Rose honored with Lifetime European Tour membership

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2013 has already been an incredible one for Justin Rose, a year that saw him win his first major title when he narrowly beat the legendary American golfer Phil Mickelson by two strokes to take the US Open back in June.

And now, the 33 year old South African born Englishman can add an honorary lifetime membership of the European Tour to his list of achievements for 2013. Last week, Rose became only the 47th ever golfer in the history of the European Tour to be conferred with that honor and joined the likes of Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

And the Englishman is eagerly looking forward to the new season which he hopes will bring more success for him and is looking forward to becoming a worthy beneficiary of such a huge honor.

Rose, who had struggled for long periods since he first broke into the world of professional golf so many years back now until recently when he managed to secure his first major title. And the man he beat to the title, Phil Mickelson stated that now that he has got the monkey off his back, the world will see the best of Justin Rose.

Speaking about the honor bestowed on him, the honor is a huge one, adding that for a kid who had started his career as a professional with 21 missed cuts, this honor means a lot to him. And he hailed the European Tour as well, commenting that the whole journey couldn’t have been possible without all the hard work.

Justin Rose now turns his attention to the Race to Dubai, stating that at the beginning of the year, it is everyone’s dream to win it but it only becomes an option once some tournaments are played and he is looking forward to it.

Kuchar commits to World Cup

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World number six Matt Kuchar has confirmed his participation at the World Cup of Golf that is scheduled between the 21st and 24th of November at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, it has been announced.

Kuchar has already confirmed his participation to play in the Australian Masters that takes place over the previous weekend at the same course and as a result, he will know the nuances of the course better than the rest of the field as he looks to add to his two titles already this season. Kuchar is the defending champion in the event after he teamed up with fellow American Gary Woodland to win the title in 2011 but it is yet to be seen which other players from his country joins him in the lineup.

The selection process for the tournament is extremely complicated to say the least and will depend a lot on the Official World Golf Rankings. The top 60 players on the list as of the 23rd of September will be making the trip to Australia and for the first time in the history of the tournament, countries that have four players inside the top 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings will be allowed to send in four players for the event, which means Matt Kuchar will have some of the biggest names in golf from the United States of America to choose as his partner.

Only America and England have four players inside the top 15 at this moment and the American team could features the likes of Phil Mickelson, world number one Tiger Woods, Brandt Snedeker along with Kuchar where as the English team could have the likes of Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter on the roster. But only Matt Kuchar has committed to the event so far.

Poulter on a season of misses

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English golfer Ian Poulter referred to another season of failure in the major championships as the one that got away, referring mainly to his amazing last day challenge at The Open before falling just short of the winning standard.

He mentioned that it was extremely disappointing to be able to get into that position that he got himself in and still not manage to get the job done. (more…)

About the US Masters

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The US Masters, officially known as the Masters Tournament and sometimes referred to as just The Masters is one of the four major championships in the US PGA Tour of professional golf and is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the golfing calendar. The tournament tees off in the first week of April every year and is usually the first major championship of the season.

Unlike the other major tournaments in the calendar, the Masters usually takes place at the same venue each year, at the Augusta National Golf Club which is a private golf club in the city of Augusta in Georgia, United States of America. Started by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, The Masters has gone on to become a pioneering golf tournament. Jones had a lot of input in designing the course where the tournament is still held to date along with the main architect of the course, Alister McKenzie.

The US Masters is an official tournament in the money event of the US PGA Tour, the Japan Golf Tour as well as the European Tour. Moreover, the field of players taking part in this event is also smaller compared to the other major championships because the event is an invitational tournament with the invitations being sent out by the Augusta National Golf Club.

There are a lot of traditions that the event upholds with the awarding of the Green Jacket to the winner being one of the prime ones. The winner must return the jacket to the club house one year to the day after winning the title at the US Masters. Ben Hogan inaugurated the champions’ dinner in 1952 and is also another tradition that has been upheld by the organizers of the event with much dignity since its inceptions all those years back.

Focus on Martin Kaymer

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Martin Kaymer was born on 28 December 1984, in Dusseldorf, West Germany. He is now a professional golfer representing Germany. He started playing at a professional lever in 2005. He currently has a membership of the European tour. He achieved victory in 10 of the tournaments, including the 4 in 2010 to win the Race to Dubai for the first time. He became the second German to win a major championship by winning the 2010 PGA championship. In 2011 he became the 10th player in the world to have won a major championship and a world golf championship event by winning the 2011 WGC-HSBC Championships.

Martin Kaymer failed to make the cut in the first five events of the season though his debut was on the 2007 European tour. At the Singapore Masters Kaymer made his first cut by finishing in a tie for the 20th place. Once in Europe he found success again. At the Madiera Island Open he finished 15th. In the Portuguese open, he finished in a tie for the 3rd position. He signed with a Sweden based sports company on 2nd November of the same year. His streak of success continued and helped him sail through 2008-09, the Abu-Dhabi Golf Championship, BMW International Open, Barclay’s Scottish Open to name a few.

In 2010 he won his first PGA Championship by defeating Ian Poulter. On 15 August 2010 he won the PGA Championship at the Whistling Straits. At the end of the year he was awarded the Tour Golfer of the Year award, jointedly with Greame McDowell. In 2011 Martin Kaymer went on to become the rank 1 player according to the official world golf rankings following his WGC-HSBC Championship victory. However he lost his rank to Westwood after staying for just 8 weeks. In 2013 he decided to join the PGA tour for 2013.

The King of Swing

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If one ever talks about looping swing, then it is got to be Jim Furyk. It is because he has been consistently putting his golf ball on the toe or on the heel of the club instead of putting it conventionally into the center and then hitting it with his looping shot. But he never got off the high level he plays in most of the time. The fans have named him ‘The Grinder’, ‘The Businessman’ and what not to honor and appreciate that unique style of his. A former officially world number 6, he has been among the top 10 for a stretch of 1999 to 2010.

What would an ordinary 6 ft 2 inches golfer face in his mind when he is putting his hands almost on the thighs for an ‘extra’ close frame to take the shot? Obviously his starting point move can get killed but that is not the case for the 6 ft 2 inches Jim Furyk. Instead of using the classic launch application where the strong and tighter muscles are used like the ones at the back, shoulders and thighs, Jim utilizes the ones in his hands and wrists to take that close-frame shot just like the basketball player who uses his wrist to bounce the ball and get ready for the basket shot.

While taking the shot it looks like that Jim’s right elbow is almost getting detached from his body. Jim Furyk keeps his club shaft vertical while taking his signature shot. And then instead of taking an upswing he takes a downswing to bring his club to the right track of putting and thus creates the loop. Although a controversy-raiser in the beginning, Jim’s loop-swing has become a part of him now.