Stomach bug KOs Schwartzel from S A Open

NEWS RELEASE
It is with much regret that Charl Schwartzel’s management team has announced that he has had to withdraw from the BMW South African  Open  at Glendower Golf Club from  January 7 to 10.
The Schwartzel family has had a wretched festive season, with Charl and most of his extended family afflicted with a particularly nasty stomach virus, which has seen several trips to hospital for treatment. 
Charl himself has been in and out of hospital for rehydration treatment and, while he is on the road to a full recovery, it is clear that he will not be fit enough to participate in the first tournament of the year and will aim to return at the following week’s Joburg Open.
Speaking from his home in Johannesburg, Charl said, “I am hugely disappointed to be missing out on the SA Open. Everybody knows how keen I am to win our national Open and, having come so close the last couple of years and following my good form at Leopard Creek, I was really looking forward to contending at Glendower. I look forward to being strong and healthy in time for the Joburg Open the following week, however.”

 Europe team could have a youthful look for 

 

2016 Ryder Cup match at Hazeltine, Minnesota

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

The 2016 Ryder Cup match at Hazeltine might be months away, yet eyes are already glancing towards the Points Race, such is the excitement and anticipation that the contest generates.

The race to qualify for European captain Darren Clarke’s team began back in August at the M2M Russian Open, and will reach its conclusion at the aptly atmospheric Made in Denmark tournament in August 2016.
With so many emerging stars making big impressions on the European Tour in 2015, we have taken a closer look at which players currently occupy the automatic qualifying positions, while also profiling some of the other strong contenders for a seat on the plane to Minnesota.

The European Points List, from which the leading four members will qualify, makes for fascinating reading. Seeing Rory McIlroy’s name at the top of it will not come as a surprise to anyone, and a resurgent Victor Dubuisson occupies second spot, largely thanks to his fine win in the Turkish Airlines Open.
In third place is Matthew Fitzpatrick, the young Englishman who enjoyed a sensational maiden season on the European Tour, winning the British Masters  en route to finishing 12^th in the Race to Dubai.
No other player in 2015 hit more fairways than the Sheffield youngster, and that sort of form has earned him a place in the European team for the EurAsia Cup in January, where Clarke will be able to run the rule over his ability to handle the pressure of a major team event.
There is arguably no better judge of match play prowess than Ian Poulter, star of five Ryder Cups, who said: “It wouldn't be a shock to see Matt in the Ryder Cup team. He won a big tournament and he won it well.”
Move down the list one spot and you will find another Englishman in Andy Sullivan, who also enjoyed a spectacular 2015, winning three times to take eighth place in the Race to Dubai and ending the campaign with a thrilling performance in the DP World Tour Championship, where he was runner-up after a captivating duel with Rory McIlroy.
The likeable 28 year old, who is nicknamed the Smiling Assassin, has also made it into the EurAsia Cup team and will hope to make a big impression on Clarke.
Below fourth place, the next three spots are occupied by rookies – Chris Wood, Kristoffer Broberg and Danny Willett, so we could well see a young and exciting team at Hazeltine.

The World Points List, however, is a more familiar picture a third of the way through qualifying, with Henrik Stenson, McIlroy and Justin Rose occupying the top three places.
Five players are taken from the World List, and with McIlroy and fourth-placed Fitzpatrick already in, Wood is in position to make his Ryder Cup bow, thanks to a brilliant display in the Nedbank Golf Challenge earlier this month.
The Englishman was in bed on a drip on the Tuesday evening and gave himself no chance of playing after struggling with severe dehydration in the searing heat, but recovered to take third place and with it the biggest pay cheque of his career.
In sixth and seventh are Dubuisson and Sullivan, who are already in through the European Points List, meaning Broberg and Willett would be in line to join Clarke’s charges. 
Broberg, who blitzed through the Challenge Tour in 2012, made his European Tour breakthrough at the BMW Masters, while Willett had a superb season with two victories en route to second place in the Race to Dubai.
With eight months, four Majors, two World Golf Championships and a host of other lucrative events yet to play before the team is finalised, much is bound to change, but judging by the way the race has started, what’s left makes the mouth water.

