Paul Waring Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Waring and Gallacher tied at the top at Spanish Open with home hope Rahm in pursuit

Matt Smith — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 04:59:59 +0000

By Matt Smith
There was a little tog-of-war between England, Scotland and Spain in the Spanish Open as Paul Waring and Stephen Gallacher took a share of the halfway lead at the 2022 Spanish Open, with home hope Jon Rahm in hot pursuit. Waring led the way as he matched the low round of the week — an eight-under 63 with 10 birdies and two bogeys.

Veteran Gallacher soon joined him on 12-under — the four-time DP World Tour winner carding a second straight 65 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.

Fellow Scot David Drysdale is alongside South African Hennie du Plessis one stroke back, while Rahm has aspirations of matching his hero Seve Ballesteros with a third Open de Espana title and he sits at 10-under alongside Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Dutchman Darius van Driel, Australia’s Min Woo Lee and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.

“I hit some alright shots,” said Waring. “I actually got the putter quite hot which is not like me at all really, so it was nice to hole a few long ones coming in and keep that momentum I had going during the round, so happy with that finish definitely.”

Gallacher added: “Halfway, you’ve done not a bad job and now you need to do the same again. You’ve got some great players playing. The weather has been perfect, and the course is in unbelievable condition, so you can shoot a low score. We’ll just see what happens. If I can play the same over the weekend, who knows.”

Rahm is ready to go again.

“I played what I could say 11 uncomfortable holes and then I played really good golf on the last seven,” he said. “From 12 on I played wonderful, it was very very enjoyable. It seems to be the part of the golf course that I score on more often so I hope to get a little bit better on the front nine tomorrow.”

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DP World Tour: Richie Ramsay keeps promise to daughter and is top of the Hillside at Cazoo Classic

Matt Smith — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 05:23:38 +0000

By Matt Smith
Richie Ramsay ended his seven-year title drought by claiming a one-stroke victory over Paul Waring in the DP World Tour Cazoo Classic at Hillside Golf Club in England.

The Scotsman holed a tricky par putt at the 18th to take the crown. Overnight leader Julien Guerrier had been the man to catch for most of the day but birdies at the 14th, 15th and 17th saw Ramsay head to the last with a one-shot lead.

The 39-year-old missed the fairway off the 18th tee but managed to give himself an eight-foot par putt, which he duly holed to sign for a closing 69, finish the tournament on 14-under par and return to the DP World Tour winner’s circle for the first time since his Trophée Hassan II victory in March 2015.

The win will help Ramsay banish the memory of his near-miss at the British Masters in May, where a closing double-bogey ended his chances of victory at The Belfry.

Local favourite Waring finished alone in second on 13-under thanks to his Sunday 70, with Guerrier in a five-way tie for third another shot back alongside Marcus Kinhult, Robin Petersson, Daan Huizing and Grant Forrest.

“The biggest thing for me was I made a promise to my daughter, and I don’t break promises to her,” Ramsay said. “I said I would get her a trophy and this one’s for her. It just feels unbelievable. I’ve had some bad times over the last couple of years but I kept believing, I knew my game was good.

“I know about what happened at The Belfry. But it’s links golf and I feel like I’ve always got an advantage when I play links golf.

"Winning is everything. It's what matters in this sport."@RamsayGolf | #CazooClassic pic.twitter.com/TQWEYyopw7

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 24, 2022

“There’s nothing better than holing a putt under the gun — when it matters, when the tournament is on the line. For me, winning is everything, it’s what matters in the sport. I felt the nerves coming down the stretch, played great, and just to play well under the gun. Obviously, I got a bit emotional there at the end, but I haven’t won since my daughter was born and that’s six years.

“That one’s for Olivia. Hopefully she’s watching. [My wife] Angela’s been brilliant. She’s never given up on me, sent me a message this morning telling me that she was really proud of me in whatever I accomplish. It’s just great to get over the line. What a feeling as well, the way I did it, to hole that putt on the last. It’s just hours and hours of practice and it comes down to one shot and I managed to do it. It doesn’t matter what happens now, I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”

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DP World Tour: Waring takes early lead at Cazoo Classic

Matt Smith — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 06:11:43 +0000

By Matt Smith
Paul Waring was the local hero on Thursday as the 37-year-old produced an eagle-birdie finish on day one of the DP World Tour 2022 Cazoo Classic to tie the course record at Hillside Golf Club and open up a two-shot lead.

