European Tour - Sicilian Open

Only in its second year of existence, the Sicilian Open is moving venue about 100 miles up along the southern coast from the rather romantically called Donnafugata Golf Resort ('escaped or runaway lady'), which hosted the competition last year to the... Vegetable Golf Resort (Verdura)
Initially it all looked to be a longer (7375 yds) and tougher (?) venue this year, and that seemed to be confirmed judging from the early scores for last year's champion, Raphael Jacquelin (+3 after 12 holes) and for the local favorite and highest ranked player in the field, Matteo Manassero (+2 after 12 holes). But then if you look at the scorecard of the not so well known South African Alex Haindl (5 birdies in a row after the first 5 holes!!) it would suggest that it is all rather easy!? So, I'm confused... we'll see how things develop from here on...
Haindl leading at the moment together with Kjeldsen from Danemark (5-under after 12)...

Fine start for Soren Kjeldsen who is not a longhitter. His strength lies in the brief, and a good putting technique.

And he's back in the lead with Alastair Forsyth... good to hear from you, jp.
I've a quick question for you this morning and is more related to kwini's thread and the Houston event, but there you go... what's the latest with Thomas Bjorn... is his back ok now? Will he be fully fit for the SHO and the Masters?

Unfortunately tells TB not so much about his health, so we Danish supporters are also curious about his back and neck.

He received treatments after his cancellation to Arnold Palmer, and said then that he expect to be fit for the SHO and Masters.

Søren Kjeldsen -7 what a nice day.

Thanks jp. Great day indeed for Kjeldsen...

Meanwhile Matteo managed to restore some respectability to his scorecard finishing level par. Good start for the other two high profile youngsters in the field, Lewis and Olesen.
And talking about high profile, good-looking youngsters, how could I forget our own Shane Lowry... very fine 5-under par round start to his week. Shane is well overdue a second win, and he can really give himself a very nice present ( and I mean a win, not ) for his 25th birthday next Monday!

Great stuff from Lowry, only a matter of time before he wins again.

Soren Kjeldsen has always been one of my favourites, nice to see him regaining a bit of form lately.

Definitely a good day for the Danes so far, leading on the ET and the Challenge Tour! Good to see Lagergren near the top again too, I think he could be one to watch for the future.

Good point, ned, the Danes are leading the way this morning. They'll be hoping similar things will follow from Hansen and/or Bjorn later on in TX...
Agree on Lagergren, he could soon be added to that list of high profile, good looking youngsters...

I couldn't possibly comment on his looks pd! But I would say that Europe doesn't have the monopoly on good-looking youngsters... not sure if anyone else saw this:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeslifestyle/2012/03/26/the-pga-tours-most-promising-rookies-dish-on-personal-style/

Ned,
I liked the fact that they used Gary Christian as a promising rookie - it seemed that he and Jonas Blixt were the only ones with a sense of humour!

PS: I love the shot of Kjeldsen on the ET website. No coverage here yet, but that hole at least as gorgeous views!

Gary Murphy announced his retirement from Professional Golf last year after winning about € 1000 in the last 4 years, yet here he is at -1 after Round 1....................go Gary!

Is any ET golfer hotter/streakier than Jamie Donaldson?
After his blistering 61 last week (including a nine-hole 28) he's five under after six back-nine holes today!

kwinigolfer wrote:Is any ET golfer hotter/streakier than Jamie Donaldson?!

Peter Lawrie?!
Brilliant round by Peter. Unfortunately as I've been saying too often he's not really very consistent lately, but same was true of Damien McGrane and he proved me wrong last week in Morocco, so who knows... Matteo's level par round not looking so respectable anymore now and he's gonna need at least a 66-67 tomorrow to get back into the frame for the weekend... Good syncronised rounds of 4-under par by the two youngsters mentioned earlier, Lewis and Olesen...

I agree about the views... it may be called the 'vegetable' course but it looks like a really beautiful location!

Happy to see Rich Beem make the cut comfortably - still a good golfer and think he'd be a breath of fresh air if he could somehow enjoy some success in Europe.

Daly off to a hot start also.

Eleven golfers tied for the lead in Round 2 - wonder what the record is so late in a tournament? 8 nationalities. Don't you love the European Tour??!!

Missed all the action today... very packed top of LB indeed and looks like there was a bit of a John Daly show out there...! For some reason I think a guy like him would feel quite at home in a place like Sicily (oops, just droped a shot now)... Would be quite dissappointing if Matteo doesn't make the cut here...

5 shots separate the field after the cut. Unless something strange happens. I have been watching golf for a long time and I never seen a field this bunched before.

