The IIG Congratulates Arjun Atwal!

Featured: Fraser gives credit to coach McDade for win

Appleby, Baddeley & Atwal make US Open field

Aussies Stuart Appleby and Aaron Baddeley were among the 15 players who have successfully qualified for the 2010 US Open from the Sectional Qualifying event in Columbus, Ohio.

The Down Under duo came through the 36 hole qualifier played at the Lakes and Brookside courses along with major winners Tom Lehman, Davis Love III and Ben Curtis.

Meanwhile, India’s Arjun Atwal has also qualified for the US Open, being played this year at Pebble Beach, by coming through qualifying in Rockville, Maryland.

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Thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this article

Not Badds: Aaron finishes 3rd in Texas

Australia’s Aaron Baddeley notched his best finish of the season by far by finishing 3rd at the Valero Texas Open on Sunday.

“Badds” as he is popularly known bounced back from an opening round of 75 to shoot 66 in the second round. After poor weather had forced a 36 hole Sunday finish, the Aussie fired rounds of 67 and 68 on the marathon final day to finish at 12 under par for the tournament, 2 shots behind eventual winner and fellow Aussie Adam Scott.

While it was the end of a long victory drought for Scott on the US PGA Tour, Baddeley would be encouraged that he too is not too far from winning form and ending a drought of his own (his last victory came at the 2007 FBR Open). Going through swing changes while competing at the highest level can be tough for even the most talented players in the world, however with his performance this week Baddeley seems to have turned a corner.

Baddeley returned to his childhood coach Dale Lynch earlier this year after having experimented with other swing methods. The pair had plenty of success early in Baddeley’s career as he lifted the 1999 Australian Open as an amateur and retained his title the following year having turned professional. He has been looking to return to the same principles in his game that brought him all that success, the basis of which is taking a holistic approach to golf as outlined in Dale Lynch and his coaching partner Steve Bann’s Pure Golf Training program.

The numbers:

Baddeley was typically strong on the greens this week ranking T4 for Putts Per Round (26) and 3rd for Putts Per Green In Regulation (1.574). He also bombed it off the tee ranking 2nd in driving distance (averaging 310.5 yards). Driving Accuracy (57.1 %- T25) and Greens in Regulation (65.3%- T24) might be two areas in which he did quite well but might look to improve a bit to get him over the line for that win.

With Baddeley’s putting talent, more greens will surely mean more birdies. More birdies ought to lead to that breakthrough win sooner rather than later.

Thanks to the Pure Golf Training team for this article, and well done Badds!

Fraser wins Ballantines Championship for first European win in 7 years

Marcus Fraser has completed a 7 year journey back into the winner’s circle on the European Tour by winning the Ballantines Championship on Deju Island in South Korea.

The Victorian shot a final round of 69 to win the weather-shortened 54 hole event by an impressive 4 shot margin at 12 under par. He beat an impressive field which included the likes of Ernie Els, Anthony Kim, Y.E Yang and some of the best players on the European Tour.

“It’s unbelievable, I don’t know how I did that today. It has blown me away,” said Fraser. Clearly emotional and relieved after finally closing the deal, Fraser admitted he has had his fair share of struggles and doubts over the last 7 years or so:

“Probably three or four years ago, I thought about giving it away,” he added. “I was playing terrible. Golf swing wasn’t improving and everything wasn’t really getting any better.

“I thought I was wasting my time and you really start to question yourself, whether you think that you should be out here or whether you deserve to be out here. I went through a patch like that and luckily I went back and saw my old coach that I used to see when I was an amateur, and we got things moving in the right direction.

He was quick to give credit to his coach Denis McDade of Bann Lynch Golf:

“It’s been a lot of hard work over the last couple of years to get back to this position. My last win was when I was coached by Denis McDade, and I’ve had another win today, still being coached by him. So I think we’ve done a lot of things to keep things moving in the right direction.”

We will have more on this story soon. Congratulations to Marcus from all of us here at Bann Lynch Golf!

Appleby “frees it up” to best finish of season

Stuart Appleby sent out the following message on his Twitter on the Sunday before the 2010 Verizon Heritage tournament in Harbor Town:

“Time, age, quality, coaching, competition, direction….many more. All of those but still to know how then play like a kid…swing away….Your direction, what you want.Paint the picture of how you want your game to be.To putt with confidence you need to be ok with missing putts…that’s the most important thing. All good putters don’t get wrapped up in missing only excited at the chance to make the next putt“.

Appleby stayed true to those words all week as he “played like a kid” all the way to a t-8 finish at Harbor Town Golf Links, his best of the season so far.

