The Shark Shootout
The Shark Shootout is one of the most prestigious team golf tournaments at the PGA Tour Challenge. The event begins once the last official money event of the season has ended. Founded in 1989, the event is hosted by a legend in
the golfing world – Greg Norman. The tournament is held every year at the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Florida.
In 2009, the American golfers Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly won the tournament. Since turning professional, both golfers have made quite a mark in the golfing world. Steve Stricker, due to his exceptional performance is ranked
No. 5 in the Official World Golf Rankings and Jerry Kelly has had eight Professional wins under his belt.
However, this year the crown was taken by a European and American partnership as Ian Poulter from UK and Dustin Johnson from the US walked out as victors from the event. Johnson recently turned professional in 2007 and has had
two amateur wins before that. His professional wins amount to 6 with 4 at the PGA Tour alone.
A more seasoned golfer than Johnson and known in the golfing world for his radical dressing style, Poulter has had 13 professional wins in all. The partnership was successful at beating Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, both golfers
from Northern Ireland, by two shots. The victorious golfers had a large lead and kept all other golfers at bay. Only Clarke and McDowell came the closest amounting to two strokes.
Despite their victory last year, the Kelly-Stricker partnership did not start the tournament on a high note and they were soon left behind. The defending champions attained third place along with Chris DiMarco and Anthony Kim.
The victorious partners, Poulter and Johnson, claimed that the victory was not as easy as it looked and the partnership worked greatly to enhance their chances. Johnson greatly praised Poulter’s game at the tournament and claimed that worked greatly to their
advantage.
In an interview at the beginning of December this year, Poulter claimed to be excited for his partnership with Johnson and declared that the US vs. Europe rivalry will not interfere with the dynamics of the game. Poulter felt great
pride at the success of European golfers, but made it clear that despite the European golfers going against the American ones just a few months ago, he admires Johnson’s game and his skills as a golfer, which would work greatly to their advantage.
The duo were rivals at the Ryder Cup earlier this year, but were able to play around the rivalry and focus on the essence of the game. The Ryder Cup, jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, is a golf
tournament between teams from Europe and U.S. and is held once every two years. The venue of the tournament alternates between courses in the U.S. and Europe. The Ryder Cup offers no prize money to the contestants, but despite that remains a high profile golf
tournament. Recently, Europeans have maintained a competitive edge at the tournament winning six out of the last eight Ryder Cup Tournaments including four of the last five.
However, Ian Poulter and Dustin Johnson did not let the age-old rivalry hinder their performance or their partnership. They breezed through the tournament with birdies on their first four holes and despite the pressure and a close
contest with the runner-ups, the partnership worked towards a victory.
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