golfweloveit

BBC have given Peter Alliss a one year rolling contract which means that he can name his own retirement date, and carry on broadcasting until his nineties should he so wish, He’s now unbelievably 87 though he sounds much younger even if his opinions are firmly rooted in the 1930s. My Dad used to say “that man talks just like your Granny”, and he became Granny Alliss ever more. Who else could get away with telling people exactly what many are thinking as in this clip above. That said, his co commentators need more focus. One of them actually observed a child being given a golf ball and called the golfer who did so “Ricky McIlroy”. No excuse for that, he wasn’t wearing orange.

It’s the pre-tournament tournament no one wants to win, such is the superstition that very few winners of the Par 3 contest go on to win the Masters themselves. One exception to this is Tom Watson who won both in 1982 and as he stopped competing in the main tournament two years ago he duly helped everyone by winning the Par 3 event on Wednesday. The 68-year-old and fellow legends Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player all produced superb performances to the delight of the patrons at Augusta National, with the group a combined 12 under par for the traditional nine-hole event.

Watson, Masters champion in 1977 and 1981, was in inspired form as he birdied six of the first eight holes and made a tricky three-foot putt for par at the last to snatch a one-shot win over England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Belgian Thomas Pieters.

South African Dylan Fritelli  scored the first hole in one of the Tournament followed by Jack Nicklaus’ caddie, his grandson Gary.

Yes, I had to read that twice because I didn’t believe my eyes…

Masters chairman Fred Ridley (pictured) announced on Wednesday the creation of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.

The event, set to kick off Masters week in April 2019, will feature the top 72 women’s amateurs from around the world.

The first two rounds of the tournament will be held at nearby Champions Retreat Golf Club. Following a cut to the low 30 players, the final round will be held at Augusta National on Saturday, April 6, 2019.

“This championship will become an exciting edition to the Masters week, and it furthers our effort to promote the sport and inspire young women to take up the game,” Ridley said.

The champion will receive an exemption into next year’s U.S. Women’s Open and the Women’s British Open, as well as any USGA, R&A and PGA of America amateur events for a year.

The field will be comprised of all of the winners from the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Ladies’ British Amateur, Women’s Asia-Pacific Amateur, U.S. Girls’ Junior, Girls’ British Open Amateur Championship, Girls Junior PGA Championship. In addition, the top 30 players in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking not already qualified will receive invitations to the event, as well as the top 30 players from the United States. The Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship Committee will fill the remaining positions.

The new Augusta amateur event could pose an issue for the LPGA. The tour’s first major of the year, the ANA Inspiration, is held the week before the Masters, and the tournament already invites six of the top amateurs in the world, and a seventh qualifies as the winner of the ANA Junior Inspiration.

Ridley said Wednesday that he has already spoken to LPGA commissioner Mike Whan about the conflict and that Whan “understands our motivations for doing this, our motivation to help grow the game. He also agrees wholeheartedly that, from a big picture, this is a win for women’s golf.”

More details about the event – including a global television partner and the winner’s trophy – will be announced at a later date. The club intends to offer a lottery for a “significant” number of tickets.

“This is a dream come true,” said Annika Sorenstam, who attended Wednesday’s announcement. “It’s a carrot for these young girls.”

The Women’s Amateur Championship is the latest grow-the-game initiative by Augusta National Golf Club, which also created the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, the Latin America Amateur Championship and the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship.

I first remember seeing Fred Ridley in person when he was  Captain of the American 1987 Walker Cup team at Sunningdale. He and his wife were the most perfect couple. With their all American charm they kept on saying to people in infinite perkiness “He-llo! How are yew!” he left a lasting impression. Good one Fred.

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Which is weirder? The fact that Phil thought this shirt “looks good” or that Tiger and Phil were playing “let’s be buddies” and playing a pre-Masters practice round together?

Let’s have normal service resume…we know there’s no love lost.

Steady on. The PGA of America have now announced the Ryder Cup venues in the United States through to 2032. How old will I be then? It’s a scary thought.

Flushed with the US success ar the 2016 matches they have announced a quick return to Hazeltine in 2028, the first time one of their venues has been used twice. Good for Hazeltine that it is now so revered. When Tony Jacklin won his US Open there in 1970 the Chaska Minesota course was called a “cow pasture” in the press.

