Tournament news

By now most will know that Laura Davies won the Womens Australian Open held at Metropolitan Golf Club on Sunday February 15th. Laura was victorious thanks to playing well at the weekend, when it really matters! To highlight this fact Karrie Webb was in lead at the end of the first round at 7 under par while Davies won on the Sunday with a 4 round aggregate of 7 under par. Laura was in a way handed an easy win when Tania Elosegui 3 putted the 18th for a double bogey six costing her the opportunity of a play-off. Being lucky enough to watch Davies going up the stretch on the Sunday afternoon I found it refreshing that when she had hit her approach to the green on the 16th hole in to the bunker she had played her (tricky) bunker shot while her caddy was still halfway up the fairway. This is a rare sight in professional (and elite amateur) golf nowadays that you see a player with that much confidence and natural feel that they have the guts to play the shot in that situation without consulting their caddy. Yes, Davies is experienced and I am biased being a British golfer who has grown up watching her but I feel that the natural side of golf is being lost.

Johnnie Walker Classic

What a performance!! 18 year old AMATEUR Danny Lee birdied the last 2 holes to win by one shot. I heard later that his aim for the week had been to get into the top 20 and he was a bundle of nerves coming up the stretch seeing his name on the leaderboard. From what I saw on TV he looked like he was just enjoying himself and soaking up the atmosphere. In my opinion the amateur game is different from the pro game and although Danny Lee was not affected by shots costing him money he still did a great job of keeping himself together to claim a significant title. Yes, he is the reigning US amateur champion but winning a professional event in which Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and many other leading pros were playing in is a magnificent achievement. He has all the signs of being a great player and great for the game of golf so good luck Danny Lee.

Keep Swinging x x

The Match

Mid-morning on a warm February day "The Match" took place on The Legends course at Moonah Links. Sarah Herd was trying to get 2009 off to a winning start whilst also improving her win-loss ratio against her opponent, Brendan Bartling. Sarah was fired up for the match due to Brendan's (serious) suggestion that he should give her some shots to make it interesting!

The game got off to an exciting start on the par 5 first hole when Sarah having misjudged her second shot was left with a 5 iron into the green. Knowing that Brendan just had a little pitch left for his third shot Sarah was hoping to get it close. When the ball start off on line she was hoping it was good but as the shot was completely blind she had no idea until Brendan said that it had gone in the hole for an eagle.. one up.

Not for long though as a par was good enough for Brendan to square the match at the next hole. Some bad putting from both players on the par 3 third so a halved hole. The lead continued to shift throughout the front nine resulting in the score line being all square at the turn.

Down to business on the back nine then! The short par 4 11th saw Brendan spray his 3 wood (for accuracy!) into the trouble on the right whilst Sarah finished up just short of the green. Finding his ball and managing to play it out to the front edge Brendan was in good position to make par. Meanwhile Sarah pitched to about 5 foot and sunk her birdie putt to win the hole. The next crucial hole was the 15th when Sarah conceeded the hole having found a tough lie in the greenside bunker and not managing to shift the ball.

On to the 16th tee we went where we were confronted with one of the biggest greens in golf. With a huge ridge running across the green it became obvious that getting the ball close to the hole would be tricky. Brendan hit what looked like a good shot that just didn't quite manage to carry the ridge so fell down to the bottom of it. Learning from this Sarah hit a bit too much club and ran through the back of the green. Faced with a reasonably straight forward chip Sarah played it to 6 foot left of the hole. Brendan then had to try and put up this ridge which would be more suited to a skate park than a golf course! His first attempt was poor and the ball came back to his feet. His seond attempt was a mishit which had the same result as his first. Third time lucky he managed to get the ball up the hill but still short of the hole and still not losing his turn he then missed that to clock up a 5 putt 6! Sarah proceeded to hole her par putt to square the match.

All square on the 18th tee. With both drives in the midle of the fairway it was Sarah to hit her approach first. Hitting it right on line the shot looked good all the way and both players believed that it had come to rest fairly close to the hole. Brendan, cracking under the pressure, blocked his approach finishing up off in the valley to the right edge of the green. Sarah's ball had actually run towards the back edge of the green so she was still faced with a long putt. With Brendan slightly thining his chip Sarah was left knowing that a 2 putt would definitely extend the match and possibly even win it. As a result she lagged the putt down to 3 foot and when Brendan missed his par putt Sarah holed out to win the match!!

At the end of the day the best player won!

(Sarah is willing to conceed that following this match another match was played at Patterson River Country Club in which Brendan managed to sort out his putting and win by 4&2.)

Keep Swinging

General News!

Sorry for the lack of updating... no excuses just been lazy!

