Pakistan Information & News

Tiger Woods has not played a competitive round of golf since undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee shortly after his runner up finish to Trevor Immelman at the Masters in April and some observers have suggested Tiger Woods may be some way from his best this week especially heading straight back into a major tournament. However his rivals feel he will be undeterred and expect him to launch his usual formidable challenge. I have no idea whats going on with his knee 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy stated. All I know is he doesn’t tee it up unless he thinks he can win. He turns up at Torrey Pines every year after eight weeks off and wins by six strokes Ogilvy added of the Buick Invitational PGA Tour event also at Torrey Pines which is customarily Woods opening tournament of the year. Phil Mickelson commented. I think that he has come back from injury and won the first week back in the past.He has had huge lay offs and come back and won. He takes a bunch of time off before his tournament in LA Target Invitational and he comes out and he wins.

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 Woods had knee surgery almost two months ago but has yet to play a competitive round since the operation. It is a matter of now getting the feel of playing again and hopefully all that will come together right come Thursday he said. Hopefully I will be close to 100%. If not no big deal. I have won tournaments like that before. The operation is the third Woods has had on his left knee but he insisted his comeback was progressing smoothly if slowly.  I have been around an entire 18 but only as part of a corporate outing said the world number one. I have been practising quite a bit. I’ve just started to play some holes. I have been kind of slowly building up towards that. I am not trying to take it too hard. My practice sessions have increased. They have gotten a little bit more intense. I have been out there for longer duration and everything’s been holding up well which is a good sign. Woods who won his first tournament back after knee surgery in December 2002 admitted he was eager to return to action as soon as possible. It’s obviously been a while since I have played competitively and I am really looking forward to getting out there and mixing it up with the guys he said. I really do miss being in that competitive environment. The atmosphere in general, I do miss it. The 2008 US Open will take place at Torrey Pines in San Diego from 12,15 June.

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Robert Dinwiddie Phillip Archer and Ross McGowan all from England Swede Johan Edfors and Frances Thomas Levet will also play at Torrey Pines. But amateur Gary Wolstenholme 48 lost out in a play off and Paul McGinley and Rory McIlroy also failed to qualify. Darren Clarke chose to miss the event so he can focus on the European Tour. The 39 year old needs to get back into the worlds top 50 to guarantee his place at The Open at Royal Birkdale in July. More than 20 European Tour players withdrew from the 36 hole US Open qualfying event at Walton Heath Surrey leaving just 42 players battling it out for seven places. Forsyth a winner at the Madeira Islands Open earlier this season shot rounds of 69 and 68 to match the seven under par of Dutch Open champion Fisher. My one previous American major was the 2003 PGA at Oak Hill and I found that really really hard said Forsyth and but I like to think I am far better player now. Dinwiddie and McGowan have never played in any major the former having made nine failed attempts to get into The Open and McGowan eight. Ten days after shooting a course record 63 in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Dinwiddie had six birdies in his last eight holes to qualify with a shot to spare. My caddie told me he had booked his flights to Austria for this weeks tournament and then said don’t start making birdies now said Dinwiddie.

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Mathew Goggin charged to the lead with a seven under par 65 in the first round at the Memorial tournament. The Australian holed eight birdies in delightful conditions at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Kenny Perry and Jerry Kelly were tied for second after 66s with Brett Quigley and Rod Pampling two behind. English duo Luke Donald and Justin Rose were among those tied for sixth on four under following 68s. Goggin a renowned ball-striker whose chipping and putting has prevented him from winning on the PGA Tour had no trouble with his short game taking just 22 putts on some of the smoothest greens in the world. Starting on the back nine Goggin recorded successive birdies on the 11th and 12th before his solitary bogey of the day on the 13th was immediately cancelled out with a birdie-three on the 14th. A birdie on the 18th left him three under after nine before a run of four birdies in five holes followed from the fourth through to the eighth. It is Goggins first appearance at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted event although he has played the course once before nine years ago while staying at a house adjacent to the course with Jacks son Gary. We were going to play the course the next day and I was all fired up. Goggin recalled. It was my birthday and we got so drunk. We had a big night and I had such a bad hangover we decided to pull the pin after eight holes and get out of the sun. Perry meanwhile was only trying to lag his birdie putts on the ultra-quick greens - but the hole kept getting in the way. My lags just kept going in the hole said Perry. Needing just 22 strokes on the greens, he ran in nine birdies including six in a row from the 11th hole a rare experience for the 47 year old veteran. That was probably a first for me he said of his six birdie run. I don’t know if I have ever done that in my 22 years out here. I’m not a guy known for making putts so to see a lot go in was a great day for me. I just kept pouring them in from 20 feet like they were two footers. I was not thinking about making any of those putts. I was easing them down there and they just kept finding the middle of the hole and with the punishing rough resembling a typical United States Open set up accuracy off the tee was of the utmost importance. Perry strayed from the fairway only three times but made bogey each time he missed the short grass. Quigley, meanwhile was relaxing at home on Tuesday when he received a call saying that he was in the field after a bunch of late withdrawals. He arrived at the course at 4pm on Wednesday and played just a handful of holes to check it out after hearing that it was doomsday out there and but it was not doomsday on Thursday as he made his move with five straight birdies from the fifth hole to turn at five under before negotiating the back nine in even par. A tired Phil Mickelson shot 72 just four days after his sensational last gasp victory at Colonial. Sergio Garcia also carded 72 in his first start since winning the Players Championship.

