European Tour - Trophee Hassan II

The European Tour globe trotters are getting this week within touching distance from Europe itself, as they gather for the 40th edition of Trophee Hassan II in Morocco. Last week King Charl reached the zenith of his already illustrious carreer when he partnered the Queen of Malaysia in the local Pro-Am, but there's no word yet if King Hassan II will join the fun this week in Agadir.

A lot of the talk this week will be around those last minute tickets to Augusta, and there are five guys in this week's field (three of them are Scots) who could still make it: Gallacher, RCBello, Siem, Ramsay and Jamieson. Gallacher and Rafa Bello coulkd make it in theory with a solo 2nd, but the other three would require an outright win, while Wiesberger would come once again just short. You can add Thongchai Jaidede to that list as he could also make it with a win in Thailand this week, but it's hard to understand why someone like Noren (and a few others) chose not to play this week as he would've had a much better chance than any of those mentioned above...

Looking at the list of previous three winners at this event, you wouldn't be too sure if winning it is a blessing or a curse. All of them, Rhys Davies, David Horsey and Michael Hoey have been struggling after their respective wins, some of them really baddly... At least Horsey has shown some small signs of a recovery lately, and I would think he may not do too badly here this week. Franny Molinari is the highest ranked man in the field, but I'll be cheering more for his brother Eddie this week. If he can keep up that nice momentum from last week, a win is certainly a possibility for him. Other than that, there are quite a few other decent players who could spoil the plans of all of those mentioned so far, and I would fancy David Howler quite a lot to do well here, while Broberg and the two Irish lads, Lawrie and McGrane should have an outside chance. Finally, nice to see the young Aussie Daniel Popovic, the surprise winner of the Australian PGA last year, getting an invite...

Otherwise, not too many things to worry about, with Golf du Palais Royale being one of the shortest courses on tour (6844 yards/par72), and the weather forecast looking pretty good for the rest of the week...

I'll follow the Franny/Jamieson group.
Really interested to see the degree to which Jamieson kicks on now he's broken through - important few months for him, and a reminder that the owgr Top 60 will qualify for this year's US Open, not Top 50 as in years past.

Easy to pooh pooh the quality of this field but there should be some good golf in a nice little event.

Thanks pd

Kind of strange that the LET also is playing in Morocco this week.

It wasn't King Hassan II himself, but Franny played the Pro-Am with the crown prince of Morocco instead...

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2013/tournamentid=2013025/news/newsid=187849.html

I see a Soren Hansen sighting. Is he back from injury or returning from taxman-imposed detention?

Tough scoring in Africa . . . . .

I think this is the course that is played just once per year, during this tournament. Apparently locals can picnic on it a couple of weekends per year! Seems bizarre!

Yeah, I think that's more or less true... I also remember that if there is a bit of a stronger breeze, course can get very tough to play, not sure how's the weather right now, but scoring looks very tough indeed... Have a look at the poor Czech guy's scorecard who WD after 6 holes... +21 after 6, I think I might be able to beat that...

Good starts from Horsey and Pablito...

Great to see Soren Hansen back, imo one of the biggest underachievers on tour. He should have won a lot more!

Scoring a little more promising this afternoon, tho not for everyone . . . . . Franny, Jamieson, Ramsay, etc.

Siem off to a very nice start in pursuit of his Augusta ticket. For someone famed for losing his rag at the first hint of a bad bounce, he seems to play quite well in tricky, high-patience conditions... no doubt following an early bogey with an eagle two helps. RCB was going steadily til a double derailed him, but the three Scots are seemingly feeling the lack of heat, near enough out of it already.

What course was Marcel playing?

Is this the course where the caddies do not have to check the pin positions on the first day because they are where they left them on the last day year previous!

Interesting score maybe a record Jacob Svoboda retired 21 over par-wait for it -after 6 holes!! That will hurt for a while.

Yeah, I sort of mentioned that yesteday and then rushed to say that even I could beat that, but then I read that he said he WD because of a wrist injury, so now I'm prepared to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. One of the unfortunate 'byproducts' of having someone as high profile as Rory walking off the course the other week at Honda and putting the blame on a wisdom tooth, is that now it made us take a much more cynical view when something similar happens... But then I see that one of the Golf Channel geniuses has taken that cynicism a step further by making a whole 'story' out of it and putting all sorts of rubish in there just to attract attention...

Talking of the bottom of that leaderboard, the man who's propping it at the moment is none other than Oliver Wilson, who sadly seems to have found his 'comfort zone' there lately, and his scorecard doesn't look much better than Svoboda's...

Hopefully Siem will resist at the top till Sunday evening. He's not the most predictable golfer out there, often mixing streaks of genius with spectacular crashes... we'll see. And as usual, at the top are two guys (Siem and Luiten) whom I dropped from my FT picks long time ago because of their lack of form...

Difficult to mistake most of the Golf Channel fluff for journalism, but did enjoy the Jason Dufner pic. To be fair, Dufner has pretty much been sleeping on the job so those children shouldn't feel singled out.
Given Svoboda's record, it's surprising that he was in the field - asking for trouble, or at least ignomony.

Looks like Jamieson's given up also, wonder what his excuse is?

Sky were quoting Jamieson as having been ill (stomach flu was the word) for a few days, to the point of missing the practice rounds, so I assume it's a flare up of that illness.

Thanks Bob,
He's at the stage in his career where he really needs to make the most of his opportunities - he won't be at Augusta but has a very real chance of qualifying for the US Open; Muirfield a bit more of a longshot.
Good luck to him, but get healthy!

princedrac's buddie Pablito in with the round of the day and Eddie Molinari has one of the performances of the day, shooting 66 to redeem himself after a torrid Thursday.
Promises to be an exciting weekend if Marcel gets up to his usual tricks . . . .