After carding seven birdies and a single bogey in his first 16 holes to join the large group on six-under at the top of the leaderboard, Waring holed his bunker shot at the par-five 17th for a tremendous eagle to hit the front on his own.

The 37-year-old followed that up with a closing birdie putt from 13 feet to sign for a 63, matching the course record set by Matthew Jordan in 2019.

Waring’s nine-undertotal saw him lead by two from nearest challenger Garrick Porteous, with Jens Dantorp, Julien Guerrier, Grant Forrest and Richard Mansell another shot back on six-under.

“I started nicely, controlled my ball pretty well all day,” said Waring. “It’s funny, I’d felt like I’ve been playing nicely over the last few weeks and months, just not having any results so to actually put it all together for a round of golf, I’m absolutely made up.

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Thorbjorn Olesen in, Ian Poulter out in latest European Ryder Cup standings

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 00:55:36 +0000

Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

By Ryan Herrington
Thorbjorn Olesen’s final-round 67 wasn’t enough to earn him the title at the European Tour’s Nordea Masters on Sunday (congrats to Paul Waring, a playoff winner over Thomas Aiken). But Olesen’s fourth-place finish, with four sub-70 rounds, did push the 28-year-old from Denmark into position to grab an automatic qualifying spot for the Ryder Cup team.

Olesen is projected to move into the fourth and final spot on the World Points list that’s used to help fill out the European team that will play next month in Paris, moving past Ian Poulter and Paul Casey. He is also less than €40,000 back of Tommy Fleetwood for the final spot in the European points list.

European captain Thomas Bjorn, a fellow Dane, is close friends with Olesen and has indicated he would prefer that his countryman qualify automatically rather than require a captain’s pick and bring their friendship into the equation. Olesen is trying to oblige, having posted a win at the Italian Open in June, a runner -up at the BMW International and four top-12 finishes in his last five starts.

“I’ve been playing great for three or four months so that will probably add a bit more pressure [on Bjorn], but if I can keep grinding and working like I did this week and last week to get better the results will come,” Olesen said.

Team Europe’s automatic picks will be decided in two weeks after the European Tour’s Made in Denmark tournament, in which Olesen is scheduled to compete. “There’s always a lot of pressure when we play in Denmark and probably a little bit extra this time,” he said.

Poulter and Casey, meanwhile, will be playing in next week’s Northern Trust, the first of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff events. Good performances will allow them both to also compete in the BMW Championship before European qualifying closes.

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Southgate, with an ace, and Waring lead in Muscat after 65s

Kent Gray — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 14:49:38 +0000

Matthew Southgate had his second ace inside a month on the opening day in Muscat.

By Kent Gray
With Frenchman Alexander Levy the highest ranked player in the field at No. 62 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), the new NBO Oman Open offers fading stars and lesser lights the chance to shine.

Paul Waring and Matthew Southgate duly obliged Thursday, the Englishmen grabbing a share of the lead in the $1.75 million European Tour event with seven under 65s.

Both went bogey free around the majestic Al Mouj Golf layout but Southgate’s card was illuminated by an ace on island green 5th. The seven iron dunk from 165 yards was the 29-year-old’s second hole-in-one inside a month after he binned a nine iron on the par-3 7th at Emirates Golf Club during last month’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic; it was also the second ace on the historic day in Muscat after German Marcel Siem holed out from 162 yards on the 13th moments earlier. In a bizarre coincidence, the caddies of both players are twin brothers – Gary and Guy Tilson.

Southgate and Waring lead by a shot from Dutchman Daan Huizing who hit the first shot of the championship and just 65 further strokes to cash in on a special invite having played four of the five Challenge Tour events previously held at Al Mouj, including a T-10 at last November’s NBO Golf Classic Grand Final.

Ryder Cupper Andy Sullivan and fellow Englishman Callum Shinkwin were a shot further back after 67s while Matteo Manassero’s name was a welcome sight among a group of six players on 68.

Waring, the world No. 251, will be relived with his fast start after a challenging beginning to 2018 which has seen the 33-year-old miss three successive cuts en-route to Muscat after opening the wrap-around season with a T-41 effort in Hong Kong before Christmas.

