European Tour - Singapore Open

We are quickly approaching the end of the season and with only a handful of relvant tournaments left around the world it would appear that there is little left to get excited about at the very top of the ranks. Rory has dominated clearly enough the proceedings to have almost everything more or less wrapped up: #1 in the world is safe, 1st in money list on the PGA Tour is safe, while the top spot in the R2D is practically a formality at this stage for him. Ironically, Rory, the guy who we've been criticizing for skipping the HSBC, is the one who is playing most events in the period left before the year end from all those at the very top of the pile, most of the others practically giving up the fight. And the WGC-HSBC's loss is certainly Singapore's and HK's gain, as Rory's presence alone is likely to boost the OWGR strength of these two tournaments (not to mention the interest) by around ~2-4 points.

So the real interest for the reminder of the season will be shifting towards a few other things: the top 50 cutline at the end of the year, top 60 for the R2D finale and of course, the all important top 115(ish) to secure the card for next season. The Singapore open is one of the most significant events left, not only for the reasons mentioned above, but also for its very generous prizes. It has a rather short history as a ET co-sanctioned event (since 2009), before that being one of the top tournaments on the Asian Tour. The rise in the field strength has been significant after 2009 and this trend is set to continue this year...

Spoiler:

Out of the 7 editions played so far, Adam Scott has won here three times and will be again one of the favorites. Another favorite among the non-ET or Asian Tour members is Phil Mickelson who will be looking to close his season in style, following on his excellent runner-up finish last week in China. Unfortunately a couple of the recent winners will be missing this week, and I'm talking about Poulter (2009) and Gonzo (2011). Not sure what Pouler's excuse is considering that he'll have to come back this way once again next week on his way to Australia, but no excuse could be as pathetic as the one Gonzo came up with a few days ago... Oosthuyzen and Harrington are two other big names to look out for, with Padraig in real need of a strong result as he started to slip back once again in the rankings...

It seems that this year the organisers have decided to play the event on a single course (Serapong) rather than on the two courses from the Sentosa GC complex as they've done in the last two editions. Weather tends to play an important part in this event as thunderstorms are a current occurence in this period and it looks like this year won't be any different. Last year they had to move the finish to Monday as well as reduce the event to 54 holes, but hopefully they'll get enough breaks to finish the 72 holes this time around...

For reference, here is the present situation around the top 60 cutline in the R2D (yes/no if they play or not this week):
...
55 JAMIESON Scott €455,235 (yes)
56 CAÑIZARES Alejandro €448,291 (yes)
57 FINCH Richard €441,242 (no)
58 STENSON Henrik €440,156 (no)
59 LAWRIE Peter €438,865 (yes)
60 SLATTERY Lee €427,556 (yes)
-----------------------------------------------
61 RUMFORD Brett €422,461 (no)
62 WALL Anthony €417,294 (no)
63 SJÖHOLM Joel €407,394 (no)
64 LAIRD Martin €405,423 (no)
65 QUESNE Julien €404,692 (yes)
66 HOWELL David €398,451 (yes)
67 KARLSSON Robert €379,002 (no)
68 ZANOTTI Fabrizio €375,394 (no)
69 BALDWIN Matthew €372,786 (no)
70 QUIROS Alvaro €371,186 (no)
71 MULROY Garth €354,264 (yes)
...

Interesting to see the two ex-top Swedes, Karlsson and Stenson, chosing to play in the Mickey Mouse event instead, showing where their real priorities are (or is that a PGAT card issue?)...

Among the bubble boys for the top 115 who are lucky enough to play this week in Singapore are: Rhys Davies (115), S Khan (120), Edfors (122), Horsey (127), A Dodt (134), etc... but Gary Boyd (121) will be desperate to get a result next week in Hong Kong, as he wasn't lucky (or good) enough to get a pass this week...

Great write-up pd,
I think Stenson HAS to play Disney to achieve his 15th tournament, while Karlsson will be making one last desperate attempt to reach at least the Top 150 - otherwise he'll be taking his tee-time at Q-School Second Stage next week.

