You are viewing: April 2011

Westwood Moves Back to the Top

Lee Westwood (Synr-G and SciFlex) celebrated his birthday by reclaiming the top spot on the Official World Golf Rankings with a win at the Indonesian Masters (Asian Tour).  Lee Westwood played stellar golf all week at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club and began his final round with a 5 shot lead.  Westwood was steady on the outward nine, shooting even par.  On the 11th, Westwood faced a tricky 15 footer for birdie and nailed it.  Now with some momentum, Lee birdied two more holes to finish the tourney at 19-under par 3 shots clear of second place.  When asked about becoming world number one again, Westwood downplayed the feat, "It was about coming here this week and trying to win the Indonesian Masters and I've done that." 

On the European Tour,  big hitting Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts (FJ ICON) won the Volvo China Open at a staggering mark of 24-under par.  This is Nicolas' first European Tour victory coming 10 years after first earning his European Tour card at the age of 18.   Colsaerts later said of his victory, "I’m enjoying every second of it...I’m dizzy - my head is going all over the place. I’ve been waiting for this for a very long time and I think I did it in the best of manners so I’m really delighted."

Steele Wins in Texas

PGA Tour rookie Brendan Steele; wearing custom FJ ICON shoes from the MyJoys program, emerged from a crowded leaderboard to win the Valero Texas Open for his first career victory on the PGA Tour.  Carrying a 1-stroke lead into the final round Steele showed the steely grit of a PGA Tour veteran as he closed with a 1 under par 71.  An early bogey on the 5th hole could have derailed the rookies chance as it dropped him into a three way tie for the lead.  Showing poise and composure, Steele quickly bounced back making birdie on the 7th hole to retake the lead.  Charley Hoffman would pull within 1 stroke of Steele after an eagle on the par-5 eighth; but ultimately it would not be enough to catch Steele, who would par the last 11 holes to finish off victorious.

Matteo wins in Malaysia

Matteo Manassero (FJ SPORT & StaSof) shot a final round 68 to finish at 16 under par and win the Malaysian Open.  Matteo holed out for an eagle on the par 5 tenth hole to grasp a share of the lead.  He would card two more birdies on the back nine to seal the deal.  This is Matteo's second win on the European Tour, both coming before his 18th birthday which he will be celebrating Tuesday April 19th.  The victory also moves Matteo to 35th on the world rankings.  Matteo later said of his victory, "It’s a great achievement after just 11 months of professional golf. It’s a great achievement for myself and gets me into the Majors...I’m really proud of that and the next target will be winning another tournament and keeping the momentum going. It’s going well and we’ll see what happens."  Rory Mcilroy (FJ SPORT & PureTouch) would not disappoint and finished solo third.