European Tour - BMW International Open, Cologne

The 24th edition of the BMW International Open takes place this week in Cologne, Germany. There is a change of venue this year, after many years spent in Bavaria in Bernhard Langer teritory, the move is probably a case of keeping up with the times, moving now in the Rhine-Ruhr region where the current top two German golfers, Martin Kaymer and Marcel Siem, are coming from. Last year's event ended with a great battle between two Spaniards (and good friends), Larrazabal and Garcia, with the former winning at the 5th play-off hole! They are both again in the field this year and hoping for a repeat of that, no doubt, but obviously with the change of venue, things may well go in a different direction. Obviously Martin and Marcel will be the strong local favorites, with Kaymer saying in an interview that he knows the course very well and played there many times in the past, while Siem is enjoying a very good season, with 5 top 12 finishes and only one MC. Paul Casey's (re)return will be one of the points of interest as well as Paul Lawrie's quest to advance closer to his goal of making the Ryder Cup team.

The date, just after the US Open, is obviously not ideal and the tournament should be worth around 30 points to the winner, somewhat below the event's average over the past decade or so...

Spoiler:

Talking of Paul Lawrie, the early leaderboard was making some nice reading for the Scottish contingent with Gallacher leading at 7-under after 16 holes, but he just had a double bogey at 17th and droped down to 2nd. But Paul Lawrie is only the 5th best Scot at the moment. Shiv Kapur from India is the rather surprising leader at the moment at 7-under par, and there is a very good start from Marcel Siem as well as for for a couple of 'veterans': Monty, Daly and even Michael Campbell...

P.S. There was a lot of talk this week about Cantlay making his debut as a pro on the PGA Tour at the Travelers. Maybe not as 'loud' as in the US, but there is quite a bit of talk about a similar occurence on the European Tour this week in Cologne: the South African Dylan Frittelli, a University of Texas graduate, is making his professional debut in Cologne and many comentators seem to have quite high expectations from him in future. We'll see... (he will be playing in the Irish Open as well next week)

Daly playing with Quiros (and Paul Lawrie).

Great round by Marcus Fraser leading in the clubhouse with 8-under and Danny Willett one behind (will this be his week?).

Casey (and Goose, and Langer) with a birdie start...

A bit sad to see... Casey going downhill pretty fast now, already 4-over par...
There was talk of a possible 59 on the other thread at River Highlands... Zanotti could have a go at that in Cologne if he continues like this - two eagles in the space of 4 holes!

Quite the front nine by Zanotti, four pars, two birds, two eagles, with the cherry on top being a 9th hole double.

Yeah, that was me probably...

Frittelli with a nice 1-under par after 9 holes...

Things have changed for Ross Fisher... Having to wait behind others a few minutes ago with Dyson and the Mechanic at the 17th...

Spoiler:

Eagle for McGinley! 6-under and no bogeys in sight today... very impressive!

Good start for Frittelli, 'orrible pro debut in Hartford for Cantlay.
You just never know.

V.disappointing rounds for Casey and Goosen, especially after Goose's back door top ten at Olympic.

Sure glad Paul Lawrie decided to skip the US Open and concentrate on the BMW Int'l Open.

Even par 72 and T90 after Round 1.

GPB wrote:Sure glad Paul Lawrie decided to skip the US Open and concentrate on the BMW Int'l Open.

Yeah... sometimes you eat the bear... sometimes the bear eats you... Such is golf.

Howler today
5 bogeys, 5 birdies and a par for his first 11 holes........not boring.

[quote="robopz"]

GPB wrote:...Yeah... sometimes you eat the bear... sometimes the bear eats you... Such is golf.

Not heard that phrase before but like it a lot .

Turns out that Dylan Frittelli wasn't just worth a shout in this weekly thread, but should've gone further and pick him in my fantasy team! Some professional debut for the young Saffer, only 2 shots behind the lead with one hole to go!

Otherwise great rounds for Langer and Garcia, with McGinley sharing the lead Can't even remember when that happened last time...
Kaymer with a (much needed) good start as well...

