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“Be lucky”. It’s a throwaway comment caddies sometimes make to their player at the start of a final round. But in Russell Knox’s case the luck was with him from start to finish during the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai and when his opportunity came he grabbed it. Ranked 85th in the world, he got into the tournament as 7th alternate and managed to get his visa from the Chinese Embassy in the nick of time, For him to win his first tournament in the illustrious company of Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Ricky Fowler was a surprise to many, but not to Knox himself. He said he had a feeling in his bones that his first win would be a big one. He becomes the first Scot to win a World Golf Championship event.

Knox is from Inverness but is based in Florida. He won his way with some sizzling iron play, devastating wedge shots and a clarity and focus in the steady way he plotted himself round what was previously known as a “bombers” golf course. He withdrew some pressure from Kevin Kissner and joint third placed Danny Willett who shot a brilliant -10, 62 – a round which had 10 birdies and no bogeys. Knox himself had six birdies in his final round 68. He said that all day his thoughts were on his late coach and mentor Mike Flemming to whom he owes everything in golf for he taught him everything he knows.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “Winning any professional tournament is a massive accomplishment and you’re never quite sure if you’re ever going to do it because there are so many incredible players throughout the world, especially at tournaments like this with such an elite field. To come and be on top this week is a dream come true. Winning at any level is the hardest thing you can do, and especially because I’ve never won a big one like this. It was tough but I just kept holing putts, and golf is so much easier when that happens. I was quite calm. But at the same time, that was the most nerve-wracking thing I have ever done. I still can’t quite believe it.”

Knox went to college in Jacksonville where he is now based. He has so far bypassed the European Tour. He gained his Players Card on the PGA Tour after climbing the ranks of the Hooters and Nationwide Tours. He lost a play off at the Honda Classic in 2014.

He is the complete opposite of Victor Dubisson, who tried to play the PGA Tour but couldn’t settle. Knox has an American father and grew up travelling to and from the United States and he speaks with a heavy American accent. With this win, not only does he gain entry to all four majors and will be in the World Top 30 today, he also gains a two year exemption to play the European Tour. “Obviously it’s going to be a goal of mine to make the European Ryder Cup Team and I look forward to giving it a run”. European Tour officials are now making plans with Russell for him to compete in enough qualifying events.

Recently updated, the Golflutter smartphone app is proving a popular entertainment for players to bet on their own games rather than against their playing companions. A free download, the idea is that a £5 – no more, no less – stake is wagered as the player logs their gross score for each hole. You can play on any course and winning scores share in a pool of money staked from all round the country. The app also generates a handicap, popular with th 2.6 million unattached golfers who do not have club membership. Take a look.

Phil Mickelson threatened to make some “drastic changes” nearly two years ago, then he changed his mind. But yesterday he and Butch Harmon had an amicable, professional split. Mickelson flew his private plane to Las Vegas for a 2 hour conversation with his coach of eight years saying:” I wanted to talk to him in person. It’s not something you do over the phone, you just don’t do that”. Quite so.

Mickelson is now winless for the longest time in his career, since his unexpected victory in the 2013 Open Championship and has now slipped to 25th in the World Rankings. It seems that his replacement coach is Australian Andrew Getson who is based at Greyhawk Country Club, Phoenix, which Mickelson represented in the early days of his career. Getson spent 10 years playing professionally on the Australasian and Asian tours and grew up alongside Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley. He has occasionally taught former US President Bill Clinton.

Butch Harmon started to teach Mickelson in 2007 after parting ways with Tiger Woods after guiding him through the most dominant part of his career. Harmon has done an exemplary job with Mickelson, even though I still remember an exchange in the Sky Sports studio between him and Ewen Murray, during a US Open in Harmon’s Tiger Woods years. It was when Phil was rather more wild off the tee and unpredicatable than he is now. I remember this because I wrote it down, what they said was so blunt. It went like this:

Murray “+7. You have to say that is exactly the score that Mickelson deserved. He played this course with absolutely no respect for it”.

Harmon: “I agree. The way Mickelson plays is pathetic”.

We’ll see whether Butch Harmon will revert to his blunt assessments now he is off Mickelson’s payroll. In the meantime he will have more time to nurture Rickie Fowler who looks really ready to progress to the highest level.

