The haggis has been piped in, the Solheim tartan is out in force and the smiles are out, for the meoment. Countdown to the Solheim Cup has begun and may the best team win. This year, of the twenty four players taking part nine of them are rookies, three on Team Europe side and a record six joining Team USA.
The golfing world has lost one of it’s greatest ever characters. Brian Barnes sadly passed away at the age of 74 on Monday after a brief fight with cancer. A larger than life character Barnes will always be remembered as the man who beat Jack Nicklaus twice in one day at Laurel Canyon in 1975 Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup featured two singles sessions in those days.
Cleveland have been on a bit of a role when it comes to launching wrenches recently. Their CBX 2 wedges kicked it off, followed by their amazing Frontline Putters and the Huntington Beach range. Now, two years on from their return to the woods and irons market they are releasing the Launcher HB Turbo woods which they say are “sleeker, faster, and more forgiving” which is exactly what you want!
Sometimes we look at a player and wonder what is going through their head. In what can only be considered a nightmare year for Matt Kuchar the American really doesn’t seem to know when to stop digging, quite literally in this case!
Paul Casey has moves up to 14th in the world following his victory at the European Open in Hamburg. The Englishman shot a bogey free 66 that took him to 14 under and squeezed out Scotland’s Robert Macintyre, Austria’s Matthias Schwab and home hope Bernd Ritthammer by one-stroke.
We very much like the prize being offered to the winning professional at this year’s Highland Golf Links Pro Am. As well as a cheque for a few bob the winner will receive a bottle of Tomatin 50-year-old single malt, which has been bottled exclusively for the tournament and is valued at more than £10,000!
In near perfect conditions at Royal Liverpool, team USA showed their class in turning an overnight deficit of two points into a resounding victory by a score of 15½ to 10½. Having clinched the morning foursomes by 2½ to 1½, the American crushed the home side in the singles 8-2.
Matt Fitzpatrick’s little brother, Alex, led the way for team Great Britain and Ireland at Royal Liverpool yesterday. Following a foursomes win in the morning, with partner Conor Purcell, Fitzpatrick took out world number one amateur Cole Hammer (great name!) in the top afternoon singles game to help The GB&I team to a 7-5 lead after day one.
Gleneagles 13th hole The Queen's Course. A par 3, 140 yard piece of GolfPorn!
Two Foxhills members both hit a hole-in-one on the same hole with consecutive shots. Apparently, the odds of this happening are millions to one although we must confess, we haven’t a clue how that is calculated.
Is it just us or can you not get excited about the Walker Cup? The amateur version of the Ryder Cup takes place this weekend over the famous Royal Liverpool Golf Club links at Hoylake. The two teams of 10 players will compete over the two days of foursomes and singles matches first to 13½ points winning.
Derek The Donkey, GolfPunk's grumpy horse-envier once again delivers his 'Joke of the Week'. As you know he likes nothing better than a proper good laugh as long as it's at someone else's expense...
