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The Majors continued... Opposite: 2011 US Open champion Rory McIlroy in action during the 2012 Honda Classic, which he won at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Below: Left-hander Bubba Watson executes a spectacular recovery shot from the trees on the second sudden death play-off hole - the 10th - at this year’s Masters at Augusta National. All photos on these pages by REUTERS/ACTION IMAGES The proliferation of first-time Major winners in recent times is great for golf and for the players the challenge immediately switches to becoming a serial Major winner. New Masters champion Bubba Watson will relish this challenge. He served notice that his time was coming with three PGA Tour victories in the space of twelve months. He made his breakthrough in the Travellers Championship in June 2010. Later that summer Bubba fired rounds of 68+71+70+68 to tie Martin Kaymer and Dustin Johnson in the USPGA Championship, but he lost out in a play-off. He edged out Phil Mickelson to claim his second PGA Tour title at the Farmers Insurance Open in January 2011, and won again a few months later in New Orleans. He showed his steel at Augusta this year by coming from three shots off the pace entering the final round to force a play-off with 2010 Open champion and PING equipment stablemate Louis Oosthuizen. It’s history now that Bubba claimed his first Major title by producing a stroke of pure genius out of the trees on the second tie hole in a pulsating play-off. For Louis Oosthuizen it was a painful shock to the system as a second Major title slipped from his grasp after a wonderful performance in regulation play. For Bubba Watson, like every first-time Major winner, it’s a whole new ball game now. The monkey is off his back, expectations are raised and there is a glorious opportunity to strike again and again while the iron is hot. RISING STAR RICKIE FOWLER Fowler a major threat As this issue went to press rising young American superstar Rickie Fowler scored his breakthrough victory on the PGA Tour with a play-off triumph over Rory McIlroy and D.A.Points in the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina. Watch for him in the Majors. BUBBA WATSON 6 | BACKSPIN
RORY McILROY World top-25 stars chasing first Major The following 16 players in the top-25 of the Official World Golf Rankings after the Wells Fargo Championship in early May have not won a Major Championship. 2nd 3rd 5th 6th 9th Luke Donald (Eng) Lee Westwood (Eng) Hunter Mahan (USA) Steve Stricker (USA) Webb Simpson (USA) 11th Justin Rose (Eng) 12th Adam Scott (Aus) 15th Jason Day (Aus) 16th Matt Kuchar (USA) 17th Dustin Johnson (USA) 19th Bill Haas (USA) 20th Jason Dufner (USA) 21st Sergio Garcia (Spain) 23rd Nick Watney (USA) 24th Rickie Fowler (USA) 25th Brandt Snedeker (USA) For the top players it’s all about winning Majors and very fine margins define careers. Colin Montgomerie is a classic example. The eight-time European No. 1. suffered the agony of 5 runner-up finishes in the Majors including play-off defeats in the 1994 US Open and 1995 USPGA Championships. Sergio Garcia’s patience is also being tested. Thirteen years on from coming so close to victory as a 19-year-old rookie in the 1999 USPGA Championship at Medinah, the wait continues for the hugely talented Spaniard Garcia features in the panel above which shows that 16 of the top-25 golfers in the World at the start of May are still gunning for their first Major victory. Lee Westwood seems destined to break his duck. He has scored 2 runner-up and 5 third place finishes in the Majors since 2008. Westwood will turn 40 next April but, of course, age is no barrier to success at the top level as Darren Clarke proved by winning The Open last July at the age of 42. At the other end of the age spectrum, Rory McIlroy will surely join the pantheon of serial Major winners in the future, but the immediate challenge for the 23-year-old Holywood star as he prepares for his US Open defence is to win a second Major title. First-time Major winners since 2001 THE MASTERS 2003 - Mike Weir 2004 - Phil Mickelson 2007 - Zach Johnson 2008 - Trevor Immelman 2011 - Charl Schwartzel 2012 - Bubba Watson US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2001 - Retief Goosen 2003 - Jim Furyk 2005 - Michael Campbell 2006 - Geoff Ogilvy 2007 - Angel Cabrera 2009 - Lucas Glover 2010 - Graeme McDowell 2011 - Rory McIlroy BRITISH OPEN 2001 -David Duval 2003 - Ben Curtis 2004 - Todd Hamilton 2007 - Padraig Harrington 2009 - Stewart Cink 2010 - Louis Oosthuizen 2011 - Darren Clarke USPGA CHAMPIONSHIP 2001 - David Toms 2002 - Rich Beem 2003 - Shaun Micheel 2009 - Y.E. Yang 2010 - Martin Kaymer 2011 - Keegan Bradley Statistics compiled before the 2012 US Open BACKSPIN | 7
Page 1 and 2: 2012 SUMMER ISSUE €2.95 incl. VAT
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