SCOTLAND FINISH JT FOURTH BEHIND WORLD CUP WINNERS USA
FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
The United States ended their 11-year wait for a 24th Omega Mission Hills World Cup victory as Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland landed the title on Hainan Island, China today.
The most successful nation in the history of the competition won their first World Cup since Tiger Woods and David Duval in 2000, as tournament debutants Kuchar and Woodland combined for a five-under-par 67 in the final round foursomes.
That left them 24 under par and gave them a two shot win over Germany and England – for whom Ian Poulter and Justin Rose mounted an incredible late charge with a 63, the best foursomes score of the week by three shots.
Overnight leaders Ireland tumbled to joint fourth position with a 72, by far their worst score of the week. Also on 267 were Scotland, Australia and the Netherlands.
NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
Haikou, China: Matt Kucher and Gary Woodland of the United States showed why they are the best in the world when they staged a battling comeback to win the Omega Mission Hills World Cup today.
The Americans combined effectively to extend the United States record wins to 24 following a final round five-under-par 67 which also ended a 11-year wait for the United States since Tiger Woods and David Duval won the title in 2000 in Argentina.
Germany, who hauled themselves back into contention with a third round 61, could not rally back again after Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka closed with a 69 at the Mission Hills Resort in Hainan Island.
The English pair of Ian Poulter and Justin Rose left it too late and had to settle for a share of second place alongside the Germans after they signed off with the day’s best score of 63.
Starting the day two shots behind overnight leader Ireland, Kuchar and Woodland got off to a great start with birdies at the first and second holes before picking up further birdies at the sixth and seventh holes to reach the turn in 32.
Despite picking up their lone bogey on the par-three 11th, the Americans came charging back strongly with further birdies on the 12 and 13 holes before making pars in the rest of the holes to complete their week with a winning total of 24-under-par 264.
“We came here hoping to have some fun. We set a goal out to win and that's what we came here to do. We played phenomenal, especially today.
“We got off to a hot start early, played solid on the back, and really we were not in trouble in the back at all. It was a good day,” said Woodland.
Kuchar, who was the third highest world-ranked player in the field, credited Woodland for a winning partnership.
“When I got selected to represent the United States in the World Cup, I chose Gary Woodland, thinking that he would team up well with me. I have no doubt that he was the best player in the field,” said the world number 10.
“For me, it was a lot of riding his coat-tails, trying to keep encouraging him to keep it going, because he played some great golf. And I'm fortunate and really, really excited that I picked him,” added Kuchar.
Meanwhile Germany were left to rue a missed chance on the par-four 16th as that would have tipped the advantage back to them.
Having reached the turn in 34 after two birdies on the second and ninth holes, Kaymer felt that they could have narrowed the Americans’ lead to one if they had birdied the 16th hole.
“I was a little frustrated about today because we had good chances and I missed a lot. 16 was a big, big chance for us to put the Americans under pressure. They would have seen our score on 17 when they walked up to the green, they would have seen we are only one shot behind them,” said the world number four.
England, rated as one of the pre-tournament favourites, could only reflect on what could have been after they uncharacteristically failed to take advantage of the low scoring four-balls format, posting 66 and 68 in the first and third rounds.
“I felt like today was a bit about coming out and playing for pride. You always have pride when you are playing for your country but it was about restoring in individual pride for ourselves, really. Both four-balls days were uncharacteristic for us, and today was fun,” said Rose.