Isn't it amazing that someone as accomplished as Karlsson can find himself in that position. I hope he doesn't do a Sandelin and disappear.

Rory says he's planning to play 22 or 23 events in 2013.
Trying to have an early guess what these could be...

- 4x majors
- 4x wgc's

Euro Tour
- Abu Dhabi
- Omega Dubai
- Wentworth
- Irish
- BMW Shanghai
- Turkish
- Dubai

PGA Tour
- Honda
- Bay Hill
- Wells Fargo
- Players
- 3 or 4 Playoffs

That will make 22 or 23 events in total... Any other ideas?

Not sure why he'd play Bay Hill even if Arnold Palmer has threatened to break his arm if he doesn't. A pretty average course at a time when Rory would likely be better off taking a breather.

But it illustrates just how slim the average PGA Tour Director's pickings are when seeking to secure the top players for their event.

kwinigolfer wrote:Not sure why he'd play Bay Hill even if Arnold Palmer has threatened to break his arm if he doesn't.

...that's the only reason I put it in there... Could come down to flipping a coin if he should please Arnie or Jack (Memorial)...

Muirfield Village suits Rory to a tee, but likely a difficult time in the calendar for him.
Have you matched Wozza's likely schedule against all this to make sure they're compatible?

Indeed, Finchem and O'Grady would have to consult with Caroline's manager when they arrange their tours' schedules in future...

princedracula wrote:That will make 22 or 23 events in total... Any other ideas?

Haven't kept up to speed with the various comings and goings of the tour schedules, but he's known to like Hong Kong and Alfred Dunhill Links (subject to fatigue etc). What's the tournament at Congressional? I recall he missed returning there due to conflict with the Irish, but don't know the situation for next year.

Presumably he meant tour events rather than wheelbarrow ones. Or maybe something in-between like a fee-earning guest appearance on the Asian tour again (like Fowler's first pro win, wherever that was).

Simon Khan won the BMW PGA a few years back. Does that tourney win carry longer exemption than the other EuroTour tournaments?

kwinigolfer wrote:Muirfield Village suits Rory to a tee, but likely a difficult time in the calendar for him.
Have you matched Wozza's likely schedule against all this to make sure they're compatible?

Wozza will be playing the French Open during the Memorial. If she makes it out of the first round.

GPB wrote:Simon Khan won the BMW PGA a few years back. Does that tourney win carry longer exemption than the other EuroTour tournaments?

Yes - 5 years I think.

Is the Barclays 54 hole curse going to strike yet again...?

That could well happen...
"Play suspended due to a dangerous situation" ... sounds like the Singapore Open all right!

Unless it's a temporary depression caused by Paddy's moustache ...Just as shocking as his 1st round score.

A very good start once again for Casey though.
And Eddie Molinari is slowly getting back to his best (hopefully). After an albatross at the par 5 4th in his practice round on Tuesday (1st 'official' shot he ever hit with his new hybrid, if you're to believe one of his tweets), today he came up with an ace at the par 3 17th!! Way to go, Edoardo!

And that's the vampire curse put on Casey and E Molinari...!

Best of luck to you, boys.

Didn't do them any harm so far, looks like they'll be relaxing and sitting in bed all day... Certainly no cursing for their fellow countrymen: Dyson/Wood and Franny/Matteo who have been doing very well indeed so far.

Great day also for the 24 year-old big local hope, Choo Tze Huang, blitzing the first 7 holes in 6-under par (after he struggled yesterday over the same stretch of holes in 5-over par).

Not complaining in any way, but I can't understand what Barclays and other local sponsors are getting out of this... $6million for publicising year after year this terrible weather...

are they still aiming for 72 holes?

Barclays have been in stormy weather for the past many years, haven't they?

Not a good idea to have a tournament in a former rainforest in the rainy season.

