6 players coached by Bann Lynch Golf coaches competed at The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio which concluded on Sunday.

It was a case of what might have been for Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy who shared the lead after the 1st round thanks to a blistering 7 under par 65 which could have been even better if not for a missed 2 footer on the par 3 8th hole. Unfortunately for Ogilvy, a 77 in the second round put paid to his chances for the week.

He got back on track with a 3 under par 69 but a 4 over par 76 on Sunday meant he could only finish T41 for the week at -1, well behind England’s Justin Rose who shot a final round 66 to capture his first PGA Tour title. Still, Ogilvy is sure to take plenty of positives from his first round in which he matched his superb ball striking with deft touch on the fast greens, needing just 26 putts despite the 3 putt on hole #8. The former US Open Champion is showing some good signs heading into Pebble Beach.

Fellow Aussie Aaron Baddeley finished T47 at even par while South Korea’s KJ Choi, a former winner here, finished T52.

Thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this post.

Bann Lynch Golf players K.J Choi of South Korea and Geoff Ogilvy of Australia can both take plenty of positives from their respective performances in the US PGA Tour’s Crowne Plaza Invitational which concluded today at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Choi and Ogilvy both finished in a tie for 13th along with 7 other players at 12 under par, 9 shots behind winner Zach Johnson of the United States.

Choi and Ogilvy are coached by International Institute of Golf co-Directors Steve Bann and Dale Lynch respectively.

Yarra Bend Golf team member Ogilvy followed rounds of 70, 67 and 67 with a blistering final round 64 on the par 70 layout to vault up the leader board. He made 6 birdies against no bogeys and this performance will surely give the 2006 US Open Champion plenty of confidence with the 2010 event just a few weeks away.

While Ogilvy shot a stellar final round, Choi can probably lay claim to the strangest round of the week- his 66 on Saturday is probably one round of golf he won’t forget for a while. The South Korean birdied 3 of his first 4 holes, then recovered from a bogey on the 5th with a stunning eagle on the par 4 6th. He parred into the turn to score 4 under par 31 for the front 9. K.J then caught fire again birdieing 4 of the next 5 holes to get it to 8 under for the round. After parring 15 through 17, Choi teed off on the 18th hole tied for the lead with Bryce Molder at 14 under par and needing a birdie to match the course record.

That’s when it all went wrong.

After hitting his tee shot into the left rough, KJ couldn’t get it out on his first attempt, and then compounded his problems by hitting the next one into the water next to the green. After dropping, it took him 3 attempts with the wedge to get it onto the green and he had to make an 8 footer for a quadruple bogey 8 that left him with a 4 under par 66 which while impressive could have been so much better.

Still, both Ogilvy and Choi have shown some very encouraging signs this week that their games are peaking at the right time for the second major of the year. The US Open will be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links from June 17-20.

Thanks to Yarra Bend Golf for this article.

Geoff Ogilvy with coach Dale Lynch

Geoff Ogilvy is the only player in the field at the SBS Championship this week who has previously won this event at Kapalua. One would imagine Ogilvy would be looking at familiarity with the course and fond memories as advantages in the defense of his title.

That may well be true but there are still quite a few changes for the Aussie to deal with this week. For starters, he has a whole new set of clubs in the bag. Ogilvy has made the switch to Titleist from Cobra, and as Gene Yasuda from GolfWeek reports, is using Titleist MB irons and a 909 D3 driver along with Vokey Spin Milled wedges and a Scotty Cameron prototype putter in Hawaii.

Don’t expect the lanky defending champion to use new sticks as an excuse, however. When asked before the tournament about how the equipment changes might affect him, including those brought on by the new groove rules, he confidently responded that he wouldn’t have much trouble adjusting as his new irons have the same grooves he was using last year.

“I have been using them in practice quite a lot.  I’m pretty comfortable” said Ogilvy.

The golf clubs aren’t the only change for Ogilvy this season. According to reports, Puma Golf has not renewed Ogilvy’s apparel contract, choosing instead to focus all their marketing efforts on young gun Ricky Fowler. Ogilvy is now wearing a Titleist hat and FootJoy gloves and shoes (keeping it in the Acushnet family). His clothing contract is still undecided, however there is speculation that he may sign a deal with Southern California golf clothing designer Travis Mathew.

Titleist, Cobra, Puma or no Puma, Ogilvy has showed with his solid start at the SBS Championship (rounds of 69 and 66 to go into the weekend T2) that at the end of the day, it is all about the player and not just the tools he is using.

Lucas Glover would probably do quite well in a category that measures recovery from a horrible start after the 1st round of the SBS Championship. The reigning US Open Champion put aside a double bogey on his opening hole to go 9 under par in a 9 hole stretch in the middle of his round to finish at 7 under 66 and lead the tournament at the end of the day. His blistering round included 2 eagles.

He showed how important it is to be patient:

“I knew there were a lot of birdies,” he said. “I saw some scores early and I knew guys were making birdies, and if I played well, I could get something going. So just don’t rush anything. Be patient.”

Australia was well represented in the elite field by Nathan Green(67) and defending champion Geoff Ogilvy (69).