“We were a little subdued last night. It was disappointing to shoot only four-under par in four-balls, and to go and shoot nine-under par today and actually leave shots on the golf course sounds very silly to say, but it's the fact,” added Poulter
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
264 UNITED STATES (Gary WOODLAND and Matt KUCHAR) 64-70-63-67
266 GERMANY (Alex CEJKA and Martin KAYMER) 65-71-61-69; ENGLAND (Justin ROSE and Ian POULTER) 66-69-68-63
267 SCOTLAND (Stephen GALLACHER and Martin LAIRD) 63-69-69-66; IRELAND (Graeme McDOWELL and Rory McILROY) 63-68-64-72; AUSTRALIA (Brendan JONES and Richard GREEN) 61-70-67-69; NETHERLANDS (Robert-Jan DERKSEN and Joost LUITEN) 64-71-64-68
268 WALES (Rhys DAVIES and Jamie DONALDSON) 67-69-65- 67
269 SOUTH KOREA (KIM Hyung-sung and PARK Sung-joon) 66-71-64-68; SPAIN (Alvaro QUIROS and Miguel Angel JIMENEZ) 65-69-68-67
270 ZIMBABWE (Brendon DE JONGE and Bruce MCDONALD) 66-70-67-67
271 SOUTH AFRICA (Charls SCHWARTZEL and Louis OOSTHUIZEN) 68-68-61-74
272 MEXICO (Jose DE JESUS RODRIGUEZ and Oscar SERNA) 66-69-65-72; FRANCE (Gregory BOURDY and Raphael JACQUELIN) 66-70-68-68; DENMARK (Anders HANSEN and Thorbjorn OLESEN) 65-72-68-67
273 NEW ZEALAND (Gareth PADDISON and Michael HENDRY) 66-68-68-71
274 ITALY (Edoardo MOLINARI and Francesco MOLINARI) 67-69-64-74
275 THAILAND (Kiradech APHIBARNRAT and Thongchai JAIDEE) 66-70-68-71; CHINA (LIANG Wen-chong and ZHANG Xin-jun) 68-68-68-71
276 JAPAN (Yuta IKEDA and Tetsuji HIRATSUKA) 66-70-66-74; PORTUGAL (Hugo SANTOS and; Ricardo SANTOS) 70-68-66-72; AUSTRIA (Florian PRAEGANT and Roland STEINER) 69-72-65-70
278 COLOMBIA (Manny VILLEGAS and Camilo VILLEGAS) 65-76-64-73; BRAZIL (Lucas LEE and Adilson DA SILVA) 68-71-67-72
279 SWEDEN (Alexander NOREN and Robert KARLSSON) 66-74-66-73
282 SINGAPORE (LAM Chih Bing and Mardan MAMAT) 68-75-65-74
285 GUATEMALA (Pablo ACUNA and Jose TOLEDO) 75-74-66-70
296 BELGIUM (Jerome THEUNIS and Nicolas COLSAERTS) 67-77- 68-84
The United States ended their 11-year wait for a 24th Omega Mission Hills World Cup victory as Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland landed the title on Hainan Island, China today.
The most successful nation in the history of the competition won their first World Cup since Tiger Woods and David Duval in 2000, as tournament debutants Kuchar and Woodland combined for a five-under-par 67 in the final round foursomes.
That left them 24 under par and gave them a two shot win over Germany and England – for whom Ian Poulter and Justin Rose mounted an incredible late charge with a 63, the best foursomes score of the week by three shots.
Overnight leaders Ireland tumbled to joint fourth position with a 72, by far their worst score of the week. Also on 267 were Scotland, Australia and the Netherlands.
NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
Haikou, China: Matt Kucher and Gary Woodland of the United States showed why they are the best in the world when they staged a battling comeback to win the Omega Mission Hills World Cup today.
The Americans combined effectively to extend the United States record wins to 24 following a final round five-under-par 67 which also ended a 11-year wait for the United States since Tiger Woods and David Duval won the title in 2000 in Argentina.
Germany, who hauled themselves back into contention with a third round 61, could not rally back again after Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka closed with a 69 at the Mission Hills Resort in Hainan Island.
The English pair of Ian Poulter and Justin Rose left it too late and had to settle for a share of second place alongside the Germans after they signed off with the day’s best score of 63.
Starting the day two shots behind overnight leader Ireland, Kuchar and Woodland got off to a great start with birdies at the first and second holes before picking up further birdies at the sixth and seventh holes to reach the turn in 32.
Despite picking up their lone bogey on the par-three 11th, the Americans came charging back strongly with further birdies on the 12 and 13 holes before making pars in the rest of the holes to complete their week with a winning total of 24-under-par 264.
“We came here hoping to have some fun. We set a goal out to win and that's what we came here to do. We played phenomenal, especially today.
“We got off to a hot start early, played solid on the back, and really we were not in trouble in the back at all. It was a good day,” said Woodland.
Kuchar, who was the third highest world-ranked player in the field, credited Woodland for a winning partnership.