Shooting rounds of 69, 67, 73 and 67, Appleby finished at 8 under par, 5 shots outside the playoff between Jim Furyk and Brian Davis, which Furyk went on to win. The 67’s he shot in the 2nd and 4th rounds were his best scores of the season, one in which he has continued his struggles from last year.

Prior to this week, Appleby’s best finish of the 2010 PGA Tour season was T30 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. This coming on the back of his worst season on the PGA Tour where he lost his playing privileges finishing outside the top 125 on the money list. For a man who is ranked 16th in career earnings on the PGA Tour, this was uncharted territory. In fact, he is using his one-time exemption for being ranked in the top 25 in career earnings to play on Tour this year.

For the likable Aussie’s fans around the world, it has been a frustrating experience watching a player with such beautiful technique struggle this way. However even the best players in the world can sometimes get too caught up in being technically perfect and lose sight of the most important thing in golf: get the ball in the hole in the least amount of shots.

Judging from Appleby’s tweets before this week, he understood the need to go back to having fun playing the game, like he did as a kid. His coach Steve Bann spoke earlier in the week about their preparation for the Verizon Heritage:

“Harbor Town is a course where even if you’re in the fairway, you often have trees in your way and it just forces you to be creative with your shot making. Add to that the fact that these are some of the smallest greens you’ll see on Tour all year, and you’ve got a course where you need all the shots….Stuart and I have been working on our 9 ball drill a lot in practice, i.e draws, fades and straight shots at low, medium and high trajectory. It really brings out your creative side and makes you visualize shots…he’s had lots of fun with that“.

The numbers tell the story: Appleby ranked T8 in Greens in Regulation and T19 in Putts per Greens In Regulation. That translates into lots of birdies and par saves, exactly what you need to do well at Harbor Town.

Appleby’s legion of fans will be hoping this is just the spark he needed to kick off a run of strong play to get back to being a regular contender on the weekends.

Thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this article.

Choi contends, finishes T4 at Masters

South Korea’s K.J Choi has emphatically announced his return to top level form with a stellar performance in the final round of the 2010 Augusta Masters to finish T4.

Choi was tied for the lead heading into the business end of Sunday’s final round, however consecutive bogeys at the 13th and 14th holes put paid to his chances. Still, Choi has plenty to be proud of, having demonstrated that he is once again playing the kind of golf that saw him become a world top 10 ranked player earlier in his career. He has recently played his way out of a slump and his results have been very impressive already this year, having finished 2nd at the Transitions Championship and making the cut in every event he has entered.

Choi had the unique distinction of playing all 4 days at Augusta National with Tiger Woods, and contrary to many people’s expectations prior to the tournament that his game would suffer due to the distraction, Choi reveled in the spotlight and matched the world number 1 blow for blow. He might have come up a little short in his title challenge (eventually finishing 5 shots behind champion Phil Mickelson) however Choi will surely take many positives out of this week:

“I’m satisfied and it was gratifying for me this year and the fans were very supportive and just playing with Tiger for the last four days was a very good experience for me,” said Choi, who has previously won Tiger Woods’ event, the AT&T National.

The strongman from South Korea was trying to emulate the feat of his countryman Y.E Yang, who beat Woods at the PGA Championship last year to become the first Asian to win one of golf’s majors. Yang also finished inside the top 10 this year at Augusta, perhaps another sign of the growing influence of Asian golfers in the men’s game. Choi spoke about the increased belief amongst Korean and Asian players that they belong on the world stage:

“In the past … the mindset of the Asian players was that when it comes to the Masters, there was a fear factor there, that we can’t do it. Now I hope that this gives motivation for the younger players, other players, that they can do it at big tournaments like the Masters.”

His coach Steve Bann had been very pleased with the way K.J prepared for this year’s event, having spent a lot of time working on his short game and lag putting and trying to stay fresh by not playing too many practice rounds. “K.J has done a great job of balancing his practice routine to make sure his short game is sharp while his ball striking is the best I’ve seen it for quite some time” he said earlier in the week.

Choi’s game was certainly sharp for the best part of the tournament, and if he keeps playing this way it can’t be too long before he breaks through for his first major win.

Thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this article.

K.J trumps Tiger…earns his praise

Thursday 9th April| They were being called the two unluckiest players in the draw at Augusta this year. K.J Choi and Matt Kuchar, Tiger Woods’ playing partners for the first two rounds of his comeback extravaganza, also known as the 2010 Augusta Masters, would surely crumble under the pressure of the intense media scrutiny and huge crowds following his return to golf.

As it turned out, the rest of the field must be wishing they could have attracted some of the good vibes of that group. Collectively, Choi, Woods and Kuchar shot 11 under par around Augusta National in Thursday’s 1st Round, making them the most successful group of the day’s draw.