Golf Destination of the Year Awards
Scotland has been voted the golf destination of the year beating The Algarve into second place. This is an award that Scotland, the home of golf thoroughly deserves. Not only does Scotland have the famous links courses which are great tests of golf but there are also many hidden gems such as Brora, Kilmarnock (Barassie). Scotland does not necessarily have the best golf courses in the world (this is a very subjective issue) but the way in which golf is appreciated and played is second to no other country. In Scotland I find players appreciate that golf courses need to be navigated when playing in order to achieve a good score and that it is not always about hitting the ball as far as possible. Many tourists who go to play golf in scotland feel the game is different and don't necessarily enjoy it but I believe that this is the roots of golf and personally I enjoy having to plot my way around a golf course.

Monty is Ryder Cup Captain

This news is a week old now but Monty has been appointed the European Ryder Cup Captain for the matches at Celtic Manor in 2010. I think that Colin Montgomerie will be an excellent captain and there is no question about whether he is deserving of the captaincy. Those who read my earlier post about the captaincy debate will know that I was hoping that Sandy Lyle would be appointed. I am very disappointed for Sandy as his achievements in golf would be deserving of the captaincy but unfortunately he has been denied it by the fact that there are too many high quality candidates at present and he has been away from the main tour for the longest. I was also hoping that Monty would not be captain until the 2014 matches at Gleneagles, Scotland, as the support there would have been amazing. Anyway I would like to wish Monty the best of luck with the preparations over the next 18 months and obviously the matches in September 2010.

Keep Swinging

2010 Ryder Cup Captaincy

This week in Abu Dhabi at the European tour event the potential european team's captain for the 2010 matches will be discussed. These matches will be held at Celtic Manor resort in Wales. There is some clear leaders in the "contest" for the captaincy.

Jose Marie Olazabal is probably the favourite. He served as a vice captain to Nick Faldo at the matches in 2008 as well as just last week captaining Europe int he Royal Trophy in place of Seve Ballesteros who was unable to do so due to his health. Olazabal has had a succesful Ryder Cup career, best known for his wonderful partnership with his good friend Seve. He is however, keen to still be playing in the 2010 Ryder Cup and with the nature of the captaincy job nowadays a playing captain would not be possible.

Sandy Lyle is another strong candidate for the captaincy. (He is in fact my preferred candidate.) Sandy Lyle is the only one of the great European 5 not so far to have been given the role of captaining europe. He is worthy of the captaincy because he is a major winner, is experienced of playing round the globe and has been a valuable ambassador for european golf. The critics state that Sandy would not be the best choice due to the fact he has not competed on tour for a few years thus is out of touch with the younger players and what it takes to win nowadays. I however, believe that it would be a great shame if such an icon of european golf were not to be honoured with the Ryder Cup captaincy. However, I do hope that Europe pick a captain that will help them to win the trophy.

Other candidates for the captaincy are Ian Woosnam, Paul McGinley, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Bjorn. Woosnam is the leader of these other candidates as he did such a great job in 2006 at The K Club and being a welshman he would be an appropriate candidate who would definitely get the crowd going. The issue with Woosnam being appointed captain is the European committee in recent years has been following a policy of no repeat captaincies. Thus the appointment of Woosnam would involve breaking this policy.

At the end of the day there will be much discussion about the possible European captain until they are announced. All the candidates would do a great job and would certainly give there all for Europe to regain the cup lost in 2008. Lets hope for a scandal and conflict free appointment process and wish whoever the captain is the best of luck in their preparations for the matches.

Keep Swinging x x

Annika Sorenstam

Where do we start? Annika has been an amazing female golfer over the last 20 years, 15 professionally. Having won 10 "Majors" and in total nearly 90 professional tournaments her career has been well decorated. Not only has Annika achieved a lot personally for the game of golf but she has achieved a lot for the game of women's golf. In a similar way to that of Tiger Woods, Annika has inspired many young girls to take up the game of golf and realise that it can be a good lifestyle. In her time as a professional the ladies European tour has expanded and changed dramatically, as shown by the fact that Annika's last tournament was the Dubai Ladies Masters which is a LET tournament. It is fitting that Annika finished this tournament, and her career, with a birdie in front of a gallery filled with her peers, many of whom were inspired by her 10 years ago.

Annika has been careful not to rule herself out of playing more competitive golf which is smart and I hope to see her gracing the fairways at even greater women's golf tournaments in the future. However, for now Annika's focus is going to be on family life, her academy and course design. She has also agreed to be an ambassador for golf becoming an olympic sport again thus her "retirement" will be rather busy.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a clinic with Annika in September but unlucky enough that I was unable to go due to other commitments. Believe me I tried my best to be able to go but it wasn't going to work. My brother however, took my place and he said that Annika was the ultimate professional in conducting herself at the clinic. Not only was she professional, according to my brother, but she seemed genuinely interested in making sure the clients had an enjoyable day. Although this does not seem like much, all too often professionals in this situation can let the fact they would much rather be elsewhere stop them from giving a good impression to the clients.

