D+D REAL Czech Masters Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Thomas Pieters makes news with his game, not his temper, as he hangs on to win the Czech Masters

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 18 Aug 2019 23:11:56 +0000

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

By John Huggan
Three years on from his third European Tour victory, Thomas Pieters finally has a fourth, the D+D Real Czech Masters. With a final-round three-under 69 over the Albatross Resort just outside Prague, the 27-year-old Belgian reached 19-under 269 for the week to finish one shot clear of his playing partner, Adri Arnaus of Sweden. Englishman Sam Horsfield and defending champion Andrea Pavan of Italy tied for third, another two strokes back. No one else was within five shots of the champion.

The eventual closeness of the final margin looked unlikely until an eventful last few holes. Despite driving into an unplayable lie right of the 15th fairway, Pieters made an impressive par when he holed a 15-feet putt and arrived on the 16th tee four shots clear of his nearest challenger. That lead was immediately cut in half by a two-shot swing on the 16th—a birdie by Arnaus and a bogey from Pieters—and stayed that way to the final hole.

Again, Arnaus made things interesting with a 3 on the par-4 18th, his fourth birdie in a closing 69 that also included an eagle. But Pieters, winner of the 2012 NCAA championship during his time at the University of Illinois, was up to the task. Eventually. An awkward little putt for par had to be made for a second victory in an event where he was also runner-up in 2016.

“Parts of it I was relaxed,” Pieters said in reference to his final round. “But I’m proud of how I handled it all, especially 15. I’m still learning, and it has been a while for me. It feels good. I’m really happy I got it done. That was a great last three holes from Adri. He made my two-footer at the end a bit nervy. I was just trying to do my own thing really. The wind was tricky. But I hit it well. And took advantage.”

Indeed, this was a victory more for Pieters’ notoriously volatile temperament than his admirably fluid and powerful full-swing technique. As former European Tour winner Tony Johnstone said on Sky TV: “Too often Thomas’ emotions have destroyed him. But this week he has stayed calm and stayed cheerful. Not once has he looked down-at-heel.”

Which was no mean feat, given how Pieters’ year had been going to this point. Indeed, since playing a starring role in the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National—where he picked up four points out of five in a losing European cause—the Antwerp native’s career has gone steadily backwards. Ranked 42nd in the world, down from high of 23rd, when making that startling debut against the Americans, Pieters had descended to 111th upon arrival in the Czech Republic. This season he had recorded only one top-10 finish in 15 European Tour starts, a distant T-6 in February’s Oman Open. Only a victory for Belgium at last year’s World Cup of Golf in Melbourne alongside compatriot Thomas Detry could be called a recent positive.

Until now that is.

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Cameraman catches Padraig Harrington attempting to take a personal pitstop, leading to hilarious staredown

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 04:56:29 +0000

By Christopher Powers
During Saturday’s third round of the European Tour’s D+D Real Czech Masters, Padraig Harrington really had to go. It’s a situation we’ve all faced on the golf course before, when there is no bathroom in sight and you can’t hold it in any longer. Depending on the layout of wherever you’re playing, it can be tough to find some privacy. For Harrington, he also had to deal with a pesky cameraman at Albatross Golf Resort.

Following a run of four birdies in five holes, Harrington noticed a few trees off the 11th fairway, a perfect spot to relieve himself. So he bolted over as if there was a sale on wacky golf contraptions that could be purchased for three easy payments of $9.99. As he made his way there, he turned around and noticed a cameraman following his every move, leading to this hilarious staredown:

Padraig Harrington vs. The Camerman ???#CzechMasters pic.twitter.com/typOyCghxF

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 26, 2018

“Go away!” is right. Let the man take a leak in peace!

While it would seem like a creepy move to try and film someone going to the bathroom, you’ve got to hand it to the European Tour broadcast, which always delivers. Whether their broadcasters are dropping F-bombs live on air or their cameramen are jingling change to piss off Patrick Reed or attempting to catch guys peeing, the Euro Tour continues to be the best broadcast in golf. Harrington went on to finish in solo second thanks to weekend rounds of 65 and 69, by far his best result worldwide this season.

