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Wilson breaks through for first win at St. Andrews

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It’s been a long time coming for Oliver Wilson, but the 34-year-old Englishman finally broke through, turning a sponsor’s invite into his first career win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“I don’t have words for it. It’s been 10, 11 years coming, nine runners-up, and I haven’t really done a whole lot to lose those, but nothing’s really gone my way,” said an emotional Wilson immediately after the round. “This week to have the opportunity from Dunhill to play, I can’t thank them enough to give me the opportunity to play. I guess it’s what golf’s all about.”

Wilson, who started with the lead, admitted he “slept awful,” thinking about what his first win could do for his career, and it seemed to show early on at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

He made the turn at 1-over 37 but rallied, making back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 and another on 16 for a final-round 70.

Ritchie Ramsey had a chance to force a playoff, but his birdie putt on the final hole just missed, clinching the victory for Wilson.

Fresh off helping Europe rout the U.S. in the Ryder Cup just one week ago, Rory McIlroy came up just short, finishing one shot behind, tied for second with Ramsey and Tommy Fleetwood.

McIlroy started the day three back of Wilson and promptly dug his hole even deeper with a double-bogey 6 on the first hole.

He bounced back with four straight birdies starting on the second hole and made the turn two off the lead.

McIlroy made three more birdies on the back side, but was doomed by a bogey on 17, finishing with a final-round 68.

It had been quite a dramatic fall for Wilson, who was once 45th in the world rankings after a runner-up at the 2008 PGA Championship. He also qualified for the Ryder Cup that year.

“I could be drunk for a while,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of champagne I’ve put on hold over the years. It will be a good party.”

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Clarke playing coy; Garcia ready for eventual captaincy

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In the wake of yet another European dismantling of the United States at the Ryder Cup, much of the attention has turned toward the future of the event. For the Americans, the focus is on fixing a model that is clearly broken; for Europe, it’s trying to continue the domination, and that starts with the captain.

While there’s been plenty of chatter surrounding who will lead the Europeans in 2016, not much of it is coming from one of the early favorites for the job: Darren Clarke. 

“It’s not up to me to discuss it. It’s up to the committee,” said the 2011 Britsh Open winner. “Whilst I would be delighted to be offered the post, it’s the committee’s decision. An awful lot has been made about it, but we should be celebrating how well Paul and his team did without all this stuff going on. The committee’s there to decide who is the best man for the job.”

Clarke was an early contender to lead this year’s European squad before eventually being passed over in favor of McGinley. But Clarke has the No. 1 player in the world in his corner in a competition that could boil down to Clarke,Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Rory McIlroy recently said of Clarke, his fellow Northern Irishman, “there would be no better candidate from the European side.”

The job McGinley did even has players still in their Ryder Cup prime thinking of how they will eventually lead their continent against the U.S.

“They say perfection doesn’t exist, but if perfection doesn’t exist then he has been as close as you can get to it,” said 34-year-old Sergio Garcia. “I think he has done a great job and I have learned a lot from him. “Hopefully, one year, in the long-term future, I can bring some of his thoughts into my captaincy. It would be great, it was amazing.”

While the U.S. is busy bickering about its own captaincy, it seems the Europeans have plenty of capable individuals ready and waiting if called upon.

from Caddysview.com News http://ift.tt/1pSAVAB

Clarke playing coy; Garcia ready for eventual captaincy

By | |
Leave a comment

In the wake of yet another European dismantling of the United States at the Ryder Cup, much of the attention has turned toward the future of the event. For the Americans, the focus is on fixing a model that is clearly broken; for Europe, it’s trying to continue the domination, and that starts with the captain.

While there’s been plenty of chatter surrounding who will lead the Europeans in 2016, not much of it is coming from one of the early favorites for the job: Darren Clarke. 

“It’s not up to me to discuss it. It’s up to the committee,” said the 2011 Britsh Open winner. “Whilst I would be delighted to be offered the post, it’s the committee’s decision. An awful lot has been made about it, but we should be celebrating how well Paul and his team did without all this stuff going on. The committee’s there to decide who is the best man for the job.”

Clarke was an early contender to lead this year’s European squad before eventually being passed over in favor of McGinley. But Clarke has the No. 1 player in the world in his corner in a competition that could boil down to Clarke,Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Rory McIlroy recently said of Clarke, his fellow Northern Irishman, “there would be no better candidate from the European side.”

The job McGinley did even has players still in their Ryder Cup prime thinking of how they will eventually lead their continent against the U.S.

“They say perfection doesn’t exist, but if perfection doesn’t exist then he has been as close as you can get to it,” said 34-year-old Sergio Garcia. “I think he has done a great job and I have learned a lot from him. “Hopefully, one year, in the long-term future, I can bring some of his thoughts into my captaincy. It would be great, it was amazing.”

While the U.S. is busy bickering about its own captaincy, it seems the Europeans have plenty of capable individuals ready and waiting if called upon.

from Caddysview.com News http://ift.tt/1pSAVAB