Best wishes for the festive season and 2009.

Keep swinging!

Golfer of the year!

Padraig harrington has just been named European tour golfer of the year for 2008. He won this same award in 2007 which is a magnificent achievement. Harrington has, without doubt, had a fantastic season highlighted by victories in both The Open Championship and US PGA championship. He has also cemented his place in the top 5 players in the world whilst proving the skill and determination he has to be one of the best golfers in the world. I am a fan of Padraig being particularly fond of his laid back but focused attitude and how he seems to take most things in his stride whilst working hard to be the best he can be. I do not believe that Harrington is one of the most talented players in the game at the moment but he is one of the most focused and hardest working which is what I respect. Don't get me wrong I am not against talented players doing well but I appreciate people in all walks of life who make the most of what they have and strive to be as good as they can be. I read today that Harrington is planning on using his off-season break to improve his fitness and make some swing changes so he can perform consistently week in week out when it is required. For a player who has just had the best 2 seasons of his career this is an impressive attitude to have and one that, I believe, relatively few people would have. In my opinion not just in golf but all across life people readily settle for small achievements and don't strive to achieve greater things.

Good luck to Padraig and everyone else who is continuing to look to improve despite already achieving the highest points of their careers or life already.

Keep swinging x x

Money

I would like to start this post by stating that despite being a female sports person I am not a feminist. By this I mean I am not likely to enter debates about male and female differences in sport and differences in funding following the line that pay should be equal.

Having looked at the ladies european tour order of merit for 2008 I noticed that the leader, Gwladys Nocera, had "only" won just over 384,500 Euros from 22 events. This struck me as being a surprisingly low amount and led to me looking at the men's european tour order of merit for 2008 and 2009 (as this season started recently). I noticed that Sergio Garcia who is currently leading the european tour of merit has won over 650,000 euros from one event and Robert Karlsson who won the 2008 order merit did so with season earnings of over 2.7 million euros (23 events). We all know that prize money comes from sponsorship dollars and other revenues, (ticket sales and TV rights). Therefore it is understandable that the men's earnings are greater than the ladies however, this is a huge discrepancy.

To look at this discreapncy further I would like to look at the lower places on the order of merit. The female in place 183rd on the ladies european tour has earned just 520 Euros from 14 events. Yes I hear you this player is obviously not very good but the player in 184th place on the Men's tour has earned 62,711 euros from 16 events. Infact you need to go down to position 369th on the mens tour to find a player who has earned less than 520 Euros. There are fewer players on the ladies european tour and they tend to play shorter courses but is this reason for players ranked almost 200 positions lower on the mens tour to earn the same as a lady on the ladies tour?

Typically I am an optimist, I always live life in the present and look on the bright side of life, however, I am also a realist (at times anyway). On this note I have thought over the past 4 years or so seriously about whether or not to try and pursue a professional golf career. I have come to the conclusion to stick in at university and keep golf as a hobby for a few reasons. One of these is a player from my home club is currently playing on the ladies european tour and knowing her pretty well I have discovered how difficult it is. Another reason is that of a another player from my home club who I don't know well having played out on the Futures tour in the USA for a few years. This player was a Curtis Cup player and a +4 handicapper but last I heard she was working full time as a caddy at a golf resort in the UK. I am not trying to scare aspiring professionals at all but just found the difference interesting and discovered that even in the top 150 positions on the men's tour you can make a reasonable living whereas on the ladies tour you need to be ranked in the top 40 to make a living. Thus personally I will settle for playing amateur tournaments!

Keep swinging x

Tour Schools

The last few weeks has seen the holding of tour schools on both the European and American tours. By all accounts these are the worst tournaments of the year because of the various stages involved culminating in a 6 round final stage with a cut after 4 rounds. Not only is this an endurance test of fitness and golf ability but it is a test of the mind as being able to keep concentration for 6 rounds when under so much pressure would be no mean feat. On this note I have discussed getting ahead of yourself in a round of golf with a few of my playing partners recently and we all know it is a dangerous thing to do but we still all do it. To put this into tour school perspective a good first round in the final stage might lead to you getting over excited and thinking you have almost done enough to secure your card or more realistically being well inside the top 30 players at the start of the final round and thinking that all you need to do is protect your position can be suicidal and result in you missing your card.

At tour schools there is always good and bad stories. A story that has caught my eye this year is that of Andrew Coltart. For those of you who don't know of or haven't heard of him I will remind you that he played in the 1999 Ryder Cup as a Captain's pick having finished just outside the automatic qualifying. For the last few years Coltart has been most noticable in the golf scene doing some commentating while trying to play some challenge tour events. However, he won his card at the european tour school this year so hopefully we will see him out there having some good finishes in 2009 and his experience can help him succeed and reach his potential.

Good luck to all those who earned their tour cards for 2009 and all those who just missed out. Practice hard.

Keep swinging