Bradley, Poulter, Mahan to Attempt $300K Hole-In-One at WGC-HSBC Champions

During the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai this week, Keegan Bradley, Ian Poulter, and Hunter Mahan will be given the opportunity to ace the 17^th golf hole at Sheshan Int'l golf course. If they succeed, performance tech innovator Power Balance will donate $300K to a charity of their choice and one lucky fan will be awarded $30K! 

All three golfers have been at the top of their game recently. Ian Poulter took home the trophy at the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain in May, Hunter Mahan finished second at the Fedex Cup in September and Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship in August more recently capturing the PGA Grand Slam of Golf on October 20.

 

“This is a fun, interactive way to give back to our golfing communities,” said Josh Rodarmel, co-founder of Power Balance. “Golfers have consistently given us great feedback about our products and continue to comprise an important segment of our business.”

If you believe that a hole-in-one will be an easy ace, even for great golfers like Mahan, Bradley and Poulter, think again. According to HSBCGolf.com, "Two holes, 16 and 17, play around and over the (rock) quarry, giving the golfer both an awe inspiring view while requiring great golf shots. These two holes will not only be the signature holes of Shanghai Sheshan Golf Club, but also of the whole
Shanghai region."

 

17th hole at Sheshan Golf Club

 

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Power Balance technology products are worn by a community of millions of everyday people and hundreds of professional athletes – from Drew Brees to Derrick Rose, Matt Kemp to all three golfers participating in this challenge.

 

The online sweepstakes began last week with promotional giveaways and more on the Power Balance website, Facebook and Twitter. 

 

Fans can enter the sweepstakes at http://www.powerbalance.com/holeinonechallenge. The winner will be chosen from online entries into the sweepstakes; no purchase is required to enter the contest. Florida and New York are not eligible for this sweepstakes. 

 

Join the conversation on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and friend us on Facebook!

 

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Baby Comes First As Luke Donald Ducks WGC-HSBC Shanghai Sortie

World number one golfer Luke Donald has reluctantly cancelled his trip to next week’s WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai to be with his wife for the birth of their second child. Tim Maitland reports.

The Englishman, who is trying to become the first player in history to win the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic, had been hoping that the daughter they are expecting would conveniently arrive this week.

 Donald, who had his bags packed and was ready to go, finally conceded on Friday that family had to take precedence over the US$7 million event in China and his quest to get into the record books.

“It’s important for my wife and it’s important for me to make sure that I’m around to support her. It’s no coincidence that the birth of our first daughter inspired me to some really great golf. Family does put a lot of things into perspective; my job is very important but the family out-trumps everything,” said the 33-year-old Englishman in a phone interview from his home in the Chicago suburbs.

Professionally, Donald has every reason to want to be in Shanghai for the WGC-HSBC Champions. With five weeks left on the European Tour schedule he leads the Race to Dubai by over 1.3 million Euros from Rory McIlroy. He also has previous form at the Sheshan International Golf Club. He finished third, albeit by ten and nine shots, behind Italy’s Francesco Molinari and fellow Englishman Lee Westwood whose ‘Duel on the Bund’ head-to-head battle earned comparisons with the legendary ‘Duel in the Sun’ Open Championship in 1977.

“It speaks volumes for the tournament. I got to witness it as the third man in that group. I was a few shots back – I didn’t have my best golf – but it was nice to see the quality of the golf down the stretch from both players; it was a fitting end to a great event,” Donald said, despite admitting to being what the English would call a ‘gooseberry’.

“I actually was feeling a bit ‘third wheel’. To finish third was actually a pretty good accomplishment. I was struggling with my game big time and I was using every bit of energy and strength just to give myself a chance to get into that final group. I didn’t have control of the golf ball. I was a little bit frustrated with my own game but it was still nice to see how it should have been done!” he explained.

“It’s a world-class golf course – a long course – and it’s produced some great winners. That’s the biggest bonus about the tournament: the winners have been world-class players. Francesco last year, how well he played down the stretch fending off Lee Westwood… that’s always a mark of a good tournament when it produces good winners,” he said, referring to a roll of honour that includes Phil Mickelson twice, Sergio Garcia and Asia’s first male Major champion ‘YE’ Yang Yong-Eun.

