Volvo Golf Champions, Bahrain.

blackwaterfish

Day 1 :: European Tour 2010/2011 - The Royal Golf Club: Kingdom of Bahrain, Bahrain.

PH -2 after 4 holes.... the man is on fire!

http://www.webcaston.com/embed.php?fileid=_iCS8mMVfVP3kG1&vw=850&vh=550&domain=mypremium.tv

AGC

-3 thru 12.

Great to see Garcia playing and playing well. Hopefully he can keep it up.

SSK

Quiros had a very odd round, 9 birdies, no bogies but 2 doubles. Must have been practicing with Padraig :pac:

Seriously though that round seems to sum up how Quiros plays, great talent at making birdies but concentration lapses seem to cost him shots.

Great to see Garcia in some sort of form, it would be great to see him back on top of his game competing in the big tournaments.

WHIP IT!

68 for Lawrie, 69 for Clarke. Clarke had a little putting clinic with Olazabal and seems very confident going into this week.

Great to see Garcia play well, I hope he comes back to being the player we all know and love - he's been so unlikeable in recent years.

Mr. Larson

From Paddy's Tour Diary. Some might find it interesting. If you don't - then you don't have to read it.

Last week was a somewhat disappointing start to the season, nothing to do with my golf, but because I wasn’t able to play after my disqualification after the first round. At the time I knew that I had touched the ball but when I looked down I felt that it hadn’t moved; it was only on a slow motion replay that I could see that it had by a fraction, warranting a two shot penalty, but because I had signed for a wrong score I was disqualified. However, thankfully I have another week to get back into the swing of things.

I am in Bahrain for the inaugural Volvo Tournament of Champions; I was always playing two tournaments when I came out here but after last week I am even happier that I have another event to play in straight away. There has been a lot of talk about my DQ last week so it will be good to get playing again this week and put it all behind me. This is my first time in Bahrain, which was a big reason for coming here as I always enjoy playing in new countries.

This is also a new tournament on the European Tour and also a new course, which makes it even more interesting. I have played two rounds on the course now so as to get myself ready for playing after a few days of practice. The course was designed by Monty and I have to say that it appears that he has built a course that would suit his game. There are a lot of lay ups from the tee and then the greens incorporate small shelves so as to suit a good iron player, which is everything that Monty was great at during his career. It is an interesting course to play because of the green designs - a lot of the players are pulling their hair out over them but I have to say I like them. They put a premium on good iron play and also on a strong short game. I find one of the hardest things on this course is the perception from the tee - everything looks a lot further away than it actually is, but thankfully I have played a couple of practice rounds and got used to it.

I am happy with all the work I have done over the winter; it is not fully settled in yet but it is getting there. The hardest thing for me at the moment is to let go of it and get out and play, leaving the technical work behind, as I did in the first round last week.

I am looking forward to playing this week to try and continue on where I left off last week. My practice has gone well in that I haven’t been sucked into working on the things I have been changing and I am feeling good about where I am in terms of my game.

The course is definitely funky but I tend to like such courses, whereas a lot of the other guys tend to get frustrated on courses like this. After last week I am looking to get four rounds under my belt in order to get a real feel for where I am at. I am here to try and win the tournament but considering I have only played one competitive round so far this season I am still a little unsure what to expect. That said I am very happy with how the week has gone so far so I am looking to be in contention come Sunday afternoon.

Talk soon,
Padraig.

Parky2010

70 for Padraig, said he wasn't happy with how he hit it, couldn't focus etc. Still though 6 off the lead and with morning conditions tomorrow.. still not out of it.

The_Architect

Jabberwocky wrote: »

This is also a new tournament on the European Tour and also a new course, which makes it even more interesting. I have played two rounds on the course now so as to get myself ready for playing after a few days of practice. The course was designed by Monty and I have to say that it appears that he has built a course that would suit his game. There are a lot of lay ups from the tee and then the greens incorporate small shelves so as to suit a good iron player, which is everything that Monty was great at during his career. It is an interesting course to play because of the green designs - a lot of the players are pulling their hair out over them but I have to say I like them. They put a premium on good iron play and also on a strong short game. I find one of the hardest things on this course is the perception from the tee - everything looks a lot further away than it actually is, but thankfully I have played a couple of practice rounds and got used to it.

