Australian Senior Golfer

Scott won't be defending his Singapore Open title

ADAM SCOTT is the latest to sign on the 2011 Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club after abandoning his defence of his Singapore Open title.

Scott will join recent signings Tiger Woods and Jason Day in what is truly shaping as a blockbuster event.

Already committed to the Open are defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, Presidents Cup captains Greg Norman and Fred Couples and the American duo Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson.

There were fears Scott, the 2009 champion, would miss the event because of the calendar clash with Singapore but the Open/Presidents Cup fortnight lure has proven to great.

“It was a tough one for me, as Barclays and the Singapore Open have been big supporters of mine but the Australian Open is really tough to pass up and I am going to be playing in Sydney,” Scott said.

“I think it’s the right move for me and I really want to get down there and win the Australian Open again. “If I win the Australian Open, I’ll be very happy going into the Presidents Cup.

Scott is in Ohio preparing for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational along with six other Aussies, including his 2011 US Masters joint runner-up Jason Day.

Jason Day wants a piece of the action

Day was already lobbying to be paired with Woods in Sydney.

“I’d really love to be paired with Tiger,” Day said in Ohio. “I have met him a few times but never been paired with him and I think it would really bring out the best in my golf.

“It’s great for Australian golf to have Tiger and the other big names playing in the Aussie Open. It’s going to be awesome and a real thrill to play in front of big crowds. Hopefully it’s a shot in the arm for the game in Australia as well.”

That was said by the now very self-assured 23 year old who currently sits as the world No. 8 while Woods has dropped to 28th.

Many remembered what Day said as a very cocky 19 year old in 2007 fresh from winning the US Nationwide Tour.

“I’m sure I can take him (Tiger) down. My goal is to be the No.1 golfer in the world and I want to chase Tiger. I want to measure myself against Tiger Woods. I just want to work really hard and take him down.”

Of course in the meantime Woods’ personal life dramas and latterly injury concerns have seem him fall dramatically from his former lofty status, but there is no doubt he will still be a huge drawcard in Sydney.

Hopefully for everyone, he will be injury free and back in good golfing form.

In Ohio, Woods was talking up his enthusiasm in vying for the Stonehaven Cup.

”I’d love to get my name on the trophy. The feel of it with the history and the champions list is pretty remarkable, really.”

So would Day.

“Obviously because of my early career comments (about Woods) I’m sure there will be a bit of talk about it but it will still be great fun,” Day said.

“I said I want to be the best in the world back then and nothing has changed, I still want to be.”

“As for the Australian Open – I really want my name on that trophy. I still want to be the best golfer to come out of Australia and I feel to do that you need to have your name on the Stonehaven Cup and some other Australian titles.

“I think people will expect me to win or do well and that might add some pressure but I certainly want to give myself the best chance to win it.”

Defending champion Ogilvy has also welcomed Woods’ to the event.

“It’s exciting. The Australian Open is our biggest tournament and he adds a touch of something to the field that anyone else can’t do,” Ogilvy.

“This will be the best field the Australian Open has seen in years and the best one I have ever played in.

“We have eight guys in the top 100 in the world, so we should have a prestigious event like this – we have the level of players to support three or four big tournaments on the world stage.”

The Australian Open will be staged from November 10 to 13.

Tiger Woods....a huge drawcard

TIGER WOODS has been confirmed as a starter in the 2011 Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Course in Sydney.

The NSW Government made the announcement today but has refused to say how much he will be paid.

Woods will join defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, Presidents Cup captains Greg Norman and Fred Couples, and fellow American stars Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson.

The Open will be played in Sydney the week before the Presidents Cup in Melbourne.

No doubt Woods, who has slipped to 28th in the world golf rankings this week, will be hoping to get a start at Royal Melbourne, one way or another.

Unless he has a rapid form improvement – he hasn’t won anywhere since taking the Australian Masters title in 2009 – he will be relying on Couples to choose him as one of his two captain’s picks.

Woods is a lowly 26 in the US team standings. The top ten are automatic selections and there are the two captain selections.

Following his recent injury problems, Woods will be back in action at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, this week and is also a likely starter at the US PGA Championship next week.

“I’m excited to get back out there,” Woods said on his website a couple of days ago.

The former world No.1 was quoted today as saying he was very much looking forward to playing in the Australian Open in Sydney.

“I’m very excited to be competing in the Australian Open,” he said. “I haven’t played in the tournament since 1996, and I’m anxious to return. I have a great affinity for playing golf in Australia and I’m looking forward to competing against an outstanding field at The Lakes in Sydney.”

Woods will no doubt be a huge drawcard in Sydney and with the Cup the following week and the likes of Darren Clarke and Jason Day at the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum the week after it will be a very exciting time for Australian golf.

