Notables
Jonas Blixt would be an obvious place to start here, as the 28-year-old Swedish rookie broke through for his first major tour victory as the Frys.com Open in Northern California. For close followers of the PGA Tour, this win is not altogether shocking for Blixt, a former All-American at Florida State, was playing some impressive golf during the springtime (logging three staright top 10s during May) before a rib injury sidelined him for more than 10 weeks. But upon returning at the Wyndham Championship, Blixt improved his finishes over five consecutive starts, eventually finishing 3rd at Justin Timberlake’s Las Vegas event last week before breaking through this week at Cordevalle. Is this another young star in the making? Blixt’s lone campaign on the Web.com Tour (2011) was a strong one (5th in earnings), his rookie year on the PGA Tour has been impressive and he rates among the Tour’s statistical best on and around the greens. So while long-term stardom may not yet seem a sure thing, this is a young player worth watching……………Michael Campbell – remember him? The 2005 U.S. Open champion has gone through enough hard times in recent years that his struggles have no longer even seemed newsworthy. But the affable Kiwi quietly finished 3rd at the European Tour’s Portugal Masters this weekend, stringing together consistent rounds of 68-69-67-68 to log his first E Tour top 10 since 2008. Campbell will not be making the trip Down Under for the Tour’s inaugural ISPS Handa Perth International this week but is scheduled to tee it up the following week in Shanghai at the $7 million BMW Masters……………The Naha Golf Club, a 7,176-yard test somewhat remotely located on the island of Okinawa, made its debut as host of the Japan Open last week – and promptly yielded the event’s highest winning score since Joe Ozaki’s 10-over-par 298 aggregate at the Otaru Country Club in 1998. The winner was six-time Japan Tour champion Kenichi Kuboya, whose Sunday 70 was good enough to win by one when Filipino Juvic Pagunsan finished double-bogey, bogey to lose by one. Far Eastern dispatches provided no explanation beyond steady winds for the high scoring, but the curious can examine the apparently demanding Naha layout here……………Gaganjeet Bhullar, a touted 24-year-old Indian professional, claimed his second Asian Tour title in a month on Sunday at the Venetian Macau Open, posting a 268 total to edge American Jonathan Moore by two. Bhullar’s previous victory came in Taipei at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (a 54-hole event in which he cruised home by four), the twin triumphs joining his victories at the Asian circuit’s 2009 Indonesia President Invitational and 2010 Asian Tour International, as well as 10 lesser events on his native PGTI in India. Viewed for several years now as one who might lift India’s golfing fortunes beyond the international benchmarks set by Arjun Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh, Bhullar has never played on American soil but did log an MC at the 2009 Open Championship, as well as a T74 at 2009’s WGC-HSBC Champions event in China. He has not, however, shown any desire to race towards the PGA Tour, and while he has 35 career E Tour starts under his belt, the majority of these have been in co-sanctioned events played around Asia.