Australian Open hoping for better days
Jack Nicklaus once called it the fifth major and, indeed, it has a tradition that predates a couple of the true majors of modern times. But the only thing major about the Australian Open these days is its battle to survive.
The 104-year-old event used to be among the most prestigious tournaments outside the four majors, boasting a winners’ list that includes six-time champion Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Peter Thomson and Gene Sarazen.
Most of the big-names are no longer interested in travelling all the way Down Under and sponsorship is difficult to come by for the event as it struggles to match the massive prize money that is currently on offer on the US PGA Tour and European Tour.
With a global credit crunch that has spared few putting a squeeze on spending, it only adds to the Aussie woes.
However, a handful of world renown golfers, including two past major winners, are hoping that their presence can rekindle interest in the tournament being played at the Royal Sydney in December.
Two former Antipodean US Open champions, Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy and New Zealand’s Michael Campbell, along with Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke will provide a measure of star quality for this year’s event. Ogilvy was quoted as saying in a Reuters article:
“It seems harder and harder to find money for professional golf and sporting events in general in Australia really, but they’ve done a pretty good job here. Our event’s better every year so hopefully we ride it out until it gets good again and then it’s back to one of the biggest ones in the world.â€
Eco-friendly golf course for Scotland
It was a matter of time before golf courses go eco-friendly and, true to the sport’s tradition, Scotland is leading the way.
The Machrihanish Dunes on the west coast of Scotland is due to open next Spring, billing itself as the first true links course in that part of the country and the only one ever to be built on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
SSSI status means there are flora and fauna that should be protected in the area and for Machrihanish, it includes species of rare orchids such as March, Frog and Pyramidal.
According to a report in The Telegraph, many of the plant species need the grazing of animals in order to thrive. The golf course’s answer to this is sheep, which do an expert job in this respect.
Also, there are no chemicals, pesticides, heavy machinery or artificial irrigation systems in use on the course, which encompasses 270 acres and sits in Campbeltown near the Mull of Kintyre.
The course was created by well known architect David McLay Kidd and the report estimates that it will contribute £18 million a year to the regional economy.
However, it took a lot of research and evaluation of the environment before the plan was given the go-ahead. Stan Philips, of the Scottish Natural Heritage, was quoted as saying:
“We took a lot of convincing because the initial thought was this isn’t something we want to hear about – a golf course on a SSSI. The fairways went on the less interesting ground, the greens and tees went on the areas which weren’t of any special interest and those parts of the site considered important were declared out-of-bounds.â€
Only seven acres of the actual area have been changed or cultivated and any substance to artificially control the growth of plants in not allowed anywhere except for the greens and tees. The grazing of sheep keeps the rough in check.
Zach Johnson rescues season with Texas triumph
It’s Johnson & Johnson fortnight on the US PGA Tour. Just one week after rookie Dustin Johnson wins his maiden title at Turning Stone, his more illustrious namesake Zach Johnson goes out and wins his first tournament of the year.
The 2007 Masters champion had been struggling all season, posting just one top 10 finish. However, he made up for all the disappointments over the past 10 months with a two-stroke victory over Korean Charlie Wi, Mark Wilson and Tim Wilkinson at the Texas Open.
Johnson carded a six-under-par 64 in the final round in San Antonio to follow up his third-round of 62 for a four-round total of 19-under 261.
Wi surged up the leaderboard by closing with a nine-under 61 for his 263 with Wilson (63) and Wilkinson (64). Jeff Overton was alone at number five on 265 after his 65.
For Johnson, it was his putting that salvaged what would have turned out to be a bare season. He said in an AP story:
“I’ve been working on my putting over the last six weeks with my teachers, and it really paid off this week. I had a tough year, but the putts started to fall in today, and that’s why I’m at the top of the leaderboard.â€
In Spain, South African Charl Schwartzel won his third European Tour title with victory at the Madrid Masters. It was his second triumph in Spain, having own the Open de Espana last year.
He follows compatriots Retief Goosen (2001) and Richard Sterne (2004) as South African winners of this event.
The 24-year-old scored successive five-under-par 66s during the weekend to secure a three-stroke victory over Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez.
Battling illness and pains in his shoulder and back, Schwartzel compiled a winning total of 19-under 265 at the Club de Campo.
Youngster Pablo Larrazabal shot a 67 to finish third at 15-under with another Spaniard Alvaro Quiros (64) and Englishman Robert Rock (64) a further shot back.
