golfweloveit

https://soundcloud.com/user-96678684/episode-46-ryder-cup-roundtable

It was always going to be a tough call for Darren Clarke. He chose Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters and omitted Russell Knox. After the second round of this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship Knox said “I was very disappointed to get the call telling me I wasn’t on the team but I’ve got to respect the decision of Darren Clarke and his team”.

With his world ranking of 20, 2 wins and 2 second places on the PGA Tour in any other year choosing Knox would have been high on the captain’s agenda. If Knox had been a member of the European tour he would have earned enough points from his win in the HSBC Champions Champions event in China last year to automatically qualify for the team. But that must have been a major factor in the decision. Knox came over and played in only four events as a non-member, although he was runner up in the Irish Open. He also said that “he barely spoke to anyone on the European Tour and I had that going against me”. This seems to be a big factor, that he didn’t take up membership of the European Tour, nor try to get to know his team mates.

He also had to compete for a place against Thomas Pieters whose run of form, with a particularly hot putter, has been so impressive in the past few weeks. Fourth place in the Olympic Games, beaten by a birdie on the last green in the Czech Open and three successive birdies to win the Made In Denmark event.

He is amused by the covert operation to get him a Captain’s pick so that he can play for the United States team. His dual nationality – his father is American and he has lived in the United States most of his life – means that there is a remote possiblity. Knox says of this “Know that there are a few people talking about it, but its not going to happen”.

However, there is still a remote possibility that Russell Knox could play. Under the Captains Agreement if one of the automatically qualified players has to pull out then the place goes to the next highest ranked player on the World Rankings, which is Knox. With Henrik Stenson withdrawing from The Barclays last week with a flare up of the knee injury which he had surgery for at the end of last year, there is a niggle of doubt about whether he will be fit to play.

If this does happen and Knox is automatically picked would his heart belong to the European team? It is certainly the first time that someone with dual nationality has been eligible for a Ryder Cup side. I believe that if Russell had truly wanted to play for the European Team he should have taken up tour membership and got to know his team mates. Because the Europeans do know each other, they bond like brothers, and this is why the Americans have lost so many times because they are a group of 12 individuals who for the other 103 non-Ryder Cup weeks knock seven bells put of each other, including the Presidents Cup week. This was my concern about Russell Knox playing for the Europeans, that he might have been an American in European clothing, and would not have had his heart and soul in it.

The Ryder Cup is not for the feint hearted, nor the half hearted.

The players automatically selected for the European Ryder Cup team were confirmed today. Earning their spots from the European or World points lists are:

Rory McIlroy, Danny Willett, Henrik Stenson, Chris Wood, Sergio Garcia, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Justin Rose, Andy Sullivan and Matt Fitzpatrick.

European Ryder Cup Captain will announce his three wildcard selections in a week’s time on 30 August. With five rookies automatically selected he may choose to go for more experienced players such as Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood. Others in the frame are Graeme McDowell, Luke Donald, Russell Knox (who has dual US and British citizenship, a unique proposition), Thomas Pieters and Andrew Johnstone.

This gold nosed British Airways plane VictoRIOus will operate charter flight BA2016 which will bring home Team GB athletes from the Rio Olympic Games. The 11 hour 15 minute journey of the charter flight can be tracked on Flightradar24. It will arrive at Heathrow Terminal 5 at 9.55am on Tuesday 23 August. It will proceed directly to the maintenance area, rather than the terminal, for an invite only presser and welcome reception. Live feed of this special event can be seen from 9.55 am on facebook.com/TeamGB. See the athletes posting their pictures on the social media hashtag #GreattobeBAck. VictoRIOus will fly again on September 20 when it brings the ParalympicsGB athletes home from Rio.

New Olympic golf champion Inbee Park has hinted that this victory may be the finale of her career.Park, 28, who earlier this year met the criteria for World Golf Hall of Fame inclusion, added a gold medal to her resume in the women’s golf competition at the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro.

“This really could be the highlight of my career,” Park said. “I was lucky enough to have the opportunity. We have five major tournaments a year. I’ve won a lot of the major championships. The Olympic Games you get to do it only once ever four years and golf in 112 years. It’s a huge honor and I think it could be the highlight of my golfing career.”

It was vintage Park, the best putter in women’s golf, who holed birdie putts of nine, 15, 25, four, 26, nine and 10 feet in a round of 66 for a five-stroke victory that might cap a career that includes seven major championships among her 17 LPGA victories.

She finished 72 holes in 16-under par 268, a remarkable performance under any circumstances, but notably so for a player who some in her homeland thought should have stepped aside to allow a healthier South Korean to replace her.

An injured thumb that continues to bother her has limited her starts and productivity in 2016 — she hadn’t played in more than two months — and she has indicated a desire to start a family. The combination of two might rule in favor of retirement.

“I had a lot of attention coming into this week,” she said. “There was a little bit of confusion for me whether I can perform well this week because of injury. I’ve worked really hard for this week.

As for her immediate future? She has talked recently of her lans to start a family soon and for now says she is just going to go day by day.

The drama on Saturday fell to the quest for silver and bronze medals, with the cast of candidates alternating among America’s Stacy Lewis, China’s Shanshan Feng, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Japan’s Harukyo Nomura.

Ko, No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, won the silver medal, by sneaking in an eight-foot birdie putt at 18 to edge bronze medalist Feng by one. Ko and Feng both closed with 69s.

Lewis rebounded from a third-round 76 to shoot a five-under par 66 to tie Nomura and Hee Young Yang of South Korea for fourth.

Gerina Piller of the U.S., who began the final round trailing Park by two, closed with a three-over par 74 and tied for 11th. American Lexi Thompson had her best round of the week, a five-under par 66 that was 10 shots better than her third-round score and jumped her to a tie for 19th.