Paul Waring

The 2005 English amateur champion played last season on a medical exemption after wrist and shoulder problems but also enjoyed a career-best campaign, finishing 60th on the Race to Dubai rankings and saw light despite the unwanted weekends off.

“I’d missed three cuts on the spin but I didn’t feel like I’d played badly to miss them. I didn’t feel too far away,” Waring told EuropeanTour.com after a round that included a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th (he started at 10) and birdies on all four par 5s.

“It was definitely a bit of a glide. I played some of the best golf I’ve played for a little while. I actually missed a few chances, which sounds ridiculous. I did hole a nice one on one from 30 or 40 feet which is nice to keep the momentum going. I’m really happy with that.”

Southgate’s early form hasn’t been much better than Waring’s. Ranked 163rd in the latest OWGR, he missed the cut at the SA Open and in Abu Dhabi before T-57 and T-62 finishes in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.

It was a good day for this guy ?

Shoots 65
Makes a hole-in-one
Takes the first round lead pic.twitter.com/rIK3woah9R

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) February 15, 2018

The Southend-on-Sea professional provided one of the stories of 2015, coming through all three stages of Q-School to regain his card after surgery for testicular cancer just months earlier. More recently Southgate has been in the news for cruelly incurring a four stroke penalty at the DAP Championship during last September’s Web.com finals, a freak incident that ultimately cost him a PGA Tour card.

Putting on the 15th at Canterbury Golf Club in Ohio, his ball was struck by a leaf that blew across the green, nudging the ball off line ever so slightly.

Southgate finished the hole, but made a huge error in the process as he should have placed his ball back to its original location and replayed the shot without penalty. Instead, by continuing the hole, he was handed a four-stroke penalty – two for playing from the wrong spot and two more for signing an incorrect card.

Here’s the incident:

Golf is hard … especially when you’re playing for a @PGATOUR card. pic.twitter.com/SoyWo6X01q

— Web.com Tour (@WebDotComTour) September 24, 2017

Sullivan, T-6 in Dubai and T-17 in Malaysia, is trending nicely as he looks to September’s Ryder Cup in Paris. The 31-year-old concedes complacency crept in after he slipped to 62nd place in last year’s Race to Dubai standings following back-to-back top 20 finishes in 2015 and 2016.

He achieved just two top-10s in 2017 but is determined to get back to the top after the high of qualifying for the 2016 Ryder Cup in Hazeltine.

“I think it was just a bit of complacency,” he told EuropeanTour.com. “I got to the Ryder Cup pretty early and achieved everything in really quick time and you just don’t realise how hard you have to work to maintain these things. I’d be guilty of that and of not quite performing how I wanted to.

“Since DP World we’ve put the hard work in and it’s nice to see it coming back to where it was so early. I didn’t expect it to happen quite so quickly.

“Once you’ve played one Ryder Cup you don’t want to miss another one, it’s so special. My first one was in America and obviously we got humped but the whole experience is so awesome, being a part of that team, you just don’t want to miss another one.

“One of my goals is to try and force my way into that team. I know it’s going to be difficult and I’ve left myself a lot to do but that’s where I want to be again.”

Levy, for the record, signed for a one-under 71 Thursday, as did Andrew “Beef” Johnston. Shubhankar Sharma, the 21-year-old Indian who leads the 2018 Race to Dubai after wins at the Joburg Open and Maybank Championship in the past two months, finished with a 73 despite a near tap-in eagle on the par-5 12th.

It was a tough day for the local hopes. Al Mouj teaching professional Steven Troup (SCO) is tied for 128th overnight after a 77 while Oman national team amateur Azaan Al Rumhy carded an 80. Bahrain amateur Nasser Yaqoob was on +13 after an 85.

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Al Ain club pro Tom Buchanan living the dream at Desert Swing opener

Kent Gray — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 13:39:51 +0000

By Kent Gray
Tom Buchanan’s locker in the Falcon clubhouse is surrounded by those with the names of Johnson, McIlroy, Fleetwood and Rose. He’s played nine practice holes with Ryder Cupper Stephen Gallacher and even managed to sneak into the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship’s “Class of 2018” photo call, a who’s who snapshot of the European Tour’s best.

The Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club head pro half-pie expects to wake up from this “surreal” dream but it’s real and it’s “crazy” cool. Buchanan really did qualify for the Desert Swing opener via a reinstated UAE PGA qualifier at Saadiyat Beach G.C. before Christmas and he really will tee it up in the $3 million event Thursday in the company of England’s Paul Waring and Ricardo Gouevia of Portugal.