Schwartzel, who led since the end of the second round, nailed two birdies without dropping a shot in the final round to ease to victory.
On the LPGA Tour, 20-year-old South Korean Kim In-kyung carded a one-over-par 73 in the final round to secure a three-shot victory at the Longs Drugs Challenge in Danville, California.
Kim totalled 10-under-par 278 at Blackhawk Country Club to beat American Angela Stanford, who settled for 75 on the last day for 281.
Taiwan’s Tseng Yani was third on 282 after a 72 while Mexican world number one Lorena Ochoa also shot 72 to finish fourth on 284.
Sweden wins women’s world amateur title
Annika Sorenstam may be retiring at the end of the year but judging by the quality of their amateurs, there are plenty of talented Swedes waiting in the wings ready to take her place.
Caroline Hedwall and Pernilla Lindberg, both students at Oklahoma State University, joined Anna Nordqvist in winning the World Amateur Team Championship at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia.
It was also Sweden’s second world team title in three years.
The Swedish team completed the tournament with a team total of 19-under-par 561, which was 12 strokes better than the second-placed Spanish team.
The United States finished third on 575. The tournament, which is held every two years, is a 72-hole event in which the lowest two scores from each team count towards the total.
Hedwall, originally from Lodderopinge, Sweden, shot a final round of two-under-par 270 for a total of 10-under 280 to top the individual standings. She was just one stroke ahead of Nordqvist.
Lindberg tied for 18th thanks to her total score of 293 after a closing round of 73.
Sorenstam has been Sweden’s most famous player over the past decade. The former world number one is retiring from the professional scene at the end of the year, though Sweden have showed that they have a number of candidates ready to pick up the baton.
The Oklahoma ladies will have little time to celebrate their victory because they must return to the United States and represent their college at a Stanford Intercollegiate event in Palo Alto, California this weekend.
Europeans bank on Dubai riches to raise Tour profile
The European Tour has laid down the gauntlet to the rival US PGA Tour with an ambitious and rich schedule that leads to a $20 million finale in Dubai.
The schedule starts in early November and will include two Hong Kong Open events. The aim is to complete 2009 so that the next Tour can start in January 2010. From then on, it will have a January start every year.
The Order of Merit will be renamed Race to Dubai, which culminates in the Dubai World Championship. This tournament will be open to the top 60 players on the Tour with $10 million for the winner and another $10 million is to be shared among the other top 15 finishers.
The new format is a direct challenge to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup, won this year by Fijian Vijay Singh, who pocketed the $10 million first prize.
Already, players such as Singh and Phil Mickelson are thinking about becoming members in addition to Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby and Adam Scott.
The European Tour is making it easy for PGA Tour players to become eligible for Dubai by making it a requirement that they play at least 12 tournaments on the Tour, two of them on European soil.
With the four majors and three World Golf Championships also part of the European Tour, that means the leading PGA Tour players need only take part in four other Euro events before Dubai.
Spanish star Sergio Garcia, who helped launch the new Tour on Monday, was quoted in the Canadian Press as saying:
“The tour has clearly moved up a gear in its ability to attract the world’s best players. It will certainly help focus the interest of the players, and I for one will be seeking to get to Dubai and make a great finish to the season.â€
However, while the European Tour will raise its prestige, the PGA Tour will remain strong. After all, the FedEx Cup series is worth $35 million and with world number one Tiger Woods likely to stay in the US, the Race to Dubai may be without the sport’s biggest attraction.
Rookie Johnson revives career with maiden victory
Things were looking quite bleak for rookie Dustin Johnson in terms of his golfing career.
He had cooled off from a bright start to the season, his ranking on the PGA Tour money list had dropped to 128, which meant he was in danger of losing his card for next season, and his game was falling apart.
But the 24-year-old gave himself a valuable career lifeline over the weekend when he triumphed at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in Verona, New York.
Firing a 69 in the final round, Johnson’s $1.08 million in prize money boosted him to 41st on the money list to go with the first title of his career.
He was one of six golfers in with a chance of their maiden first title going into the final round. In the end, his total of nine-under 279 was good for a one-stroke victory over Australian Robert Allenby, who closed with two-under-par 70.
There was a seven-way tie for third at seven-under 281 involving Ryuji Imada, Mathew Goggin, Steve Allan, Woody Austin, Robert Garrigus, Davis Love III and Charles Howell III.
All but Love (70) and Howell (73) scored 69s in their final rounds.
