golf

A new year and the opening tournament on the PGA Tour, the Mercedes-Benz Championship has already been run and won. Swede Daniel Chopra continued his good form taking out the Mercedes-Benz Championship. I had a chance to see Daniel this summer in the Australian Masters, where of course he lost the playoff to Aussie Aaron Baddeley. This time however Daniel Chopra came out on top in a playoff, defeating one of the hot players from last season, Steve Stricker.

The season opener looked rather different this year with a distinct lack of Aussies, including of course three time champion Stuart Appelby. Only the winners from the previous season are invited to play and although 2007 was a good year for the Aussies it only resulted in two winners, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley. We had a lot of round three leaders last year. Hopefully 2008 will see a a few more fall over the line.

I'm looking forward to 2008, I think the Aussies will continue to punch above their weight. After his win in the Australian PGA at Coolum I'm hoping Peter Lonard will be spurred on to have a great year. It will also be interesting to see how the two Aussie young guns Nick Flanagan and Jason Day go in their first season in the big time.

Congratulations Peter Lonard! Peter won his third Australian PGA Championship today after shooting a sensational final round 65 to finish on 20 under, 3 shots ahead of his nearest rival, kiki David Smail. It's great to see Peter Lonard back in the winners circle. I'm a huge fan of Peter's, I hope to see him take this form onto the Australian Open next week at the Australian Golf Club in Sydney, and then onto the pga tour next year.

I'm pleased to see Adam Scott in the lead back here at home. Adam is still yet to win on home soil, so it's good to see him playing well. Especially considering he claims he hasn't been feeling well. Adam has a one shot lead over my favourite Peter Lonard and Rory Sabbatini. Looks set for a good weekend of golf.

Leaderboard
-10 Adam Scott
-9 Peter Lonard
-9 Rory Sabbatini
-8 Cameron Percy
-8 Scott Laycock
-8 David Smail

There was some great scoring on the first day of the 2007 Australian PGA Championship at Coolum lead by Aussie Michael Sim at -7. It's good to see a lot of big names have made a good start including Peter Lonard, Adam Scott and Rory Sabbatini.

Leaderboard
-7 Michael Sim
-6 Craig Parry
-6 Richard Green
-6 J.B. Holmes
-6 Peter Lonard
-5 David Smail
-5 Adam Scott

The 2007 Australian PGA Championship tees off today in my old stomping ground, Coolum. It's the first time this summer we will see Australia's top ranked golfer, Adam Scott. Also teeing up are defending champion Nick O'hern and last years runner up and two time winner Peter Lonard. The big name international guess this year is the South African and world number eleven, Rory Sabbatini.