A clearly delighted Geoff Ogilvy hoisted the Stonehaven Cup high this afternoon declaring his first Australian Open title was right up there with his big international wins.

“This is the 90 year old trophy, this is the real jewel,” the US Open winner said.

Ogilvy started the day with a five shot buffer and was never headed.

Whenever there seemed a glimmer of hope for the chasing pack, particularly his playing partner, Sydney’s Matt Jones, the opportunity soon evaporated.

Ogilvy, with eight other international career titles including 3 WGC events, finished with a three under par 69 to end the tournament on 19 under.

Jones hung in there for most of the day but in the end never got close enough to put real pressure on the champion.

The defining point probably came on the 184 metre par three 15th when Ogilvy got what he called a “bizarre bounce” and Jones put his tee shot close.

What looked like it could be a two stroke turnaround fizzled when Ogilvy scrambled a par and Jones missed his relative sitter birdie chance.

In the end, Jones (68) and Victorian Alistair Presnell (67) shared second place with 15 under.

“Today was probably the day I struggled most with my game,” Ogilvy said after his round, “but all I had to do was not mess up really.”

Winning a title he has obviously long coveted was a big turnaround in a year that was looking a little short on highlights.
“I won the first week and then play relatively horrible golf all year,” Ogilvy said.
“I didn’t enjoy golf as much this year because how I was playing. But anytime you win an Australian Open you’ll look back and think you’ve had a great year.”

The PGA Tour of Australasia and OneAsia now moves to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for the staging of the 2010 Australian PGA Championship.

2010 Australian Open Full Results

GEOFF OGILVY has a coveted Australian Open title almost within his grasp after another accomplished five under par performance in the third round at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.

The Victorian goes into the 2010 final round on 16 under, five strokes ahead of Matt Jones (71), with Greg Chalmers (66) and Alistair Presnell (67) a further shot back in equal third at 10-under.

Starting the round at 11 under, Ogilvy got off the blocks in perfect fashion with a birdie. There were five more to come but a bogey on the last had him fuming.

Ogilvy blocked a five iron short and right on the 191 metre par 3 and after his chip shot was long two putted for a four.

After a quick television interview, Ogilvy literally ran to the practice range to hit a bucket of balls to get the shot “out of his head.”
“It’s never nice to finish like that no matter what you shoot,” Ogilvy said later.

With the likes of former world no.1 Greg Norman and golfing great Jack Nicklaus as former winners of the event, Ogilvy is desperate to finish the job on Sunday and add his name to a high quality list.

“It would be pretty nice. The Australian open in general has a pretty impressive honour role,” Ogilvy said.

“Everyone whose meant anything to golf or played golf in Australian in the last 50 years has won the tournament.”

Ogilvy, who is the last Australian to win a major at the 2006 US Open, said clinching a breakthrough national championship would rank high up there on his list of achievements, which also includes three prestigious World Golf Championship (WGC) events.

“If you sit down right now those WGC tournaments are more valuable for your career but when I’m finished and you look back you’d be prouder of an Australian Open than you would be of a WGC.”

Ogilvy and Jones will tee off in the final group at 12.40pm.

“I’m sure I’ll sleep OK tonight. I’m sure I’ll think about it [winning the Stonehaven Cup] a couple times, that’s only human. But I’ll come out tomorrow and try and play well again.”

GEOFF OGILVY leads the Australian Open after a commanding second round performance at The Lakes Golf Club today.

Ogilvy shot a 7 under 65 to finish at 12 under for the tournament, one ahead of fellow US Tour player Matt Jones who shot a course record eight-under in tough afternoon conditions.

Out early in the morning, Ogilvy made the most of the perfect conditions and helped himself to seven birdies.

First round leader Matt Griffin is a further shot back at nine-under while American Dudley Hart shares fourth position with 2006 Australian Open Champion John Senden.
Ogilvy attributed his return to form to some much needed time off over the last two months.
“It’s a tournament we all want to win as Australians,” Ogilvy said of the national championship.
“I played really well for the score I had today. If I keep playing like that I’m sure I’ll be there or thereabouts.”

Ogilvy’s playing partner, defending champion Adam Scott, hit back after his putting really let him down in the first round.

Scott shot a six under 66 to finish the day at 3 under with share of 16th place.

Tournament drawcard Greg Norman also made a significant move in the right direction with an impressive three-under 69 to finish at minus-one through 36 holes.

The Shark made the turn in three-under 32 and mixed two bogeys with two birdies on the inward half to make the cut by two shots.

JB Were Masters Champion Stuart Appleby struggled to a five-over 77 but produced a birdie at the penultimate hole to make the cut on the number at plus-one.

