golfweloveit

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.

To Halloween Night and Kirsty was a vampire. All began well. An interesting VT filmed at Royal Holloway College before she came out in a white cobweb dress and short frizzy hair to dance the charleston. The audience began with them whooping at Brendan’s flying on a wire and clapping to the music.

Then it all went horribly wrong. They miss timed one of the lifts so it was left out altogether which meant there were some awkward seconds to fill before they could continue. Finally it was over when Brendan bit into her.

Was that OK? asked Tess Daly, unnecessarily. “Yeeaaah” said Kirsty, meaning not really.  Bruno Tonioli began. “You made mincemeat out of that. What a mess but you just saved it by the skin of your teeth”. Craig Revel Horwood concurred. “It was flat footed. You lost all sense of it and your kicks were out of time”. Darcey Bussell focussed on the positive, her brave and impressive lifts. Len Goodman said that even professionals go wrong, its how you cope with it and you coped very well. But you’re playing snakes and ladders. Last week up, this week down”.

The scores came in 3 – “oh no!” Kirsty exclaimed, 5, 5 then 4 “oh my God!” she said “I’ve dived bombed from last week. That’s so bad”. 17, their lowest score of the series.

The results show, aired on Sunday, is recorded in the studio after the main programme has been transmitted on Saturday. At 11pm a mole who had been in the studio tweeted that Kirsty and Brendan had been voted off the show. Waiting to see if this is right but they were second from bottom after the judges votes.

And so the mole was right. On Sunday’s show she said “I so wanna stay” and her dance off was as good as she could have done. So it was bewildering why all four judges voted for the other contestant and not her. Kirsty was gracious in defeat and said “It’s my turn to go. Brendan has been incredible and so supportive”. What was interesting was how the twittersphere became very busy with people expressing how well she had done and she had gone too soon. Unfortunately these same people didn’t vote. So no more dancing on prime time television, but Kirsty can look back on this and see that she has discovered that she can perform. In fact I think her talents lie in acting and thats where she could be exploring her opportunities in addition to sports presenting.

As for golf’s representation on Strictly, there’s always Anton Du Beke, Wentworth member and leading light of the Variety Club Golf Society. He’ll keep on flying our flag.

Turkish Airlines are doing great things for golf. Here’s their new advert released this month.

The Turkish Airlines Open is underway, one of the European Tour Final Series tournaments on the Race To Dubai. The golf course at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Belek is stunning.Turkey has become the dark horse of the golf industry. Dozens of golf courses are currently under construction in the region. Professionals,  including Rory McIlroy playing in Turkey for the first time in three years, are raving about the courses’ condition and facilities. If they carry on this way the Turkish Golf Federation could be in with a real shout of hosting a Ryder Cup in 2026 even if calling Turkey Europe is stretching the geographical boundaries to their limit.

Officials at the European Tour are also enthusiastic about Turkey as a tournament host. “You have something incredibly special in Belek. You must never underestimate the quality of what you’ve got here,” said David Maclaren, Director of Properties & Destinations at European Tour. “All of us who work in golf have been to different resorts and different parts of the world, but you have something here in terms of the quality of golf facilities, presentation of golf facilities, and must always use that as something to promote golf in Turkey.”

“This is the dream of every destination,” said Roddy Carr, Lagardere Senior Vice President “This was a blank sheet of paper designed without question to be the best five star, all inclusive destination in all of the world. Eat as much as you want, play as much as you want. The closest you get to this are the resorts in the Caribbean.”

in addition the Turkish Golf Federation have a fantastic attitude to growing the game at grassroots level, offering free green fees to Turkish citizens.

Chairman of the Turkish Golf Federation Ahmet Agaoglu said: “There is a traditional view that golf is only played by a certain section of society, that equipment and green fees price out normal people.

“We are changing that and fast. Golf is the greatest game on earth. We are showing the people of Turkey that it is accessible and they are trying it, and loving it, in their thousands.

“People flock from around the world to play our wonderful courses but we are proud and excited at the way Turkey is taking this wonderful sport to its heart.”

In the amateur game Turkish Airlines also sponsor the worldwide World Golf Cup, played in different cities round the globe. This year played in Washington DC, Soeul, Toronto, Manchester, Edinburgh and Stockholm.

Over 24 million people have viewed One Direction’s video Perfect released this week. It’s apparently about Taylor Swift, I digress. So nearly 25 million people have seen Niall Horan’s perfect putting stroke practiced in a hotel room which is halfway through the video. If anyone can make golf sexy he can. I witnessed his hoardes of followers at the BMW PGA Pro Am this year who had mostly bunked off school for the day. It went like this:

(bold 14 year old) “Play well Niall”

“Cheers”

Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

We may be seeing a lot more of Niall and bandmate Harry Styles on the golf courses of the world as their concert in Sheffield tonight may be their last ever. Apparently more golf is their only plan so far.

162 jobs have been saved at the beleagured Direct Golf company. From its Yorkshire headquarters an announcement was made yesterday that Sports Direct had taken over after a fierce legal battle between  Direct Golf’s John Andrew and Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley, the billionaire owner of premier league football club Newcastle United.

Direct Golf went into administration on October 16 after the discovery of alleged accounting irregularities, which effectively rendered the business insolvent.

The parent company reported a 76% profit loss and sales crashed to £21million in the year to the end of September 2014.  The Administrators said the group had come under “serious cash flow pressure as a result of significant accounting issues that will require further detailed investigations by the administrators”. It is understood that large sums are owed to H M Inland Revenue and Customs, their landlords and suppliers. Mr Andrew and two other directors have been ousted from the Board of Directors.

Sports Direct own a 25% stake in Direct Golf’s parent company and have invested several million pounds in the company.

Direct Golf Founder John Andrew says:

“It’s gut wrenching and I need time to come to terms with it. This is a company I started 24 years ago and one I ran without a partner or another shareholder until 12 months ago. I’m not to blame for any of this. The business had been on an absolute high and the errors in the accounts had come out of the blue”.

“Neither me nor the other two directors knew anything about this,” he said. “We gave Sports Direct complete ‘under the bonnet access’ to the business and served a notice of intention of administration.

“I was ready to invest personally to save the business and Sports Direct sent letters of support but never came through.”

An underground golf course is coming to The Vaults underneath Waterloo next month, with a nine-hole course, cocktail bar and street food.
Birdies Crazy Golf is from the people behind Underground Film Club, which is also setting up home in The Vaults next month.
The subterranean golfing experience consists of loops, half-pipes and an elevated 5-ft drop onto the sixth hole. Competitive golfers can hunt out the hidden putt-off prizes, while the more chilled out can enjoy cocktails from clubhouse Caddy Shack.
More of a caddy than a golfer? Grab yourself a Tunnel Pass and enjoy the atmosphere without having to take a single swing. Resident DJs will be in rotation, and food is available at pop-up Rockadolla, which is by Richard Sandiford, head chef at Hawksmoor.
Birdies Crazy Golf is open six nights a week 11 November-20 December. Golf is £9 per person per round, book online. Tunnel entry without golf is £3 per person. Booking in advance at birdiescrazygolf.com. Hurry! Popular tee times are already sold out.