Russian Maria Verchenova, meanwhile, produced the lowest score of the Olympic Games, men or women, a nine-under par 62 that included a hole-in-one at the 153-yard fourth hole.

Thanks to Golf Digest for the report.

Olympic golf champion has said after his two-stroke victory at Rio 2016  “I am proud to be able to say that felt better than anything I’ve ever won”. After winning the first Olympic gold for golf since the sport’s return to the Games after 112 years he jopes to inspire new people to take up the game”.

“I hope my win and the Olympics inspires people to get into golf, it truly is a sport for everyone, whatever your age or ability.

“Back at home England Golf, who supported me as I developed as a golfer, are working with clubs to encourage participation with beginner courses, taster lessons and special events and break down perceived barriers to playing,” added Rose.

Golf is already England’s fifth biggest participation sport, with just over 1.1 million adults playing at least once a month – and it’s set to grow rapidly after Rose’s Olympic triumph.

England Golf’s Get into golf campaign – which is supported by Sky Sports – offers new and returning players an ideal way into the game with great value coaching from PGA professionals and an introduction to a sport which offers a good social life and many health benefits.

Just playing 9-holes of golf means players will walk two to three miles, take over 5000 steps and burn over 450 calories.

Rose says: “Golf is a great game for people looking to keep fit, as you don’t need to be an elite athlete to play. It is a game for everyone, of all ages or levels of fitness. It gets you out in the fresh air and doing some gentle, but effective exercise and can only help people looking to get or keep fit.”

Good news is that with Paris being awarded the 2024 Olympic Games Paris National, which hosts the 2018 Ryder Cup, will be the host course.

England Golf want everyone to join with them to brainstorm ideas to grow golf. Chief Executive Nick Pink has set up a #More Than Golf campaign to tap into creativity and innovation across the sport.

He says “since I joined the organisation a few months ago I have been impressed with the number of entrepreneurs across the sport. People developing different versions, adding features, introducing new technology. It is all very exciting and England Golf has played its part. But I think we could do more to encourage new thinking within the sport at all levels.Within the counties, our clubs and among our partners.

Changes in peoples lifestyles, comsumer habits and expectations and their use of digital media are creating challenges and opportunities. We have to be ready to overcome the first and exploit the latter. We are keen to hear from anybody with suggestions on how best to support new ideas and initiatives to help grow golf”.

Sports Marketing Network will drive the project for England Golf. Ideas should be sent to them at innovation@englandgolf.org

It’s a proud moment to watch a British golfer wearing an Olympic gold medal on the top of the rostrum singing the national anthem, out of tune.

The male golfers who participated in the Rio Games have silenced all the doubters with he quality of play and a thrilling final round fought out between Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose. Matt Kuchar’s superlative 63 in the final round retrieved his reputation which was a bit dented during the Travellers Championship won by Scotsman Russell Knox. Kuchar didnt exactly inspire confidence when the media had to tell him, a week before the Games, that the golf event wasn’t a team competition…

Well done Brasil for hosting the mens golf competition so ably. Only big criticism was the feeble marshalling. On every tee there were many people with mobile phones taking pictures and the caddies were bellowing at them not to do it, in English. Where was the instruction in Portugese? And what of the bizarre incident on the 16th hole of the final round when a man draped in a Mexican flag picked up one of the competitors balls to take as a souvenir, Ye Gods. Why was there no ruling about this, where was dear John Paramor on his buggy coming to the rescue? The USGA were borderline incompetent with their decision making in this year’s US Open, but this was something else. Wither were you International Golf Federation officials?

As for the BBC coverage of the golf event, feeble. Twenty minutes coverage of the final two holes on BBC1 , because of the British interest, otherwise final round relegated to BBC4, not in entirety and before that on the red button, if you could find it, and the i player. And they said this would drive participation? How can it when it was so invisible?

So now, bring on the girls. They are in Rio in force, all the best female golfers on the planet, who defied the fears about Zika virus, they who could be most affected. Bet Rory and the others will now be having second thoughts.

Jim Furyk, now known as Mr. 58, shot the lowest score ever on the PGA Tour with a 58 on Sunday at the Travelers Championship. But that round came after struggling early on in the week. Furyk opened with a 73 on Thursday, had to shoot a good round on Friday to make the cut, and then lost it again shooting 72 on Saturday.

“We’ve been working on a few things,” said Mike Furyk, Jim’s dad and swing coach. “We talked about his setup on Thursday after the round. He said it felt good. He was hitting it solid and straight, and went out and shot a good round on Friday. And we thought Ok it’s under control. But then on Saturday, it started to fall apart. He called me and said he was totally confused and needed help.”

To figure out what was wrong, Mike, who was home in Florida at the time, did some deductive reasoning. He realized that Jim had been playing some really wet courses. The PGA Championship was soaked, and it was wet at the Travelers, too. Jim’s not the longest guy on tour, so when courses get wet and start to play even longer, he’s at a disadvantage. Mike, who knows everything about Jim’s swing, remembered that Jim has a tendency to get long in his takeaway when he’s trying to hit it higher and further – which is exactly what he would be doing on wet courses.

“You associate your swing being long with hitting it high, but it doesn’t work like that,” says Mike. “In talking to him, I realized his body was stopping and his arms and club were continuing on. It was all out of synch, and causing him to hit it with a glancing blow. When we were on the phone, I asked him to shorten it up a little bit. When his body stopped at the top of the backswing, I wanted everything else to stop, too.” Words from his father got through, a superlative round unlikely to be repeated anytime soon. Jim Furyk’s scorecard is now in the World Golf Hall of Fame in Florida.