The Australian Open threatened by 'The Shark'
The Australian Open is scheduled from the 2nd till the 5th
of December, 2011. The $1,500,000 field will be gathering an expensive field that includes players like Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley, John Senden, Michael Sim, Steven Bowditch and Peter O'Malley.
The Lakes Golf Club will also be welcoming Greg Norman in Sydney after his shoulder injury; last year the shoulder injury led the fifty five year old to hand out the the Stonehaven Cup to his fellow Queenslander golfer Adam Scott.
This time however, Norman would not be acting in such a munificent way since he seems back on track. Last year 'The Shark' only appeared as the ambassador on the fields of the open, this time however, Norman has aptly made it to
the headlines.
Recapping the previous year, the former world number one has seen a highly frustrating year. In 2010, the fifty five year old managed to play only 4 competitive rounds that were followed by his shoulder surgery.
The recently married golfer has a total of 5 titles of the Australian Open in which his first win was collected in the year 1980. His first Open victory was collected at The Lakes, and was also joined by a cut-throat appearance
of Fred Couples. Couples is captain of the US Presidents Cup who will be experiencing the presence of a dual major champion John Daly.
From the list of favorites and the frenzy of the Scott defending his title, 'The Shark' seems to be the most favored in the galleries. According to the bookies, Norman is rated at $51 chance in grabbing the tournament and thus,
the beloved.
Other than Norman being the most favorite, Adam Scott holds the $6.50 according to the largest galleries. The thirty year old golfer is thus a pre-event favorite as well due to his impressive performance lately. Scott won the Singapore
Open title for a third time earlier this month.
The Australian golfer also grabbed the Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour in the month of May and is known to be the highest ranked golfer while standing at number twenty. He played a long stretch of 12 months of solid golf to seize
the previously mentioned Open.
Moving further down the favorite list, Geoff Ogilvy stands with a $7.50 rating with his fellow Victorian Stuart Appleby standing at $11.
Discussing Appleby first, he makes it to the rating due to his win at the JB Were Masters earlier this month. The event was held at the Victoria Golf Club where the Victorian carded an impressive, 65 at the final round of the event.
According to reports, the thirty nine year old managed to grab a place behind Adam Scott last year. Although 2009 treated him out of the victorious circle, the golfer managed to step back gracefully into the cult after thrashing
the PGA Tour bad. Appleby performed at The Greenbrier Classic PGA Tour in the month of August. The Sunday thus ended with a good 59 on cards for the thirty nine year old golfer.
As for Ogilvy, he started his year on a good note in Hawaii and then subdued in intensity. The golfer however emerged back in America and achieved second place. With runner up position in the Deutsche Bank playoff event, Ogilvy
attained a tied eighth place at the Australian Masters.
Ogilvy began the year with a win in Hawaii and emerged from his mid-season slump with a second-place finish in the Deutsche Bank playoff event in America and a T-8 finish at the Australian Masters.
Aaron Baddeley, John Senden and Michael Sim stand with $13 with Aaron being the two time champion, John, a 2006 victor and Senden mentioned as the rising star.
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