As for Mickelson his lack of form over the past two years has coincided with the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s enquiry into his “suspiciously timed trades” in Dean Foods in 2012. This led to him being interviewed by two FBI officers as he came off the 18th green at the Memorial tournament. As of 31st August this case was still open and under investigation. Phil, who states he has done nothing wrong, has had other worries than golf on his mind.

He needs to have this resolved as soon as possible. Because the glittering prize is still out there. Jack Nicklaus was, after all, 46 when he won the US Masters. With one last push the US Open, the one that has always got away, could be won next summer. And what a celebration that would be, a completion of the career grand slam. For most players I would say this would be an impossible task. But Mickelson is no ordinary player, he has extraordinary mental resources. Watch this space.

Movember Foundation: National FootGolf “MOVE” Campaign – 2nd November – 8th November

The UK FootGolf Association’s  official charity partner is the hugely popular Movember Foundation, who raise awareness and funds for both prostate and testicular cancer, as well as supporting projects around mental health and physical inactivity. Movember’s aim is for men to live happier, healthier and longer lives.

In 2015 Movember introduced a new “MOVE” initiative, encouraging people to embrace a more active lifestyle. The UK FootGolf Association (UKFGA) is keen to support the Movember Foundation this November and would like to invite you to join in our ground-breaking Nationwide FootGolf campaign.

The Movember FootGolf Week aims to encourage people of all ages and walks of life to get active and to try something new. The initiative is designed to get people together with family, friends and colleagues to engage in a sporting activity and to enjoy the social aspect our great sport brings. What better than to use the inclusive sport of FootGolf which can truly be played by anybody.

They are challenging Dads to play with their sons; Mums to play with daughters; boyfriends to do something with their girlfriends and groups of friends getting together to have some fun.
The week long campaign runs from Monday 2nd November up to and including Sunday 8th November.

You can contribute to this worthwhile cause in two ways. The first is to choose to play a round of Footgolf at one of the participating courses, helping the “MOVE” campaign in the process by paying for your round beforehand.

The second is to grow a moustache for the month of November and raise funds
in aid of Movember in the tradional manner. You can register and find out more by clicking on the link below.

https://uk.movember.com/register

No waxing for a month for me then…

Published yesterday, Out Of The Rough is Tiger Woods’ former caddie Steve Williams’ account of their relationship. This lasted 11 years, saw Tiger win 13 majors and Williams net approximately $10 million dollars of the $88 million that Woods won during this period.

From the excerpts I have seen in the New Zealand Sunday tabloid the Star Times it’s also telling us nothing really new and is an outlet for Williams to splurge his hurt feelings and disengage himself once again from the scandal of six years ago, which he recounts in laborious detail.

“It was like I was his slave” is cleverly inserted to grab headlines. It draws attention again to the fact that Woods is black. In context all it refers to is a club tossing incident that Williams took humbrage to. Well, many professional golfers can be club tossers, it’s nothing unique to Tiger Woods, and yet Williams felt belittled and embarassed by such behaviour.It’s also not the first time that Steve Williams has made remarks about race. This month four years ago Williams was named Caddie of the Year for his work with Adam Scott and he said then he wanted to shove the award up Tiger’s black backside.

As a partnership they were sometimes an angry team. Williams would get annoyed and shouty at galleries and abuse photographers so he isn’t a saint himself. His main beef appears to be how he was treated by the team around Woods when the news around Tiger’s infidelities broke. After Tiger left the 2009 Australian Masters, which he won, in a great hurry, Williams was texted by agent Mark Steinberg that a”story with absolutely no truth in it” was about to break. Don’t speak to anyone. From then onward he wasn’t spoken to for four months. Yes, probably for legal reasons and possibly because he could have made a lot of money talking to the press about it all. Williams to this day denies any knowledge about the infidelities, and yet he says he suffered personal abuse from the media and public because of it.

Whilst I can understand his need to put the record straight and completely detach himself from what Tiger was doing, it is Williams admission that he felt “angry, frustrated and hung out to dry” that is at the core of this book. It all comes across as being a bit precious. This was a uniquely difficult situation to have found himself embroiled in by association. He should have done what many sponsors did and cut and run. But instead he stayed around in the situation another two years only to sling the mud after he moved jobs. There’s nothing new to be learnt from this sorry tale other than to read of Williams hurt. I would have preferred to have read about the good times, of which there were many by Tiger’s side. In his prime he was the most magnificent athlete, and it is that time that interests me the most, rather than this sorry tale of woe.