Donald added that the recent controversy over the last-minute decision to delay mailing out the ballots for the PGA Tour Player of the Year voting had nothing to do with his choice to stay by his wife’s side. Donald won the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disneyworld to claim the PGA Tour’s money list, but described holding off posting the voting slips to the players until after Shanghai, because a WGC win for a PGA Tour player might impact the outcome, as ‘sketchy’.

“I have no problem with them including the HSBC Champions, they should! It was just the timing of it. The thing that disappointed me is that the schedule has been the same all year. I feel bad for the Asian golf fans that they didn’t see that. It’s something that should have been known at the beginning of the year, not the day after Disney.  The goalposts moved. It’s like running a marathon for 26 miles, crossing the finish line and then they say ‘actually we’re going to make it 27 miles’. It’s just the timing of it. It’s an important event; to have a WGC outside the US and such a big event in Asia. I’ve supported it the last few years when I’ve been eligible. I would be there if it wasn’t for the baby,” he said, adding that headlines describing him as ‘angered’ or ‘upset’ were wide of the mark.

Editor's note: Mid-November is the due date as stated in Luke Donald's official diary. Baby comes first! Best of luck to the  family.

Will Twitter on golf television remove the "social" from the media?

A Twitter feed will share TV screen space with Nationwide Tour golfers this weekend as Golf Channel features writers offering analysis alongside of already long-winded commentary. Do I really need on-screen "captions" telling me what I'm already watching? Is Golf Channel removing the "social" from the media?


You can see what Golf Channel intends to do here but the screen caption does not give me faith in their new "Social Media Saturday". The comment by Rex Hoggard says it all, "Watching JJ Killeen roll up his pants could be an amazing shot from the water." He follows up with, "Hope everyone is watching on the Golf Channel." Oh boy, if this is what golf fans are in for, this golf TV network just took two steps backward!

First, I can see that Killeen is in the water and am excited to watch the shot. Second, I do not need the Golf Channel to place its ad directly in front of me as I'm watching this amazing shot. I hope the commentary is both humorous and entertaining...and tell me something that I don't already know!

Hoggard, joined by Randall Mell, will replace traditional play-by-play commentary during their allotted time, which will be during the next to last group and final pairing of the Nationwide Tour Championship from South Carolina.


It doesn't seem as if some fans have faith in the new concept as it will be displayed on Saturday.

@Courtgolf, for example stated, "This tells me that xxx Golf Channel thinks their people are more important than the players. I hope this is a short lived experiment in media intrusion."
Fogroller so eloquently said, "Oh great, now we can have Rich Lerner and Kelly Tilghman kiss Tiger's butt on our twitter feed!! No thanks."

The concept sounds intriguing, but isn't social media meant to be interactive?

When I asked @dennis_allen about adding a Twitter feed to golf broadcasts, although he liked the idea, he was concerned about the lack of fan engagement. "Why just one way tweets?" Dennis questioned, and he has a valid point. The "one-way traffic mentality" as Allen conjectured, leaves fans without a way to engage, to be social.

Devil Ball Golf, agrees that Twitter integration with golf broadcasting is a great idea but wonders if an opportunity is being missed by not adding fan tweets to the mix. "social media...opens the door wide to amateur commentators from all over the planet, many of whom are much funnier and more incisive, at least for one tweet, than the professionals."

I have a few concerns regarding the Twitter format. For one, the feed is directly in my line of sight.  Golf is a picturesque sport and I enjoy gazing at the course on my screen. Perhaps the feed should be rolling across the bottom of my screen so as not to disrupt the visuals.

I also have a problem with the type of tweets that will be featured and when they will be placed: the eighteenth hole is the most exciting portion of the golf tournament, in my opinion. If Golf Channel wants to experiment with new technology, do it during a portion of the broadcast that begs for attention.

Finally, Twitter allows for social engagement: let the fans have a say!

Speaking of having a say, VOICE YOUR OPINION on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and friend GolfforBeginners on Facebook!

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