Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club will welcome 59club clients from across Europe on the 12-13th March 2020. An extension to the ceremony will see The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa host the awards to recognise excellence across Asia, The Middle East & Africa on the 20th April 2020, as the Service ‘Excellence’ Awards are split for the first time.
It was inevitable that Patrick Reed, who is playing at the WGC event in Mexico City this week, was going to be asked about the latest comments from Bob Kostis and Brooks Koepka. Talking after Thursday’s first round he managed to dance around the question.
He has been saying for a while now that he needs to get off to better starts in events and in Mexico yesterday Rory McIlroy delivered. The World Number One soared into a two-stroke first round lead at the WGC-Mexico Championship to continue an excellent run of form of late with a six-under-par 65 at Chapultepec Golf Club.
Lauren Stephenson ended with an eagle three on the last hole for an eight-under-par 64 to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Geoff King Motors Australian Ladies Classic Bonville on Friday.
We thought Brooks Koepka had rather put the boot into Patrick Reed with his comments about building sandcastles but ex-CBS golf commentator Peter Kostis went even further this week inferring that Reed was a serial cheat.
Surely the least contentious and well-deserved award for 2019 was Jon Rahm being voted the Seve Ballesteros Award as the 2019 European Tour Players' Player of the Year, after a spectacular campaign which included two Rolex Series titles, another victory on home soil and culminated in him being crowned the Race to Dubai Champion.
It was a fine victory for Adam Scott last weekend, he is a great ball striker, but I must confess I rather sighed when I saw him using a long putter to great effect once again. It was a similar feeling to that I had when Scott won the Masters back in 2013. I’m sorry, but I am with the brigade who consider these long putters cheat sticks.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the bunker, or waste area, the Patrick Reed saga pops its nose out again. This time its the world number two Brooks Koepka giving his two pennyworth and he, as usual, does not pull any punches. Koepka described Reed’s actions as “building sandcastles in the sand.”
For those of a certain age and most likely from this side of the pond will see parallels between the move by the proposed Premier Golf League and the World Series Cricket (WSC) competition of the late 1970s. Both ventures share two fundamental drivers, the chance for players to earn more money and access to broadcast rights for the organisers.
Mickey Wright’s who possessed one of the best swings in golf passed away on Monday at the age of 85. Wright was one of the greatest players on the LPGA amassing 82 LPGA titles over a 14-year professional career.
It’s Manic Monday, so here is a very quick round up of all the results and stories from the weekend on the, PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA and Women’s European Tour.
We’ve all been there in that bunker slashing away trying to get that damn ball up and out as you see your chances in the competition dissolve in front of your eyes. At the Genesis Invitational on Saturday Ryan Palmer had a similar horrific moment which made us amateurs feel not so bad. Tiger Woods also had his nightmare on the greens which included a four-putt!