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John Daly grabs a share of the lead at the Czech Masters with a bogey-free 64 (yes, we’re serious)

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 23:20:43 +0000

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

By Ryan Herrington
The field at the European Tour’s D+D Real Czech Masters is a hodgepodge of sorts. There are a smattering of veterans who didn’t qualify for the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs (Danny Willett, Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington) and a handful of players trying to improve their chances at making Thomas Bjorn’s Ryder Cup squad (Thomas Pieters, Eddie Pepperell), but the lion’s share of those teeing it up are rank-and-file golfers simply trying to play well enough to avoid having tour Q school.

Oh, and then there’s the lion himself. Yep, John Daly is competing.

And competing well we might add. The 52-year-old finished Thursday’s first round tied for the lead after posting a bogey-free 64—his lowest round on tour since he shot a 62 in the final round of the 2009 UBS Hong Kong Open.

John Daly’s lowest round on the European Tour for 10 years ?#CzechMasters pic.twitter.com/OHHx3haUv7

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 23, 2018

Joining Daly in first through 18 holes at Albatross Golf Resort in Prague are Pieters, Gavin Green and Callum Tarren.

The last time Daly played in a non-major European Tour event was this time last year when he played in the Made in Denmark tournament and then the Czech Masters (their order is reversed this year). He missed the cut after rounds of 74-73 at the later, but in Denmark he opened with a 67, shot a third-round 65 and finished T-10, his best showing on the tour since 2012.

A week ago, Daly played at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open on the PGA Tour Champions, shooting a 73-77 before withdrawing prior to the final round on Sunday in upstate New York. It was the fourth senior event that he has WD’d mid-tournament this season (out of 11 official starts), a year in which he suffered a knee injury after being in an accident in which a car hit the RV he was in selling merchandise during Masters week in Augusta. Daly also withdrew before even hitting a shot at the U.S. Senior Open, upset that his request to ride in a golf cart had been denied. (And he withdrew from the Open Championship at Carnoustie as well.)

“It’s been one of those years where I’ve been hitting it really good, I’ve just been injured and having to pull out,” said Daly, who does also have three top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour Champions in 2018. “I don’t feel great but I got around today and I just played solid golf and it’s great.”

Where we’re going with this is that despite being in first place through 18 holes, there’s a chance Daly might not even still be playing by Sunday. So it’s important to savor shots like this one while you can:

Vintage John Daly…#CzechMasters pic.twitter.com/jPAUSjzGAg

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 23, 2018

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South African overcomes a year full of struggles to claim Czech Masters title

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 04:47:54 +0000

Haydn Porteous celebrates his winning putt on the 18th green during the final round on day four of the D+D REAL Czech Masters. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

By John Huggan
Haydn Porteous missed the halfway cut in the 2016 D+D REAL Czech Masters, the start of a 16-tournament run on the European Tour in which the 23-year-old South African played on the weekend only twice. It was a startling sequence of bad form from a man who had won the Johannesburg Open just a few months earlier.

Now fast forward 12 months. In a season during which he has recorded only one top-10 finish—a T-6 at the Made in Denmark one week earlier—Porteous is now a two-time European Tour champion. With a final-round 69, Porteous reached 13 under par at the Albatross Golf Resort outside Prague to win the 2017 edition of the Czech Masters by two strokes over England’s Lee Slattery. Another Englishman, Tom Lewis, tied for third with Pontus Widegren of Sweden at 10 under.

“It’s been a really torrid time through the last eight, nine months, and I’ve really started doing the right things. And slowly but surely the golf has got a little bit better,” said Porteous, who won €166,660. “To get my second European Tour win under the belt just feels amazing. When you start playing on the European Tour, you start to lose yourself, you lose how you got out here in the first place, and to then find yourself again and do the things you do to normally get on the tour is key. It’s just one tournament at a time, one shot at a time and just make sure I do the right things and be professional in the way I do everything. I’m sure this evening’s probably not going to be the most professional moment of my life, but there’s nothing wrong with having a bit of celebration.”

Consolation for Slattery, albeit a slight one, comes from the fact that the former Russian Open champion moved to the top of the newly-minted European Ryder Cup qualifying table. Which may not mean much with 11 months to go before the last counting event, but it represented a considerably better performance than those turned in by some of the players likely to feature in captain Thomas Bjorn’s thinking over the next year or so.

Two years after claiming the Czech Masters title, Thomas Pieters, the Old World star of the last Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, finished 66th after a closing 83 that included nine dropped shots and quadruple bogey. Another member of the 2016 side, Matt Fitzpatrick, wasn’t much better on T-54. And the rising star of English golf, Jordan Smith, recently T-9 at the PGA Championship, pulled up T-60.

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