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European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley has set out plans for a 6.6 million euro purse tournament to be played at Valderrama in the Autumn.

He said “I believe there is a significant growth opportunity for our tour. I will be disappointed if we only have three or four new big tournaments in thr next year. I hope there will be more. The challenge we face is to encourage our players not to play so much on the US Tour by peoviding world class tournaments regularly in 2017”.

Pelley is hoping that staging the new event in Spain the week after the British Masters at The Grove there eill be a fortnight after the Ryder Cup when European stars will play at home.

The Valderrama Committee faced a lot of criticism after this month’s Spanish Open when the greens were rough and unpredictable due to the coarse poa anna grass. They have decided to dig up and returf 9 greens this summer and re seed with bent grass which is more natural in Southern Spain.

Organisers of the London Design Festival have scrapped plans for a designer crazy golf course in Trafalgar Square following the failure of its crowdfunding campaign.

Billed to include contributions from Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith and Tom Dixon, the project had only raised £23,083 of its £120,000 target when the Kickstarter campaign ended at midnight last night.

London Design Festival organisers today issued a statement confirming that the “highly ambitious” Visionary Crazy Golf project would not go ahead due to lack of funding.

“We are obviously disappointed that we won’t be able to achieve it through Kickstarter, which was a new funding model for us,” said London Design Festival director Ben Evans.

“Installations in Trafalgar Square are complicated and expensive to realise, but we hope that we might find another way to have Visionary Crazy Golf financed, and may well revisit the idea in the future.”

President Barrack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron played a few holes at The Grove during the President’s state visit. Mr Cameron is also a fully paid up member of Ellensborough Golf Club in Buckinghamshire. The occupier of Chequers has been entitled to honorary membership of the club since the time of Lloyd George and his recently published tax return shows that Mr Cameron paid his £1,165 2015/16 fees.

Last year more than 60 golf clubs in China were shut down by the Communist Party and in October the sport was officially banned.Members were stopped from joining or entering private clubs because the party saw them as connected with bribery and corruption.

In a surprising U turn the ban was lifted just before the Sczezen Open and the only restriction on party members is now from accepting free memberships or gifts of golf equipment.

The way is now clear for golf to flourish amongst the huge Chinese population.

Adam Scott drew controversy last week when he announced that he was skipping the Rio Olympics.

“My decision has been take. as a result of an extremely busy playing schedule and other commitments, both personal and professional”.

This brought a scathing response from Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser, winner of four gold medals.

“Very sorry to hear thst Adam Scott cannot fit it into his schedule to play for Australia in the Olympics. Well done Adam, great to put your own country on hold so that you can fulfil your own schedule how much money do you want in life not showing much for your country. I guess working three jobs a wedk to secure my place as an Olympic swimmer gave me perspective”.

Follwing on, furthet major champions withdrew. First Vijay Singh from Fiji, then South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel pulled out of the competition.

Gary Player professed himself “sad and disappointed by this”. He said that when he was younger he would have given anything to play in the Olympics and players withdrawing would hurt the game of golf.

“The Olympics will undoubtedly grow the game worldwide no matter who plays and who doesn’t. All the top players should think carefully about this. It is a spectacular celebration of sport and very exciting that golf is back again. It will be a time that no living golfer has ever experienced and I will be walking with the South African team at the Opening Ceremony I cannot wait to represent my country with pride”.

On the women’s side many players are concerned about the threat of the zika virus, and there remains the possibility of further withdrawals.

Danny Willett’s wonderful victory in the US Masters has given European golf a huge boost, especially as seven European players finished in the top 10. One of our finest hours!

US Amateur Champion Bryson De Chambeau has announced that he will turn professional after The Masters at the RDC Heritage presented by Boeing.

The 22 year old Californian left Southern Methodist University last September and has been travelling round the world playing on sponsors invitations. He must remain amateur to play in The Masters. Sports Illustrated call him the most exciting player of 2016. Former Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger says he has never seen a player come out on tour so secure in what he is doing.

He will play at The Memorial and the Quicken Loans National and 8 more exemptions during which time he must earn 1551 FedEx Cup points to grant him entry to the rest of the season.

Bryson says “it’s all a journey and its only just begun”. A brilliant start at yhe Masters too and leading amateur.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem (pictured left with Jay Monahan) has signed an extension to his contract through to the end of this year to allow him to complete projects before he hands over the reins to his successor Jay Monahan.

Jay Monahan was recently apointed Deputy Commissioner and is currently Chief Operating Officer, running the day to day business of the tour. He has worked in various roles at the tour for the past eight years and will be concentrating on promoting global growth and digital opportunities.

Tim Finchem said

“Young, aggressive leadership is good for a company. I am getting old and Jay is ready”.

Tim Finchem will act as consultant for the First Tee and the World Golf Foundation. During his tenure he has led an era of expansion, negotiating lucrative TV deals and introducing the FedEx Cup playoffs.

2015 Masters Champion Jordan Spieth served Texas barbeque at the Masters Champions Dinner on Tuesday night.

His mentor, Ben Crenshaw, a two-time champion who leads the conversation at the dinner, said that Jordan Spieth had chosen Salt Lick Barbecue to be served. Crenshaw called it a “great choice from right here in Austin, Texas.”

This is where Spieth went to college. But that’s not to say it’s where the barbecue is being prepared.

“I didn’t select Salt Lick. I don’t know where that was spread from,” Spieth said “Augusta National always makes the meals. So they asked, ‘What do you want to have for your meal?’ and I said I’d love to do some Texas barbecue. So they kind of go out and search for a way to make it based on popular places. I’m not sure what it’s exactly going to be. It’s going to be Texas barbecue. I’m pretty excited for it.”

Wherever it’s from, Crenshaw is sure to enjoy it. He hosted his first dinner in 1985 and said the food was based on what Augusta National had on the menu.

“I think it started very soon after that the champion got to pick his own menu,” Crenshaw said. “So it gave a real personality to the player.”

Tiger Woods said that the food was “unreal” and Jordan had done an amazing job. Phil Mickelson, an invitee as former champion, trashed fellow player Dustin Johnson by asking “where are you going to dinner tonight?” another classy remark from the Master of pearls of wisdom.

Butch Harmon, who coached Tiger Woods to eight of his 14 major titles, has offered his former charge the chance to reignite the most lauded player-coach partnership in the history of golf. Now he is no longer coach to Tiger’s old rival Phil Mickelson he is free to take on what must be golf’s biggest challenge.
Woods is picking up the pieces of his career after a series of serious back surgeries and has plummeted to the previously unimaginable depths of No 467 in the world rankings.
It would require an unprecedented fightback for Woods to dominate the game as he once did – most notably when he claimed the ‘Tiger Slam’ of all four majors in succession under Harmon’s tutelage in 2000-01. But any sort of reunion would spark fresh hope of a sporting miracle.

If anyone can help Tiger, Butch can. It’s heartening news.