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Golf 2013: European Tour Report

By Les Bailey

July 19, 2012; St. Annes, ENGLAND; Richard Sterne (right) looks at a yardage book with his caddy on the 16th hole during the first round of the 2012 British Open Championship at Royal Lytham
July 19, 2012; St. Annes, ENGLAND; Richard Sterne (right) looks at a yardage book with his caddy on the 16th hole during the first round of the 2012 British Open Championship at Royal Lytham /
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GOLF: The Open Championship-First Round
July 19, 2012; St. Annes, ENGLAND; Richard Sterne (right) looks at a yardage book with his caddy on the 16th hole during the first round of the 2012 British Open Championship at Royal Lytham /

With most of the top line European players currently in the US preparing for The Masters which tees off in two weeks, the European Tour moves from Malaysia, on to Morocco for this weeks action. Play will begin on Thursday morning at the Troph’ee Hassan II which is played at the Golf du Palais Royal in Agadir, Morocco. This will be the fourth offering for this tournament which began back in 2010. It has a total purse of 1.5 Million Euro, and Michael Hoey is your defending Champion.

After his first win on the European Tour, Kiradesch Aphibarnrat will be taking the week off, and not making the trip to Morocco. His win at the MayBank Malaysian Open moved the 23 year old from Bangkok Thailand into eighth position on the Race To Dubai points list. With his -13 under par final score, he pocketed 330,000 Euro, and more than likely punched his ticket into the finals  at Dubai.

Richard Sterne continues to lead the Race To Dubai points with a slim lead over 2011 Masters Champion, Charl Schwartzel. Sterne had a good season going by finishing in second place at the Dubai Desert Classic, and his win at The Joburg Open. He was ousted in the third round at the WGC-Match Play Championships, and had a respectful finish at Doral tied for 12th place.

Sergio Garcia is holding down third place, with three top ten finishes. Garcia had a T 3 finish at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, and a tie for second at the Qatar Masters earlier in the year.

Scott Jamieson from Scotland, and Graeme McDowell round out the top five. Other notables in the top ten, include Louis Oosthuizen in sixth place, and Throbjorn Olesen in ninth position, with Ian Poulter holding down number 10. Olesen had a very nice seventh place finish at The Arnold Palmer Invitational this past week, unfortunately, that doesn’t count towards RTD points. He was ousted in the first round at Dove Mountain, and was tied 53rd at Doral. These were the only WGC events that counted.

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