So the rota announced so far is

2018 Le Golf National Paris

2020 Whistling Straits, Wisconsin

2022 Marco Simone, Rome

2024Bethpage Black, New York

2026 tba, Europe

2028 Hazeltine National, Minnesota

2030 tba Europe

2032 Olympic Club, San Fransisco

The one in all this which catches my eye is the match in Italy in 4 years time. I went out to Rome recently to have a look at the course which is impressive. But it is not that which concerns. The city of Rome has a serious law and order problem with asylum seekers and immigrants, which the authorities so far seem to be doing little to resolve. An Australian couple I talked to at the airport summed it up. “never again” – as in never will they return to the city. As well as the perrenial thefts and maniacal drivers and the lacksidasical approach to efficiency and solving any kind of issue the immigrants were something else. Alongside the hotel in Central Rome large groups of them congregated and threw bottles at cars, set fire to property, spat at and verbally and physically abused as well as thieved from tourists. And the airport at Fumicino had passengers getting into fights because the environment was so challenging. Such infrastructure problems must be resolved before the matches in four years time. The world will be watching one of the highest profile sporting events after the Olympic Games. Those of us who travel to Italy regularly go with the flow of the country even thought it’s sometimes not to our liking. It may be a cruel culture shock for our American guests if they are not prepared to brace themselves a little.

Four time major champion Ernie Els says he wants to be rememnered for something other than golf and that all his life he will be “fighting this thing”. Ernie’s son Ben, 14, who is on the autism spectrum is pictured in this film wearing blue. The state of the art facility in Jupiter Florida which opened in 2015 now has a upper school for young people 14-21 as well as a junior school. It has its own golf course too.

It was 11.30pm and I roared with approval at the television. So? It was so unexpected and exciting and so great for European golf, hopefully the roar could be heard all the way to Woburn and Milton Keynes, never mind Lake Nona as Ian Poulter beat Beau Hostler in a sudden death playoff to win the Houston Open.

Im beginning to see a theme to this year. It’s all about what footballers call Bouncebackability. With Rory, Casey, Bubba and now Poults returning to the winners circle after many were writing them off. And the most unexpected of all, the great return of Sir Tiger of Isleworth.

I wondered about Poulter when I heard he had dug out his Miracle of Medinah putter last week at the WGC Matchplay when he creditably reached the Quarter Finals. He needed to do better to play at Augusta next week and he had only one option – he had to win at Houston.

His win tonight will go down in the record books. No player in PGA Tour history has won from such a lowly position after the first round. Poulter was tied 123rd and had packed his bags to go home at the weekend. He said after his final round that last week at the Matchplay had been painful. He came to Houston tired, frustrated and disappointed. It was only early in the second round when he said to his caddie James “let’s just go and play golf”. This gave him a mental switch to get to rounds of 64,65 and 67. After Hostler hit his approach into the water on the first play off hole Poulter had three putts to win. It is his first strokeplay win in America. Not only will he play in The Masters next week, he also gets a 2 year exemption to play on the PGA Tour.

“It’s been tough, hard. I’ve been injured but I’ve been patient, dug deep and waited my time. He said his wife Katie had been a rock through this time and the win was for her”. It was only back in February that he whistfully posted on Instagram this picture of his old Ferrari which he had sell to Rory. Now he can buy a shiny new one.

It’s not the first time that Poulter has been in a precarious situation and pulled something extraordinary out of the bag. After a 2016 foot injury he was playing on a medical exemption and sunk to 195th in the World Rankings. His clothing business folded and he was about to lose his playing privileges when miraculously he discovered that he had retained his card on a technicality. Two weeks later he placed 2nd in the prestigious Players Championship and started to play well again on both sides of the Atlantic.

Oh how we needed this win, not just for Poulter but for the European Ryder Cup team. Please let there be a berth for him.  He has the stomach for the knife edge battles of matchplay. Nobody except Seve has played with such guts and with the heart of a lion in the Ryder Cup and once again Poulter has pulled off the extraordinary in the nick of time.

At the beginning of this year he had written off his chances and was seriously considering retirement. He was outside the tip 100 in the world.  Now 2 time Masters Champion Bubba Watson has won for the second time this season, and in dominant fashion. After defeating Justin Thomas in the semi finals at Austin Country Club in Texas he made short work of the final beating Kevin Kisner 7 and 6 after winning the first five hokes. Justin Thomas lost the third place playoff to Sweden’s Alex Noren who is having a stellar season in the States.His win is just round the corner.