European Tour - Austrian Open

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The sheer excitement of last week's Open Championship should continue this week at the (Lyoness) Austrian Open!
OK, maybe not so much...

The event has been moved a couple of month earlier this year, but the new time slot (quite happily freed by the Irish Open this year) must be one of the most unfortunate in the whole calendar, squeezed right inbetween the Open and the two major events that follow in the States at the begining of August. It's commendable in that context that the ET and the tournament organisers decided to start the proceedings one day earlier (Wed-Sat), arguably to accommodate those who will have to travel to Ohio next week. Mind you, at a closer look, it turns out that only one player in the whole field, the Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, is actually qualified for the Bridgestone Invitational! Moreover, nobody else could possibly reach the top 50 with a win here in order to qualify for next week's WGC event at the last moment.

And there's no need for a fancy plot with the owgr evolution over the years, as this has been always and remains a highly subsidised 24 point event... But following Wiesberger's impressive win in Korea a few month back coupled also with the great performance by the teenage sensation Matthias Schwab at the British Amateur, there is certainly a bit of a buzz about the future prospects of Austrian golf and local hopes are high for one of these rising stars to do very well this week. Larrazabal and Olesen are the highest ranked and the only top 100 players in what is otherwise one of the weakest fields on the European Tour all year. No wonder that they had to fill the long list of invitees with surprise names like Kafelnikov, but it's good to see in there once again the promissing name of South African Dylan Fritelli (as well as that of Ross McGowan)...

The course at the Diamond CC has received good praise from players last year, but I understand that there has been lots of rain over the past week or so, so we'll just have to wait and see what will be the condition of the course this week. Forecast is for some (possibly) more rain tomorrow and maybe Thursday as well, followed by scorching temperatures in the 30's Celsius for the rest of the week...

Not sure how anyone, sportsman or not, thinks they can be at their best when they are carrying the equivalent of 14-20 bags of sugar in superfluous weight on his body.

Shane Lowry waiting at the first tee...

in fairness.... he is far more than just 3 stone overweight. theres no chance hes only 16 stone.
hes by no means the worst on tour though so dont know why he is singled out

Probably because he's only about 25. It's shameful someone that young is that out of shape.

If you're wondering where all the potatoes in Ireland are, the answer is lowrys deep fat flyer.

That's an ugly picture pedro... Whatever people think of Shane, he's doing quite well so far in Austria (-11), although wining it may be a bit of a stretch at this point, but you never know...

There's a nicer picture of him from yesterday in Austria (ready to ingurgitate a few more calories - I hear you saying...) and BTW, that's his girlfriend beside him, so I'd say he's doing pretty well outside golf as well... His weight is pretty bad, I know, but on the plus side I hear lots of people saying that he's a great guy and great fun to be around as well...

Spoiler:

With a few holes left in the 3rd round, the Mighty Thor seems to have put himself in a position which makes a runaway victory a possibility. Think he must have had a great confidence boost by playing with Tiger Woods for the first time last week, and not completely falling to pieces. I also note Oliver Wilson at T7 (too far back to win I would have thought, but he needs some good finishes), as is Mr Lowry...

With the way some folks talk about him, I was surprised when I actually saw Shane play for a short while at Wentworth. He wasn't so big that I felt urged to pull out my harpoon or tell people to call me Ishmael. Still, I recall also thinking that Joel "Show-home" was also not as immense as I thought (or as his name phonetically suggests) when standing behind him on the 1st tee.

A shame that Roger Chapman has had to pull out of The Senior Open due to injury, hence giving up on the Chappie-Slam for this year. Not to worry, hopefully there'll be a few more years to go for the career Euro-veteran slam.

Yeah, she not bad at all, certainly punching above his considerable weight there.

Amazing what a bit of money does. Look at woods, bottom lip dropping off the floor, no charisma, no humour, balding and nine chins but he's got a queue of vacuous sluts with frothing gashes at the ready around the block.

s_r:
It's the way you tell them . . . . .

Olesen's to lose on Sunday, but hopefully Wiesberger can give him a run.
Even 2nd place could offer a glimmer of hope for Austria's finest the chance to extend his stay in the States at the PGA as, other results permitting, he might just sneak in to the Top 100.

In an ideal world for Wiesberger even a solo 3rd could've put him inside the top 100, but unfortunately for him, #99 and #100 are exactly the two leaders in this week's main events: Olesen and Piercy. But a solo 2nd (or even sharing 2nd with one other), should be ok...

Wiesberger aside, there's also a bit of resemblence with the French Open last year, when Levet and Olesen were in contention on Sunday...

Certainly the final of last year's French Open must be in their minds today. Levet is just about twice Olesen's age, but he's gining the youngster a run for his money at the moment. With Wiesberger right in there as well, this could be a pretty good finish... Shane is showing again that the potential is certainly there, unfortunately he's still mixing too many indiferent or poor stretches with some brilliant ones over the four days. Just needs to get a bit more consistent and he can certainly win again...

Meanwhile: What ever happened to Larrazabal in Round 2?

This week shows that hungry (presumably this has to include the hardly starving Shane) pros, even those short of the absolute top class, can be as compelling to watch as the golfing galacticos of WGC's.

Six birdies in his last eight holes for Wiesberger . . . . .

super_realist wrote:Yeah, she not bad at all, certainly punching above his considerable weight there.

