European Tour (sort of) - Perth International

And we're off... So, the European Tour road show embarks on one of the longest stretches of time and events outside the continent of Europe that I can remember. And they could hardly have taken a longer trip to start with than this one, from Portugal all the way to Australia, although it could've been much worse as they're stopping in Western Australia... There's no history to this event to talk about and looking at the field they ended up with, you could argue that there's little chance of a bright future to it either. The European connection is remote, at best, with the only top 100 players being two Americans (Dufner and BVP), a South African (Schwartzel) and an Aussie (Chalmers)! Strong players, no doubt, but hardly the most charismatic bunch, let's face it... If there are any 'star' Europeans then they'd be two of the most out of form guys at the moment, Paul Casey and Eddie Molinari.

But enough bashing and negativity, let's look at the bright side...

Firstly, it's great to be back in Australia for a change, and we can only be thankful to the organisers and sponsors for saving the face of the ET in these uncertain times and following the collapse of the Valderama event. The ET site is reminding us also that it's not the first time the European Tour is coming to Perth and to Lake Karrinyup CC and that the place is actually already in the tour's history books. I have to admit that I can't remember this, but in 2003 the Johnnie Walker Classic was held here, and that time Ernie Els shot the lowest score to par in European Tour history (29-under par), which also ranks joint third for the lowest number of strokes ever taken in a Tour event! So there you go...

The relative weakness of the field could be also seen as an opportunity, first of all for the numerous Aussies somewhat forgotten down under on the Australasia tour, as well as for a few of the 'second tier' Europeans that have been usually struggling to make an impact. And guys like Gagli, Howell, Boyd, etc., will be particularly well placed to use this opportunity considering their relatively good form of late... But will this be Paul Casey's week, I wonder? He had a pretty decent week in Korea where at least he's been in contention once again after a very long time, plus he'll have the advantage compared to many otheres that he'll be already used with the time zone (only one hour difference from Korea). We shall see....

surprised to see Dufner playing. i had him down as a Kenny Perry type player who would never leave his homeland

I would've thought the same hend, but maybe it's his new wife who's a bit more outgoing and pushing him to be a bit more adventurous, who knows...?

At the same time, although he would've been one of the least charismatic folks out there a year or so ago, I have to say that slowly I began to find him 'almost' interesting and even funny in his lazy demeanor... Also, because he's been playing so well recently, I'm sure...

I saw a picture of his wife from the RC. Duffner is batting way above his average.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/high-drama-as-europe-triumph-16218290.html?action=Popup&ino=72

Bloody hell, even super will have to admit she is hot. If her breasts are real then even more wow.

What did she ever see in the millionaire Paul Daniels I mean Jason Duffner?

Must be something to do with those waggles...

Go on Casey! Great start, specially with the conditions (wind) being tougher now later in the day...
Not really surprised to see Canizares up there, but I would be surprised if he's still there on Sunday afternoon. Pleasantly surprised that is... Same goes about Grillo.

Decent starts from most of those mentioned in the intro, long way to go though. Wasted round-the-world trip for Garath Maybin, he's been really struggling for the past 6 months or so...

Paul Casey really seems to be full of confidence despite his form. read yesterday he hopes to win a couple of times before the year end.

Easiest hole coming up for him (15th), 3 eagles there already today, so a good chance to advance further...

Birdie for Casey @15th, moving only 2 shots behind the leaders with 2 holes to go...

A great start for James Morrison in India as well, leading at 5-under at the moment. Hanson and Ramsay are two other Euro notables who decided to take a shorter flight this week to India, rather than going down under...

I was surprised to see Duffner make the trip but on the tv preview show he said he had played in Australia before and really enjoyed it. Pleased to get the opportunity to go back. maybe more to the fella than meets the eye!! Also going on to Malaysia and China

I like J-Duf.

The man just needs to calm down though.

Whichever way you look at it, "Perth" has a strange old field - unless the Aussie players support their own tournaments, Down Under events will become ever more irrelevant.


Meanwhile, Nedbank announce the following field for the same sort of money/owgr points grab as the Tiger feat:

Westwood
Rose
Colsaerts
Hanson
Kaymer
Lawrie
FMolinari
Mulroy
Schwartzel
Oosthuizen
Pettersson
Haas

Yep, the Aussies look to be a bit isolated at the moment from all the little changes that seem to happen around the world of golf... The biger problem with that could be that I can't really see where is the next wave of Aussie top golfers going to come from in these conditions. Haven't really heard of any promissing young players from down under beyond Jason Day....

That Nedbank field looks so small, it's almost embarrassing everytime when I have to give them all those owgr points...

The Aussies not supporting their own events may be part of a wider Australasian syndrom... Hard also to figure out some of these golfers in Asia... Jeev Milkha skips the big event in India to play in Japan, Ishikawa skips one of the biggest event on the Japan Tour to play in Korea, KT Kim skips the Korean Open to play in Japan... Go figure!

I can see a few similarities there...

Spoiler:

Don't want all you guys to go teary eyed at a wedding and all... but YES... the Dufmeister scored big on this one...

http://www.thestudiobphotographyblog.com/amanda-and-jason-dufner-wedding-fountainview-mansion-wedding

He even wears his golf shoes and sponsored cap in his free time?

Does seem like a professionally shot amazingly beautiful princess of a woman (the wedding photos not PD's pic!), then the first couple of the Dufmeister appear and he seems to me to look like a drunken Goofy at a 4am card game.

Fair play to the lad.

Talking about similarities between Dufner and a koala bear, what about similarities between Bud Cauley and Emilliano Grillo?

