With a history which dates back to 1946, and a hugely impressive roll of honour, the absence of the British Masters from the schedule was a poor reflection on the European Tour’s failure to attract sponsors in its own backyard.
Advertisement
“A lot of things have to be taken into consideration obviously”, said Lee Westwood, who became Close House’s official attached tour professional in 2011. “Maybe the USA can come up with more releases or the European Tour can bridge that gap and maybe lower their numbers, too”. “So I’ll be very happy and I can go out there and concentrate and do my job on the course”.
Indeed, on one of its previous stagings on the Duke’s course at Woburn, a young Poulter was among those who traipsed around in awe of Seve Ballesteros and actually managed to get a golf ball from the Spanish maestro. It’s been difficult and that’s hard to take as someone that has pride in himself, in winning a lot of consecutive years in a row.
It would not just be as the local boy, or as the tournament host, or indeed as a formerly prolific victor who has not lifted a title in three years, that would make a triumph here at the British Masters so special for Ian Poulter.
In fact, Dunne probably needs to win another €200,000 on top of the €47,530 he earned at St Andrews if he is to secure a tour card for 2016 without having to go through Q-School.
“I need to do that and I would expect myself to do that pretty soon”.
“This winter I’ll look at areas that have dropped off because I have not been able to practise”.
“I need to get the old me back and be a bit more ruthless and have that killer instinct”.
Jamie Donaldson appeared to have lost his game after what had been a good start to the year but in recent starts he has played much better.
“You can name one after another after another. Inside my head, I still believe that my good is good enough and the minute that gets dented, then we’ve got an issue”. Among the past champions are Greg Norman, Bernhard Langer, Lee Trevino, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo and, of course, Ballesteros. He finished runner-up to Justin Rose when this event was last played at Woburn all those years ago.
Advertisement
“British golfers have enjoyed a lot of success in recent years so it’s great that we can stage another tournament in England to share that success with the fans”.
