A new name has emerged in the golf world.
On Thursday, American Roberto Castro shot a remarkable 63 to tie a course record at the Players Championship in northern Florida. Castro is in the record books with fellow American Fred Couples and Australian Greg Norman.
Castro’s nine under par, was highlighted by an eagle on the second hole. He also had seven birdies to no bogeys.
Ian Poulter (Howard Cheng, Wikimedia Commons)
For the second time in his career, England’s Ian Poulter has won a World Golf Championship event.
On Sunday from Dongguan, China, Poulter shot a final round 65 to beat Americans Scott Piercy, Phil Mickelson and Jason Dufner along with British Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa by two strokes to win the WGC HSBC Champions event.
Poulter finished up at -21 on a course that seemed to play very easy. In the third round, England’s Lee Westwood shot a 61 and American Brandt Snedeker shot even better as he went an amazing twelve under par in the third round alone by shooting a 60.
The most dominant football team in Alberta is not in the Canadian Football League, but in Canadian Interuniversity Sport. On Saturday night at McMahon Stadium, the University of Calgary Dinos (7-1) will host the University of Manitoba in the Hardy Cup semi-final (Saturday, SHAW TV, 5pm).
Quarterback Eric Dzwilewski of Boise, Idaho set a Canada West Conference record with a 70.6 completion percentage, and helped set team records for most points, touchdowns, first downs, passing yards, completions and total yards of offense in 2012.
Phil Mickelson (Steven Newton, Wikimedia Commons)
The 39th Ryder Cup is currently taking place just outside of Chicago. On Day 1, the Americans took an early 5-3 lead on Europe thanks to some brilliant shot making by Keegan Bradley, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Jason Dufner.
On day two (Saturday, NBC, 7am), there will be four foursome matches in the morning, followed by four fourball matches in the afternoon. The best morning matchup will be Bradley and Mickelson against England’s Lee Westwood and Luke Donald. An interesting morning omission by Davis Love III is Tiger Woods, who played much better in the afternoon on Friday in four ball action than he did in the foursome with partner Steve Stricker in the morning.
Another golfer to watch out for on Saturday is Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, who will be teamed with Spain’s Sergio Garcia against Americans Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner. Colsaerts had eight birdies and an eagle on Friday afternoon.
The Ryder Cup will then conclude Sunday with singles play (NBC, 10am).
Jim Furyk (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
For the second consecutive day American Jim Furyk has the lead at the United States Open. This time however he is sharing the lead with only one golfer instead of two.
Furyk, the 2003 United States Open champion, shot an even par seventy on Saturday to match his round one score on Thursday. He is tied for the lead with Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, the 2010 United States Open champion, who shot a 2-under par 68.
The third round was definitely moving day. Household names in the golf world such as Ernie Els and Lee Westwood moved up, while round two co-leaders Tiger Woods and David Toms moved down. Westwood shot a 67 and Els shot a 68 to move into contention for the lead. They are tied for fourth place at +2 and are three strokes back of Furyk and McDowell. Woods meanwhile moved down from first to fourteenth after a +5 on Saturday, while Toms dropped to eighteenth after shooting a 76.
The Masters will obviously headline my television viewing this weekend with the very first major of the PGA Season. Currently Peter Hanson of Sweden (-5) leads U.S. Open Champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ben Crane of the United States and day one leader Lee Westwood of England by a stroke.
Other players in contention are Major winners Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Paul Lawrie.
The television coverage for the tournament is Friday at 1pm on TSN, Saturday at 1:30pm on CBS, and Sunday at noon on CBS.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Friday–NLL–Rochester Knighthawks @ Calgary Roughnecks–7pm–I’m heading down to the Scotiabank Saddledome this evening to see the Roughnecks in National Lacrosse League action. At 10-3, the Roughnecks are tied for first place in the West Division with the Colorado Mammoth. The Roughnecks lead the NLL with 180 goals scored, are led by former Knighthawk Shawn Evans, who leads the team in scoring with 58 points.
Mike Weir (Richard Wayne, Wikimedia Commons)
Lee Westwood might be leading after the first round of the Masters, but Thursday was also a very special day for Sarnia, Ontario’s Mike Weir.
Weir, the 2003 Masters Champion, who qualified for the tournament because he was a prior winner, shot an even par 72 in what was by far his best round of golf this season.
Weir, who has been battling elbow issues the last two years, finally had reconstructive surgery on the tendon in his right elbow this past November from world famous physician Dr. James Andrews.
So far this season it has been a struggle for Weir as he has been +40 during a handful of tournaments on the PGA Tour this season. While golfers such as Westwood, Ben Crane, and Jason Dufner will be battling for the lead, Weir’s goal this week should be a) to make the cut and b) to get out of the weekend as healthy as possible.
