“The last few weeks have probably been my best spell of golf since I’ve been on Tour even though I haven’t won. Five top-ten finishes in a row at this time of the year feels like a real achievement as it would have been all too easy to switch off after the European Open and drift towards the end of the year without really pushing on.
Specifically, I had really good chances to win each of the last two events (Dunhill Links & Portuguese Masters) although those opportunities came about in quite different circumstances. At St. Andrews, I was a few shots off the pace with just the last round to go, but the good conditions on the last day were ideal for scoring. I got off to a great start and just kept going, although there was a slight setback on the short par-4 12th, which was a good birdie opportunity, and I managed to make a bogey. However I recovered with a chip-in eagle on 14 and had a couple more opportunities, but was unable to convert them. The play-off with Robert and Martin was very disappointing as I put my tee shot in the water, whilst Robert made a birdie. Despite this I felt the week had gone really well, despite not finishing the way I wanted.
Portugal was different because I was around the lead for most of the week, but didn’t quite finish the job off in the last few holes. Importantly though, you have to take the positives from any situation and the best thing about the last few weeks has been the fact that I have played well at big events, and I feel like that has been a big plus. I’ll continue to approach all my games with a ‘Think it Possible’ mindset.
The next few weeks will see me travel to China twice. Once for the HSBC Champions, where I feel that I have a score to settle after losing to Phil Mickelson in a playoff last year, and a couple of weeks later for the World Cup where I will partner Ian Poulter which will be a great week as well. Hopefully I will have more good news to report back after that.”
“There has been a lot of build up to the Ryder Cup in the last few weeks and I have to admit that being in the hunt for the team has been exciting for me and added a little bit of excitement to each event. I have said a number of times that making the team was not something I set out to do this year and would have been a fantastic bonus to a very successful season so far, but nevertheless I am disappointed to have come as close as I did and just miss out. Obviously I wish the European team all the very best and hopefully they will return with the trophy. My time on the team will come.
A few weeks ago, I had the task of defending the title that I won back in 2007 at the KLM Dutch Open and enjoyed returning to the scene of my first win as a pro. It was nice to have some of my family with me in Holland. I played well but it didn’t quite click until the last round when I shot 66 and found some of the form that I showed at Kennemer last year. It would have been nice to put up a slightly stronger defence of the title but it wasn’t to be and I was pleased for Darren Clarke.
The Ryder Cup fever came to a head at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles as it was the last qualifying event for the team and I needed a top 3 finish to make the side. Again I played nicely but only really scored well in the last round when I had probably left myself too much to do, but a 7-under par round on the Sunday was good enough for a share of 10th place which wasn’t too far away at the end of the day.
I’m really looking forward to playing some more good golf towards the end of the year and there are some quality courses left to play. The Dunhill Links is a unique event and always good fun, maybe I will get paired with Bill Murray again this year? After that we head down to Spain and Portugal for the final few events of the season, ending up at Valderrama where I will be looking for a good finish to consolidate my position on the order of merit.”
“The last few weeks have been very exciting for me after the win at the European Open followed by a trip to Royal Birkdale for the British Open. The British Open was hugely enjoyable but the windy conditions on all 4 days made the course play very tough indeed and was reflected in Padraig’s winning score of +3.
I played really well for 71 holes even though birdies were in short supply and I was very disappointed to finish in the manner that I did. Nevertheless, after the dust had settled, there were many positives to take from the event and it was by far my best performance in a major to date. The crowds at Royal Birkdale were huge and I enjoyed a lot of support over the 4 days.
After a much-needed week off, having played every tournament since the US Open, I flew to the US for my first trip to the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron. The course was exceptionally well prepared and played perfectly even after two very heavy storms early in the week. The rain actually made the course a little more playable as it slowed the greens down slightly for the tournament days.
I got off to a great start on the first day and was briefly tied for the lead, but finished poorly again and undid a lot of the previous good work. The same thing happened in round two with a great start, but a poor finish and was primarily because my driving let me down. I found myself hitting from the rough too many times which meant that I just didn’t have enough control over the golf ball with my irons to make a really good score. Usually my straight driving is a huge asset to me, but it wasn’t to be at Akron even though the other parts of my game were in good shape.”
Video: European Tour