A GENTLEMAN WITH A GREAT LOVE OF THE GAME
EAST ALLIANCE STALWART WILLIE
SMITH HAS PASSED AWAY
FROM ALAN GREENSHIELDS
Edinburgh and East of Scotland Alliance
Some sad news - I have just
picked up an e-mail to let me know that sadly Willie Smith passed away a
couple of days ago. As many of you willl know Willie was a Life Member
of the East Alliance and a stalwart over the many, many years he played
in the Alliance.
Those who knew him will know what a gent he was and I
certainly will have fond recollections of the chats we had before and
after he played. He always made a point of having a word with as many
people as he could at events and his love of the game of golf shone
through.
On
a brighter note we are just one week away from our first outing of 2015
at Gullane No.3 where the first match will tee off at 8.32am (subject
to weather behaving!!).
All the best for 2015
Kind regards
Alan Greenshields
Secretary/Treasurer
Edinburgh and East of Scotland Golfers' Alliance
70 Sydney Crescent
Auchterarder
PH3 1BB
Mobile:07730 007100
Alliance Mobile: 07814 983582
Labels: OBITUARY
ABERDONIAN'S WORLD RANKING FELL FROM No 99 to 284
PAUL LAWRIE'S YEAR TO FORGET
Paul Lawrie missed six cuts out of 16 events on the European Tour in 2014.
Over the final two weeks of 2014, GolfWeek.com has been highlighting players that rose and fell over the past 12
months in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings.
Check out the entire series here.
• • •
World Ranking/movement: Down 185 places (No. 284 from No. 99)
Why the fall? Paul Lawrie
had a season to forget. The 1999 Open Championship winner made only 10
of 16 cuts, earned 209,526 euros and finished 117th on the European
money list. If not for his top-40 status in career money (25th to start
2014), the Scot would have lost his card this past season.
Lawrie’s stats don’t look much different from last season’s. For
example, he hit 55.99 percent of fairways compared with 57.62 percent
last year, and his stroke average was 71.30 compared with 71.22 in 2013.
There’s a fine line between success and failure, and Lawrie was on the wrong side all year.
He began the year positively with a T-11 in the Commercial Bank Qatar
Masters. Little did Lawrie know that it would be his best finish of the
season.
“This year was a disaster,” said Lawrie, who won twice in 2012 and
was on the winning European Ryder Cup team. “Of the 16 events I played, I
was probably fit for no more than five of them.
“I’ve never had a year like this, with so many injuries. I had a
trapped nerve at the start of the year. I had some back issues. My
foot’s played up quite a bit too. I’ve been injury-free throughout my
career, but it all sort of caught up with me this season.”
Lawrie also has been busy organizing tournaments and working for his
foundation to help promising young golfers.
Lawrie will back events on
the Tartan Tour, EuroPro Tour and European Tour next year (the Saltire
Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play at Murcar Links) in late July). However, his main focus still is on playing.
“I’ve felt better the last couple of months,” he said. “I’ve been hitting balls every day and working hard.”
Lawrie says: “I’m looking forward to 2015 and putting this year behind me.”
Labels: GOLF NEWS
FIRST MAJOR TICKET IS STILL A LOT CHEAPER THAN SUPER BOWL
Cost of Masters spectators' badge in 2015 rises
by 30 percent to $325, first rise since 2011
FROM GOLF.COM
By RYAN LAVNER
One of the best deals in sports just got a bit more expensive.
A four-day badge for the Masters Tournament will now cost $325, a 30 percent increase from 2014 ($250), according to the Augusta Chronicle. It is the first price jump since 2011.
The uptick in cost for the tickets is the largest increase since the
tournament's 1934 inception, but is relatively low considering Tuesday
practice round tickets are listed for $400 on StubHub, an online ticket
sale website.
The cost of a four-day ticket has nearly doubled since 2007 ($175), when Billy Payne took over as chairman.
The 2015 Masters from April 9 to 12 is expected to draw even more attention with world No. 1 Rory McIlroy attempting to complete the career grand slam. Tiger Woods also will be back in action, having missed last year’s event because of injury.
For the sake of comparison, consider that the cheapest Super Bowl ticket for American Football's annual end-of-season highlight is currently available via Stubhub at $2,347.
Rory McIlroy tied for third in the Associated Press World Male Athlete of the Year voting
San Francisco Giants baseball pitcher Madison Bumgarner earned 38 votes to
finish first in a vote by the U.S. sports editors and news directors. Los
Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw finished second, with 13 votes.
After a two-major season, McIlroy tied with former New York Yankees
shortstop Jeter - yet another baseball player - at seven votes apiece. No male golfer has won the award
since Tiger Woods in 2006. He is a four-time recipient (1997, ’99, ’00, ’06).
Bumgarner earned two wins and a save during the Giants’ dramatic
World Series victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Labels: GOLF NEWS
Copyright © Colin Farquharson
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