Good thing the 10 shot rule is not in effect, they would be looking at 113 players this weekend.

What a beautiful venue it is in Sicily!

I see that Costantino Rocca played in the Sicilian Open this week. Missing the cut badly.

Is there any speculation that he might be a vice captain on this years Ryder Cup?

Strange Tournament, 6 in tie lead - 8, and 53 within 5 shots. It's not easy to select a winner.

Three Americans, temporarily perhaps, in the top ten. Wonder when that last happened in a non-British ET event in Europe?

Still very bunched at the top.

looks abit windy out there- players dropping like flies!!

Does the fact Beem can feature pretty quickly in a Euro tournament give some credence to Overtons comments ?

I wouldn't think so Digs, Beem was 12th a month or so ago at Mayakoba in an opposite field event, pretty much the PGA Tour equivalent of the Sicily tournament.

Beem has had tons of injuries, plus probably enjoyed himself a lot, but fact remains that his Major win was no fluke. Nice piece regarding him on the ET website at the beginning of the year about how he's determined to take advantage of the European Tour exemption he has.

I think it's a real positive all round if Daly and Beem play well in Europe, Hamilton and Micheel too when they tee it up. All have what the Americans bizarrely call "pedigree" . . . .

I agree it's great to see a few Americans around (not Daly for me though to be honest) , wish we had more as they give the events a real global feel.

Its great to see Daley up there. Great player, good to see him enjoying the game,

I have a feeling 3 out the 4 english in houston will do very well and the 3 out of 3 yanks in scicilly will also do well

I'll never endorse Daly's on-course behaviour or contempt of sponsors, but am very pleased to see him do well in tournaments he's qualified to compete in.
Strongly suspect that, if the golf world wasn't so intent on giving him a free pass, he might actually wake up and discipline himself to contest Q-School, Monday qualifiers etc that mere mortals take for granted.

I find him a repulsive creature on many levels personally.

Yep i agree that some of his behaviour was shocking- especially walking of the course last year- however he is here and its good to see him smiling. he has giving the world of golf alot of good.

I really cant endorse your level of hatred towards certain players Diggers.

I just dont get it. Do you remember Daley as 8th reserve winning the PGA, do you remember him at the open chamiponship in 1995!

The guy went through some bad times after and is coming out of it. Anyone that has issues and comes through them deserves massive respect in my eyes.

he also raised the bar when it came to golf. He was hitting a 6 degree driver of the tee and using a 64 degree lob wedge at the other end of the hole to a level no one had seen before him!!

I'm not asking you to endorse anything. I don't want to watch him, ita my choice, he to me has no qualities I admire.
You say he's a great golfer , he's a golfer who has very occasionally played great golf. Mostly he churns up dross.
We all like different things. I can't endorse your blinkered views on the ability of English players but it's your right to have them.

mysti,
Whether you like him or loathe him Daly has consistently been thoroughly disrespectful of golf and everything that sails within it. Hence my comment about "golf" being too forgiving of him; if he had to buckle down to the rules that apply to everyone else, he'd actually have to make a choice.

Other Major winners, even multiple Major Champions like Janzen, conform to golf's rules; it is to Daly's eternal discredit that he sees himself as above all that.

Having said all of which, am v.happy to see him play well when he's earned his way into the field.

Diggers wrote:I'm not asking you to endorse anything. I don't want to watch him, ita my choice, he to me has no qualities I admire.
You say he's a great golfer , he's a golfer who has very occasionally played great golf. Mostly he churns up dross.
We all like different things. I can't endorse your blinkered views on the ability of English players but it's your right to have them.

sorry diggers you seem to have a massive lack of understanding of my views and golf on the whole.

Firstly i do not have blinkered views on english golfers- i just support them- name one time whe n i have said they are the best?- you cant. I am just honest in the fact that i support them.

You obviously have no understanding of how good daly was- I am not talking about today , i am talking about what he was. And because of what he has giving to golf I want to see him do well!

Your pessimesim screams out of you diggs. It can get quite annoying reading constant posts about hatred all the time.

kwinigolfer wrote:mysti,
Whether you like him or loathe him Daly has consistently been thoroughly disrespectful of golf and everything that sails within it. Hence my comment about "golf" being too forgiving of him; if he had to buckle down to the rules that apply to everyone else, he'd actually have to make a choice.

Other Major winners, even multiple Major Champions like Janzen, conform to golf's rules; it is to Daly's eternal discredit that he sees himself as above all that.

