Most Prominent golfers of 2010 (Part 2)
‘G-Mac is fly like a G-6’
Graeme McDowell should definitely brand 2010 as his lucky year. Due to his performance on the golf course, Graeme was awarded with many awards. He was chosen as the player of the year by both the golf writers of Britain and America. Recently, he also won
the RTE sportsperson of the year award and the Irish Broadcasters award. This Northern Irishman surely made Ireland proud when he won the U.S Open at Pebble beach. The player’s first major win came at a good point in his career and really hoisted him up since
it’s the toughest assignment for European Golfers. It was after 40 years that a European won this event. Before McDowell, it was Tony Jacklin who won this major. Along with the major, Graeme also won three other events placing him at number seven in the world
rankings.
McDowell defeated Rhy Davies by three strokes to win the Celtic Manor Wales Open in June. His match against Hunter Mahan in the Ryder Cup was legendary. Defeating Mahan in the singles match, McDowell scored the winning putt for the European team and hence
appeared as the Ryder Cup hero. After the Ryder Cup, McDowell won the Andalucía Valderrama Masters where he was victorious by two strokes. Graeme most recent victory was at the Chevron World Challenge which is hosted by Tiger Woods. G-Mac overcame a four-shot,
final round deficit to defeat the host at his own tournament. Even though the fourteen time major championship winner, Woods, tried a lot to at least have one win this year, McDowell stole the show as he crushed Woods in the play-off.
‘Kaymer, Kaymer- all the way’
Where the Irish players are beaming in 2010, it’s not possible for the Germans to sit quietly and watch. Martin Kaymer, who is a German player, was also very prominent this year. Kaymer won four times including his win at the PGA Championship. Martin won
the Abu Dhabi Championship when he defeated Ian Poulter by one stroke. His major win was of course the most special one where he defeated the American Bubba Watson in a play off.
Following that, Martin won the KLM Open by four strokes when he defeated Christian Nilsson and Fabriz Zanotti. Martin really made this an amazing year when he capped his fourth win by being triumphant at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Due to his
amazing performance, Kaymer led the money list of 2010 and hence won the Race to Dubai.
A bumpy year for Dustin.
2010 was like a roller coaster ride for Dustin Johnson. Having bad luck at two major tournaments, Johnson did manage to win two tournaments. Things got ugly for Dustin during the final round of the U.S Open held at Pebble Beach in California. Johnson had
won back to back at Pebble beach and was also known as the king of Pebble Beach. Apparently, the king had a little trouble as he washed away his lead in the first three rounds when he posted an 82 in the final round. It was Johnson’s slip was that signalled
green for the Irishman McDowell to go ahead and win the tournament. Another mishap with the player was when he was again really close to winning the PGA Championship.
The player had the stage and all he had to win was make par. Things didn’t quite go how Johnson had planned, and as he shot his ball in the sand, Dustin grounded his club. This act meant a two stroke penalty and hence his 5 on the scorecard was changed to
a 7. His wins include the BMW Championship and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-am. Hopefully, Dustin would have memorized the rule book now and will refrain from any ‘mishaps’ in 2011.
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