Paul Casey and Ian Poulter
It was this time 12 months ago that the wheels were put in motion for what many expert commentators have called The European Tour’s greatest season.
Something clicked into gear, sparking the most successful year in the Tour’s history which culminated in Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer rising to Number One and Two in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Throughout the course of the season, European Tour players became the ones to be feared, the ones to dominate the biggest events in the sport.
That something was Ian Poulter’s victory in the WGC-Accenture Match Play, where he became the first English winner of a WGC event. Not only did Poulter win, the event was dominated by European Tour Members with seven of the eight quarter-finalists holding Tour Membership.
Stewart Cink was the odd one out among Poulter, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Oliver Wilson, Retief Goosen, Thongchai Jaidee and Camilo Villegas, and the American was beaten by Casey in the semi-finals, ensuring the first all-European final.
Poulter took the spoils while Casey finished runner-up for a second successive year after losing out to Geoff Ogilvy in the final 12 months earlier. The European Tour had laid down a marker.
Two weeks later Ernie Els won the WGC-CA Championship in Florida, where seven of the top ten were European Tour Members, and the next month Lee Westwood finished runner-up at the Masters Tournament, the first of two near-misses in Major Championships in 2010 for the Englishman.
Within a fortnight of his WGC victory, Els won again in America, this time at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and it was the catalyst for a number of victories for European Tour Members on US soil.
Australian Adam Scott triumphed at the Valero Texas Open before Rory McIlroy blew away the rest of the field – including Phil Mickelson – with a final round 62 to take the Quail Hollow Championship title. Englishman Justin Rose followed suit with victories at the Memorial Tournament and the AT&T National, while Westwood clinched the St Jude Classic and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell capped his stunning 2010 campaign by winning the Chevron World Challenge.
While it was an unprecedented season in terms of success for European Tour Members on the US PGA Tour, it was in Majors and World Golf Championships that they exerted their ever increasing influence.
McDowell’s magnificent victory in the US Open Championship, where he finished one shot ahead of Frenchman Grégory Havret to become the first European to take the title in 40 years, was just the start.
The momentum was with European Tour players, and gathered pace when Louis Oosthuizen captured The Open Championship at St Andrews by a staggering seven shots. Westwood finished second, and the top of the leaderboard was once again dominated by European Tour players – indeed, Sean O’Hair and Nick Watney were the only non-members in the top ten.
The following month Martin Kaymer captured his first Major at the US PGA Championship and McIlroy was tied third. It was Kaymer’s second title of the year and he would later add the KLM Open and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in a wonderful season which culminated in him being crowned Race to Dubai champion.
Kaymer can also add a fifth victory of 2010 if he counts The Ryder Cup, the German contributing two and a half points from four at The Celtic Manor Resort as Europe edged an exciting contest 14½-13½. The Americans put up a tremendous fight, but perhaps Europe’s victory – sealed by McDowell’s narrow win over Hunter Mahan in the final day singles – was indicative of Europe’s – and The European Tour’s – global success.
In November, Francesco Molinari made it three wins out of four for The European Tour in WGC events by claiming the WGC-HSBC Champions title in Shanghai, China. Once again he held off fellow Members to triumph, with Westwood second, Richie Ramsay and Luke Donald sharing third and McIlroy fifth.
That same week Westwood was elevated to World Number One, ending Tiger Woods’ 281-week reign, and he soon justified his position by winning the Sunshine Tour’s Nedbank Golf Challenge in December.
Since then Kaymer has overtaken Woods to become World Number Two, and to have the two best players on the planet playing on The European Tour speaks volumes.
There is no taking away from the fact that the likes of Woods, Mickelson and a host of young Americans such as Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson will always be on the radar, but as a result of The European Tour’s incredible 2010, its Members are now more often than not the favourites heading into golf’s biggest tournaments.
The four events in the Middle East have shown Europe’s top players are continuing to press on and Kaymer, Casey, Thomas Björn and the current Race to Dubai leader, Alvaro Quiros, will all be swapping one desert course for another high in confidence with a win under their belts.
At Ritz Carlton Golf Club next week, players such as Poulter, Casey, Westwood, Kaymer, Luke Donald, Els and McIlroy will be the ones the rest of the field want to avoid. It is a big ask to have seven Members in the quarter-finals again this year, but on the scintillating form of so many players, it would take a brave man to bet against it.