K.J Choi’s caddy Andy Prodger had spoken about his lack of nerves about being in Tiger’s group prior to Thursday’s round. He had seen it all before. No biggie.

His boss showed a similar calmness as he expertly managed his game around a decidedly accessible Augusta National to turn in a round of 5 under par 67 to sit 1 shot off Fred Couples’ lead, 1 better than Woods.

Choi made the turn at 1 under after mixing birdies at the 2nd and 4th holes with a dropped shot at number 6. He was still 1 under through 12 holes but then caught fire with 4 straight birdies from the 13th through the 16th. He finished it off with a couple of pars to tie fellow countryman Y.E Yang, veteran Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood at -5.

His playing partner Tiger Woods, who shot 68, was understandably impressed with Choi’s game:

“KJ played great..he made a lot of putts, drove the ball on a string today..when he did put himself in a spot he just knocked it up there and made a putt”.

Choi’s coach Steve Bann was also very pleased with the attitude his player brought to the course:

“K.J is always looking forward to testing himself and growing as a golfer. He has always played well when paired with Tiger so he was very excited about this opportunity. He saw this as a Sunday atmosphere feel on a Thursday.”

Bann pointed out that Choi has done a great job of preparing for this tournament, focusing on his short game and long putts and preserving his energy for the big show: “K.J is the most comfortable he has ever been with his game. This week he has played just 2 rounds of 9 and 1 round of 18 holes and balanced his practice really well”.

When he is on his game, Choi can compete with anyone, as he proved to Tiger by winning his event in 2007. Tiger has plenty of respect for the man:

“KJ as we all know can play, and he gets into his own little world and he focuses and he gets the job done”.

Choi has a long way to go before the job is done at Augusta but he is off to one heck of a start.

Thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this content.

Choi gets thrown into the Tiger pit

Wednesday 7th April| About a month ago, K.J Choi wasn’t even sure he would get to play in this year’s Masters tournament at Augusta National G.C. He was ranked outside the world top 50, needing a good run of play to earn him an invitation to the year’s first major.

Come Thursday afternoon Choi will find himself in the best seat in the house to witness one of the most eagerly anticipated returns in not only golf, but all of sports. Tiger Woods makes his return to competitive golf at The Masters and has been paired with Choi and Matt Kuchar for the first two rounds of the event.

The grouping is bound to attract huge galleries and plenty of attention, however don’t expect Choi to wilt under the pressure. The South Korean strongman affectionately known as “the tank” has earned a reputation for being icy cool in the heat of battle and will be fancying his chances at Augusta based on his recent form. He earned himself a spot in the field thanks to stellar performances at the Transitions Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, and has had previous success at Augusta National, finishing T-3 in 2004.

Choi isn’t a stranger to Tiger either, having won the inaugural edition of  his event the AT&T National in 2007.

The group tees off at 1:42 p.m Augusta time on Thursday.

A big thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this article

Leishman, Choi enter Bay Hill with their sights set on Augusta

This much is for certain: April is going to be a huge month for Marc Leishman. Not only is the Aussie making his Masters debut in Augusta on April 8th, he’s tying the knot with fiance Audrey Hills on April 24. As he prepared for the Bay Hill Invitational on Tuesday, he couldn’t help but think about the month ahead.

So which event is he more nervous about? Not the wedding, according to Leishman (good answer). “I’m actually looking forward to it,” he said with a smile. “I know she’s the right person so I’m not nervous at all.”

The PGA Tour seems to be the right fit for the big man from Down Under as well. He followed up his Rookie of the Year performance in 2009 with a solid start to 2010 including a runner up finish at the Farmers Insurance Open and 3 other top 20’s.

Still, he’s looking to improve:

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Leishman said. “The results just don’t come. In ways it’s been easier because I’ve played some of the courses before and know where to hit it and where not to hit it…I guess it’s harder in other ways, though, because of the expectations. You are expected to do better than your first year out, but I like that (challenge).”

The trip to the Masters will also be special for Leishman’s coach Denis McDade from Bann Lynch Golf, who will be making his first appearance as a coach at Augusta.

Meanwhile, South Korean K.J Choi has his own sights set on another Masters appearance (he has played in every Masters since 2002). Choi made a huge leap from 75th in the Official World Golf Rankings to 47th after his runner up finish last week in the Transitions Championship. He needs to remain in the top 50 at the end of this week to cement his position in this year’s Masters field.

“When I started out this year, I didn’t really think about it that much, but obviously it was in my mind,” said Choi when asked about the Masters. “I just said to myself to take it week-by-week and just try my best. To hear that this finish puts me in 47th in the world, it’s actually better than what I thought I would be at this point. All I can say is I will try my best next week to maintain or better that position.”

Thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this article:

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