Monday, November 08, 2010

Toothless Tiger wins only one hole in

Thailand Skins

BANGKOK – Tiger Woods returned to his mother’s home country for a four-man charity skins tournament on Monday and left soon after winning only one hole in another disappointing performance.
Colombian golfer Camillo Villegas won the most money at the World Golf Salutes King Bhumibol Skins Tournament at the Amata Springs Club in Chonburi province, taking five skins for $109,800. Paul Casey won nine skins for $92,400, and local golfer Thongchai Jaidee claimed three skins for $90,000.
Woods earned only $6,600 for his skin and left the country right after the event on his private jet to Melbourne, where he will defend his Australian Masters title starting Thursday. It was Woods’ first trip to the homeland of his mother, Kultida, in 10 years. She did not accompany him due to health problems.
In a skins tournament, players compete for a reward for each hole, with prize money added to the next hole in case of a tie.
The prize money of $900,000 will be donated to a charity foundation associated with Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The event is part of celebrations marking King Bhumibol’s 60th year on the Thai throne.
Woods made a visit early Monday morning to the ailing 82-year-old king, who has been at a Bangkok hospital for more than a year. The golfer did not meet the king but signed a get-well book at the hospital.
Woods has not won a tournament this year after stepping away from the game for nearly four months in the wake of an infidelity scandal that damaged his image and led to the breakup of his marriage.
Thais adore Woods because of his family connection to the country. But the golfer displayed his American side by shaking hands with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and ignoring the leader’s “wai,” the traditional Thai greeting of palms pressed together with a head bow that is a sign of humility and respect.
Dressed in a grey blazer and black trousers, Woods and Thongchai, Thailand’s top player, presented Abhisit with a golf club during a brief meeting at his office, the Government House.
The golfers handed Abhisit a check for 2.2 million baht ($73,000) from ticket sales they are donating to the victims of recent floods that left more than 100 people dead. Woods then boarded a helicopter for the tournament in Chonburi, a seaside province southeast of Bangkok.
Woods arrived in Bangkok on Sunday night after competing in the HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
Woods first played in Thailand in 1997, when he won the Asian Honda Classic and was greeted by large crowds. He also received a royal decoration and was feted by the then prime minister.
He last played in Thailand in 2000, winning the Johnnie Walker Classic. He also won the inaugural event in 1998.

Labels:

Alex Hay guest of honour

at Scottish PGA's Glasgow

luncheon

FROM THE PGA E-BULLETIN
Alex Hay has been announced as the guest of honour for the PGA Scottish Region's annual luncheon on Wednesday, December 15 at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow.
The 77-year-old, pictured, is one of the game’s most popular figures, enjoying a distinguished career in golf particularly as a coach and author and most famously as a former BBC sports commentator alongside his great friend Peter Alliss.
Born in Edinburgh, he began his career as an apprentice clubmaker with Ben Sayers before becoming assistant to Bill Shankland at Potters Bar.
He was the PGA professional at East Herts and Dunham Forest and for 13 years he was the professional at Ashridge Golf Club before in 1977 becoming head pro and then the managing director of Woburn.
Meanwhile his great friend Alliss will be among the guests at the PGA's annual fund-raising lunch in London this year alongside Terry Wogan where the two will take centre stage at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Friday, December 17.
Money raised from the luncheon will go towards the PGA Benevolent Fund which annually supports members who have fallen on difficult times.
In addition the PGA is also hosting two new lunches in Cardiff and Manchester. The Cardiff event takes place on Friday, December 3 at Mercury Holland House Hotel, where Alliss is again the guest with PGA chief executive Sandy Jones hosting the event.
The following week, the Manchester lunch is at The Lowry Hotel on Wednesday, December 8 with Alliss and comedian Kevin Connelly topping the bill.

Labels:

England send Sullivan and Raymond to Argentina

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Andrew Sullivan (Nuneaton, Warwickshire), recently named in the 2011 Walker Cup preliminary squad, and Neil Raymond (Corhampton, Hampshire) will attempt to maintain England’s fine record when they represent the English Golf Union in the 15th Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup at the Los Lagartos Country Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina from Thursday to Sunday this week.
The pair will then go on to compete in the 115th Argentine Amateur Championship at the Highland Park Country Club, Buenos Aires from November 16 to 21.
Sullivan, 23, a member of the England Squad, has achieved a string of successes in recent years, which has earned him a place in the 23-strong GB and I Walker Cup squad for the match at Royal Aberdeen next August.

A semi-finalist in the Amateur Championship in 2008, Sullivan won the Midland Open Amateur and Midland Closed in 2009 while his victories this year have included the Hampshire Salver, Lagonda Trophy and both Midland titles again. He also finished runner-up in the Selborne Salver, West of England Stroke Play and the Lee Westwood Trophy and was a quarter finalist in the English Amateur.
At the end of the season he occupied second place in the Titleist Footjoy EGU Order of Merit.
Raymond, 24, named among the invitees to the England Squad, also tasted victory during 2010, winning the Parman Cup at St Mellion. A quarter finalist in the 2008 English Amateur, the Hampshire golfer also finished runner-up while representing the EGU in the Czech Amateur, fourth in the South of England Stroke Play, and sixth in the Lagonda Trophy and the New South Wales Amateur in Australia last winter. He was also a member of the Hampshire team in the English County Finals at Hunstanton in September.
England has a fine record in the Tailhade Cup, a 72-hole stroke play event where the aggregate of both players’ scores count. Winning pairings have included Nick Dougherty and Gary Wolstenholme in 2000, Zane Scotland and David Skinns in 2001, Gary Lockerbie and Michael Skelton in 2003, and Seve Benson and Ed Richardson in 2006, while Sam Hutsby and Chris Wood finished runners-up in 2007.
The Argentine Amateur Championship has a 36-hole stroke play qualifying competition with the leading 64 players going forward to the match play knockout, each round of 18 holes, culminating in a 36-hole final. Luke Goddard won the title at Golf Club Nordelta in 2008, while Eddie Pepperell was a quarter finalist last year.