Johnson began the year with two top 10 finishes followed by nine missed cuts. He withdrew from two other events before deciding to fix his game. He said in an AP article:
“I started off the year really well and then I don’t really know what happened. Me and my coach sat down about a month ago and set some goals. I practised hard and tried to get my game back. It’s kind of hard to explain. I haven’t grasped everything yet. I’ll probably have to sit down and re-evaluate my goals.â€
On the European Tour, Sweden’s Robert Karlsson won for the second time within the space of a month when he triumphed at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.
The victory took him to the top of the tour’s Order of Merit as he defeated Ross Fisher and Martin Kaymer in a three-way play-off.
After shooting 65 at The Old Course for a total of 10-under-par 278, Karlsson birdied the first extra hole to claim the title, just weeks after winning the Mercedez-Benz Championship in September.
Karlsson birdied three of the first four holes during his final round and found more birdies on the 10th, 11th and 14th, allowing him to jump over Lee Westwood and double major winner Padraig Harrington at the top of the money list.
Overnight leader Kaymer closed with a decent 68 but his sole bogey on the 17 meant he was forced into the play-off.
Fisher also scored seven-under-par 65 on the last day, shooting five birdies on the front nine. He picked up another shot on the 10th before a bogey on the 12th set him back. Despite an eagle on the 14th, he was unable to avoid the play-off.
Meanwhile, Paula Creamer won the Samsung World Championship on the LPGA Tour with a one-stroke victory over Kim Song-hee.
Creamer shot 69 in the final round for a total of nine-under 279. Kim’s 68 was good enough for 280 while world number one Lorena Ochoa, Juli Inkster, Suzann Pettersen and Angela Stanford finished in a four-way tie for third at seven-under 281.
Stars sign up for Woods’ tournament
Tiger Woods may not be competing in his own tournament, but as a golf fan, he can’t wait for the Chevron World Challenge to start.
The world number one, who has been out of action for more than three months because of knee surgery, is the host of the season-ending $5.75 million PGA Tour event from December 18-21 at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California.
According to a Reuters article, US Open champion Woods will be avidly watching events unfold from a golf cart. He said:
“Unfortunately I can’t play that incredible golf course. I can only cheer from the sidelines in a cart. So it will be a different kind of week for me, a lot of eating, a lot of sitting in there and grubbing. Hosting the 10th year of this tournament is special. I’m really looking forward to being back in Southern California to watch this stellar field compete.â€
The invitational event will feature some of the biggest names in golf, apart from Woods himself of course. Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, the British Open and PGA Championship winner, FedEx Cup champ Vijay Singh, rising star Anthony Kim and Colombian sensation Camilo Villegas and Jim Furyk are among the big names who have signed up.
The field is completed by Steve Stricker, Fred Couples, Paul Casey, Boo Weekley, Hunter Mahan, K.J. Choi, Kenny Perry, Justin Leonard, Mike Weir, Luke Donald and Stephen Ames.
As for the continuous question of when Tiger expects to be back in action, the 14-time major winner said there is still a long way to go for the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL ) in his knee to heal.
“No matter how much you try and do, you really can’t speed up that process. That puts me into January. And unfortunately, I can’t rotate; I can’t practise on that leg until then. That’s just a natural healing process of any ACL, for the graft to take. As far as getting back next year, I’m really focused on trying to get my body healthy so that I can compete at a high level and get to where I can compete down the stretch in events again.â€
Finland, Canada and Portugal earn trip to Mission Hills
Finland, Canada and Portugal topped the standings to reach the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China after the European qualifiers in Wejherowo, Poland.
They will be joined by South Korea, the Philippines and Italy, who earned their places in the grand final in November by winning the Asian qualifiers in Malaysia in September.
The Finnish duo of Roope Kakko and Mikko Korhonen strolled to victory in Poland by a comfortable eight strokes over the Canadian duo of Graham DeLaet and Wes Heffernan, who played in last year’s final with PGA Tour veteran Mike Weir.
The Finns totalled 21-under-par 267 after a final round of one-under-par 71 as Canada struggled in blustery conditions for a 77, which gave them four-round total of 275.
Portugal’s Tiago Cruz and Ricardo Santos closed with 79 for a total of 281 to guarantee themselves the third and last qualifying place.
Switzerland’s Andre Bossert and Martin Rominger were in fourth place but they were never in the reckoning having finished on 288, seven strokes behind the Portuguese.
It will be Portugal’s first appearance in the World Cup finals since 2005, when they were represented by Filipe Lima and António Sobrinho.
Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren are the defending champions after they stormed to a thrilling play-off victory over the United States to win last year’s event.
The duo were taken to a third play-off hole at the Olazabal Course to overcome Americans Heath Slocum and Boo Weekley and give Scotland their first triumph in the tournament’s 53-year history.
Their victory made up for their defeat in the previous year’s final, when they lost to Germany in the first extra hole in Barbados.
Villegas triumphs again as Singh snares $10 million
We were amazed at Vijay Singh’s two FedEx Cup victories in a row, thinking it can’t be matched. Then Camilo Villegas goes and does the same thing.
Singh held on to claim the FedEx Cup and the $10 million that comes with it, but Villegas came within a whisker of the Fijian when few thought anyone would come close.
Villegas beat Sergio Garcia – who else? – in a play-off to win THE TOUR Championship, the final tournament of the four-leg FedEx Cup play-off series for his second title in a row.
Singh had won the first two tournaments and only had to complete four rounds at East Lake, Atlanta to make sure of the overall title.
However, the final standings show the Fijian on 125,101 points and the Colombia second on 124,550 points. Garcia, who has a habit of losing play-offs this season, finished third on 119,400.
Villegas and Garcia finished on seven-under 273 for the tournament with the Colombian shooting a brilliant four-under-par 66 on the final day to draw equal with the Spaniard, who closed with 71.
First round leader Anthony Kim finished with 69 to finish stroke behind the leaders alongside Phil Mickelson, who also had 69.
Ben Curtis (70) was four strokes back in fifth place on 278 while Ernie Els and Jim Furyk both scored 69 for a share of sixth place on 280.
Villegas trailed by five shots overnight but charged up the field with six birdies in the final 11 holes.
He finally caught Garcia on the 17th thanks to a 12-foot birdie putt then parred the last by two-putting form 45 feet.
Villegas did the same thing on the same hole at the first play-off hole for a par, which was enough to beat Garcia.
Garcia also lost in a play-off to Singh at The Barclays, where Villegas missed the cut, which effectively prevented him from challenging Singh for the overall FedEx Cup title over the weekend.
Singh closed with a 70 to total nine-over-par 289 and end up tied for 22nd with Chad Campbell.
There was also a play-off at The Belfry in Britain where Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano edged England’s defending champion Lee Westwood to win the British Masters.
Overcoming a three-stroke deficit from the third round, the Spaniard shot a final round of 67 to match Westwood’s four-round total of 12-under-par 276 after his 68.
The duo fought out a tense final day with New Zealand’s former US Open champion Michael Campbell.
However, Campbell eventually fell out of the reckoning, closing with a 72 to finish two strokes behind the leaders.
The play-off was a thrilling affair with both men needing three attempts at the 18th to find a winner. In the first extra hole, Westwood saved par from eight feet to keep the title alive.
In the next attempt, it was Fernandez-Castano’s turn to save himself from eight feet as Westwood chipped to within inches from the hole.
As the light was fading, Westwood hit an eight-iron into the rough and his opponent made the most of it and landed his fourth European Tour title.
Golf Can Survive Financial Crisis, Says PGA
The corporate atmosphere of a golf tournament is almost as deep-rooted as the golf itself.
Part of the culture is to have rows of corporate tents providing the elite and their guests shade from the sun, luxury facilities to watch the action on television and enjoy gourmet food served by an army of waiters and waitresses.
Once I was covering a European Tour event in an Asian country. It was raining and organisers were grappling with whether or not to shorten the event to three days.
I happened to be within earshot of a walkie talkie, used by organisers to convey major decisions. Despite the weather, the main talking point at that time was one tent’s complaint that the beer was warm.
A flurry of angry exchanges was finally ended when one bright soul said: “Just go to the captain and ask him for a big bag of ice … biiiig bag of ice.â€
There was no golf that day, but the folks in the tented village nevertheless had a good time.
However, will this culture change given the economic squeeze currently afflicting the United States, with implications that could shake the global economy?
At the recent Ryder Cup at Valhalla, there were about 250 corporate tents, among them those representing companies bang in the middle of the financial woes that have played havoc with stock markets and sentiment.
Some of these companies pay up to US$1 million just to make their presence felt at such big tournaments.
