The European Tour garden is awash with colour this summer with Justin Rose the latest Member to come into full bloom.
Every garden needs variety and The European Tour has this in abundance, from the climbing Rose, to the exciting new flowers such as Rhys Davies, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlory, the hardy perennials such as Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jiménez, the exotic international species such as Y E Yang or Noh Seung-yul or the shrubs that lay dormant for years only to suddenly bear fruit, such as Fredrik Anderson Hed and Simon Khan.
Rose was the latest to flourish and his victory in the Memorial Tournament not only marked his US breakthrough but also continued a golden spell for European golf on the global stage through the first half of the year.
The Englishman is the third European to win in America already this season, following his close friend and Ryder Cup partner Ian Poulter’s success in the WGC – Accenture World Match Play and McIlroy’s stunning victory in the Quail Hollow Championship.
Europe’s Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie was swift to praise the latest European to conquer America, and thanked him for following orders.
Rose won his first US PGA Tour title after deciding not to enter The Celtic Manor Wales Open, but Montgomerie, speaking after qualifying for next month's Open Championship at St Andrews with a course record-equalling 62 on the New Course in the qualifier at Sunningdale, commented: "I said, 'I don't mind you not playing Wales if you perform somewhere else'.
"It's a fantastic time for European golf with Justin winning so well and three great results at Celtic Manor."
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell won on The Twenty Ten Course – where The Ryder Cup will take place on October 1-3 - at The Celtic Manor Resort with Rhys Davies second and Luke Donald third only hours before Rose shot a winning bogey-free final round of 66 on the course that Jack built in Ohio.
"We all know that Justin had that awful slump (21 successive missed cuts at the start of his professional career) and he has proved himself," Montgomerie said.
"He's a Ryder Cup player already and this puts him in position again."
Rose and Poulter combined to form the most potent European partnership in The Ryder two years ago, while McDowell, the other victor on Sunday, was similarly impressive on his debut at Valhalla. He has a reputation for match play and in tandem with fellow Northern Irishman McIlroy in the Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros last September they were unbeatable.
In every corner of the garden there is something to admire. Lee Westwood, Europe’s Number One, excelled in the season’s first Major at Augusta National, beaten only by an inspired Phil Mickelson, and Westwood will head into the US Open next week high in confidence after finishing third, third and second in the last three Major Championships.
Spain’s Alvaro Quiros enjoyed that special feeling of winning his own national Open last month when he captured the Open de España while South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, Sweden’s Peter Hanson and latterly Donald have also triumphed on Spanish soil, Donald shrugging off the disappointment of the BMW PGA Championship by winning the Madrid Masters a week later and climbing into the top ten in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Donald’s elevation to World Number Eight made it four Englishmen in the top ten in the world, led by Westwood at three, Poulter, the current leader of The Race to Dubai, at six, then Donald and Paul Casey, who also reached the final of the WGC – Accenture World Match Play, at Number Nine. With Els, winner of the WGC- CA Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour this year, at seventh and McIlroy tenth, European Tour Members make up six of the world’s top ten players.
From the moment Spain’s Pablo Martin, who in 2007 made European Tour history as the first player to win as an amateur, secured his second European Tour title by winning the opening event – the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa - of the season, Tour Members have flourished.
Richie Ramsay, the Scottish former world number one ranked amateur, took the South African Open title before Charl Schwartzel found his stride on home turf, winning both the Africa and Joburg Opens to set the early pace in The Race to Dubai.
The desert swing is always an exciting part of the season and while some plants might not take kindly to the arid soils, Germany’s Martin Kaymer (Abu Dhabi Golf Championship), Sweden’s Robert Karlsson (Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy) and Spain’s Jiménez (Omega Dubai Desert Classic) clearly had no issues in the heat of the desert. It was particularly pleasing to witness Karlsson’s return to the winners’ enclosure after a season dogged by an eye injury after the highs of 2008.
As The Race to Dubai moved east, Australian Andrew Dodt joined the list of Tour champions when he won the Avantha Masters in India before Korean Noh Seung-yul became the youngest professional winner in Tour history by claiming the Maybank Malaysian Open at the tender age of 18 years and 282 days.
Welshman Davies finished joint third in Malaysia and underlined his burgeoning talent with victory in the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco. Three subsequent runner-up finishes have put him in the frame for a Ryder Cup debut at The Celtic Manor Resort.
James Morrison became another English winner when he rose from the Challenge Tour to claim the Madeira Islands Open BPI - Portugal which was followed by a victory for Korea’s Yang at the Volvo China Open.
Australia’s Marcus Fraser was another international Tour Member to taste victory by winning the Ballantine’s Championship on Jeju Island in Korea while on the US PGA Tour there had been success for European Tour Members Geoff Ogilvy, of Australia (SBS Championship), Colombia’s Camilo Villegas (The Honda Classic), American Anthony Kim (Shell Houston Open), South Africa’s Tim Clark (The Players Championship) and Australia’s Adam Scott (Valero Texas Open).
Meanwhile, since The Race to Dubai arrived on European soil, there has been an eruption of colour, from Quiros’ win in Spain to Andersson Hed’s tearful victory in the BMW Italian Open, when he put 14 visits to the Qualifying School behind him with his victory in Turin.
Hanson made it back-to-back Swedish successes with his win in the Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca before Khan, just a few months after winning The European Tour Qualifying School, changed his life by winning the BMW PGA Championship, the Tour’s flagship event, at Wentworth Club and became another Englishman to triumph
And last week, The European Tour travelled to Wales to the Celtic Manor Resort for a final dress rehearsal for The Twenty Ten Course ahead of The Ryder Cup. Montgomerie said all along it would do a player’s chances of making the team no harm should he win over the course that will host The Ryder Cup in October and the European Captain was delighted with the outcome.
McDowell produced a simply brilliant victory over the course where he hopes to earn his second Ryder Cup cap against the Americans, but he was forced to pull out all the stops to secure his fifth European Tour title.
In-form Davies, fired-up by the home fans, was the man to put the heat on with a stunning course record 62 in which he covered the middle 12 holes in ten under par.
But McDowell matched the Welshman’s front nine 30, before closing with a 63 for a 15 under par total of 269. So in a remarkable day’s golf on both sides of the Atlantic, McDowell had won again, Davies elevated his own growing stature, Donald had completed a brilliant 3-1-2 in successive European Tour events and Rose could not have picked a sweeter title for his first American success than Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament in which McIlroy secured another top ten finish.
The 2010 season is almost at the halfway point, only three months remain for Ryder Cup qualification, and with the US Open little more than a week away with expectations high for a strong European challenge now is a great time to smell the flowers.
