golfweloveit

It was possibly the most exciting Sunday finish ever. With his two shot win at the Tour Championship, Tiger Woods now has EIGHTY tour wins.

His fellow professionals said it best. Runner up Billy Horschel said it was an “insane”experience around the 18th hole as Tiger finished. Golf is in an awesome place”. Brandt Snedeker said that “every PGA Tour player thanks Tiger” Justin Thomas said “golf couldn’t be in a better place right now” “golf is in anawesome place” and Tommy Fleetwood remarked “what a time to be alive”. Jack Nicklaus, three major championships better off than Tiger said he was extremely proud of him for all his hard work”. The scenes around the 18th green have not been seen for a very long time. Fans flooded the fairway behind Woods and McIlroy and were held back by the police roping them away, while they stampeded with their feet and roared Go Tiger!

Tiger himself was bemused “It’s just hard to believe I’ve just won the Tour Championship, that I’ve pulled this off. I’ve had it not so east the last couple of years. It meant a lot to see players on the 18th green who knew what I’d been struggling with and it was really special to see them”.He said he’d had a hard time not crying on the last hole because getting there had been rough. But most of all he thought of his children Sam and Charlie, who had associated golf with pain. “My children are now seeing the joy, how much fun this is for me”.

With 80 wins Tiger is just two short of equalling Sam Snead’s all time PGA Tour record of 82 wins, but Snead won over a 30 year period, Tiger has been active – and inactive – for 23 years. A reminder of his dominance – 15 majors, 18 World Golf Championships, 46 wins in his twenties. In 2000 he won three majors amongst nine wins and in 2006 had seven wins in a row.

Tiger was quick to thank the fans for what they had meant to his comeback – I couldn’t have done it without you”.

This isn’t an insignificant, throwaway comment. From the dark place that he was in their belief and encouragement has given Tiger the bouyancy and enrgy to move forward from what looked a place of little hope just 18 months ago. From this – 1,199 in the world – to this. His controlled driving, 25 yards shorter than playing partner McIlroy, and beautiful control of the putter were supreme.

But the Hollywood movie isn’t ready to be made just yet. Tiger’s a work in progress. Follow The Sun Part II will have to wait a while yet.

The PGA Tour think it will make the end of season finale more exciting, but it sounds awfully complicated. From next year when the Tour Championship is played before Labor Day holiday it will all depend on the players rankings in the FedEx Cup going into the event. The leading player will begin the tournament on -10,the next four players on -8 through -5, the next 6-10 on -4 regressing by 1stroke every 5 players. Players 26th to 30th begin on level par 10 shots off the pace.

How this will all affect the world ranking points could be significant but the tour think that the consequences will make the final round nerve wracking.

Defendinf FedEx Cup champion and World Number 4 Justin Thomas has pledged his support to Convoy of Hope an organisation leading relief for victims of Hurricane Florence. The hurricane has caused an estimated $1.2 billion of damage in North and South Carolina last week.

At this week’s Tour Championship Justin has pledged $1,000 per birdie he makes this week, $5,000 for every eagle and $10,000 for every hole-in-one.

105 years ago today American amateur Francis Ouimet won the US Open and changed the world of golf. It’s a wonderful story.

Last week this new branding was revealed by the Royal and Ancient along with its Vision for Golf. It all sounds very good talking about modernising and changing perception. In increasing accessibility, inclusivity, embracing change, breaking down barriers, integrity in acting fairly and equally, broadening golf’s appeal while upholding traditions. This last phrase upholding traditions meant to me – we think we need to progress, but within limits.

The R&A’s global role in leading the sport is recognised in its new branding which introduces a secondary palette, the bluey green colour which represents governance, sustainability, commercial, amateur championships, The Open and relationships.

£200 million will be invested over the next 10 years and already the most significant progress is available to be seen. The 2019 Rules of Golf modernise and simplify as will the new world handicap system which will provide a consistent measure if playing ability of golfers of all nationalites, each gender and all playing abilities.

All very good, except for one thing. The branding as The R&A needs to be highlighted because many still think of the organisation as the Royal and Ancient. Which is important on social media. Because if you search on twitter for the Royal and Ancient you will not find what you are looking for. You will find a public house in Palton Bank Road. Wherever that is, it’s not the granite pile in St Andrews.

In March after publishing their joint annual golf ball distance survey, officials at the R&A and USGA declared themselves “concerned”at the significant increase in distance this year. They promised an enquiry and the next step phase just appeared. They want to find out what everyone thinks. Sports Marketing Surveys have provided a questionaire which is at snapsurveys.com. Let me know if you can get into it, because I couldn’t.

This is a tricky issue with Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player in favour of limiting the distance of the ball which they fear will make some courses obsolete. Titelist is likely to take legal action if a so called ‘major ball’ is introduced for all players to play in major championships. I agree with Rory McIlroy that it isn’t just about the ball – it’s also due to the huge improvemtents in top players strength and conditioning that has lead to increases in distance. I’d like to have my say but the survey doesnt seem to work.

Yesterday at the Tour Championship at East Lake Brooks Koepka, the world number two and winner of two majors this year, found out that he was not required by the media. Because nobody had asked to speak to him. So he let the media have it.

”I don’t get asked to do many interviews so I’m not gonna go out of my way to do one. I don’t really care.

You’ve got guys who will kiss up and I’m not gonna kiss up. I don’t need to kiss anyone’s backside, I’m here to play golf, I’m not here to do anything else. A lot of guys are known for the stuff they do off the golf course and who they hang around with, It’s obvious who.