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Miguel Angel Jimenez won the BMW PGA Championship on the second playoff hole Sunday sinking a 2-foot birdie to beat Oliver Wilson. The 44-year-old Spaniard who had a hole in one in his round of 68 struck his second shot at No. 18 to within 30 feet and two-putted to claim his 15th tour victory. Wilson 68 drove into the rough and had to play short of the green. His third shot finished 14 feet from the hole and he two putted. Its my 20th year on tour and so this is a very nice present Jimenez said. To win the most important tournament on the European Tour is great. Jimenez leads the Order of Merit and the European Points List from which the top five qualify for this year’s European Ryder Cup team. He played on winning Ryder Cup teams in 1999 and 2004. Wilson and Jimenez parred the first playoff hole also the 18th after recording 11-under totals of 277. Jimenez aced No. 5 with a 4-iron but had a couple setbacks before winning his third event sponsored by BMW. He also captured the BMW Asian Open and the BMW International Open in 2004. He missed an 18-inch putt on the 15th and muffed a chip from the rough beside the final green on the last regulation hole. Now I cannot say I don’t win playoffs anymore Jimenez said after his first success in three attempts. The winless Wilson finished second for the fourth time this season and the seventh of his career. Second is a good result but I had my chance  he said. You are not going to get many chances in tournaments like this and I didn’t take it. Robert Karlsson who lead by four strokes overnight had a 74 to finish third for the third straight tournament. He needed to make a 5-foot putt for birdie to join the playoff but three putted to finish tied with Luke Donald 65 at 279. I didn’t play well. I never got it going said Karlsson who also finished third in the Italian and Irish Opens. I didn’t hole the putts but it’s the best I have ever done around here. Jyoti Randhawa 70 was a shot further back in fifth while two time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen 66 was tied for sixth at 281 with Andres Romero 67. Alexander Noren 67 and Richard Green 69. Paul McGinley the second round leader with a record 13 under total had a 72 to finish tied for 10th.

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The Dubliner 41 hit birdies at all four of the par fives for a one shot lead over Swedens Robert Karlsson. I struggled most of this year with poor or medium first rounds said McGinley. But its a long way from leading now to winning on Sunday. He added it was his best round since a 67 on day one of last years Open. Desperate to earn a fourth Ryder Cup cap McGinley resigned as an assistant to European captain Nick Faldo to focus solely on his game. He is down in 33rd place in the European standings but with a first prize of nearly £600,000 on offer he could jump as high as sixth on Sunday night. Its right in the back of my mind to be honest said McGinley. I have got to have a hell of a summer to make it. Its not on the horizon. I have a few more hurdles to jump before I can think about the Ryder Cup. Australian Marcus Fraser shot 67 to sit in third at the 7320-yard West Course which was hard and bouncy after a recent dry spell. Ernie Els whose redesign of the course was aimed at making it more taxing and Darren Clarke struggled to 75s.

Justin Rose and Retief Goosen were one worse than that while Lee Westwood could do no better than 77.