Having said all of which, am v.happy to see him play well when he's earned his way into the field.

Kwini your views are perfectly acceptable. You sum it up perfectly, and i almost agree completely. However Daly is just one of many that get preferencial treatment when it comes to exemptions!

I think your blinkered views on English players stops you seeing just how biased you are. To be honest I find you highly irritating and full of a fair bit of BS and full of assumptions about people based on nothing but your opinion but I don't expect to think much of everyone who posts on a website.

mysti,
The only difference with Daly and other popular "invitees" is that most of the others actually conform to trying to qualify and don't metaphorically spit in the face of sponsors who have tried to help them.
One sponsor of a now expired tournament who had tried to help him was aghast four years ago to find that the goodwill was expended all night at the casino and exhausted when Daly was unable to complete his first round, widely believed to be a contributing factor to this sponsor's giving up on the PGA Tour.

Diggers all you ever do is post hate after hate. And secondly you have no knowledge of the game of golf, you just see everything in black or white.You assume so much about me yet you dont have a scooby! I think its time you stopped replying to my comments

kwinigolfer wrote:mysti,
The only difference with Daly and other popular "invitees" is that most of the others actually conform to trying to qualify and don't metaphorically spit in the face of sponsors who have tried to help them.
One sponsor of a now expired tournament who had tried to help him was aghast four years ago to find that the goodwill was expended all night at the casino and exhausted when Daly was unable to complete his first round, widely believed to be a contributing factor to this sponsor's giving up on the PGA Tour.

Daley has been through alot of problems and that has affected him big time. I hope he can start getting through it and start respecting the game more and more. I am sure he is trying. however is it his fault he is asked to play week after week. Well No off course not. Thats the games fault , not his!

Quite incredible how no one seems to be able to break away from the pack in this tournament, but Olesen has now another great chance to break away and breakthrough...

Talking about Daly I too have some mixed feelings about him, yet I find myself almost always getting excited to see him playing well (whenever that happens). Talking of him, didn't realise until yesterday that he will be in Augusta next week, pitty we probably won't see too much coverage of him and his 'group' there...

http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=42798&sid=X0U&ext=PDF&lcl=JohnDalyMastersSale1.pdf&usr=PGA_JohnDaly&doc=87078537&key=key-152xqf3i8hgnnvkpc6x1

Diggers Secondly . If you think i am biased when i have spent half my
time today posting about daly and harris english in a good light. Then its quite
obvious that you either think the two golfers are english golfers or you
are just posting a complete load of BS because you have an inability to
rationaly debate topics. Personally I feel as though you have that ability but its your lack of golf knowledge that holds you back. But there you go!!

We do have a high opinion if ourselves dont we. I'll reply to who and what I like thanks. If you can't take it tough.

This from the south east London expert who can drive from Hither Green to Dulwich in 5 minutes. You are full of it sunshine, it seeps out of you're very core.

Nope thats fine , keep going , its all good

Diggers wrote:This from the south east London expert who can drive from Hither Green to Dulwich in 5 minutes. You are full of it sunshine, it seeps out of you're very core.

so it takes 10-15 mins- so what and who gives a monkies. you really are showing yourself up now! 5 minutes is an expression- dont take things so literally- but then i forgot everything is black and white to you! you sound like Rainman

Ah, we can admit we are wrong , that's some small progress I suppose. Well done you.

pd,
To be fair about Oleson, this would be a good time for him to deliver on his promise; he seemed to rather blow up last season but hopefully a year's experience will stand him in good stead.

And a good Saturday for Denmark with Jensen winning, Madsen fourth in Kenya.
Looks like Hansen will leave Houston empty handed but Bjorn still inside the cut-line!

Tom lewis with a half decent tourny- half decent score of a 70 today- its proper tough out there. Average score must be at least 4 over yesterdays, and that would be with the leavers.

Amazing score by Andrew parr today! At a time i wouldnt have expected him to be the top North American!

kwini, I can sense some progress already with Olesen this year and would be very surprised if he won't close the deal tomorrow... Last season he came close 3 times finishing 2nd, but he never led going into the final day and was really in contention only in Paris (had slow starts but very strong final rounds in SAfrica and especially in Italy to reach second place).

Time for jp to put that champagne on ice I would think...

personally i think colsarts is the man to watch out for- but a 3 shot lead is a pretty decent buffer

We do not sell the skin before the bear is shot, but there will be crowded in the Danish golf clubs in front of the television of tomorrow.

Should it become a Danish victory Olesen or Kjeldsen, then comes the Danish flag on top in all Danish golf clubs Monday.