Rory and Reed battle in Ryder Cup

It was to be disappointment for Darren Clarke as the Americans regained the Ryder Cup but Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed put on a classic show on Sunday at Hazeltine and the eighth hole captured why.
McIlroy rolled in his uphill birdie putt from 50 feet, let out some ferocious fist pumps and screamed at the packed crowd, “I can’t hear you!”
Reed then created total bedlam by draining a 25-footer of his for bidie. Reed wagged a finger at his opponent as if to say, “Not so fast.”
McIlroy realising the two were in the midst of something special, waited for Reed at the edge of the green to offer a fist bump. The two embraced and walked to the ninth tee together. What the Ryder Cup is all about.

Lowry disappointed as DJ overcomes rules penalty

It should have been a back nine to savour as Shane Lowry and Dustin Johnson battled it out for their first major title at Oakmont. But the USGA succeeded in killing the atmosphere of their national Open with an incredibly harsh penalty to Dustin Johnson mid-round for unintentionally moving his ball, a rule changed this week to avoid this situation happening again.
The worse part of the situation was the uncertainty over whether he had been penalised or not, which made the event a bitter watch. Johnson saved the USGA’s blushes with a resilient three-shot victory, even with the penalty. It was an extra sweet victory for Johnson, who had fallen foul of the rules at the 2010 PGA Championship, costing him a place in the playoff, for grounding his ball in the sand on 18.
As for Lowry, who held the 54-hole lead, it was not to be his day but finishing tied second in a major was still by far the best Irish major performance this year.

GB&I win Curtis Cup in Dun Laoghaire

The amateur team competition, the Curtis Cup, between Great Britain and Ireland and the United States came to Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in Ireland this year with a strong Irish representation. Half the team came from Ireland – Leona Maguire, Maria Dunne and Olivia Mehaffey all played their part.
Leona Maguire, who had an outstanding year and finished the year World No 1 Amateur, led by example with four points out of a possible five. Mehaffey with 3 1/2 points and Dunne with 2 points also did themselves proud. The star of the show, however, was England’s Bronte Law, who became the first GB&I players to go 5-0 in the biennial matches. Dun Laoghaire Golf Club hosted a successful event as galleries were treated to great golf from the home golfers.
It was only GB&I’s second win in 10 tries against the Americans.

The greats who passed away this year

Golf lost three of its favoured sons this year as Christy O’Connor Snr and Christy O’Connor Jnr and Arnold Palmer all passed away.
Christy O’Connor Jnr died in January aged just 67. He played in the Ryder Cup and his win over Fred Couples at the Belfry in the 1989 Ryder Cup with a stunning 2 iron to 4 feet, secured the Ryder Cup for Europe.
His uncle Christy O’Connor Snr passed away in May aged 91. He played on 10 successive Ryder Cups from 1955 to 1973, setting a record only to be passed by Nick Faldo in 1997.
Arnold Palmer was a seven-time major champion and one of the greatest players in history, often credited with popularising golf to the extent it is today.
May they all rest in peace.

Harrington returns to winning ways

With a tied 13th place at the PGA Championship his best 2016 finish heading into the week, few predicted that 80/1 shot Padraig Harrington would win the Portugal Masters.
After an illustrious career that has seen the Dubliner win three majors and win tournaments across three decades, 45-year-old Harrington could have been excused of fading into semi-retirement and focusing on the Ryder Cup captaincy.
Having decided the Ryder Cup captaincy was not for him because he wanted to play, he shows that it was not beyond the realms of possibility that a 47-year-old could play in the event in Paris in 2018.
A final round 65 secured his 15th European Tour victory and more importantly, his first in eight years. Harrington displayed an amazing short game with 96% scrambling out of 25 attempts, with two chip-ins and a holed bunker shot. If he can escape trouble like that in the future then there’s no reason why he can’t win again in 2017.

