Asia and Europe back together in Korea
BY Bruce Young | Asian Tour | 2009 Ballantines Championship | Preview | 22 Apr 2009
The European and Asian Tours are back together this week when the Ballantine’s Championship is played at the Pinx Golf Club layout on the island of Jeju off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula.
The event is being played for the second occasion with Graeme McDowell having won the inaugual staging in 2008 by defeating Jeev Milkha Singh at the third extra playoff hole.
McDowell is back in 2009 to defend this year and comes off a stretch of tournament golf where he has made 13 consecutive cuts and at his last start finished a very respectable 17th at the Masters. He is well placed to successfully defend but in order to do so he must get past a strong field.
Henrik Stenson is the leading world ranked player in the field. At his last start he finished 38th at the Masters but in the week prior he finished 3rd in Houston. His class will take him a long way this week and playing in Asia has not been a problem for him previously.
Lee Westwood is the second highest world ranked player in the field at number 15. It has been some time since Westwood won an event (September of 2007) but he has continued to play consistently well in the meantime. He has made the cut in every event in which he has played since the PGA Championship last year and although his Masters week was disappointing he did make the cut. His 11th place finish in Houston might be a better guide to his chances this week.
Ernie Els has been a tad disappointing in his last two weeks in the US and arrives in Korea a little short of his best. He is a class player however and that should help as he seeks to win his first tournament in more than twelve months.
Jyoti Randhawa has played sparingly this season but when he has played he has done well. A runner up finish in Malaysia was followed by a top ten in Indonesia and a win in Thailand. Randhawa finished 11th in this event last year.
Asian star Thongchai Jaidee is arguably the Asian Tour’s best player with three wins on that Tour in his last six months and while this field is considerably stronger than those he has been beating he is more than capable of winning should he produce his best.
The Australasian contingent is strong in terms of chances and numbers. Scott Strange just keeps getting better and although he missed the cut by many in this event last year, he is a very much better player now. His task will be to put the highs of last week behind him.
Richard Green plays his first event since the Johnnie Walker Classic in mid February so he might need a start or two to reach his best.
New Zealander Mark Brown will be encouraged by a much better week last week in China. Whether he can go on with it this week remains to be seen but he has already proven that at his best he is capable of winning against strong fields.
Brett Rumford, Marcus Fraser, Peter O’Malley, Terry Pilkadaris, Adam Blyth, Kane Webber, Andrew Dodt, Wade Ormsby, Darren Beck, Mitchell Brown, Scott Hend, Marcus Both, Tony Carolan, David Gleeson, Andrew Tschudin, Gavin Flint, Scott Barr, Eddie Lee and Gareth Paddison will all tee it up in the hope of capturing some of the €2.1 million on offer this week.
