GOLF:AFTER THE bonanza that was the US Open – well, for some of you – week 12 proved less than profitable, with only three of our players earning 300 points or more, 11 losing points after missing the cut at the Travelers Championship or BMW International Open, and another 34 not playing at all – including four of our six Group One players.
Inevitably, having hailed Claire Deasy last week as the Rory McIlroy of the competition, her New Bike team had a weekend that it will want to speedily erase from the memory bank. Dustin Johnson’s top-20 finish in Munich – for which, as captain, he picked up 110 points – was the only highlight in a team effort that brought home a miserly 190 points.
That, then, allowed Claire’s rivals to make up considerable ground, the teams in second, third and fourth all earning over 1,000 points in week 12. Maurice Sheehan’s Azalea moved from ninth to second, now just 50 points short of New Bike’s total. Captain Sergio Garcia, who lost out to Pablo Larrazabal in a play-off in Germany, was Maurice’s star performer, with Retief Goosen (tied for third) not too far behind.
Ryan Moore, who tied for second at the Travelers, helped our former leader Mary Ryan regain some lost ground, Bis a Bis now back up to third, but choosing Martin Kaymer as captain, like so many of you did ahead of the BMW International Open, didn’t quite pay off, the German just making it in to the top 20.
Paul MacGinty, up from 10th to fourth, was largely indebted to Moore – who finished up with rounds of 64 and 63, after a 70 on Friday saw him fade away – for helping him hold off the challenge of Paul Darcy (fifth overall) in our monthly competition.
Paul’s Sadlers Woods was one of 23 teams to earn over 5,000 points in the last four weeks, impressive scoring by any standard. For his troubles Paul wins himself a night away at Adare Manor and a round of golf on its 18-hole championship course.
Rose Murray, meanwhile, topped our weekly leaderboard, captain Moore, Garcia and Goosen the leading earners for Charlie’s Legends who amassed 1,655 points – that’s 1,655 points more, incidentally, than six of our teams have earned in the entire competition so far.
Seriously.
Week 12’s counting tournaments are the ATT National and the French Open. The 10 per cent of you who hired Ernie Els from Group Three and the 15 per cent who picked Ben Crane from Group 10 will be chuffed to learn they’ve both withdrawn from the Pennsylvania tournament, Els with a back strain, Crane with an ankle problem. Just what you needed to hear. Miguel Angel Jimenez’s faithful followers – 14 per cent of you in Group Four – will trust he’ll rediscover some form when he attempts to defend his French Open title this week, having only won 352 points so far this year. Kaymer, too, has another chance to reward his managers’ loyalty, he’s the top-ranked player in the field.
To access the competition on our website (irishtimes.com/fantasygolf) each week you need to enter a pin code – this week’s code is “jigger”.