Labels:

Cook is Sunday winner, Langer takes jackpot

FROM THE PGATOUR.COM WEBSITE
By Art Spander
SAN FRANCISCO -- An unbelievable year. Bernhard Langer said that. About Bernhard Langer's year, and the observation is undeniable. Also, considering everything, understated.
That year, this year, was embellished by Langer becoming Charles Schwab Cup Champion, virtually the only thing in his three years on the Champions Tour which Langer had not won. Until Sunday.
That year included five victories in tournaments, two of those in majors, the Senior British Open and the following week, the U.S Senior Open.
That year included a third-place tie in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at TPC Harding Park, won for a second straight time by John Cook who, making only two bogeys in 72 holes, had a fantastic 17-under-par 64-69-67-67--267.
That was two shots better than home boy Michael Allen, who after his course-record 10-under 61 on Saturday had a 70 for 269. Langer (67) and David Frost (65) were at 272.
"I've achieved a lot of my goals,'' Langer agreed. "I won the two majors. Won the Charles Schwab cup. Won the money list again. Might end up Player of the Year again (for a third consecutive time).
"It's hard to do that year after year.''
Maybe not playing the way 53-year-old Bernhard Langer plays. And has played, since as a young man from Germany he joined the European Tour. He won the Masters twice. He won more than 60 events around the world -- before he reached age 50 and joined the Champions Tour, where he has 13 victories.
It was a tough day Sunday, a classic Bay Area late fall day, with rain, sunshine and chill winds. Harding, already wet enough as golfers were allowed to lift, clean and place balls on the fairway starting with round one, turned into a soggy beast. Play was delayed roughly an hour and tee times were split between one and 10.
"You put the umbrella away and you took off the jacket,'' Langer said about conditions, "and two minutes later you had to grab it and put it back on again.
"The ball didn't go as far ... on 12, the long (480-yard) par-4, they moved up the tee up like 20 yards, and I still had a 3-iron. (Saturday), was a driver and 4-iron, but the tee was 20-25 yards farther back.''
The Charles Schwab Cup, held the previous seven years at Sonoma, some 60 miles north, always has been a tournament in a tournament, the end-of-the year event which gives both a winner, Cook, and the final points champion.
Langer was all but a lock in the second category. To fail he would have needed to finish this event lower than a tie for fourth if the man chasing him, Fred Couples, was to win. Couples could only come in 10th, at 274, but that was good for a $500,000 annuity.
The real battle was for the $440,000 tournament prize. Cook, who had not won all year, despite nine top 10 finishes his previous 14 tournaments, and Allen, who had never won on the Champions or PGA TOUR -- he still plays both -- began Sunday a shot apart.
Allen, 51, grew up in San Mateo, maybe 10 miles south of Harding, and the majority of the hardy spectators who braved the inclement weather, some of them fellow members of the Olympic Club, supported him.
"But they were fine,'' said Cook, 53, who grew up in Southern California but now lives in Florida. "I kept saying, just because it's not a home game for me, doesn't mean you can't win.''
Not at all. And on the fourth hole when Allen hit his tee shot into one of hundreds of cypress, eucalyptus and fir trees lining the Harding Park fairways, Cook took the lead.
Allen said he was not at his best. "It was one of those days,'' was his comment, something any golfer would understand.
The exclamation point came at 18 when, two shots behind, and with a 12-footer for a birdie, Allen watched in disbelief as Cook holed a 15-footer to save par and win.
"It was a little frustrating,'' Allen conceded. He will be on a plane Monday for Orlando to compete in the Children's Miracle Network Classic in an attempt to retain his status on the PGA TOUR, where he is 124th in money winnings.
Cook knows frustration. He also knows autumn success. Each of his five wins on the Champions Tour has been in October or November.
"This year I had a lot of top 5s and top 3s,'' said Cook. "And when you have top 3s, it means you've had chances to win. If I had gone through this year without a win, it would have been disappointing to say the least.''
As a teen Cook has been mentored in the California desert by the great Ken Venturi, the 1964 U.S. Open champion, a native of San Francisco who learned the game playing at Harding.
"It was instilled in me young about finishing,'' said Cook. "You have to understand how to finish.''
John Cook finished the tournament quite well. Bernhard Langer finished the year even better, as Charles Schwab Cup Champion.

CLICK HERE FOR US CHAMPIONS TOUR IN-DEPTH FINAL TOTALS

Labels:

Copyright © Colin Farquharson

If you can't find what you are looking for.... please check the Archive List or search this site with Google