The Quick Hook

The European Tour heads to Oman and Al Mouj Golf Club this week, as the European golf schedule returns to a semblance of normalcy.  The last two weeks included an off-week and a World Golf Championship, meaning a majority the core membership of the Tour haven't seen competitive play since Saudi Arabia at the beginning of February. Photo from The European Tour Twitter Account This week starts a stretch that will be of paramount importance to many of the lower status players, many of whom will be looking to take a big stride over the coming weeks towards securing their cards for next season. It's an important stretch on the European Tour for a majority of the players, and also a series of events that allows ardent golf fans to earn their stripes too. The Oman Open, Qatar Masters, Magical Kenya Open and the Hero Indian Open are the next four tournaments on Tour, and it's hardly exaggeration to presuppose that solely the most avid (or perhaps the most manic) of golf f

Several big names are missing from the field as the PGA Tour and European Tour combine this week to co-host the second World Golf Championship of the 2020 season, with Mexico City, and Club de Golf Chapultepec playing host to the no-cut, big purse event. The 17th Hole at Club de Golf Chapultepec                                                                Photo from  the PGA Tour Notably, Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose will be skipping this event. Some of these players are less surprising absentee's than others. Cantlay will be undergoing surgery for a deviated septum, while Koepka is still on the mend from a knee injury suffered late last year. Despite these players missing out, the field is still especially strong, and if past events at Chapultepec are indicative of the future, viewers can expect a horde of big names to be in contention come Sunday. The favourite this week is World Number one Rory McIlroy, who confirmed he wou

Adam Scott became the third Australian to win on the PGA Tour this year, claiming the Genesis Invitational after an enthralling week at Riviera CC. Meanwhile, in South Africa, pre-tournament favourite Christiaan Bezuidenhout eagled the 72nd hole to beat George Coetzee by one shot at the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt Golf Estate. Photo from PGA Tour Riviera CC and the Genesis Invitational have everything that a golf tournament needs to be successful. It has one of the most architecturally interesting golf courses on the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods as a tournament host, and it's just far enough away from the 'wraparound season' that all of the big names mark it as the event that will bring them into the new golf season. The table was set, the guests had arrived, and an array of delicious ingredients were prepared. There was very little, it appears, that could spoil this meal. While CBS Golf may have tried their best to spoil the evening with coverage that was, shall w

With all of the Top-6 in the Official World Golf Rankings teeing it up at the exquisite Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational this week, and the margin between them all on those rankings razor thin, there will be drama aplenty on the PGA Tour this week. 10th Hole at Riviera CC - Jon Cavalier/LinksGems Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, John Rahm, Patrick Cantlay and Dustin Johnson are all in attendance, and it is thus tough to envisage a future in which none of them are on the prowl come Sunday. With all of the aforementioned crew on site, accompanied by the likes of Tiger Woods, Xander Schauffele, and Justin Rose, this marks the strongest field of any tournament this year so far. Casting an eye outside of the World's Top-10 however, viewers will find layers and layers of potential winners at Riviera. Bubba Watson has won the event three times since 2014, and is showing signs of recapturing his form in 2020. JB Holmes, the defending champion, has p

I hate to say I told you so ... Min Woo Lee with the ISPS Handa Vic Open Trophy -  Getty Images Picked as one of last weeks three players to watch at the ISPS Handa Vic Open, Min Woo Lee is the champion down under, carding rounds of 66, 67, 68, 68 en route to a two shot victory over second placed Ryan Fox. The leaderboard, as expected, was dominated by Australians, but it was the impressive 21 year old who held out for his first win on the European Tour. The ISPS Handa Vic Open was by far the most exciting tournament of the week, with the breakout Australian Lee coming good in his home country. It would be hard to dream of a tournament as radically opposite to the one hosted in Saudi Arabia one week ago. The action at 13th Beach was compelling, the coverage was sublime as it spliced nicely between the men's and women's events, the golf course made for interesting viewing. Ultimately it looked like a tournament that has been around for 60 years, and unspoiled by appea

The action promises to be exciting in Victoria this week. The course looks quirky, fun viewing, and there are plenty of rookie's looking for a career changing week Down Under. The European Tour heads back down to Australia this week, to 13th Beach Golf Links, for another hosting of the ISPS Handa Vic Open under its modernized format. The competition dates back to the 1950's, but since 2012 it has been held synchronously with the Women's Victorian Open. This will be the second iteration of the event since it has been a European Tour co-sanctioned event. Many golf fans will still be in the dark about the event format itself, given its youthfulness as an event on the European Tour schedule, and the relative lack of attention it received last year. Men and women will both be competing in Australia for their own separate titles this weekend, with identical event purses being distributed to both fields. As reported on the European Tour website, a " 36-hole cut wi

GMac rolls it back in Saudi Arabia, Webb shows Finau how to get it done with PGA win #6, JC Ritchie defends in South Africa, Davis Riley tops the 25 after a win in Panama, and much more... Time for a Monday Rundown. Photo by European Tour Graeme McDowell and Webb Simpson are your champions on the two main tours this weekend, while JC Ritchie and Davis Riley are the winners on the Challenge Tour and Korn Ferry Tour respectively. Let's start with Webb, who after defeating Tony Finau in a playoff in Scottsdale has leaped up to 7th place in the Official World Golf Rankings, which sounds suspiciously fictitious. The only players ahead of him the world right now are Brooks, Rory, Rahm, JT, DJ and Tiger, which seems plainly inconceivable. It's his highest ranking since winning the US Open in 2012, and in truth, the real surprise might actually be how he hasn't again breached the Top-10 in the world sooner. This is Webb's first win since he went into orbit at Saw