“When I got selected to represent the United States in the World Cup, I chose Gary Woodland, thinking that he would team up well with me. I have no doubt that he was the best player in the field,” said the world number 10.
“For me, it was a lot of riding his coat-tails, trying to keep encouraging him to keep it going, because he played some great golf. And I'm fortunate and really, really excited that I picked him,” added Kuchar.
Meanwhile Germany were left to rue a missed chance on the par-four 16th as that would have tipped the advantage back to them.
Having reached the turn in 34 after two birdies on the second and ninth holes, Kaymer felt that they could have narrowed the Americans’ lead to one if they had birdied the 16th hole.
“I was a little frustrated about today because we had good chances and I missed a lot. 16 was a big, big chance for us to put the Americans under pressure. They would have seen our score on 17 when they walked up to the green, they would have seen we are only one shot behind them,” said the world number four.
England, rated as one of the pre-tournament favourites, could only reflect on what could have been after they uncharacteristically failed to take advantage of the low scoring four-balls format, posting 66 and 68 in the first and third rounds.
“I felt like today was a bit about coming out and playing for pride. You always have pride when you are playing for your country but it was about restoring in individual pride for ourselves, really. Both four-balls days were uncharacteristic for us, and today was fun,” said Rose.
“We were a little subdued last night. It was disappointing to shoot only four-under par in four-balls, and to go and shoot nine-under par today and actually leave shots on the golf course sounds very silly to say, but it's the fact,” added Poulter
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
264 UNITED STATES (Gary WOODLAND and Matt KUCHAR) 64-70-63-67
266 GERMANY (Alex CEJKA and Martin KAYMER) 65-71-61-69; ENGLAND (Justin ROSE and Ian POULTER) 66-69-68-63
267 SCOTLAND (Stephen GALLACHER and Martin LAIRD) 63-69-69-66; IRELAND (Graeme McDOWELL and Rory McILROY) 63-68-64-72; AUSTRALIA (Brendan JONES and Richard GREEN) 61-70-67-69; NETHERLANDS (Robert-Jan DERKSEN and Joost LUITEN) 64-71-64-68
268 WALES (Rhys DAVIES and Jamie DONALDSON) 67-69-65- 67
269 SOUTH KOREA (KIM Hyung-sung and PARK Sung-joon) 66-71-64-68; SPAIN (Alvaro QUIROS and Miguel Angel JIMENEZ) 65-69-68-67
270 ZIMBABWE (Brendon DE JONGE and Bruce MCDONALD) 66-70-67-67
271 SOUTH AFRICA (Charls SCHWARTZEL and Louis OOSTHUIZEN) 68-68-61-74
272 MEXICO (Jose DE JESUS RODRIGUEZ and Oscar SERNA) 66-69-65-72; FRANCE (Gregory BOURDY and Raphael JACQUELIN) 66-70-68-68; DENMARK (Anders HANSEN and Thorbjorn OLESEN) 65-72-68-67
273 NEW ZEALAND (Gareth PADDISON and Michael HENDRY) 66-68-68-71
274 ITALY (Edoardo MOLINARI and Francesco MOLINARI) 67-69-64-74
275 THAILAND (Kiradech APHIBARNRAT and Thongchai JAIDEE) 66-70-68-71; CHINA (LIANG Wen-chong and ZHANG Xin-jun) 68-68-68-71
276 JAPAN (Yuta IKEDA and Tetsuji HIRATSUKA) 66-70-66-74; PORTUGAL (Hugo SANTOS and; Ricardo SANTOS) 70-68-66-72; AUSTRIA (Florian PRAEGANT and Roland STEINER) 69-72-65-70
278 COLOMBIA (Manny VILLEGAS and Camilo VILLEGAS) 65-76-64-73; BRAZIL (Lucas LEE and Adilson DA SILVA) 68-71-67-72
279 SWEDEN (Alexander NOREN and Robert KARLSSON) 66-74-66-73
282 SINGAPORE (LAM Chih Bing and Mardan MAMAT) 68-75-65-74
285 GUATEMALA (Pablo ACUNA and Jose TOLEDO) 75-74-66-70
296 BELGIUM (Jerome THEUNIS and Nicolas COLSAERTS) 67-77- 68-84
Labels: PRO GOLF
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Sunday, November 27, 2011
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