Both rookies on their respective tours, both leading their events this week, both at a very young age, similar height and light frame, blondish locks, and both pretty exciting players... Good to see them doing so well. Grillo really seems to score loads of eagles and today got two more in the space of 7 holes: holed a bunker shot at a par 5 and holed out on the par 4 9th... Really exciting player to watch.

Great credit to the two Americans for taking this event seriously and playing very well indeed. Should make for an interesting weekend. Casey's miracle start didn't last very long though...

Another brilliant 66 for Richard Ramsay today means he shoot up into a 4-shot lead in India at the moment. Second victory in two months looming for him...?

Grillo is a ringer for Oelson too!

Dufmeister is on a roll today. Very impressive to see this guy playing so well, so consistently and everywhere he goes (incl. in the RC)...

Nice battle brewing between Grillo, Dufner and BVP. Good to see the youngster keeping his cool still with the pressure from the others growing.

Richie Ramsay also coming under some pressure in India at the moment...

I see the tennis girls are doing well, Wozza, Ana, Daniela, even Venus (Kuenhe's ex) all still alive in their respective tournaments. Wonder if they have their boys in tow?

It seems the European Tour players are either in Perth to try and save their cards, or to creep into the R2D Top 60.
Grillo certainly doing himself a favour then, and David Howell & Canizares if they can keep it going.
Expensive (and futile) trip for many others though it would be a welcome sight to see Oliver Wilson have a 60-something on Sunday.

Not sure, but I don't think the Russians gave Rory a visa in time in the end to accompany Coroline. I saw that he posted a clip with him practicing at the Bears' Club in Jupiter, preparing for his Far East trip...

Grillo's primary goal was to come here and help his card situation, finding himself in the lead and in contention is probably a bonus. Will be tough for him tomorrow, but I wouldn't rule him out yet...

Ramsay leading by one shot in India after 3rd round, James Morrison just two shots back...

Great win for Bo Van Pelt and a great performance by the two Americans all week. Hopefully good stories like this will encourage other US players to travel and play more around the world.

Other good news from down under:

- Paul Casey finishing T5 after a very encouraging performance
- Canizares and Jamieson good finishes moving them well inside the top 60 cutline for RtD finale. Good move also for David Howell in that respect...
- Grillo had one of his best performances and results to date, securing basically his card for next year and confirming his star qualities.
- good result also for Rhys Davis (T5), his best finish in almost a year...

Bad news: BVP doesn't win too often and when he does, he's not so lucky either... He could move up only one place (to #23), at best, in the rankings after this. But if Furyk goes on and wins McGladrey tonight, BVP will remain at #24. Ouch!
Also, now BVP has two times more wins outside the US than he has at home. Come and join the European Tour, Bo!

P.S. Loved watching the event and listening to those amazing bird noises in the background...

Not so good news for RRamsay in India... Threw away a 2-shot lead at the last hole: he made bogey while the guy behind him, Thaworn W., made birdie. Play-off! ...and Ramsay drives his tee shot into a creek and loses the playoff and with it, the great chance to climb inside the top 50 for the first time ...

Ironic that BVP enjoys success on his travels, but not at home.

Terrible final round 78 from Oliver Wilson - very sad to see such a promising career seemingly disintegrate.

But job half done for David Howell, trust he'll move on to the Far East now in his quest for a ticket for Dubai.

TV coverage started here about 1.00 a.m. so watched none of it, same next week apparently. But: How good is Grillo? Never knowingly seen him play.

And don't know anything about Hendry (well, I remember Ian Hendry - great actor, original Avenger!, but never 'eard of the golfer!) - but good result for him.

Both BVP and Duff praised Grillo these days in Australia for his game and Duff said that in IMG's circles he heard people talking of him for a while as one with great prospects. From what I saw, he hits the ball very far (I think he's leading the field this week in driving distance ~304yds) and pretty straight. Also hits a lot of greens, reasons why I guess he seems to get quite a few eagles... Pretty fearless and going for the big shots... Probably the weaker side at the moment is the short game... Haven't seen too much evidence of this, but as any latin player, his temperament may be a bit of a problem sometimes, but we'll have to see about that as time goes on...

The ET site tells us that with this win, BVP...

- Gains a European Tour exemption until the end of 2014, should he take up European Tour Membership.
- Gains a place in the 2012 WGC – HSBC Champions and 2013 Volvo Golf Champions

Hope he decides to play the HSBC as well after Malaysia.. and why not, take up ET membership as well...

Wonderful Oz....!

Spoiler:

Van Pelt/Dufner Quinnela? I wonder what Paddy Power would have given for that proposition bet at the beginning of the week.

Throw in Schwartzel and I would have wheeled those three for some reasonable odds.

I am not surprised that BVP/Dufner separated somewhat themselves away from the field. The Aussie Tour is not deep and I think the US Mini tours has comparable talent. The EuroT representation was mostly journeyman and rank/file players.

The biggest surprise was Schwartzel missing the cut. Maybe it was Residual tryptophan still in his system from his trip to Turkey? (Thanksgiving joke for the non-Yanks)

Dufner and BVP are both playing HSBC China according to this page:

http://www.hsbcgolf.com/player-profiles

GPB wrote: Dufner and BVP are both playing HSBC China according to this page:

Looks like they're playing the CIMB as well... Nice little 3 event swing for the two of them... or could be at least if they can keep it going.

Not sure if

Auburn (or Oklahoma) => Australia => Malaysia => China => Home

qualifies as a "Little" 3 event Swing.