I don’t need to bend over backwards to be friends with anyone in the media but certain guys do that because they want their names written. I’d rather be written about because of my play. Sometimes it sucks, but I’ve started to care less. Come Sunday I won’t forget it when everyone wants to talk to me because I just won, I wont forget.

Well I didnt forget that he won the US Open and the USPGA in magnificent, dominating fashion, I just didnt put it on here because for three months I was busy elsewhere. We appreciate you Brooks Koepka, not least because you learned you came over to play on the European Tour and learned to be a complete golfer. Pete Cowen has done a brilliant job with him. Just look at this swing.

Brooks is currently 2nd in the Tour Championship. If he wins on Sunday he also wins the FedEx Cup and will take over as World number one. Everyone will want to hear from him then.

The tragic news on Monday of the brutal murder on a golf course of European Ladies Amateur Champion Celia Barquin has caused angry shockwaves, not least in her native Spain.

Tommy Fleetwood tweeted this: “I’ve always grown up thinking that a golf course is the safest place in the world to be”.

Yes. But he is a man.

It is a sad reflection of how little society has progressed that even today that many women cannot feel free to do what they want, go where they want because they always live with the threat of male violence wherever they go. Whether this threat is real or imagined it holds women back. As far as women playing golf is concerned, can they do what men do, choose to play in solitude? – “alone with the skylarks”as a contented male member of Royal West Norfolk once described it.

When I was younger I used to go out and practice on a course which had a public right of way through it and I remember one day being startled by three different men interrupting my participation in the sport by mindless – and really annoying questions – “you enjoying your golf then?” “Yes, now do you mind?” another came onto the green picked up my golf ball “you’re playing with Titelist  they’re really expensive, how can you afford them?” and then another watching a drive “I’m surprised you can hit it that far, you’re very slightly built”. I was then told by the assistant professional that they had had the police in earlier that week because of rough sleepers camping out.

Women do not need this. It is not only rude and patronising it is threatening when men creep up out of nowhere. But it also smacks of something which needs to be addressed, and that is that men like these resent women being on their territory and want to disarm them so they give up and go away, they basically want golf to be what many of the public perceive it to be, a single sex sport. But when it comes to a distinguished amateur golfer being murdered on a golf course by a homeless man who was found living there who just wanted to kill, then people must sit up and take notice.

Because it is this, I think, more than anything else that is deterring women participating in golf. The Royal and Ancient realise that the lack of women playing the sport is a big issue not least because of the loss of potential revenue to the industry. They estimate that there are 36.9 million latent female golfers in the world (how this is measured is bewildering).This represents a potential $35 billion to golf. And yet they focus on family participation… England Golf focus on the upbeat. They use words like fun, welcome, support, building confidence, having a laugh and my favourite twee “socialising over a glass of fizz”.

They are getting it wrong.

In order for more women to come and play they need to feel completely safe, secure places across the board in every club. And it is about security. Only the wealthiest clubs can afford to employ buggy driving on course marshals. What is needed is properly supervised, constantly monitored CCTV cameras when women are playing. If this means keeping to a shorter 9 hole course then so be it. It is beholding on everyone to make sure that the golf course is a physically safe area. Spending money on this and telling women it is a safe place to be is what will appeal to women and reassure them much more than dishing out glasses of prosecco.

Rest In Peace Celia Barquin Arozamena.

I’ve been asked the question myself – the why golf? one. When people see someone who doesnt quite fit the natural mould for the game. I increasingly feel that sometimes there is a pull, a force, that draws a diversity of people to the game.

None more so than Valentino Dixon who has spent 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit and who yesterday had his conviction quashed. During his time in jail he began to draw. A prison guard saw what he was doing and gave him a picture of Amen Corner at Augusta National to copy. And from this he began to draw and colour more and more golf courses. He doesn’t really understand the pull but says it gave him peace. “For some reason my spirit is attuned to this game”.

Valentino’s daughter Valentina began to sell his golf artwork on line to help pay to re-open his case. Golf Digest in America looked in to his story and along with students at Georgetown University who campaigned against his wrongful imprisonment they uncovered shoddy police work, unsafe evidence and unreliable witnesses. Tonight the real perpetrator of the 1991 murder for which Valentino was wrongly imprisoned is behind bars.

The love of Golf had kept him going. l will be interested to see if anyone in the golf community gives back to Valentino for he surely has his place amongst us.

Today singer Ed Sheeran announced two UK venues for 2019 – Leeds Roundhay Park and Chantry Park in Ipswich. Tickets for the four dates are likely to sell out within minutes when they go on sale on AXS.com on September 27 at 10am.

So where else might you catch him? Before performing in Belfast in May he made a planned visit to Ardglass Golf Club. It had been booked months in advance and the club secretary had been sworn to secrecy. But when Ed arrived he was friendly to everyone in the pro shop, selfies were taken and soon word got out on social media and he managed just four holes. So as he has been spotted on golf courses in Brazil and Japan before concerts – notably when he hit Justin Bieber in the face when he tried to hit a shot out of Bieber’s mouth when he was lying down on the turf, really…- it may be worth hanging round the likes of Moortown, Allwoodley or Stoke By Nyland just before. (If the club secretary doesnt warn you off, that is).

Justin Bieber, who this week was spotted singing outside Buckingham Palace, has taken girlfriend Hailey Baldwin to TopGolf here recently while teaching her how to play. And who did I find in the corner of the halfway hut at Sunningdale once? Someone currently on the X Factor who stopped eating the sausage on brown to say  “don’t take me photo, it’s me day off…” I know we’re part of the “pictures or it didn’t happen” age, but what a presumption. Did I have a camera with me and did I want a picture of him anyway?