The course is definitely funky but I tend to like such courses, whereas a lot of the other guys tend to get frustrated on courses like this.

"Designed by Monty to suit his game"

The worrying thing is these guys actually believe what they are saying.

Anyway, I'm glad Padraig likes the course. Funky is good. It looks interesting.

conno16

Parky2010 wrote: »

70 for Padraig, said he wasn't happy with how he hit it, couldn't focus etc. Still though 6 off the lead and with morning conditions tomorrow.. still not out of it.

yes hes in contention definitely

C'mon Harro!!

Trampas

PH hitting only 3 fairways.

Wont be winning anything with that kind of driving.

Great to see Garcia bogey free round.

PAULWATSON

Nice 69 by The Prince.

ssbob

Harry will drive me mad, was delighted with the 65 last week but then he got disqualified, completely fair in my opinion, then he didn't birdie either of the two par 5's on the back 9 today, thats not good enough. Can't wait until Shane Lowry returns from injury, I think this could be a big year for him, he is definitely a top 100 player.

heavyballs

didn't get a chance to back anyone in this before the start
just back from the bookies now,i think 28/1 for MA Jim is great value e/w 4 places

scrubber72

conno16 wrote: »

yes hes in contention definitely

C'mon Harro!!

Jaysus conno are you trying to tempt faith?

PAULWATSON

The Prince is flying today, -7 through 14.

AGC

Very tight at the top

blackwaterfish

ssbob wrote: »

Harry will drive me mad, was delighted with the 65 last week but then he got disqualified, completely fair in my opinion, then he didn't birdie either of the two par 5's on the back 9 today, thats not good enough. Can't wait until Shane Lowry returns from injury, I think this could be a big year for him, he is definitely a top 100 player.

Give the man a break ffs... the guys taken on board a raft of changes, made the cut and is still well in contention here.

You follow any golfer and they will all make you look at the ceiling in despair with indifferent to rubbish performances from time to time.

Padraig for taoiseach.

Parky2010

Padraig still only 6 off.. drove the ball better, irons looking good too. Just the putter let him down, if he gets them all right the weekend he'll be up there no doubt

heavyballs

heavyballs wrote: »

didn't get a chance to back anyone in this before the start
just back from the bookies now,i think 28/1 for MA Jim is great value e/w 4 places

did anyone follow me on this.......................?no, didn't think so,ah well in with a great shout now and still imo very backable at 9/1

poteen

I backed Jimanez at 8/1 to win

I also backed Garcia at 28/1 e/w 4 places

Trampas

Dazzler top of the leaderboard

heavyballs

Trampas wrote: »

Dazzler top of the leaderboard

yep i'm on Jimmy but i would gladly give up my winnings to see Clarke win again

PAULWATSON

With The Prince, it's all about the putter.

LuckyGent88

Clarke is playing some great stuff which is good to see. Jimenez needs to go back putting with his wedge...he is putting so badly this morning while he got 3 birdies in last 5 holes yesterday with his wedge

sector

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Clarke is playing some great stuff which is good to see. Jimenez needs to go back putting with his wedge...he is putting so badly this morning while he got 3 birdies in last 5 holes yesterday with his wedge

Clarke was over 200/1 on betfair to win this, now he's 1 off the lead going into Sunday and playing solid. can't understand why he's still 10/1 with Peter Hanson 3/1, anyway i've backed him, been waiting on him to win one since last yearm c'mon Darren!

DamienOB

Casey wins

LuckyGent88

sector wrote: »

Clarke was over 200/1 on betfair to win this, now he's 1 off the lead going into Sunday and playing solid. can't understand why he's still 10/1 with Peter Hanson 3/1, anyway i've backed him, been waiting on him to win one since last yearm c'mon Darren!

That bet didnt out too great did it!!!!! That was so bad from him on the par 5 9th. if he took out the putter or even an 8 iron he would have been much better off and would his kept his momentum into back 9. Still wouldnt have got to 20 under though.

Trampas

The 9th hole cost dazzler a great chance of winning it. instead of having a birdie change he walks off with bogey.

we will never know what it might have been.

greens looked crazy