NIALL KEARNEY’S decision to kick-start his professional career by undertaking the journey to South Africa has reaped dividends, with the 21-year-old Dubliner securing a sponsor’s invite into this week’s Joburg Open – which completes the European Tour’s co-sanctioned tournaments with the Sunshine Tour – starting in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Although last year’s Walker Cup campaigner missed the cut on his professional debut in the Africa Open last week, Kearney’s status – having joined the expanding stable of golfers at Horizon Sports – has earned him a precious invite into a tournament where South African Charl Schwartzel will aim for back-to-back titles after starting his year’s work with victory at the East London Club on Sunday.
Kearney is the new kid on the block as far as the Irish contingent competing at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Club – where the East and West courses will be used – is concerned, with Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Michael Hoey, Gary Murphy and tour school graduate Simon Thornton all competing.
Clarke, who started his season with a tied-28th finish in the Africa Open, recognises he has a lot to do if he is to achieve the target of reclaiming his Ryder Cup place for the match with the United States in October. Currently ranked 115th in the official world rankings, which doesn’t guarantee him places in any of the majors or WGCs, Clarke moved on to Johnannesburg remarking, “I want to get back on that team. I’m currently outside the top 50 in the world, so I’ve got to play and play well if I’m to make that team.”
The JoBurg Open is played over two courses, one of which, the East, Clarke considers “one of the best in South Africa, it is a fantastic course.” Clarke’s best finish in the tournament was fourth in 2008, a season he secured his last two wins on tour in the Asian Open and the Dutch Open.
Geoff Ogilvy’s win in the SBS Championship, the US Tour’s opening tournament of the season, marked the first occasion in his career he successfully defended a title. It has also whetted his appetite for the season ahead, and particularly his aim to add to the major title he won in the US Open at Winged Foot in 2006.
Although world number one Tiger Woods is on the missing list with no date yet scheduled for a return to tour duty, Ogilvy believes he needs to take a leaf out of Woods’s book when finishing off tournaments. He explained, “I’m not concerned about how good I can be when I’m actually playing well, because I think I can hang with most guys. (In the past), I haven’t shown that I could do well when maybe my game is a little off. I think that’s the signs of a really great player.
“Tiger has made a career out of winning tournaments. He has won a lot by 10. But he has won tournaments in the past he shouldn’t have. He found a way to win. I think I need to get to that sort of point. I think I can . . . I think I can be a player who can win any golf tournament I play. I’ve just got to work to get through the bad days and bad patches. I think I can. I have to work on how to do it,” said Ogilvy, who moved back into the world’s top-10.
Of his failure to add to the US Open title of 2006, Ogilvy put it down to “over-preparing.” He explained: “I started going to all of the golf courses before the majors, doing stuff I didn’t do before.” So, in future, his plan is to prepare for majors the way he would regular events.
This year’s majors are at Augusta National (US Masters), Pebble Beach (US Open), St Andrews (British Open) and Whistling Straits (US PGA) and Ogilvy intends to stick to his regular tournament preparation to avoid adding “an element of pressure on yourself, that wouldn’t be there.”
And the Aussie is unlikely to get an early look at the Pebble Beach links, which also plays host to next month’s ATT pro-am, as his wife is due a baby around that time.
Australian Ogilvy shot a final-round 67 at the par-73 Kapalua Resort Plantation Course to win by a shot at 22 under par from South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini and land the tournament of the previous year’s PGA Tour event winners for a second year in a row. American Matt Kuchar was third of the 28-man field at 19 under, with his compatriot Sean O’Hair in a tie for fourth at 18 under with Scotland’s Martin Laird.
Unlike his win of last year, when he held a substantial lead going into the final round, Ogilvy was forced to play catch-up on third round leader Lucas Glover and fast-finishing Sabbatini – who finished with a final round 63 – on this occasion to claim the title.
USPGA TOUR SBS CHAMPIONSHIP (at the Kapalua Plantation GC, Kapalua Resort, Maui, Hawaii) – Leading final scores (USA unless stated, par 73): 270 – G Ogilvy (Aus) 69 66 68 67; 271 – R Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 68 70 63 273 M Kuchar 67 68 71 67; 274 – S O’Hair 68 67 71 68, M Laird (Sco) 67 68 69 70; 275 - K Perry 70 67 70 68, R Goosen (Rsa) 70 69 67 69, R Moore 69 68 68 70; 276 – S Cink 68 69 69 70; 277 – S Stricker 73 70 68 66, P Perez 71 70 67 69, P Casey (Eng) 70 69 69 69, A Cabrera (Arg) 68 68 70 71.