Green (T2) is already looking forward to seeing improvements in his game from 2009. At this level, the little things that help a player maintain momentum in a round can end up being the difference between being in contention and struggling to make the cut. On Thursday, Green managed to limit the damage from his worst shot of the day when he hit a spectator with an errant shot out of the rough on the par 3 8th. He had about 30 yards left to the hole from where he ended up, and managed to get it up and down to escape with a bogey.

“That’s the stuff I wasn’t doing much at all last year,” said Green. “If I had a slightly good break like that, I wouldn’t make the most of it. I wouldn’t manage to get it up and down.”

Defending champ Ogilvy ended the day tied for 11th place at 69, 3 shots behind the leader.

When asked about what this stat means to him, Ogilvy said:

“Well, I learned that then actually when you said that. Yes and no. I mean it probably doesn’t happen very often in a year. Probably most places you go to, there will be knowledgeable people who have won on that golf course before. Unless you go to Bay Hill and Tiger is probably the only one who won there, or Akron or something. I guess, it’s interesting.”

Ogilvy is aware of this event’s previous history of repeat winners, and certainly feels confident enough to be in the hunt in the defense of his title this week. When asked who he thinks the favorite is this week, he didn’t shy away from backing himself:

“Obviously, everyone here is a good player because they won a golf tournament last year. Stuart (Appleby) won three times in a row, so it’s obviously feasible. It’s a place my first couple of times I never played well. But last year was the best I ever played last year. I came back here feeling pretty good, so I don’t see any reason why I can’t win again“.

Teeing off at 6:25 in the morning, Han made full use of the mild conditions at the revamped Hyatt Regency resort course, firing 11 birdies against two bogeys—on holes 1 and 18.

2nd placed Haller (66) was followed by five other Aussies at 67: Stuart Appleby, Matthew Griffin, Scott Strange, Andrew Dodt and Henry Epstein.

Newly crowned Australian Open Champion Adam Scott was in a group of players at 68, while defending champion Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby each shot 70. American drawcard and noticeably lighter John Daly had a 71.

Han started with birdies on his first 4 holes. He is one of 15 South Koreans in the tournament, which is now part of the new One Asia regional tour.

“I played like Tiger Woods today,” Han said of his incredible performance. “I felt almost like I was in heaven.”

Han, 26, spent 5 years in Florida till the age of 21 in order to develop his game. He was 0 for 16 in tournaments on the Korean tour last year.

He missed the cut last week at the Australian Open, which was his first appearance in an Australian tournament.

After playing his way to a Nationwide Tour membership during the year, the Greenville, S.C resident set his sights on pro golf’s ultimate stage. With rounds of 74, 71, 66, 68 ,75 and 69, Delahoussaye finished at 9 under 423 for the tournament and tied for 23rd place.It was a clutch performance in his final round of 3 under par 69 that sealed the deal for Delahoussaye.

While he hails from the United States, his success certainly has an Aussie connection to it. Delahoussaye has been working at the International Institute of Golf at The Cliffs, Keowee Springs in South Carolina with IIG coaches Brett Latcham and John Thalassinos.

The International Institute of Golf is the brainchild of Australia’s most successful coaching team- Steve Bann and Dale Lynch. The Institute officially opened its doors in May this year and is the training ground for some of the PGA Tour’s top stars including Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy, KJ Choi, Nick Flanagan, Mat Goggin, Aaron Baddeley and many more.

In this series of ‘Skyperviews’, Steve talks on a range of topics including Stuart Appleby and K.J Choi’s performances at The Masters, the golf course setup, what the players are working on this week and about Greg Norman, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley (who is back working with Steve’s coaching partner Dale Lynch) and of course, Tiger Woods.

Steve provides viewers with a unique insight into The Masters experience, through the eyes of a PGA Tour coach and his star players. Watching these videos, you get an idea of the kind of hard work that goes into preparing for a Major championship, but also the human side of the players and coaches in this highly competitive business.

In keeping with the New Media theme, Steve and Stuart Appleby have also joined the Social Network “Twitter” and will be providing regular updates through 140 character messages known as “tweets”.

You can check out Steve Bann’s Videos from Augusta at “TwitR Golfers”- The website for all golfers who are on Twitter.

Check out the videos at: http://www.twitrgolfers.com/video

But it should come as no surprise that a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes under the watchful eye of Geoff’s coach – Dale Lynch.

It’s all about preparation. And of course, Geoff freely admits that the Leaderboard Golf Trainer has been a major factor in that preparation.

The Leaderboard has been a part of my tournament preparation for the past three years.
It is the most versatile training device I have ever used, and proved invaluable in the lead up to my victory in the U.S. Open in 2006. The exercises train those golf specific muscles to ‘fire’ at the right times, resulting in greater accuracy and longer hitting. Fantastic, I love it. – Geoff Ogilvy

Well Geoff, we understand that you may forget to bring your razor to some Tour events
but we know you wont forget your Leaderboard

Quick Footnote:

Geoff’s Coach, Dale Lynch has just taken up residence (this month) at the prestigious International Institute of Golf (IofGolf) in South Carolina. What a great start for the Bann-Lynch team in South Carolina with Geoff winning this week and KJ Choi defending his title at the Sony on the weekend – fingers crossed for back-to-back wins for the Bann-Lynch coaching team as they embark upon their new coaching venture in the US

Congratulations also Geoff Ogilvy’s coach – our own Dale Lynch.