Tiger celebrates 40th birthday with a dinner 

(at own restaurant) and going to a concert

FROM GOLFWEEK.COM

By Kevin Casey

Tiger Woods turned 40 on Wednesday, and we had it covered.
How did Woods himself celebrate his 40th, though? With a big dinner at his own restaurant and a Darius Rucker concert. r
(Editor: Who's Darius Rucker?)

That's a pretty nice birthday right there. Woods also took a second to appreciate the birthday support, and based on his reaction to turning 40, a mid-life crisis isn't in the offing any time soon.

TIGER'S TWEETS
 


Tiger Woods ✔ @TigerWoods

Thanks everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes. 40 is cool.

 Tiger Woods ✔ @TigerWoods

Had a great time celebrating my 40th with family and friends at The Woods Jupiter last night. Thanks @dariusrucker for a fun show.

Deeside Golf Club's No 1 course has suffered its worst flooding for many a year.  Splendid aerial picture by courtesy of Iain Landsman.

Flooded Deeside course closed until further 

notice ... clearing mud is going to take time

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com 
Deeside Golf Club Director of Golf Frank Coutts believes it will be "some time" before the Haughton course is re-opened for play.
It is meantime closed until further notice.
The muddy waters coming up the burn from the River Dee has made a terrible mess of the course.
The flood waters have gone down from the first green but left it under a sea of mud.

Frank, pictured right, thinks that situation will be repeated all over the course as the excess water drains away - and that will take some time because there is so much water lying on the course added to by the River Dee, in spate, and surging up the burns, spilling over the banks and on to the course. 
A nightmare scenario for the Deeside GC course manager and  his greenkeeping staff and all the members of the private golf club in the Bieldside suburbs of west Aberdeen.
"Even when the water does drain away, we will have to wait until the mud that is left in its wake dries and hardens before we can remove it," said Coutts.
"We just cannot scrape the mud off the grass. That would not do the greens or fairways, for that matter, any good at all. 
"Ironically, we might have to use even more water - through a hose - to disperse the mud and make the course playable again." 

 Another view, by Cal Carson Golf Agency, of the flooding at Deeside golf course, this one from the clubhouse. Frank Coutts said that when he left the club at 4pm on Wednesday, the flood waters were well over the 18th green, pictured in foreground,  and lapping at the upslope to the clubhouse.
So the water has gone down a bit.
If you look at the extreme right of the first picture and the left of the second picture , you might be able to see that the first green is now brown in colour, caked with mud left by the floodwater.
The very bad news is that a lot more rain is forecast for the weekend.
MAN THE PUMPS!

Italians Mazzoli, Barbieri thrive at Orlando International Amateur under Binaghi

Stefano Mazzoli (left) is all smiles walking off No. 18 with Italian national team coach Alberto Binaghi after winning the Orlando International Amateur on Dec. 30 at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Fla. ( Tracy Wilcox )

Europeans amateurs are doing well in in Florida events over the Festive period. Following the success by Norwegian and Swiss competitors at the Junior Orange Bowl, comes news of more European domination in America.