Another interesting story for Weir this year is that he plans on playing more in Europe. He has already played in Spain, and plans on playing in Germany, France and Ireland later in the year as well.
Canadian golf fans need Mike Weir because he is a great ambassador for the game, and it is great to see he is on the road to recovery!
Rory McIlroy (Ed McDonald, Wikimedia Commons)
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is red hot.
On Sunday, McIlroy passed Luke Donald of England as the best golfer in the world by winning the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
McIlroy shot a four day total of -12 to defeat Tiger Woods and American Tom Gillis by two strokes.
McIlroy also finished second last weekend to Hunter Mahan in the World Matchplay Championships in Tucson, Arizona. The back-to-back top two finishes for McIlroy was very impressive because of the long travel between Arizona and Florida. McIlroy also became the first non-American to win on the PGA Tour this year.
Another red hot golfer at the moment is England’s Lee Westwood, who was a semi-finalist at the World Matchplay Championships and finished in fourth place this past weekend.
There is another World Golf Championship this weekend in Miami, Florida with the Cadillac Championship. The course is known for its very difficult 18th hole. If golfers shoot anywhere left, it is highly likely they will land in the water, which is known as the blue monster. American Nick Watney is the defending champion.
This is a big weekend in Alberta curling. Edmonton’s Heather Nedohin will try to win Alberta’s first Canadian Women’s Curling Championship on Alberta soil in Red Deer. She has the capability and overall team skill. Nedohin just has to put it together and notch three victories against Team Quebec, Team Manitoba and Team British Columbia.
A major reason for Alberta’s success this week has been the solid play of their overall team. Lead Laine Peters was second to Manitoba’s Dawn Askin in overall shooting percentage (87%). Alberta’s Jessica Mair was second among seconds at 83% and Alberta’s Beth Iskiw was second among thirds at 84%.
Rory McIlroy (Bing Images)
Rory McIlroy is running away with the United States Open at the Congressional Golf Course near Washington, D.C.
McIlroy built his lead with a two under 68 Saturday to take an eight stroke lead (-14) on South Korean Y.E. Yang (-6).
It wasn’t a dominating performance by McIlroy on Saturday, rather a patient one. He recorded a par on 13 of the 18 holes he played, trying his best to minimize mistakes.
The lack of aggressiveness in my opinion showed great maturity, a characteristic McIlroy lacked a little during the final round at Augusta.
The best rounds of the day were put together by England’s Lee Westwood and Australia’s Jason Day. They both shot a -6, and moved into a tie for third place at -5 with American Robert Garrigus.
Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, British Columbia is the top Canadian at +6 (tied for 54th), while Calgary’s Wes Heffernan struggled on Saturday, shooting a 79, and is tied for 71st.
Steve Stricker (Bing Images)
We now know who is the best American golfer today.
Nope, it’s not Tiger Woods and it isn’t Phil Mickelson either.
On Sunday Steve Stricker passed Mickelson to move into number four in the World Golf Rankings.
In winning the Memorial Tournament, a course in Columbus, founded by Jack Nicklaus, Stricker shot a -16 to defeat Matt Kuchar and Brandt Jobe by a stroke.
But what everyone will remember from the 2011 Memorial tournament will be Stricker’s remarkable shot making. He recorded an ace on the eighth on Friday and then followed that with two eagles on Saturday.
Stricker, at 43 years of age, might have won the most significant singles golf tournament of his career on Sunday. I would give the Memorial Tournament equal status to the Western Open which he won in 1996 with the Northern Trust Open which he won in 2010.
Jason Goss (Bing Images)
This weekend we will receive an answer to a question that we have been waiting anxiously for all fall– who will travel to Regina for the Western Division semi-final?
Currently the Eskimos have the upper hand. They control their own destiny. It’s simple. Win and they’re in. However, a loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders tomorrow night at Mosaic Stadium in Regina (5pm, TSN) coupled with a B.C. Lion win tomorrow in Hamilton (12pm, TSN), means the Lions are going to the playoffs.
My gut feeling is that both teams will win. But my gut hasn’t been very accurate lately. I was wrong with the World Series and am only 14-13 over the last two weeks in picking NFL games, and I’m not even going against the spread.
Tiger Woods (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
I won’t be able to get up in the middle of the night this weekend to watch golf (have a darn head cold that has got in the way), but will get up as early as I possible can the next three mornings.
The Ryder Cup is this weekend from Newport, Wales. The best golfers from Europe play the best golfers from the United States in a fourball and foursome competition Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday, there are exciting head-to-head singles matches for spectators to enjoy.
But, amazingly, NBC’s coverage on Saturday will be on tape delay.
Here are the events I’ll be watching this weekend.
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