Review of the year 2012 - Part 3(b): THE TOURS IN 2012 APRIL-AUGUST

A P R I L

April was all about (well nearly) one man. Louis Oosthuizen, he threw away one tournament, had one tournament taken away from him with a piece of magic and then won a second title of the year, all in three weeks. The South African won the 2010 Open Championship by an impressive seven shots at the Home of Golf, and his swing is admired by professionals and fans in equal measure. Despite an impressive resume Oosthuizen had not won on American soil, something he wanted to rectify and join the legends of South African golf such as Player, Locke, Els, Goosen, Immelman, Clark and Schwartzel. The Shell Houston Open has over the last half dozen years established itself as the tournament played prior to The Masters, setting up the course at Redstone Golf Club as close to the conditions found at Augusta National as possible. Rounds of 67, 66 and 66 put Oosthuizen at the top of the leaderboard at 17-under for three rounds, 2 shots clear with 18 to play. But again he played terribly in the final round, just as he did on Sunday at the Volvo Golf Champions and a round of 75 which featured two double-bogeys and three bogeys saw him miss out and finish third, two shots adrift of the champion, Hunter Mahan.

Louis then lost in a play-off at The Masters to Bubba Watson.

12 months ago, following Schwartzel's Masters victory he traveled thousands of miles to Malaysia, along with Rory McIlroy who had also suffered Masters disappointment. Oosthuizen did the same in 2012 and following promising but ultimately disappointing weeks in Houston and Augusta it was third time lucky for the South African, claiming his fifth European Tour title and second win of 2012 by three strokes. Charl Schwartzel joined his globe-trotting countryman in Kuala Lumpur, finishing in 6^th position.

M A Y

Quail Hollow will host the 2017 PGA Championship and has for many years now shown its Major Championship credentials, attracting the world's best players every year and providing a test which brings the best out of the best when it matters. 2012 was no different from any other year in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rory McIlroy announced himself to an American audience in 2010 with his final round 62 and come from behind win, and Sean O'Hair and Anthony Kim have both confirmed their young talent over this magnificent layout. 2012 was the turn of another young star in the making to finally fulfil what was predicted for him 3 years ago. Rickie Fowler was victorious in a three-man play-off with McIlroy and the less heralded D.A. Points, winner at Pebble Beach in 2011.

Fowler continued his fine form at TPC Sawgrass, contending on the final day for the “fifth major”, coming up just short of the champion Matt Kuchar. Kuchar claimed the biggest win of his career with a final round 70 to finish two shots better than Ben Curtis, Fowler, Zach Johnson and Martin Laird. Charl Schwartzel chose not to play at Sawgrass, and Oosthuizen probably should have done, crashing out after two rounds.

Charl decided to play arguably the European Tour's two biggest tournaments back-to-back in May, starting at the Volvo World Match Play Championship at Finca Cortesin in Southern Spain. Following a tie and a defeat in his group including Retief Goosen and Nicolas Colsaerts Schwartzel failed to make it into the knockout stages and his disappointing season continued. The Belgian Colsaerts went on to record wins over Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker, Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Graeme McDowell to claim the biggest win of his career and become the first Belgian winner of golf's greatest match play title. Schwartzel, Colsaerts and the majority of the European Tour's best then assembled just outside London for the flagship tournament of the European Tour – the BMW PGA Championship.

12 months ago we witnessed golf's first head-to-head for the world number one spot between Luke Donald and Lee Westwood. This year Luke Donald came to Wentworth once again as World Number Two, this time looking to overtake Rory McIlroy. After challenges from the likes of James Morrison, Paul Lawrie and Justin Rose, Donald's path to victory over the West Course was a lot smoother, rounds of 68, 68, 69 and 68 saw the Englishman claim a four stroke win and return to Number One for the fourth time in 12 months.

Schwartzel finished in a tie for 18^th place. Five months into the season the 2011 Masters Champion had slipped to 16^th in the world, his lowest ranking in 13 months.

