Saturday, January 02, 2010

Paul Casey, hungry for golf,
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will play in Qatar Masters

NEWS RELEASE BY ALAN EWENS
Commercialbank Qatar Masters Media Officer
Doha, (Qatar): With his recent injury woes firmly behind him, England’s Paul Casey will be looking for a quick return to the top of the leader board - and the world No 7 has the Commercialbank Qatar Masters, presented by Dolphin Energy, as a key date in his 2010 diary.
The 32-year-old Englishman will have mixed feelings about 2009 after a rib injury forced him to miss almost half of a season that had promised so much and included three global wins that elevated him to a career-high position of world No 3.
But Casey prefers to look on the positive side of a year that still saw him finish fifth in the Tour ranking despite frequent visits to the treatment room.
“It's very easy to look forward because I haven't really been able to play golf since the Open," said Casey. “I've tried to come back and I haven't been ready and that's been frustrating. Now I feel hungry to play a lot of golf. I've already got the schedule at home and mapped it out – 2009 could have been such a great year and it was a great year but it was just half a year. If I can just stay fit and healthy, there's no reason why I can't do better things next year as I did in the beginning of 2009."
Organisers of the $2.5 million event have welcomed Casey’s commitment to the thirteenth staging of the Commercialbank Qatar Masters, presented by Dolphin Energy, to be played at Doha Golf Club from January 28-31.
“Having Paul join the field has again strengthened what is already a very powerful field,” said Hassan Al Nuami, President of the Qatar Golf Association (QGA). “Despite his recent injury, he is still ranked number seven in the world and we are delighted to have him confirmed for Doha.”
While Casey has won twice in Abu Dhabi, he has found the challenge of Doha Golf Club an all-together different proposition despite being one of the best ball strikers in the world. The 2010 event will be his fourth appearance in an event that in 2009 offered more world ranking points than its fellow Desert Swing tournaments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“If you look at the stats, I've played three times in Qatar,” added Casey, who last year won the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, the Houston Open and the European Tour's flagship BMW PGA Championship. “Although it's a great field, a great tournament with a wonderful sponsor, it's a golf course that I seem to have trouble with visually. Who knows? It's one of those things.”
With Casey out to improve his recent Qatari record, the Englishman adds further star quality to a line-up featuring golfing big guns such as Kenny Perry, Sergio Garcia, Camilo Villegas, Retief Goosen and defending champion Alvaro Quiros.
“I’m sure everyone that loves golf will be pleased to see Paul back on the fairways,” said Andrew Stevens, Group CEO of title sponsors Commercialbank. “To finish fifth in Europe after playing just fourteen tournaments shows his consistency and we wish him luck as he bids to win in Doha for the first time.”

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Open at St Andrews top priority