“It’s just mental, crazy, still crazy,” said the Scotsman who celebrated his 38th birthday on Tuesday and is sure to have vocal local galleries in tow when he sets off from the 1st tee at 12.55pm.

“I’ve really enjoyed it, just being about everything. I managed to get myself in the group photo which is a keepsake for life and the nine holes with Stevie on Monday was amazing. I don’t know if it’s not hit me yet that I’m actually in the tournament but I’ve somehow managed to keep myself reality calm. Hopefully that continues throughout the week.”

Buchanan is fourth from right in the fourth row in his keepsake “Class of 2018” pic.

Gallacher offered invaluable strategic insight, particularly when to attack the scoreable par 5s and when to favour a more conservative approach. Buchanan has used a few solo circuits to sure up his wedge work around the greens and putting on them in anticipation of keeping his rounds going.

“The rough is pretty juicy so if you miss the fairway you pretty much have to lay up because you can’t get enough club on the ball. So I’ve been working on lay ups, feeling comfortable hitting those par saver shots.”

Making the cut is the goal and Buchanan knows he’s capable despite the heady company he’s keeping this week.

“I was talking to [Dubai-based coach to the stars] Justin Parsons and he said the only person stopping me from shooting 70 is me.,no body else. There’s no referee saying I can’t shoot 70. Those words hit me. If I go out and play like I know I can, who knows what’s in store for me.

“I’ve been hitting it well in practice, hitting the driver well so the chance of being here over the weekend is actually possible if I can just stay in control of myself.”

Buchanan knows he’ll probably have to play “33 holes of the best golf of my life” to make the weekend but can’t lose either way.

“It’s just surreal, those names around me in the locker room, but they’re all human. Everyone has been very good, very nice and helped me stay pretty relaxed. If I do make the cut, then great. If not, it will still be an unbelievable experience.”

Photo: Masam Ali (Motivate)

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Fichardt Storms To Joburg Open Title

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 11:17:23 +0000

The R&A choosing to allocate three exempt spots into this year’s Open Championship to the Joburg Open always seemed a bit odd.

With the vast majority of the European Tour’s best already decamped to Florida, the qualifiers were likely to be journeymen at best. And so it proved.

Courtesy of his victory over the 54 holes that were possible between torrential downpours, including one that delayed play for two hours on the final day, Darren Fichardt of South Africa will tee it up at Royal Birkdale in July.

The 41-year-old from Pretoria was 15-under-par over the East and West courses at the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club, one stroke better than Wales’ Stuart Manley and England’s Paul Waring, who also earned tickets to Birkdale.

It was Fichardt’s fifth European Tour win and his first since the 2013 Africa Open. After a bogey on the 17th hole Sunday, his clinching birdie on the par-5 18th—courtesy of a beautifully judged chip-and-run to 18 inches—broke a tie with his closest pursuers after Waring had lipped out a 15-foot birdie attempt.

Fichardt, whose previous best finish this season was T-26 at the South African Open, admitted feeling inordinately nervous over the last short putt.

“I haven’t tried that putter and grip under pressure before, so you don’t know how badly it could go,” he said, referring to changes he made at the start of the event.

“The form I have been having the last couple of months has been horrendous, but I decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to play as many tournaments as I can and just get my game right. And it worked out.” – John Huggan

Editor’s note: Fichardt gained 187,697 points and made a stunning leap in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai standings, moving from 107th to 18^th position as he targets a return to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 16-19, for the first time since 2014.

Top 10 Race to Dubai Rankings after the Joburg Open

POSITION NAME COUNTRY POINTS

1	Tommy FLEETWOOD	(ENG)	566,717
2	Fabrizio ZANOTTI	(PAR)	461,689
3	Jeunghun WANG	(KOR)	436,151
4	David LIPSKY	(USA)	429,136
5	Sergio GARCIA	(ESP)	410,225
6	Sam BRAZEL	(AUS)	372,806
7	Rafa CABRERA BELLO	(ESP)	371,396
8	Henrik STENSON	(SWE)	330,253
9	Brandon STONE	(RSA)	315,844
10	Bernd WIESBERGER	(AUT)	315,779

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Joburg Open Title appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.