British Masters

British Masters Sept 28th thru Oct 1st
Close House GC, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England
(first time for this course for this tourney)

last year @ The Grove, Chandlers Cross, Hertfordshire, England
1st Alex Noren [-18]
2nd Bernd Wiesberger [-16]
3rd Lee Westwood [-15]
T-4th (5 players) [-13]
Richie Bland
Tommy Fleetwood
Peter Hanson
Alex Levy
Graeme McDowell

"of interest" PGA players in the field
(R to D = Race to Dubai standings)
Sergio Garcia (2nd R to D)
Graeme McDowell (156th R to D)
Rory McIlroy (10th R to D)
Ian Poulter (62nd R to D)
Russell Knox (80th R to D)
Shane Lowry (78th R to D)
David Lingmerth (137th R to D)

"noteable" Euro Tour players
Matthew Fitzpatrick (12th R toD)
Ross Fisher (8th R to D)
Alex Noren (5th R to D)
Andy Sullivan (43rd R to D)
Bernd Wiesberger (9th R to D)
Lee Westwood (25th R to D)
Chris Wood (36th R to D)

NO Julien Suri again ??? went from 60 to 63 Race to Dubai outside the Top 60 CUT after last week. also NO Tommy Fleetwood and NO Thomas Pieters this week ???

player "of note" Eddie Pepperell 3 Top 5 finish in a row
T-3rd Portugal Masters [-15]
T-3rd KLM Open [-13]
T-5th Czech Masters [-8]
T-28th Denmark [-7]

favorites are Rory McIlroy @ 8-1. Sergio Garcia @ 10-1 and defending champion Alex Noren @ 15-1 with Matthew Fitzpatrick, Bernd Wiesberger and Lee Westwood all at 20-1. "player of note" Eddie Pepperell is @ 30-1

I obviously played Pepperell "to win" along with these tourney match plays (bet/return)

Richie Ramsay -110 over Russell Knox (55/105)
Lucas Bjerregaard -110 over David Lingmerth (55/105)
Eddie Pepperell -110 over  Tyrrell Hatton (55/105)
Matthew Fitzpatrick -110 over Lee Westwood (55/105)
Sergio Garcia +105 over Rory McIlroy (48/98.40)
(AND, of course, the "contra parley" which SAVED my AZZ @ the KLM)

first round Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England weather partly cloudy after an overnight light rain temp 55F in the early am warming to 64F in the afternoon. wind west to southwest 7 mph all day. looks like perfect for the game of golf

well outhouse mouse!!! ONLY match play really working after the 1st round is Richie Ramsay [-3] over Russell Knox [+4] with freeking Sergio Garcia [even] over Rory McIlroy [-3] and Eddie Pepperell [-1] over Tyrrell Hatton [-7] (tied for the tourney lead with George Coetzee) BOTH in trouble. "The Matthew Mouse" tied with Westwood both [-4] while Lucas Bjerregaard [-3] one up over David Lingmerth [-2] and anything can happen those two plays

Friday forecast early morning rain clearing by 10am then partly cloudy rest of the day. winds 5 to 7 mph in the am increasing to 10 to 12 mph in afternoon

well I am "behind the eight ball" yet AGAIN this week after the 2nd rpund. Ramsay a [-3] for tourney [-6] over Knox [-2] for [+2] gets a "walkover" CUT win BUT BOTH Pepperell [+4] for [+3] AND Garcia [-1] for [-1] were CUT to lose to Hatton and McIlroy. the "Matthew Mouse" four back of Westwood BUT Bjerregaard four up on Lingmerth

Tyrrell Hatton having a golfing "epiphany" this week @ [-12] for a three shot lead over five players including Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter going into the weekend. he had been very "average" most of the season. I am VERY surprised and disappointed with Eddie Pepperell's performance. played like he did last season when he was a serial CUT 

Ho BOY!!! freeking Lingmerth shoots a "bomber" [-8] Saturday for tourney [-10] one shot up on Bjerregaard who was [-3] for [-9] going into Sunday BUT "The Matthew Mouse" with a [-4] for [-9] to tie Westwood [even] for [-9]. BOTH matches "wicked close"

the Swede Robert Karlsson with the lead @ [-12] BUT five players hot on his butt, including my man Graeme Storm who I have a 100-1 "to win" on and 2nd round leader Ty Hatton who slipped with a [+1] on Saturday. Rory McIlroy having his best tourney in awhile with a [-6] for tourney [-10]  just two back along with four others

looks like anyone's tourney. comes down to WHO can shoot LOW Sunday

Good God Gertie!!! I said "anyone's tourney who can shoot LOW" and young Paul Dunne, who I used to look for as a FADE, with the [-9] final round for [-20] three shot WIN over Rory McIlroy (He's BAAACK!!!) [-7] for [-17]. my man "Stormy" really could NOT get it going Sunday and finished tied for 4th [-14].

like Lucas Bjerregaard last week in Portugal, the 24 year old Irishman Dunne "breaks his maiden" with his first Euro Tour WIN. he was previously famous for leading the 2015 British Open thru three rounds as an amateur. CONGRATES to HIM

I ended up going 2-3 on my match plays with Ramsay and Fitzpatrick WINS (thank God Lee Westwood can NOT putt for BEANS) BUT lose Garcia, Pepperell (both CUTS) and Bjerregaard because that "Swedish Meatball" Lingmerth shoots [-8] & [-4] the final two rounds for [-14] to Lucas tourney [-12] so NOT a good tourney for me

Close House GC is a relatively new course and watching the last two nights on Golf Channel the greens really looked a little "patchy" and kind of grainy AND seemed "wicked slow"

ON to Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland next week at St. Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns. last years winner was Tyrrell Hatton [-23] who had a good tourney this week tied for 8th [-12] BUT had the 2nd round lead and was tied for 2nd going into the final Sunday