for Martin Laird in 2010

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Martin Laird, Scotland's highest-ranked golfer in the world, has revealed that a burning desire to play in an Open Championship at St Andrews for the first time this coming July is likely to rule out the chance of him turning up at one of the tournaments Colin Montgomerie is keen to see his Ryder Cup contenders attend.
The 26-year-old from Glasgow has been considering coming over from his base in Arizona to play in the PGA Championship at Wentworth in May and admits he would love to be in a position to tee up in more European Tour events in addition to the Barclays Scottish Open.
However, one of Laird's top priorities in 2010 is the 150th anniversary of the Open and, as was the case when he played at Turnberry this year, his route into that looks as though it will be through the international final qualifier in the States, thus ruling out the European Tour's flagship event.
"I looked at trying to come over to Wentworth but it doesn't seem that is going to work out as the IFQ in the US is the Monday after the PGA Championship," he said.
"I also looked at the local qualifiers but that would mean I'd miss the AT&T, one of the bigger tournaments over here. It's annoying because I'd love to come back and play three, four or five events in Europe but when you sit down and look at schedules it is difficult.
"That's the difference the FedEx Cup has made. Normally I wouldn't mind taking a few tournaments off but now, with so much money at stake, you could drop yourself down and cost yourself a lot of money.
"During a short visit to Scotland just before Christmas – his first since winning on the US PGA Tour back in October – Laird took the chance to pop over to St Andrews from his parents' home in Upper Largo to play the Old Course for only the second time in his life.
"He loved it and, unlike former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, came away giving his backing to the new tee being introduced by the R&A at the 17th to help put some bite back into the 'Road Hole'.
"The Open is the one tournament I'd love to play next year – and not just because my parents live close to St Andrews. It is the one major and one location that is probably high on everyone's list," he said.
"I'm coming back for the Scottish Open the week before and that would make it a perfect fortnight for me."I actually played the Old Course with my dad (Charles] when I was back in Scotland recently. It was a great day and we had a fun game. I'd only played it once before – in the World Schools' event a long time ago.
"I can see why they are extending the 17th. I played off the old championship tee and it didn't play long. I hit a good drive and only had a 9-iron into the green. It is still a tough shot even with a club like that in your hand and I hit it over the road into a position where I was dead. "However, there's definitely not the fear factor it used to have when guys were going in there with a 4-iron."
Since returning to Scottsdale, Arizona, Laird, who will head into the New Year as the world No 104 – 13 places above Aberdeen's Richie Ramsay – has been preparing for the start of his 2010 campaign in the SBS Championship, a select-field event involving all the winners on the US PGA Tour the previous year, in Hawaii next week.
"It is one of the things that will make my win (in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open] sink in," said Laird, the first Scot to triumph on the US circuit since Sandy Lyle more than 20 years ago.
"It's an event I'd normally watch on TV and that's where everyone wants to start the year as it means you've had a good season the year before. I certainly had that but my life's not changed at all, to be honest.
"The only thing that has changed, I suppose, is that I can plan my year a bit more. I know which tournaments I will be able to play and don't necessarily have to play courses that might not suit me as well as others. It has taken a lot of the pressure off me in the off-season.
"My first goal for 2010 is to get off to a good start. I've struggled to do that in the past and not just for the last two years on the US PGA Tour. Even when I was on the Nationwide Tour I never got off to a good start. This year I am determined to play some decent golf before May.
"Other goals include a second US PGA Tour title, breaking into the top 100 in the world and a place on Montgomerie's team at Celtic Manor, though Laird, who spent Christmas in Colorado with his American girlfriend and her family, admits a Ryder Cup a bit further down the road is probably a more realistic target.
"Now I know that I'm capable of winning out there I am determined to do so again and, if I can, then I'll be able to climb up the world rankings," he added. "While I'm proud to be the top Scot at the moment, I don't like the fact I've got that honour for being 104th. I wish I could be higher than that and the top 50 is one of my goals for the future.
"It would be great if myself and another couple of the Scottish guys had a good year in 2010 and maybe even made that Ryder Cup team because it would be a shame to have Monty as the captain and not have a Scottish player on it.
"If I get my season off to a good start, who knows? I may be up there in the points list. When it gets to the summer, that's when you can start think about really making a push for the team and making a claim for a spot.
"The Ryder Cup is definitely one of top goals in my career and, hopefully, I'll play in more than one team. But I'm not going to go out and play more tournaments or have a different schedule to try and get into it this year."

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Tiger won't be able to focus on

golf: I know, I've been there,

says Colin Montgomerie

FROM THE STUFF.CO.NZ WEBSITE
Tiger Woods will find it almost impossible to fully focus on his golf when he returns after the recent revelations over his private life, according to European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie.
The eight-times European No 1, pictured right, went through a much-publicised divorce in 2006 and knows how pressures off the course can affect performance on it.
Woods has taken an indefinite break from golf following a media storm that culminated in the world No 1 publicly admitting being unfaithful to his wife.
"It is absolutely impossible to play good golf (with all that going on)," said Montgomerie in an interview with Sky Sports.
"There was a reason why Tiger didn't win a major last year, the first year for a long time. We now understand possibly the reasons why.
"I can only speak for myself and say during a time like that you can just about make it to the next tee if you make a birdie or a par but with a bogey the world collapses around you," added the 46-year-old Scot
Montgomerie said negative thoughts about his own private life were difficult to shrug off when he was going through turmoil.
"A round of golf is an emotional roller-coaster anyway," said Monty. "I think it must have been similar for him.
"When you hit a shot and it goes left or right into the woods, immediately thoughts creep in during the long, two to three-minute walk to find the ball.
"It (the scandal) will impact on every tournament Tiger plays. Let's hope the tabloid press finish quickly and we get on supporting golf."
Montgomerie is one of the few top players to comment on the Woods situation since allegations about the 14-times major winner's private life surfaced after he was involved in a minor car accident outside his home in November.
"I think the mystique has gone," said the Ryder Cup skipper. "I think the mysterious nature of the guy has gone.
"He is suddenly, you hate to say, more normal now. Let's hope golf isn't damaged by that.
"There is no question there was an aura about Tiger Woods over this incredible record he has, not just in majors but in other world events.
"That wall has been split slightly and there are cracks. It gives us more opportunity to find ways of winning these events now and I am thinking of myself as well as my peers."
Montgomerie said golfers everywhere were appreciative of Woods' impact on the sport.
"I think it is like Arnold Palmer for the American tour in the past and Seve Ballesteros for us in Europe," he said. "We are playing for the money we are today because of those two players.
"Tiger became a global ambassador for golf, therefore the whole world of golf benefited from Tiger.
"We in Europe have benefited, as Asia has, as Australia has, as South Africa has, as America has. It is a great debt to him that we are playing and sponsorship is as strong as it is in golf right now."


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