The news was not quite so good for John Daly (77), Aaron Baddeley (75) and Fred Couples (74), who all missed the cut by a solitary shot after falling victim to the tricky afternoon conditions.

Lakes member and NSW Open champion Peter O’Malley is among five players at minus-five alongside NSW PGA winner Steven Bowditch who recorded a 69.

Isolated showers and 15kmh north-east winds are expected to greet the players with temperatures expected to top 24 degrees on Saturday.

SOME humble Aussie black ants earned the ire of visiting American golfing icon Fred Couples at the Australian Open today but local rules officials refused his plea for protection.

Couples asked for relief when his stance inside a bunker on his second last hole was crawling with ants.

An Australian rules official refused his request for a drop from what was a very poor lie on the lip of the bunker.

The US Masters winner said words to the effect of: “You’re kidding me. You expect me to stand in that.”

Couples called over playing partner Stuart Appleby for a second opinion (pictured left), and after whatever conversation ensued there, eventually had to play the ball as it lay.

His other playing partner and opposing Presidents Cup captain, Greg Norman, was on the other side of the fairway having his own problems with one of the courses many waterways.

The problem seems to have been one of an ant misidentification. In the US and elsewhere the presence of fire ants, much nastier creatures than the little Australian black ants, does often warrant relief being given.

A Queensland rules official said her state also had some likely candidates, big bush bull ants, that might also warrant relief, but the little black ants were never going to be a threat.

With practice severely limited by two days of heavy rain, Couples had been struggling somewhat on a totally revamped Lakes course and perhaps was hoping for a bit of a break.

Still, he managed to finish on even par and will start the second round at 12.10 on Friday afternoon at least having a little more familiarity with the course.

Norman started with a bang, playing his front nine in two under but dropped five shots on the last five holes to finish with a two over 74.

The tournament leader is Matthew Griffin, who finished with a 7 under 65.

Queenslander John Senden birdied the final hole to finish outright second on 6 under with Alistair Presnell a stroke away third.

Peter Senior had an inspiring round finishing at 4 under, tied with eight others including Stuart Appleby and Geoff Ogilvy, who stormed home with an eagle-birdie finish.

Defending champion Adam Scott was displaying his usual superb ball striking but frustratingly was again let down by his short putting. If he can just get his putting confidence back there is no doubt he will again be in contention, despite finishing the day with a 3 over 75.

Big John Daly is also in contention after opening with a 69 that included six birdies and three bogeys.

2010 Australian Open Live Leaderboard

AN intriguing 2010 Australian Open gets underway Thursday with defending champion Adam Scott determined to hold on to the Stonehaven Cup at the completely revamped Lakes course in Sydney.

As is almost traditional with the Open, controversy has been in the air in the lead up, this time about the many changes made to the course, and that will be just one element of interest as the tournament unfolds.

Scott comes up fresh from winning the Singapore Open and also with a win at the Texas Open in May.

It was something of a comeback year for Scott. That comeback started at the NSW Golf Club last year when the Queenslander triumphantly lifted his first major Australian trophy into the air.

“I don’t really want to give the trophy back … I’d love to have the trophy at home for another 12 months,” Scott said this week.

”It has been a great year for me, being Aussie Open champion. That felt great [and] certainly coming off a win in Singapore is good for the confidence. I’m excited about this week.”

Scott tees off at 12.10 pm Thursday in the third afternoon group alongside arch rival Geoff Ogilvy and China number one LIANG Wenchong.

Just a couple of years back Scott and Ogilvy were swapping places in the world top five list.

Ogilvy is the first to admit he hasn’t been playing well this year and put some of that down to just playing too much golf earlier in the year after winning the opening event of the season.

He’s taken a  bit of time off lately and looked fresh and raring to go when he attended the Presidents Cup Captains Day in Melbourne on Monday.

And speaking of Presidents Cup captains, the iconic pair will be teeing of together on Thursday at 7.25am from the 10th tee.

The third member of the group is 2010 JBWere Masters winner Stuart Appleby, so that is definitely a grouping not to be missed.

While Norman was playing down his chances after a year of little competitive golf, 51 year old Couples had four wins in his debut year on the Champions Tour and came close to winning a second US Masters title in April before eventually finishing sixth.

“I need to go out there and play and really get going and get to know the course, but I’m not just here to show up.  I never want to embarrass myself and not play to my best,” Couples said on Tuesday.

Best known for his effortless ball-striking, Couples said his putting success this year had really surprised him.

“I feel confident in the way I’ve been hitting the ball, there’s no doubt I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well,” he said.

“The weirdest thing of this whole year is that I led the Champions Tour in putting and I say that because that is where most of my confidence comes from.”

