FEBRUARY 9 to 16 AT HAMMAMET

EVER PLAYED GOLF IN AFRICA?
NO?
NOW'S YOUR CHANCE.
PLAY IN TUNISIA FOR A WEEK
BRAG ABOUT IT FOR A YEAR   


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CHECK OUT THE SPANISH EVOLVE PRO TOUR STARTING AT END OF JANUARY

FOR DETAILS OF THE SPANISH EVOLVE PRO TOUR - IT USED TO BE THE HI5 PRO TOUR - WHICH STARTS AT THE END OF JANUARY

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COACH LOCKE TIPS THOMPSETT FOR THE TOP - AND HE KNOWS WHAT IT TAKES

                ANDREW LOCKE AND DANIEL THOMPSETT

                      Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Paul Lawrie’s swing adviser Andrew Locke believes that Aboyne’s Daniel Thompsett, the North-east boys’ stroke-play and match-play champion before he left to enrol at Rocky Mountain College in Montana, has got what it takes to make his way in golf.

As a coach who gave James Byrne his first lessons at the age of eight and who now has the ear of Ryder Cup man Lawrie on technique matters, Andrew Locke is worth listening.

“Daniel’s home on a three-week holiday from America over the Festive period and I’ve been able to have a look at him and his swing through the specialised camera equipment at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre,” said Andrew.

“First thing I noticed is that he seems bigger than he was before he went to the States. He’s 19 years old and a six-footer anyway but regular sessions of gym work as part of the Rocky Mountain College curriculum has put some muscle on him.

“As far as getting to the top in golf, it’s really all about what’s between the ears once you get to a certain level of ability. You have to have a mindset to work hard and also have an exceptional short game.

“Daniel is halfway through his second year and he will be at Rocky Mountain College for four years in all. The chance is there for him – as it was for James Byrne at Arizona State University – to raise his game to a different level.”

Locke gave Byrne his first lesson when he was about eight years old and coached him to Walker Cup status and to reach the final of the British amateur championship.

“Daniel has been a winner already on the US college golf circuit and he has shot a 10-under-par 61 in a Rocky Mountain College event. Anyone who can shoot 10 under par, no matter the circumstances, has to have the potential to go far in golf,” said Locke whose rare claim to fame – apart from being in the top echelon of Scottish golf coaches – is that he played football (as a goalkeeper) AND golf at Scottish schoolboy international level.

“That was in the early 1990s. Christian Daily is the only player from the football team who has gone on to the senior grade but it was a very strong schoolboys line-up when we beat England – European Tour player Stephen Gallacher, former Scottish boys champion Ben Collier (now a club pro in Holland), Craig Hislop, who also turned pro, and Ewan Forbes, who went on to play amateur international golf for Scotland and who is now secretary-manager at Inverness Golf Club,” said Andrew who lives in Stonehaven.

Back to Daniel Thompsett and he’s looking forward to the restart of the US college golf season in the spring. Billings is the largest city in the wide-open cowboy country of Montana where the Rocky Mountains separate the state from Canada to the north and are within Daniel's range of vision every day he is there.

“There had not been any snow so far at Billings, Montana – where the Rocky Mountain College is – before I left to come home from Christmas and the New Year but it was very, very cold, even colder than winter in Aberdeenshire,” said Daniel.

"I love it over there. Of course, it's nice to come home for a spell to see my family and get Andrew to check over my swing but I'm looking forward to going back to Montana."

         ANDREW LOCKE AND DANIEL THOMPSETT

               Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency

DIFFICULT FOR McDOWELL TO CUT BACK ON TOURNAMENTS

FROM THE CBS SPORTS.COM WEBSITE Before winning his final event of the year at Sherwood, Graeme McDowell talked all week about how badly he was in need of a 10-week break.
He feels he made a mistake by playing the first FedEx Cup playoff event, and that he was out of gas even in the high-charged atmosphere of the Ryder Cup. And that concerned him.  
The Northern Irishman, pictured above, says he played so much this year that he lost an estimated 10 percent of what he calls his "buzziness."
"I love the sport. I love to play," he said. "But too much a good thing ... you start going through the motions. I don't want to be like that. I want to get my excitement level up for the game."
McDowell wants to cut back on his schedule, aiming for about 26 tournaments a year on two tours. But where to cut back is going to difficult, for there are too many good tournaments, especially at the end of the year.
"The end of the year has become a joke," he said. "It's almost too much golf."
Being among the top 50 in the world and having Europe as his home tour (meaning he doesn't need releases from the PGA Tour), McDowell said he gets to cherry-pick the tournaments he plays. But there are so many important events to him that he can't get to some places he would like to play.
That includes the Memorial at Muirfield Village.
"I'm dying to go there," McDowell said. "But I looked at the schedule and, nope, I can't go."
To play Muirfield Village would mean four straight weeks in three countries, and no doubt would cost him plenty of "buzziness." 

Biggest trophy
The iGATE CEO Cup thinks so much of its new tournament -- executives of Global 2000 companies in North America on January 12-13 on the Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass -- that it wanted a trophy to mark the occasion.
So it commissioned the largest gold sports trophy in the world, even bigger than the FIFA World Cup trophy.
Designed by India-based sculptor Amit Pabuwal, the iGATE CEO Cup trophy will be 21 inches tall, weigh 18lb of gold and be adorned with diamonds and rubies. The World Cup trophy is more than 14 inches tall and weighs 11lb.
"The iGATE CEO Cup is a premier event and we should have a trophy that a CEO will be proud to life," iGATE chief executive Phaneesh Murthy said.
Gary Player is the co-host of the $100,000 event, with the CEOs donating all the prize money to their chosen charities.
Notes

• Tom Lehman was voted the US Champions Tour player of the year, even though Roger Chapman won two majors this year -- the Senior PGA Championship and the Senior U.S. Open, the two most prestigious events in senior golf.
• The fledgling OneAsia Tour is holding one of its two Q-schools in the United States. The tour cites "unprecedented demand" for staging two Q-schools, one of them at Industry Hills east of Los Angeles on Jan. 29, the other a week later in Malaysia. OneAsia chairman Sang Y. Chun said more Asia-Pacific players were based in California, and the additional Q-school would create more awareness of the tour in the U.S.
• Kia Motors America has signed a multiyear contract extension with the LPGA Tour to sponsor the Kia Classic, which will move next year from La Costa to Aviara Golf Club. It will be played March 21-24.

Stat of the week
Robert Karlsson started the year at No. 24 in the world. He ended it by going to Q-school to earn back his PGA Tour card.
Final word
"It's a game of mistakes, it's a game of misses. And if you dwell on all those misses and mistakes, you're not going anywhere." -- Steve Stricker.