According to the PGA of America, golf is safe because of the sport’s large corporate and a fan base that has at least 28 million in the US alone. PGA CEO Joe Steranka said in a Reuters article:
“You are always going to be affected when you have the systemic business issues our nation is facing right now. We’re very concerned about it. Our $76-billion-a-year golf industry is made up of $28 billion of direct spending on the nation’s 16,000 golf courses and 3,000 golf ranges and that core is still very solid. We do have $18 billion in tourism and $12-13 billion in real estate development that is directly related to golf and it is on those enabled industries that we see the greatest impact going forward.â€
He said people would still take the same number of holidays and only the amount they spend will drop. And golf can survive that drop … as long as the beer is cold.
MacKenzie wins Viking Classic, Koreans qualify for World Cup
Will MacKenzie became a two-time winner of the PGA Tour over the weekend after he triumphed at the Viking Classic in Madison, Mississipi.
The surfing enthusiast beat Brian Gay and Marc Turnesa in a three-way play-off that lasted two holes to claim the winner’s prize of $648,000. It allowed him to rise to 97th on the PGA Tour’s money list.
The 33-year-old birdied both extra holes after finishing on 19-under 269 after regulatiojn play.
He closed with a four-under-par 68 as did Gay, with Turnesa shooting 70.
MacKenzie is an all-action athlete. Apart from excelling at golf, he is also a professional kayaker and loves to snowboard and rock climb.
He also proved to be a true sportsman after calling a two-stroke penalty on himself for moving a loose impediment in a hazard on the par-five 18th hole on the third day.
It was his second tour title after the Reno-Tahoe Open in 2006.
In the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, South Korea won the Fortis International Challenge to qualify for the World Cup.
The Korean paring of Bae Sang-moon and Kim Hyung-tae won the tournament by three strokes over the Philippines’ Angelo Que and Mars Pucay.
Italy’s Franceso Molinari and Edoardo Molinari finished on 276, two behind the Filipinos, to snare third place.
The top three finishers qualify for the World Cup at Mission Hills in China in November. Only two strokes behind the Italians in fourth place were the surprising Nigerian pair of Oyebanji Gboyega and Odoh Andrew Oche.
It will be Korea’s first time in the World Cup as they totalled 20-under-par over four days, shooting six birdies on the final day.
On the Asian Tour, Taiwanese veteran Lu Wen-teh thrilled the home crowd when he won the Mercuries Taiwan Masters for a record fourth time.
The 45-year-old shot a final round of one-under 71 for a total of 11-under 277 and a two-stroke win over Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant.
Lu went into the tournament as defending champion, having also won in 1994 and 1996.
What Happens? – Accidentally Moving A Ball In The Process Of Marking It!
Here is a rules of golf question I received on accidentally moving a ball in the process of marking it:
RULES OF GOLF QUESTION:
“A couple of days ago in a round of golf in our club champs, one of the players in the other pair asked his opponent to mark his ball, a putter-head span to the right. The player did what a lot of players do in marking the ball, namely put the putter head down alongside the ball and placed the marker at the heel of the putter.
This is a not-recommended method of ball marking, but provided it is done in reverse when replacing the ball, is okay as far as I am concerned.
In putting his putter down to span the marker, however, the player tapped his ball about an inch to the right. He replaced it and spanned it again, this time without incident.
Does he incur a penalty for knocking his ball ? Our club is somewhat divided on this, and I volunteered to email you and get a ruling.
Many thanks in anticipation.”
RULES OF GOLF ANSWER:
“There is no penalty for accidentally moving a ball in the process of marking.
Rule 20-1 states, ‘If a ball or ball-marker is accidentally moved in the process of lifting the ball under a Rule or marking its position, the ball or ball-marker must be replaced. There is no penalty, provided the movement of the ball or ball-marker is directly attributable to the specific act of marking the position of or lifting the ball.’
Decision 20-1/15 explains what is meant by the phrase ‘directly attributable to the specific act’ as follows; ‘the specific act of placing a ball-marker behind the ball, placing a club to the side of the ball, or lifting the ball such that the player’s hand, the placement of the ball-marker or the club, or the lifting of the ball causes the ball or the ball-marker to move.”
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Disclaimer: Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of this information on the Rules of Golf I am human and have been known to be wrong! Neither I, nor anyone connected with GolfSwingSecretsRevealed.com, shall be held responsible for any losses caused by reliance upon the accuracy or reliability of such information. Readers should refer to the full text of the rules and decisions as published in the official publications of the R&A and the USGA, The Rules of Golf 2008-2011 and Decisions on the Rules of Golf 2008-2009.