“When I putt well, I mean other people putt well all the time but when I putt well I usually play very, very well. This year for me to be first in putting, I’ve no idea why that happened. I was never close to being No.1 in putting on the regular tour in 29 years so it was a great bonus.”

Fans of over 50’s golf will also be able to sneak a peak at veteran Peter Senior, recent winner of the Australian Senior Open in Perth and another debutant on the US Champions tour, who is in the afternoon group just prior to the Scott-Ogilvy pairing.

Senior is playing alongside perennial favourite and 2007 winner Craig Parry and tournament threat John Senden.

There are host of other well known Australian and international names in the field, we haven’t mentioned the always colourful John Daily and the likes of Aaron Baddeley, Michael Sim, Marc Leishman, Nathan Green, Rod Pampling and an ongoing list of golfing talent.

Tickets are available from Ticketek or at the course.

The afternoon sessions of the 2010 Australian Open will be telecast on the Ten Network.

2010 Australian Open Order of Play for Round 1 —Thursday 2 December

2010 Australian Open Live Leaderboard

JBWERE Masters winner Stuart Appleby has confirmed he will be a starter at the 2010 Australian Open at The Lakes in Sydney in a couple of weeks.

The in-form Victorian will be vying for his second Stonehaven Cup after claiming the title in 2001.

Appleby is the latest big name player to announce his participation along with compatriots and former winners Aaron Baddeley and John Senden.

Baddeley won the event in 1999 as an amateur and successfully defended the title the following year as a professional, while Senden won in 2006.

Appleby was runner-up last year at the NSW Golf Club to Adam Scott, who is also fresh from a big win at the Singapore Open.

The star-studded line up this year also includes Greg Norman, Geoff Ogilvy and Americans Fred Couples and John Daly.

The Open will be held from December 2 – 5 with tickets available from Ticketek online or by phoning 13 28 49.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN defending champion Adam Scott has shown great form just two weeks out from the Sydney showdown with a great win at the Singapore Open.

It is the third time Scott has won the event in the last five years and his second title for the year.

Scott carded a final round three-under 68 to finish at 17 under for the tournament, three shots ahead of second place getter Anders Hansen.

US Open champion Graeme McDowell tied for third with Rikard Karlberg at 13-under.

The 30 year old Queenslander had to maintain concentration with disruptions to the tournament because of thunderstorms. The final round was suspended for the day because of fading light.

When he came back out he was chased hard by a group including McDowell and defending champion Ian Poulter.

“It was great. It’s a relief to finally get finished. I’m very happy to be a winner here again,” Scott said of the title he previously won in 2005 and 2006.

“It’s not an easy back nine to come out and play and I didn’t make it look that easy either so I’m just happy to be done.

“It’s a course I absolutely love and I’ve hit so many good shots here over the years so that does help.”

Scott’s other victory this year came at the Valero Texas Open in May, his first win on the US PGA Tour for more than two years.

He will defend his Australian Open title at The Lakes in Sydney from December 2-5.

Baddeley misses out on $1 million bonus

Meanwhile, Aaron Baddeley has just fallen short of a $US1 million ($A1.01 million) bonus in a one in three chance on one sudden-death hole in Orlando, Florida.

Baddeley went into a post-tournament sudden-death play-off for the winner-takes-all Kodak Challenge – decided on the lowest cumulative score on 18 of 30 designated scenic tournament holes throughout the season.

He was up against Americans Troy Merritt and Rickie Fowler but battler Merritt grabbed the cash to finish a great day after earlier securing the 125th and last spot on the season money list to retain full 2011 playing rights.

At least Baddeley retained his US PGA Tour spot for next year, unlike some other unlucky Aussies.

Aron Price‘s tie for 65th in the final tournament was some $US73,000 ($A74,000) short of lifting him from 131st into the money list’s top 125.

It was not all bad new as he will retain partial playing rights for finishing in the top 150, along with Cameron Percy, who came in 145th.

Those outside the top 150 and missing out include James Nitties (155), Mat Goggin (159), Jarrod Lyle (162), Nick O’Hern (168), Rod Pampling (180), Mark Hensby (185) and David Lutterus (201).

Their last chance is the six-round tour qualifying school final stage next month.

(Photos: Scott celebrates his win in Singapore. AFP PHOTO / HO / WORLD SPORT GROUP / PAUL LAKATOS.)

GOLF club members can get a 50 percent discount on tickets to the Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney this December.

To receive the discount on General Admission or Season tickets you just need to book before November 2.

A big feature of the Open this year – to be held from December 2 to 5 – will be the appearance of Presidents Cup captains Greg Norman and Fred Couples.

There’ll also be defending champion Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, the always interesting John Daly, and many more.

To take advantage of the half price entry offer follow this link.