The fairytale ending! Golf never ceases to amaze me; Richard Bland gets the victory at the British Masters. Last week saw the 48-year-old veteran claim his maiden European Tour victory, quite astonishing really given he’s played over 450 European Tour events. A true reminder to everyone to never give up on your goals, aspirations and dreams!
Picking a Winner of the USPGA Championship
Moving on to this week, it’s major number two of the calendar year and Kiawah Island hosts the world’s best for the US PGA Championship. Last time around saw the course get destroyed by a young stallion called Rory McIlroy (10/1) and this year it would be hard to bet against him again given his recent win at the Wells Fargo and I’ve no doubt everyone will be keeping one eye on him.
2012 @McIlroyRory was electrifying.
The 23-year-old's banner campaign featured an 8-shot runaway victory at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
pic.twitter.com/K5ydPypnmJ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 18, 2021
Another notable one to watch out for will be Jordan Spieth (14/1). He’s chasing his own grand slam with the US PGA being the only major missing on his impressive major resume!
As it is major week, you can’t not include the major man of recent years, aka Brooks Koepka (45/1). Although he’s been plagued by injuries recently, should he get his name on the leaderboard I’m sure it will make players sit up and take note that he’s lurking.
The last time Kiawah hosted, both Justin Rose (80/1) and Keegan Bradley (70/1) finished nicely at T3. Given they have both shown some good play in the last month, they may call upon those memories to push for a better finish this time around.
Outsider, Will Zalatoris (40/1) has been a breath of fresh air since bursting onto the scene at The Masters. Following on from his 2nd place finish at Augusta, he’s kicked on and continued his good form. As golf is a momentum sport, who knows? He may go one better this week.
Long Road to the French Tour Qualifying School
I will be watching it all unfold from the suburbs of Paris. Tomorrow I will be starting the French Tour Qualifying School in a bid to earn my card to play on the French circuit this year, along with the opportunity of earning some additional invitations to some Challenge Tour and Alps Tour events.
The 19-hour drive from Marbella to Ruen was a tiring one, but it’s a glimpse that professional golf is not just all lush fairways and smooth greens. With a 10-hour drive to San Sebastián on Saturday, followed by a border crossing and a 9 hour drive the following day, I eventually arrived at my destination.
The travel commutes are over often overlooked, especially given the recent pandemic restrictions. That being said, it’s great to be here, preparations have gone well and I’m looking forward to playing some consecutive tournament rounds of golf.
Until next time!
Adam
*All odds correct at time of writing.
