge in front. It was nip-and-tuck all the way through the final round with the title in the melting pot until late in the day.

Lee Westwood, who missed a chip for birdie at the last to force a play-off and then also missed his putt for par from one metre finished with a round of 70 to share third place with Padraig Harrington a further two shots behind McDowell.

For the first time, the tournament carries world ranking points and Furyk’s victory sees him return to the world’s top ten, while McDowell enters the top forty and earns an invitation to next year’s US Masters at Augusta.

Padraig Harrington drops out of World Top 10

Padraig Harrington certainly doesn’t have his troubles to seek. A mere ten months after his back-to-back wins in The Open and US PGA Championship put him in third position and saw him poised to challenge Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the world rankings, the jovial and popular Irishman has fallen out of the top 10 in the latest world rankings.

Having struggled with his game for a large proportion of the season thus far, Harrington’s early exit from the Memorial tournament on Friday made it three missed cuts in the last four starts for the Irishman, while he also now finds himself without a top 10 finish since January.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, stretched his lead over Phil Mickelson at the top of the world rankings, following a brilliant final round charge to land the Memorial tournament to claim with a one-stroke victory over countryman Jim Furyk at Muirfield Village. Mickelson elected not to play in the Memorial, in order, following the diagnosis of his wife, Amy’s breast cancer.

Woods’ win is the second win of his comeback from eight months on the sidelines following knee surgery and came following an outrageous chip-in for eagle on the long 11th and then two closing birdies, where he landed his approach on the 18th to within a foot of the hole.

On the European tour, Denmark’s Jeppe Huldahl, was a surprise winner of the Celtic Manor Wales Open after carding a closing round of 67 to score a one-stroke victory over Sweden’s Niclas Fasth. After failing to finish within the top 10 in any of his previous 44 European Tour starts, the Dane climbs up from 377th to 202nd in the rankings, while his win also makes it a hat-trick of ‘unknown’ victories for some of the game’s lesser known players, following in the wake of Shane Lowry’s Irish Open victory and Christian Cevaer’s European Open triumph.

The latest world ranking positions:

1 Tiger Woods 10.51pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 8.14, 3 Paul Casey 6.94, 4 Sergio Garcia 6.54, 5 Geoff Ogilvy 6.17, 6 Henrik Stenson 5.98, 7 Kenny Perry 5.62, 8 Steve Stricker 5.50, 9 Vijay Singh 5.12, 10 Jim Furyk 5.02

11 Padraig Harrington 4.97, 12 Camilo Villegas 4.80, 13 Sean O’Hair 4.43, 14 Robert Karlsson 4.42, 15 Anthony Kim 3.91, 16 Ernie Els 3.75, 17 Rory McIlroy 3.75, 18 Ian Poulter 3.71, 19 Lee Westwood 3.67, 20 Zach Johnson 3.61

Casey Cracks the World’s Top 3 Players; Qualifies for US Open

Fresh from his victory at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship, Britain’s Paul Casey now finds himself ranked as the world number 3 in the latest world rankings standings. Casey, who had started the year ranked 41st is now behind only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Casey is keeping some top company in his latest standing, while he also finds himself among an elite group of Britons who have managed to crack the world’s top three: only Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Colin Montgomerie have reached the same ranking.

Casey will now be looking to consolidate that position at the top end of the world rankings with a good performance at this week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at the Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas; his first appearance in the tournament.

A strong field has assembled for the ‘Colonial’, although defending champion Phil Mickelson won’t be competing after taking an indefinite sabbatical from the game to attend to family duties after his wife Amy’s diagnosis of breast cancer.

In addition to breaking into the top three, Casey is also one of 12 players to earn a place in next month’s U.S Open, after this week’s rankings cut-off saw him safely inside the top 50. Casey will be competing in his sixth U.S Open, due to be held between June 18-21 at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York.

South African Rory Sabbatini, following his victory in the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Championshp also qualified for the year’s second major, while Britons Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose, Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, Australian Adam Scott, Spaniards Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Alvaro Quiros and U.S. trio Sean O’Hair, David Toms and Nick Watney also secured their places in the line up.