Wie one step away from Tour status
No exemptions, no sponsors’ invites – just plain hard work. Michelle Wie is going back to basics in her attempts to play on the LPGA Tour next season, and she’s doing alright.
The Hawaiian advanced to the final round of qualifying for the Tour when she finished fourth at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
Her closing round of 71 gave her a total of eight-under 280, eight strokes behind South Korea’s Ahn Sun-ju in the Palm Springs sectionals.
She was tied with Japan’s Shiho Oyama and American Stacy Lewis. Her next step is the final qualifying in December, where a good position will earn her an LPGA Tour card.
The 18-year-old Wie has previously played only intermittently on the tour while pursuing her studies. She has also teed off in a string of men’s PGA Tour events, without ever making the cut.
She has been the target of much criticism for her choice of tournaments, and the hype that surrounded her couple of years ago has certainly diminished.
Sometime ago, she said her ambition is to figure on the PGA Tour on a full-time basis and play at The Masters.
However, having never even won a LPGA Tour event, added to failing to reach the weekend on the men’s tour, shows that she is a long way from realising her dream.
But she’s so far doing things right in trying to get on the women’s tour and she will be among the favourites in December.
Wie is one of 32 players from the California event who progress to the final qualifying tournament in Daytona Beach, Florida from December 3-7.
Joining them will be the top 30 golfers from the Venice, Florida sectionals, which will be played from September 30 to October 3.
Also include in the field are current tour players trying to enhance their priority standing and 10 players from the Futures Tour.
Karlsson Gets Back to Winning Ways
Sweden’s Robert Karlsson ended a two-year period without a European Tour victory to triumph at the Mercedes Benz Championships in Cologne, Germany.
Although he was given a one-stroke penalty after the third round, he still led the field by three shots going into the final day.
He closed with a 71 for a total of 13-under-par 275, having shot sub-70 rounds on the previous three days.
Karlsson ended up with a two-stroke victory over Italian Francesco Molinari, with former US Open champion Michael Campbell, of New Zealand, tied for third with Ross Fisher and Miguel Angel Jimenez on nine-under.
Karlsson, who towers over his rivals at six-foot, five-inches, was also head and shoulders ahead in terms of his golf at one time when he went into a six-stroke lead.
However, Molinari made a determined charge with four straight birdies from the 12th onwards while Karlsson dropped a shot on the 16th.
Molinari then missed two birdie chances on the final two holes to allow Karlsson to take what turned out to be a comfortable victory.
It was the first time Karlsson had won a tournament since the Deutsche Bank Championship in Germany in 2006.
Before this, a title was the only thing missing from a good year on the circuit after he finished eighth in the US Masters, fourth in the US Open and seventh in the British Open.
He also has six other top-10 finishes this season. He said in a European Tour article:
“It’s very nice to win, a great relief and it would have felt a bit strange not to win this season because I’ve been playing so well. It got closer than necessary maybe but I felt there was not much more I could do. All credit to Francesco, he played fantastic the last eight or nine holes.â€
On the LPGA Tour, Angela Stanford scored a one-over 73 in the final round to hold off the challenge of Feng Shanshan and win the Bell Micro Classic in Mobile, Alabama.
Feng shot 68 for a total of 10-under 278 and finished one stroke behind the eight-year tour veteran, who claimed the second title of her career.
LPGA Decides Against Penalties for Non-English Speakers
The LPGA Tour has back-tracked on its initial decision to force non-native English speaking professionals to learn the language as soon as they can in order to prevent suspension.
The LPGA had previously instituted the rule to make the players, and hence its tour, more marketable to the fans and sponsors.
Many saw it as targeted at the large South Korean contingent of players who ply their trade quite successfully on the tour.
The LPGA denied it but has decided to drop its plans after facing criticism from many quarters.
It sent out a press release some time ago, though one has to really read the wording carefully before realising that what they are saying is: “We are dropping the compulsory English-language rulingâ€.
Non-native English speakers already on the Tour would have had to learn reasonable English within two years of the rule being implemented and new pros would have to know the language immediately.
In repealing the rule, the LPGA quoted commissioner Carolyn Bivens as saying:
“The LPGA has received valuable feedback from a variety of constituents regarding the recently announced penalties attached to our effective communications policy.
“We have decided to rescind those penalty provisions. After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every Tour player.â€
However, this doesn’t mean the Tour is abandoning the idea totally. They still want English to be the language of golf but they will probably try a different approach that doesn’t include penalties.
According to official figures, there are 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour, of which 45 are from South Korea.
