Australian Masters 2011

The tournament was held for the second time at the Victoria Golf Club, widely considered as one of the finest backdrops in Australian golf despite being fairly overlooked by the Sandbelt courses. Following a successful return to tournament golf in the prior year, the course is back in the limelight as one of the nation’s great tournament layouts.

 

The Australian Masters was the last event that former World Number 1 Tiger Woods after the widespread fallout he experienced almost shortly after. An alleged tension with his former caddie Steve Williams, who now caddies for Australian Adam Scott, further generated headlines and intrigue during tournament play.

 

The world’s current hottest player, Luke Donald, served as the main attraction after a successful week in Dubai where he reassured the money list title and further secured his position at the top of the world ranking.

Luke Donald began the year as the 9th highest ranked player in the game and has then secured the top ranking after defeating Lee Westwood at the British PGA Championship at Wentworth in May. He has continued to expand the lead ever since.

Meanwhile, Ian Poulter – currently ranked World Number 28– is the next highest ranked player in the field. Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy is the next highest ranked player in the field. Recent winners however have proven the almost lack of relevance of world ranking status when it comes to capturing tournaments. Greg Chalmers was outside the top 200 when he won the Austalian Open a month ago and outside the top 100 when he captured the Australian PGA Championship.

Ian Poulter also added part of the allure in playing in the event includes improving his world golf ranking given that part of his incentives are based on how well he fares on the World Ranking. It is only intuitive given that the event is the last tournament of the year for most tour players. Ian Poulter scored a 65 to caputre an early lead in the first day of the tournament.

Source: iseekgolf.com