Campbell beats Hume in Flogas Irish Amateur classic

In a sun-kissed thriller on the links of Royal Dublin, Colm Campbell and Jack Hume treated the galleries to a birdie-fest at the Flogas Irish Amateur Open this year. Shooting -15 and -16 totals respectively, Campbell and Hume separated themselves from the field.
Two clear of Walker Cup star Jack Hume overnight and six ahead of him with 10 holes to go, the lead was down to one shot with two holes to go for Campbell as Hume birdied the ninth, 13th, 14th and 16th holes. Campbell may have thought he had it in the bag with a birdie at 17 and putting his ball on the middle of the green at 18. But Hume holed a double-breaking 60-footer for birdie on the final hole to put more pressure on Campbell. But the Warrenpoint man calmly holed two-putted to win and secured the biggest win of his career to date.

McIlroy in stunning Irish Open win

After three consecutive missed cuts at the Irish Open, Irish fans could be forgiven for feeling let down, at least on the course, by McIlroy on the course at the Irish Open. This year would be different though.
McIlroy’s response on the final day to the fantastic play of Russell Knox, who pulled one shot ahead after 15, was phenomenal.
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open galleries may never see two shots as good as his shots on 16 and 18 to set up eagle chances on Sunday again.
McIlroy said he was more emotional than usual in winning, as he donated his prize fund €630,000 to three charities supported by the Rory Foundation. Rory was not just playing for himself, he was playing for so many others.
They could not be prouder of their hero, who left the K Club as Irish Open champion for the first time in a distinguished career.

Spieth blows up at Augusta

Defending Masters champion Jordan Spieth was five shots ahead of Danny Willett at the turn. Having led the tournament since the first day, it looked like the American star was a certainty to claim his second wire-to-wire win in as many years.
Then disaster struck as Amen Corner took another victim. Spieth dropped six shots in three holes – including a quadruple bogey on the 12 to slip three behind a charging Danny Willett, who finished strongly with a birdie at 16 and amazingly won his first Green Jacket with a bogey-free final round 67.
The shortest hole at Augusta, the 12th hole, features swirling winds over water. What appears to be a simple hole has cursed many of the greats of the game, with some believing that it was built over an ancient burial ground. After duffing two shots into the water at this hole, Spieth sadly had completed the biggest golfing meltdown of the year.

Golf returns to the Olympics after 112-year absence

Hit by numerous high-profile player withdrawals in the build-up, golf’s return to the Olympic Games was generally well-received as Justin Rose won the Gold medal in Rio de Janeiro and Inbee Park won Gold in the women’s event.
The top 4 men’s players in the world refused to play in Rio, with McIlroy most vocal in not wanting to play, implying that the event did not matter to him at all. On the women’s side, all of the top players played in the event, including a silver medal for World No 1 Lydia Ko.
The Irish teams of Seamus Power and Padraig Harrington for the men and Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow for the women did Ireland proud. A front nine of 30 shots from Seamus Power, relatively unknown to the golfing public, gave Ireland hope of a bronze medal on Sunday before he eventually faded to tied 15th place. Maguire was the top performer for the Irish in the women’s event, finishing tied for 21st place.

An Open for the Ages

Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson engaged in a truly breath-taking contest at Royal Troon that will go down as an all-time classic. As Stenson shot a record-equalling final round 63, Mickelson may have put in the best second-placed performance of all-time, finishing 11 shots ahead of third.
Stenson’s own display even matched up favourable with Tiger Woods’ best ever performance, his 15-shot win in the US Open in 2000. The field average that year was 17 over, meaning he beat that by 29 strokes. Stenson at this year’s Open shot 20 under with a field average of 9 over, also beating the field average by 29 strokes.
As the two great players separated themselves from the field, the match-up was played in a great spirit. As ball after ball fell into the hole for birdie, it was the ultimate exhibition of what is great about golf.
As Nick Faldo put it, it was “golfing perfection” at Troon.