Amazing what a bit of money does. Look at woods, bottom lip dropping off the floor, no charisma, no humour, balding and nine chins but he's got a queue of vacuous sluts with frothing gashes at the ready around the block.

. Perhaps you need to get your eyes tested if you seriously believe Woods is overweight. He set the bar when it comes to physical fitness in Golf and from I saw last weekend he could pretty much compete in any sport on the planet with his physique. Having said that I've noticed you seem to write nonsense about him most of the time so perhaps it's not surprising.

Seve,
"nonsense" from you; s_r wasn't referring to Woods as "overweight".

It's all gone wrong for Olesen but good finish from Lowry.

Three good days' work wasted today by Olly Wilson.

PGA Championship tee-time for Wiesberger

Once again finishing like a champion, exactly like in Korea! He didn't need to go for the birdie but in both cases he sank some really long ones. Good luck to him in the next couple of weeks!

kwinigolfer wrote:Seve,
"nonsense" from you; s_r wasn't referring to Woods as "overweight".

It's all gone wrong for Olesen but good finish from Lowry.

Three good days' work wasted today by Olly Wilson.

. Please enlighten me as to what he meant by Woods having "nine chins" if he wasn't referring to his weight then?

Hmmm. I quite fancy a cheeseburger for dinner. Well done, bordering on burnt... Yes, a Burnt Cheeseburger.

[genius nickname, whoever it was who thought it up!]

Seve,
That's merely descriptive, the balding bit too.

Kwini/seve

What is true beyond any doubt is that Super talks nonsense about tiger and has definitely claimed tigers double chin was a sign that he was fat.

Anyway, why are you going to the trouble to defend one of supers many mindless comments?

'Cause Seve's driven his fire engine to the wrong fire.

kwini, you are a great contributor to the golf board but I have noticed that you are quite anti-Tiger, is there any particular reason? I hadn't noticed he had a double chin and also thought super was calling him overweight.

kwinigolfer wrote:Seve,
That's merely descriptive, the balding bit too.

. Yes it's descriptive of somebody who's overweight so I'm not quite sure what you intended with that comment. It also seems I'm not the only one who believes that super was claiming him to be overweight judging by the other guys posts. I find it incredible that you can defend somebody who quite clearly talks out if their rear end but then maybe it's not too surprising seeing a this board seems to be very anti-tiger except for a few.

Not anti-Tiger, just not pro him and some of s_r's characterisations of him are, in a satirical sense, quite amusing.

But the weight discussion was really about Lowry, who must have played pretty well today. Decent result if only he could become more consistent. And I agree with s_r that the extra sack or two of spuds he carries around can't help with his stamina or general health; back, heart, knees, metabolism all being stressed. Diabetic just waiting to happen. Hopefully he'll deal with it before it's too late and he can realise his presumed golfing ambitions.

Only caught the end of the action today and was pleased to see Shane in with a slim chance of victory at the end. Fair play to Bernd though he was just too good.

As an aside I bet Shane is far fitter than he looks, I have played his home course several times and walking it is an intense physical workout(due to very hilly terrain), even for a skinny boy like me.

This will be the first year since he turned pro that Lowry hasn't played in at least one Major.
Hopefully he'll regard that as a setback and figure out what he needs to do to succeed next year. Sufficiently consistent play to maintain a spot in the Top 100 would be a good start - doubt if anyone really doubts his inate ability.

This will get him in the low 120's, but he's lost as many points this season as he's gained which shows he's treading water.

Incontinentia


Lowry clearly has stacks of talent. not many guys start out on tour as well as he has, making stacks of cash and comfortably securing his card each year, not to mention winning a big event as an am. However I would question whether he'llpush on.Does he have the dedication to go with the talent? His weight would suggest he isn't prepared to make too many sacrifices to get to the top and maximise his game. I'd love to see him turn up next season having worked hard on his fitness and shed some weight. It will be tough for him as he has a lot to lose. As it is I think he risks seeing guys with less talent but better fitness nd perhaps better work ethic surpass him. Right now I'd say he was a long shot for the Ryder cup.

Speaking of which I'd love to see one of the young Scottish lads push on and make the team but not sure they have the talent at that very top level. maybe Richer Ramsay?

Thanks for your views Caito, its nice that someone can offer an opinion without resorting to schoolyard taunts. I remember about 2 years ago Shane was embarking on a program to lose weight, obviously it didnt work out for him so maybe he lacks dedication on that front. At least he is a shoe-in for the next olympics so there's always that if he doesnt make the ryder cup.

There are many golfers, Stadler, Pettersson and Montgomerie come to mind, who have lost weight and lost their golf swing too. Perhaps Lowry is concerned at that.
But he should also be concerned about his stamina (a la Darren Clarke) and overall health.

Sounds like a rather limp excuse to stay fat and eat copious quantities of pies.

Why a professional sportsman wouldn't at least give themselves the best chance possible is beyond me. A waste of talent.



As for Woods and his nine chins. I didn't say he was fat, but he's getting puffy around the face and certainly fatter around the chin(s). I'm certain he's going to struggle with weight in his forties and then it will hopefully be curtains for his pensioner like knees.
Also being well built doesn't make you fit or capable of taking part in any sport. Weightlifters and body builders are some of the least fit people around in sport and Woods is certainly far more developed than you need to be for golf, and it's taken its toll on his fragile body.
If you can't walk any course without considering it an "intense workout" it sounds like you need to do some work. Pensioners play golf on such courses.