J U N E

In contrast to Schwartzel's schedule Louis Oosthuizen decided to spend the first part of the summer in the USA, leading up to the U.S. Open, playing in Texas at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and Crowne Plaza Invitational, before meeting up with his mate at the Memorial Tournament in the last week of June. This decision didn't pay off for Oosthuizen, he missed the cut at the Byron Nelson, Memorial and U.S. Open as well as finishing in a tie for 19^th at Colonial. Louis' form since winning the Malaysian Open was terrible, missing four out of five cuts. Charl finished in the top 20 at the Memorial, followed by 38^th in the U.S. Open. It really was a poor summer for South Africa's two most recent Major champions.

The same couldn't be said for golf's former undoubted king – Tiger Woods. While Woods failed to end his major drought at either the U.S. Open, Open Championship or USPGA he did confirm that his win at Bay Hill was not a false dawn, by winning both the Memorial Tournament and AT&T National.

The AT&T National was played at Congressional Country Club, the site of the 2011 US Open and scene of Rory McIlroy's record-breaking first Major title, McIlroy was expected to play at Congressional but that was before the European Tour schedule was published in late 2011. The Irish Open would return to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland and McIlroy was expected to support the tournament. He declined to play at Congressional and decided to play in the most anticipated Irish Open since the 1980's. His form however was not where he would have wanted coming into the tournament which all Irish golfers see as the fifth major.

For the first time in European Tour history all four tournament days sold every ticket, with 112,000 sold for play between Thursday and Sunday and the atmosphere on the Dunluce course was comparable to any Major Championship. Whilst all of the pre-tournament focus was on the Irish contenders, it was a Welshman that finally took the chequered flag first for his first career win on the European Tour. Sweden's Mikael Lundberg started the day off with a bang, going out in a staggering 29 shots before finishing with two birdies and two bogeys on the back nine to post a final round 65 and 13-under in the clubhouse. But this fast start didn't worry the Welshman, who strung 3 birdies together on the front nine and finished with four birdies in the last five holes to claim a four shot win. It was a week that will be remembered for many years in Northern Ireland and the Irish Open was re-born.

J U L Y

July was the month of the National Open, highlighted by The Open Championship, but the French Open, Scottish Open and Canadian Open all played their part, illustrating golf's great global strength. Germany's Marcel Siem upset David Howell to win for the first time in nearly 10 years on the European Tour at Le Golf National in the Alstom Open de France. The Scottish Open, played at the breathtaking Castle Stuart near Inverness was won dramatically by India's Jeev Milkha Singh in a play-off against Italy's Francesco Molinari following a completely unpredictable Sunday in the highlands. Singh posted a final round 67, starting 12-under and five shots behind Molinari the Indian posted 17-under in the clubhouse but seemingly a few short of the winning score.

Scotland's Marc Warren reached the fifteenth tee at 20-under and on course to become the first Scottish winner of the Scottish Open since Colin Montgomerie in 1999. But disaster struck for Warren as he made double-bogey at 15 and bogeys and 16 and 17, leaving himself needing to birdie the par five 18^th to join Molinari and Singh in the play-off. The 2-time past winner on the European Tour failed to do so and missed out by a shot, he really should have been lifting the trophy. Singh birdied the first play-off hole to claim his fourth European Tour title but first for four years.

The Canadian Open is one of the five oldest championships in golf and is the only PGA Tour event in Canada, its position on the schedule, the week following The Open, is one that has been discussed numerous times over the years, but it has continually attracted several top players. This year Charl Schwartzel and Retief Goosen were the headline names, but both were upset by the little known Scott Piercy as the Canadian Open continued its trend of young winners over the last decade.

A U G U S T

The third World Golf Championship of 2012 was then played at the Firestone Country Club, and once more the Bridgestone Invitational produced the most compelling WGC on American soil.

Bradley's dramatic final hole win validated his Major title and positioned him as the leading young American golfer in the world ahead of the year's final major and the final four months of what was turning into a season to be remembered.

The Final part of my review of the year is coming by Saturday 29 December, 2012 featuring the PGA Tour Playoffs and the final weeks of the 2012 Race to Dubai and start of the 2013 Race to Dubai.

HERE'S TO 2013 - Golf, a preview of the 2013 golfing season is coming by Monday December 31, 2012.

My first post of 2013 is coming on Thursday January 3, 2013, and it will look at the golfing schedule and how it needs to change otherwise the bubble will burst.