FROM GOLFWEEK.COM

By Allen Etzler

WINTER GARDEN, Florida: Walking off the 18th green at Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge, Alberto Binaghi put his arm around Stefano Mazzoli and the two embraced, smiling ear-to-ear.
It was a similar scene hours earlier when Binaghi, the Italian national team coach, hugged Alice Barbieri and kissed her cheek after a tap-in par putt, though the emotions were a bit different.
Mazzoli’s tap-in par putt clinched a runaway, four-stroke victory at 11 under in the Orlando International Amateur.
Barbieri’s tap-in par putt wasn’t enough to clinch a victory on the women’s side, as she fell in a one-hole play-off to Ariadna Fonseca after both finished the third round Wednesday at 3 over.
Mazzoli was the star of the inaugural tournament, and Barbieri had a strong performance, but the two Italian national team-mates who joined him in competition, Michele Ortolani (2 over) and Luca Cianchetti (3 over), more than held their own with T-17 and T-21 finishes, respectively.
“I’m very happy because we had one player win and one player almost win,” Binaghi said. 
“They all played well, especially Mazzoli, even though he didn’t score as well today, because he was so far ahead he didn’t want to (risk a blow-up). I was also impressed with Alice. She played very well the last two rounds. For us, it means a lot to come here because Italy is a small country in the world of golf, so it’s make it special for me.”
The 18th for Mazzoli was one of the few holes throughout the three-day tournament that Binaghi got to be a part of, as the former professional spent much of the event operating as Barbieri’s caddie. Even though Barbieri isn’t on the Italian national team like Cianchetti, Ortolani and Mazzoli, Binaghi, who also trains Matteo Manassero, acts as her personal coach throughout the year.
With Barbieri living in Florida and attending nearby Rollins College, she doesn’t get to work with Binaghi as frequently as do the men's players. So, when she found out about the OIA, she jumped at the opportunity to have the guys come stay with her while they competed in the previous week's South Beach International Amateur and the OIA.
“It was so great having (Binaghi). It was his first time on the bag for me the whole tournament,” Barbieri said. “It definitely helped me out a lot because he knows my personality and my tendencies a lot. I tend to overreact and overthink, and he kept me calm and positive, especially today on the back nine when I started to lose my patience a little bit on the greens.”
She impressed Binaghi with her focus and iron play, hitting all 18 greens in regulation on Tuesday and making up a two-stroke deficit on the final day to force a playoff.
“That’s something you don’t see quite often,” Binaghi said. “Unfortunately she didn’t make enough putts to win. We needed one putt less and we’re on top of the podium. But I think it’s important to spend time as a caddie for a player you coach. You can spend time on the driving range on the carpet, and that’s OK. You can build a good swing, but you can’t build a good player. I wanted to help her with how to think and see how she thought on many shots.”
Barbieri was one of the few players in the field living in the U.S. with no college golf experience. She moved to Florida from Monaco when she was 13 to pursue golf as a career, but received advice that, if possible, she should keep her college career separate from her golf career. 
So after attending IMG Academy and working with coach David Leadbetter, she set out on the amateur and mini-tour circuits, chasing her dreams.
However, the one thing Barbieri probably has missed out on was the opportunity to play on the national team. Because she doesn’t play in Europe as much, she said, it is difficult to get recognized or move up the rankings to get in position to play for the team.
But during the winter months, weather precludes Binaghi and his players from spending much time outside playing golf in Italy. The Italian national players are mainstays in Florida during this time of year, though.
So, when Binaghi and Co. crossed the Atlantic shortly before Christmas, Binaghi took advantage of the time and played a practice round with Barbieri before she played in the Dixie Amateur.
“It was like a little reunion for us,” Barbieri said. “We didn’t really work on much. We just played and worked on focusing on hitting good shots.”
For Mazzoli, the OIA is his second-biggest amateur victory. In August, he earned an exemption to the 2016 Open at Royal Troonby winning the European Amateur. Binaghi said the OIA was the eighth victory of the year for an Italian men's national team player, with seven individuals winning events.
Binaghi has caddied for Manassero multiple times in the Open, and knows Royal Troon well. He is not sure whether he will caddie for Mazzoli in his first major tournament.
“I don’t know what we are going to do," Binaghi said. "I think I can help him, but I don’t know if he wants to use me or someone else."
Italians have long been known for their treatment of amateur golfers and newly-turned professionals, and Barbieri said these golfers are no different. Not all golfers will turn into the next Manassero or Francesco Molinari, but they all get treated as if they will.
“All of these players will turn professional,” Binaghi said, “and we will try to help them get as far as they can.”

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