As Matt Wallace thumped the green with his putter as another birdie putt slipped by the hole at the 18th he knew he had blown a chance to lift the British Masters crown. Step forward Marcus Kinhult, the world’s number 210th ranked player, to coolly hole his ten-foot birdie putt and complete Wallace’s nightmare.
Welcome back to part two of our Friday Fitness feature as the GolfPunk team get back to working on improving their waistline and their game! This time we are going for the current GP Team's favourite exercise and one that has ramped up the competitive tension at GolfPunk Towers.
World number 417, Max Homa, shot a final round 66 to earn the biggest pay-day of his life with a three-shot victory at the Wells Fargo Championship from Quail Hollow. In second place was Homa’s compatriot Joel Dahmen, tipped by GolfPunk , at 12 under. Justin Rose had a very encouraging final round 68 to finish 3rd on eleven under.
Twenty Chinese golfers made the cut for the weekend of the Volvo China Open but it was an inhabitant of the 116th biggest country in the world, by population, who lifted the spoils at the Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen. FInland’s Mikko Korhonen clinched his second European Tour title seeing off France’s Benjamin Hebert at the first play-off hole.
GolfPunk loves the different side of golf. The side that has developed in what is almost certainly the oldest sport in the world and which in its professional ranks contains some of the biggest characters sport has ever seen and amongst its amateur fanatics certainly contains the biggest. After all, loving the game of golf (or loving to hate it and hating to love it) does not rely on your professional status.
Last night at our team get together we were discussing all things golf and one of the team asked what our Top 5 golf related movies were sparking heated debate until the boss put his foot down and decided what they were and also the order (which was perhaps even more hotly contested as you will see!).
Wu Ashun delighted the Chinese crowd, adding an excellent 65 to his opening 66 and a two shot lead at the Volvo China Open at the Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen. But it was Wu’s young countryman Yang Kuang who grabbed all the headline as the youngest player to make a cut on the European Tour at the tender age of 14 years, six months and 12 days.
In his first outing since The Masters, Rory McIlroy carded an opening five under par 66 to share the lead of the Wells Fargo International from Quail Hollow. The Northern Irishman shares the lead with America’s Joel Dahmen, one of GolfPunk’s each-way tips for the event.
Last week’s winner and GolfPunk’s tip for the China Open, Jorge Campillo, leads the way once again after an opening round of 65. Joining the Spaniard on the same mark are Tapio Pulkkanen of Finland and David Lipsky of America.
Welcome to GolfPunk’s latest regular feature - Fitness Friday - where we detail the exercises the team are doing in an effort to get both golf fit and ready for the looming summer golf tour where, god forbid, shorts maybe the order of the day!
The resident GolfPunk Tipster, Nick Fleming, picked 2nd place Julian Suri at last week’s event in Morocco. We are hoping he will go one better this week with his selections for the Wells Fargo Championship from Quail Hollow, Charlotte, North Carolina and the China Open. Both events will be on Sky and look to provide some good entertainment.
The unlikely pairing of John Rahm of Spain and America’s Ryan Palmer saw off the challenge of Rahm’s countryman Segio Garcia and Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood to lift the Zurich Classic trophy. The pairing that came together after Palmer’s original partner Jordan Speith pulled out and Rahm’s would be partner, Wesley Bryan, was out with a shoulder injury.