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Former champion Brett Taylor comfortably progressed through the first stage of his bid to regain the Powerade PGA Assistants Championship in association with FootJoy with victory in the East Region qualifier and the Essex professional from Chelmsford Golf Club was one of the early starters and he set the pace with a three under par 68 at Benton Hall in Witham. He left the course before most of the field had come close to finishing safe in the knowledge his score would be enough to secure one of the 16 places available for the final at The London Club in August. It was, in fact, good enough to win by one from Wyke Green’s Duncan Giblett, with Ely City’s Jamie Lebrun third after a 70. Taylor’s passage back to the final which he won in 2006 was virtually secured with five birdies on his front nine. From that point he adopted a more cautious approach, knowing if he avoided any disasters on the way home he would be through. He added a couple more birdies on the back nine and even though he had four bogeys on his card his mission was accomplished. I am very happy with it and I am pleased to get through  said the 33 year old.I got off to a good start with five birdies on the front nine and that gave me more than enough.I would normally carry on playing the same way but with so many tight holes with water on the back nine I just fiddled it around a bit. There was no point in doing anything too aggressive.I was pleased to play nicely. The first stage is complete and now I have got there I have a good chance. This is my last year as an assistant and I am looking forward to going back to The London Club. I love the golf course. There were a total of 16 places available for the final and it needed a three-way play-off between Hanbury Manor’s Richard Nichols Tilsworth’s Richard Webb and Aaron Boylett to decide the last one. A bogey accounted for Webb at the first hole and Boylett birdied the second to book his place.

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As several big names struggled the pair secured a two shot lead over a group which included last year’s runner up Bradley Dredge. Rory McIlroy is the leading Irishman at two under while holder Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke shot 72. Britons Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood could only manage 75 and after starting at the 10th Singh’s round included an eagle three at the seventh thanks to a fine three wood which landed a foot of the pin. The former Volvo Masters champion looked certain to drop a shot at his final hole when he found a bush but he rescued his par by holing a brilliant 40 foot putt and my backswing was about a foot and a half and I was more worried about just hitting the ball  said Singh of his escape from the bushes. It could have gone anywhere. Green who was fourth in last year’s Open hit eight birdies in his first competitive round since missing the cut at the Masters. I concentrated on concentrating hard and it worked out pretty well said the left hander. Holder Harrington lamented a few mental errors which included finding the water with his tee shot at the spectacular 18th hole. I suppose 72 doesn’t look that good when you see six under but that won’t have played me out of contention at this stage said The Open champion amd but it was probably the easiest day you’ll ever get on this course in terms of weather and so there was an opportunity out there. Recent Asian Open winner Clarke was one under after 10 but struggled on the back nine and he was fortunate to bogey the 17th after a hooked tee shot and topped second. However a closing birdie enabled Clarke to finish level as he signed for a 72. Montgomerie whose slip to 88th in the world this week represents his lowest position since October 1990 ran up a seven on the long seventh and he faces a battle on Friday to make the cut. Like Harrington Westwood also struggled on the 18th hole as also finished on 75 while another Ryder Cup contender Martin Kaymer is 11 shots off the pace.

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Paul Goydos came so close pulling off a fairytale victory at the Players Championship, only to discover the fine line between victory and defeat. At the par-three 17th, famous for its island green, he was leaning towards hitting a nine-iron when he played the hole in regulation at the Sawgrass TPC on Sunday. However, his caddie talked him into hitting a wedge, and he found the heart of the green in the raging wind and two-putted for par. Therefore, when he returned to the same hole in his play-off with Sergio Garcia, it was only common sense that Goydos would hit the same club again. This time, however, Goydos hit the ball a little higher, where it was more at the mercy of the elements, catching a gust of wind that knocked the ball down into the water and just like that, Goydos handed the tournament to Spaniard, who moments later hit a magnificent shot to four feet to secure victory and I thought I hit it good, but I think it flighted higher,” said Goydos. “The other one penetrated a little better through the wind. This one floated on me and the ball ended up sinking. Caddie Scott Saginac added: “He hit a great shot. It was crisp, right out of the middle of the club and while it was in the air I thought it was perfect and Paul thought it was good, Sergio thought it was good, we all thought it was good. And then it dropped in the water. Five seconds earlier or five seconds later it could have ended up two feet from the pin.

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Englishman Oliver Wilson carded a round of 68 to join a four-way tie for second place, one shot back after round one of the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai. The 27-year-old, who finished in a tie for second last week at the China Open, carded five birdies at the Pudong Club. Australian Peter O’Malley, now 42, who last won on the European Tour in 2001, leads the way at five under. Darren Clarke had four birdies but also three bogeys to join a huge group including Greg Norman at one under. Starting on the back nine, Wilson picked up his first birdie on the par-four 11th when he hit a wedge to 10 feet. He holed the putt and then added another on the par-five 15th to reach the turn at two under. On his inward nine he added three more birdies and was only denied the lead when he bogeyed his last hole. I got a lot of confidence from last week,” said Mansfield-born Wilson. I played lovely and was really solid. Apart from the last I only had one par save so I gave myself a lot of chances. 

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