I see Barclays are richly rewarded by John Daly's presence in their field - another withdrawal.

Never really sure why one half of my brain wishes Daly well and continued revival of his career.

And what's left of the other half is sick and tired of his continued abuse of goodwill from Tours, Tournament Directors and sponsors.

Let alone his fans.

He's once again avoiding PGA Tour Q-School so what the claptrap on the BBC website about him retaining his US card is all about, only Iain Carter knows.

Prince

Your Rory Schedule looks ok, but is it likely he would not play another regular event after the beginning of may?

Strange that Barclays are sponsoring 2 international sporting events this week.

The golf and the tennis are in different time zones though, so perhaps not too much cannibalisation of attention from one to the other.

Rory making a move? Eagle at the 4th puts him T5 and 4-shots behind Bjorn. That's in round 3, by the way... you tend to lose track in Singapore sometimes of what round they're playing...

G. Bhullar continues to impress, after becoming the 2nd Indian to move inside the top 100, he may well become the highest ranked Indian after this week, and who knows, he could even move inside the top 50 if he goes on and wins this...

Big setback for the Irish trio of Harrington, S Lowry and Peter Lawrie, all missing the cut and in danger of slipping outside the top 60 (OWGR for Paddy and Shane, R2D for Peter Lawrie).

PS. Mac, in that scenario, Wells Fargo is 1st week in May, Players is 2nd week in May, Wentworth probably the 4th week in May and if he plays the Memorial as well after that, that's quite a busy schedule before the US Open...

Daly is a disgrace, don't know why he is continually allowed to waste a spot in the field of these tournaments.

princedracula wrote:Rory making a move? Eagle at the 4th puts him T5 and 4-shots behind Bjorn.

...or maybe not, followed that with a double bogey at the 6th...

Forza Matteoooo!

kwinigolfer wrote:
Never really sure why one half of my brain wishes Daly well and continued revival of his career.

And what's left of the other half is sick and tired of his continued abuse of goodwill from Tours, Tournament Directors and sponsors.

Man... couldn't have said that better myself... definitely love/hate with the guy...

BOOOM!!!

That's what I call finishing in style, superb eagle at the last hole for Rory!
After all the travelling to Bulgaria, all the controversies with skipping HSBC, new Nike deal rumours, plus a battle with a sinus infection these last few days, he still manages to finish (most probably) in the top 3...

Otherwise, belissimo top of the leaderboard (not the one on the ET site which has been all over the place today) and a beautiful day to finish things off in Singapore after all that dreadful weather in the middle...

Still some holes to play and a great battle for the top spot between Matteo and Louis. Well worth waking up a bit early, I could watch these two playing all day...

Absolutely superb effort from Matteo to birdie the last and force a play-off with king Louis. No matter the outcome, this was very much Matteo of old, if you can say something like that about a 19-year old. Cool and mature beyond his ears, following a scintillting 64 in the 3rd round with a very solid and calculated performance in the last round (and a 40-hole bogeyless stretch inbetween)...

Pretty awesome.... What is this, Matteo's 3rd win... most ever for a teenager on the European Tour. Superb effort.

Wow!! A fantastic play-off and what a way to win it for Matteo with an eagle!!

Clearly at a disadvantage with the way the play-off was setup, playing repeatedly the par 5 18th, which he could reach only by playing to his limits both the driver and the 3-wood from the fairway...

Three wins at 19 with this being the biggest so far! Will bring him back up inside the top 50 at the perfect time...

Another great week for Louis, but at the same time it's another one he fails to close and there's been a few of those this year for him...

Is Matteo far enough inside to ensure an invite from Billy Payne? Would think he must be, Thomas Bjorn a cert now as well.

George o Grady will NOT be happy that the R2D is over already...........expect a change of format soon............

I see Howler's last round 74 left him on 61st place for the R2D.

I have always thought it strange that if there are withdrawls for the final they are not replaced by the next player on the table.
I can see both sides of this argument but it must pea you off if you are 61st!!