No comments on the Jose Manual Lara's caddie controversy?

I would like to think this is a isolated incident of cheating in pro-golf but the jaded skeptic in me thinks cheating happens on the smaller tours (not so much on the major tours) by players and caddies.

The Lara Caddie incident seemed hilarious............i feel a bit for him. He obviously realised he was getting sacked and ran in to the bushes to get rid of the club..............and folded quickly when questioned!!

While Lara has been exonirated, i wonder will the caddie be banned by the Tour??

Sounds like the caddie is toast... As per John Paramour: “It was clearly the caddie doing what he felt at the time was the right thing, but was clearly the wrong thing. He’s kind of been asked not to come back and that’s how the matter has been resolved.”

As for Lara... Paramour says: “We interviewed the player and are perfectly satisfied that he had no knowledge of what was going on."

Can't see how the caddy thought he was doing the right thing, a very diplomatic quite from JP there.

Haven't seen the leaderboard how was Lara doing at the time. If you man sausage up hold your hands up and accept you will be getting fired for doing wrong, but to try and cover up in front of a gallery, I mean how stupid is this guy!

Lara shot 69, was adjusted to 73 and then eventually DQ'd

There's now a write-up on BBC website.

They add a suggestion that the traffic problems and late arrival at the event may have caused some fluster and contributed to this error.

Conversely, a separate report focusing on Chris Wood is saying that, because of those same traffic issues, he was forced into running several km on foot with his tour bag to make his tee time - and he seems to be flying so far!

Missed all that strange stuff today with Lara and his caddy...
Stranger still, Kaymer looks like he'll miss the cut here in his backyard, pretty shocking...

Sergio 3 putts from about 2 feet, WOW!

Looked bit longer than that to me but hes having a mare today.

Disastrous round for Sergio, jetlag must've caught up with him... Sweden-California-Germany in a couple of weeks, doesn't sound like a good plan...
Probably all he cares for now is to watch that match tonight.....

Looks like an interesting battle in prospect between Willett and Wood for a maiden win!

With non of the Euro RC pretenders doing well in this tournament, Freddie Jac can make a big move with a win in Hartford. (at least in the OWGR portion).

Too little too late for Sergio and a chance to buttress his Ruder Cup qualification squandered on Saturday.
Perhaps Lawrie can also finish well; matching Garcia's 67 would probably justify his decision not to leave his art in San Francisco. Sorry.

Danny Willett with a 3-shot lead a few minutes ago, is just about to give it all away again... The positive side of things for him is that the other two main contenders, Fraser and Wood, are not exactley experts themselves in closing down things... With the bad weather on top of that, it's anyone's guess who will win this one...

EDIT: ...McGinley must be kicking himself for that horrible 77 yesterday. It could've been done and dusted for him at this point, but who knows... still a possibility for the others slipping back to 10-under...

McGinley's well placed . . . . . . .

snap, i was just thinking the same...

Where's Paramor to give Wood and Horne a good kick up the rear?

Willett and Sjoholm seem to be waiting on every shot, yet Wood is almost two holes behind. What does Ross Fisher have to say about that?

Brilliant recovery for Willett, for that alone he's entitled to win this one...

McGinley must have had a few Lawrie Carnoustie thoughts with the field suddenly coming back to him.
Well done, he's been one of my 'should win again' players for the last 5 years!!

Jeeezz...! We could be here for ever... like last year...

So who can give me the 411 on Willett. I've seen his name for a while now, but really don't know that much about him.

Robo - he was British Amateur champion a few years ago, other than that I don't know too much about him either.

I thought that Danny Willett was formerly #1 ranked amateur in the world c.2008 but could be wrong, and know that the am ranking system is a bit patchy anyway. Otherwise, I heard he goes around the golf course like it was a sprint when playing solo practice rounds. He looks to me like he stands upright with a reverse arched back (but that might be because I'm imagining him sprinting, dunno).

Was with Ping for while, switched to Callaway more recently.