Ouch! Not the right start from Marcel, only took a few minutes and there's only one shot between him and Horsey... Hope Siem keeps it together, his chances got a boost as Jaidee is still in second place in Thailand, but he's now 5 shots behind the leader...

Has North Korea hacked into the ET website? It crashed my computer an hour ago and now I can't get back on the europeantour.com site at all.

Marcel still one ahead of Horsey after 9-10 holes, Pablito two shots further back...
A propos of North Korea, i was thinking listening to the news, about Bae and KTKim, I think both of them were trying hard to find a way to skip their military service. That may get hrder to avoid if things keep moving in that direction over there...

Hopefully they'll conscript Kevin Na . . . . . . .

Maybe Anthony Kim is there already...

Suddenly Siem is 4 ahead!

Marcel's having one of his mad blackouts at the 17th...

EDIT: very lucky to get away only with a bogey in the end...

Wouldn't mind seeing any of that top five win this, though would prefer that Marcel doesn't shoot himself in the customary both feet.
Time for Horsey, for instance, to prove whether he's ready for the next step, while there's never anything wrong with seeing Larrazabal playing well.

Still plenty to play for for Gallacher and Ramsay.

Happy Easter!

Not so happy for Eddie at the par 3 14th where he got into the double digits Oh well...

Hard to see Marcel losing this now, unless he loses his marbles once again somewhere along the way... Should stay at least a bit calmer now, with the Thongchai threat out of the way...

Germany and Finland tied for the lead . . . .

Marcel, Marcel... You can never be sure with this lad...

Howler once again close to the top, just needs to find an extra gear to really have a proper go for a win...

Beautiful venue, but seemingly pathetic crowds at this event.

And the European tour wonders why the top talent flocks to these United States??

Time for Chubby to step in and once again and proclaim all things move East!

Shotrock wrote:Beautiful venue, but seemingly pathetic crowds at this event.

And the European tour wonders why the top talent flocks to these United States??

Time for Chubby to step in and once again and proclaim all things move East!

I've been to Agadir where this tournament is and it's a dump. Only package holiday tourists are likely to make up the crowds. A local wouldn't have the money to go and watch.

A bit like the site of the WGC MatchPlay - no-one ever goes. Thanks Finchem.

Franny beats Eddie by EIGHT strokes on the short 14th . . . . .

Big difference Kwin -- Tim delivers the revenue year in and year out, WGC aside.

European tour continues to lose top talent.

Stay the course and hope things change? Definition of insanity.

Until the golf organizations spread the WGC's around the rest of the World is in trouble - and the handcuffs Finchem has rightly designed to keep the best players away from their own Tours is a stroke (no pun intended) of genius.
Doesn't mean he's not a d1ckhead though, but why should he care?

Meanwhile Marcel is moving ahead Siemlessly . . . .

kwinigolfer wrote:Meanwhile Marcel is moving ahead Siemlessly . . . .

At least, so it Siems.

Kwin - I see your point; but I also remember no one MAKES a player play on any tour. Get the purses, get the necessary comforts and conveniences of travel and see if you can attract the talent. You can't be just as good as the current offering (evidently US tour), you need to be better. Business 101.

Sr,
It is indeed ironic that the Europeans' pride in their Tour only exemplifies itself once every two years.

More, better economies is the only answer outside a more democratic share of the WGC's; Finchem weathered the US storm, with enormous help from European-based companies it must be said. O'Grady seems to have been blown away by the very same gales of financial malfeasance.

I'm thinking Marcel is going to miss out on the Masters, which would be most unsiemly.

Finchem's "storm" more imagined than real. The market demand for event hosting and TV contracts led by the sheer strength of the US viewing market. And that never really contracted.

But my point was that Zurich bailed him out with New Orleans and San Diego, BMW with the old Western Open while Barclays and Deutsche Bank underwrote the FedEx racket. And then of course the Canadians came good with the Heritage and Canadian Open. Not to mention HSBC.

He was able to weather the storm also with cash reserves that enabled him to underwrite events like Tampa and San Diego and Hilton Head, whilst abandoning northern markets like Detroit and Milwaukee.

I think your word "contract" is also key, but in terms of longer contracts for key events.

Not many American companies helping out the European market.

Huh?

The European companies "helped" because they saw a commerce opportunity (bargain, even?). Nothing more, of that you can take to the bank!

No "commerce opportunities" in Europe?

I knew I was wasting my time working for IBM in London . . . . . . .

Where did I mention no commerce opportunities in Europe?

But, if you really think simple communication between big companies and the ET is all it would take, I suggest someone get on the phone and tell O'Grady about them all.

Let's do the math this week for the professional golfers: First place on the ET 250,000 Euros, or @ $320,000. First place on the US tour this week pays $1,080,000.

Yea, just a phone call ought to do it!

Yeah SR, but only the ET offers the opportunity to play in dodgy places, glorifying obscure despots. (And I'm not talking about Augusta.) That's worth half the glory.

Sr talks in riddles sometimes . . . .

But, Good News:
Miguel-Angel Jimenez is among the early commitments for "Open De Espana", with Garcia, 2xMolinaris, Matteo, Gonzo, Marcel, Chris Wood, Lowry, Willett, some Hansens etc.

Pedro - Good points ... And rumor has it the European Tour may be returning to Europe this year! Although this week's winer obviously eager to head to the states.

Shotrock wrote:Pedro - Good points ... And rumor has it the European Tour may be returning to Europe this year!

Hah - Aprils fool! Can't fool me!

European Tour is the best...

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/european-tour-andreas-pantless-033113/?cid=twitter_V_gc_HARTOPANTLESSTROPHEEHASSAN_033113