Bet365, Coral and Totesport have been told off by the UK advertising watchog for using images of US Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth to promote betting.

Under the UK advertising code it is illegal to use people aged under 25, or someone who appears to be so, to play a “significant role” in promoting gambling and betting.

Images of Spieth, who is 22, featured in Twitter campaigns for the bookmakers.

Coral said the photo of Spieth was used to illustrate the odds available rather than promote specific bonus offers, but it had made changes to ensure that similar tweets complied with the code.

Bet365 said its tweet reported on a major sporting event and therefore did not breach the code.  Totesport gave the best answer. They said Spieth was neither a young person nor vulnerable and the and did not show him gambling or indulging in juvenile or loutish behaviour. So that told them.

The Advertising Standards Authority said the tweets were designed to promote each bookmaker’s brand and referred to future sporting events on which the public might consider betting.

“We considered the tweets were directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods,” said the ASA. “We therefore concluded that the ads were irresponsible and breached the advertising code. The ads must not be shown again in their current form.”

How can Gary Player be 80 years old? Two years ago he posed naked for Sports Illustrated’s The Body issue and he said “whatever you think my sex life is, double it”! He does have six children and 23 grandchildren. He says he doesn’t accept being old. He’s the on a mission to help older people, such as his friend Jack Nicklaus who is complaining of aches and pains, become healthy. Every day he stretches everything from head to toes and does 1,200 sit ups. He says he has the energy of a 45 year old.

He was travelling to China on his birthday, November 1, to oversee the building of one of the 400 environmentally friendly golf courses his company have designed on 5 continents.So there will be a big celebration with friends coming from all over the world at Sun City, South Africa on 11 November.

His life has been full of special achievements. The only man to win the career grand slam on both the regular and senior tours, he has won 165 tournaments around the world. In 2016 Gary will captain the South African mens Olympic golf team in Rio de Janiero. In his 62 years as a pro he has won in seven consecutive decades, his last win being in 2010. Early in his career he had to endure protestors against apartheid storming greens as he played and people throwing things at him. However his black golf clothes come from a protest against that regime. It started at the 1960 Open Championship when he wore an outfit of black and white, now it is all black.

At his ranch in South Africa he has helped breed racehorses that have won more than 2,000 races. His Gary Player Foundation for charity has raised more than $60 million for underprivileged children. In the UK he has raised funds for the De Paul UK Hostel for the homeless in Willesden, London as seen here.

He strongly believes that it’s important to keep working. So he helps out on his ranch, helps save the white rhinocerous and travels seven months a year. And he exercises every day. The core muscles are the most important to golf. If you are fit, he says, your brain will make the right decisions and help you combat nerves. He puts all those dadbods to shame.

He played some amazing golf. Victor Dubisson’s emotional second victory in the Turkish Airlines Open was one of the most wonderful things seen all year. His third shot from the trees at the 10th hole in the final round was played with such flamboyance and majesty it made me think that here is the successor to Seve Ballesteros. Until now we have never seen Seve’s like, but today from Victor there were breathtaking moments of brilliance.

Victor is, like Seve, an unpredictable player. He has always hit the ball long off the tee and had a special short game, but he came into the event with his confidence at an all time low. A move to play on the PGA Tour had not worked out and he returned to Europe needing to play well in these final four tournaments. He won in Antalya in 2013 and had a good Ryder Cup last year but said that he lost his confidence a few months ago when he was missing everything on the greens. His long game was still there, it was all about the putting.

He says he wants to give himself the chance to go back to America in a few years, but only if he lives over there. At the moment, returning to Europe and in particular back to Turkey where he won before, has helped restore his confidence. Today is putting was almost invincible and his short game was electric. The European Tour are delighted to have Victor back. He is a character who wears his heart on his sleeve, who provides a roller coaster experience of highs and lows. He had a large following at this event following his popular win two years ago, showing this is the kind of golf people want to watch. As he was sprayed with champagne on the final green I thought of the song the fans sang in his honour at the Ryder Cup last year.