Monday, November 01, 2010

Ochoa wins Asia's biggest Golf prize, Montgomerie incurs penalty.

Although technically retired, former LPGA golf legend Lorena Ochoa stepped back into competitive golf holding off Colin Montgomerie to win Asia's largest prize at the inaugural Mission Hills Star Trophy event in China this past weekend.

Ochoa_Zeta-Jones_Hainan
Credit (Alexander F. Yuan / AP)

The international celebrity pro-am golf tournament, held at the new, five-star Mission Hills Resort Haikou on tropical Hainan Island consisted of eighteen teams with one celebrity and a professional. A few notable golfers on the celebrity front included Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Phelps and Christian Slater. They joined forces with golf heavyweights and Host/Ambassador of the event, Greg Norman along with Annika Sorenstam, Sir Nick Faldo, Rosie Jones, Montgomerie and Ochoa.

In the team event, played in the four-ball stroke play format, LPGA golfer Candie Kung and Hong Kong celebrity Eric Tsang emerged as champions. They added a blistering 63 to yesterday's five-under 68 to finish on 15-under 131 and beat home-town favorites Kong Wei Hai and Ye Zhao Ying by one shot. China pop star Sun Nan and LPGA player Feng Shanshan were another shot behind in third place.

Ochoa and Montgomerie added sizzle to the Mission Hills Golf Tournament staging a seesaw battle all afternoon, with the pair each recording four birdies for the day, swapping the lead on numerous occasions. Montgomerie reached four-under and took a one-shot lead with a ten foot birdie putt on par-four 17th, before making a regulation par-five at the last hole.


However, it was the 2010 Ryder Cup-winning captain, playing two groups in front of Ochoa, who incurred a two-shot penalty after his caddie moved an advertising sign at the par-four 16th. Combined with Ochoa's up and down for birdie at the final hole, Lorena earned a two-shot buffer and the US$1.28 million check.


After winning the trophy, Lorena Ochoa said,

"It was really an amazing day. It was just a case that everything went well over the two days and I was a 100-percent focused on every single shot. I tried to do my best all the time and it paid off.

"I made some great par saves, making some six and ten-foot putts and I think that's why I'm here (as the winner). Right now I'm going to enjoy it, there's no more golf to think about. I'm going to enjoy it and go home really happy."


The Mission Hills Star Trophy was beamed to over 150 countries around the world from Africa to Russia but no golf action seen on United States TV!


The press release that I received mentioned, "The Mission Hills Star Trophy is one of the first major events supporting a government-led initiative to make Hainan a leading international tourism destination in the coming years and reaffirms Mission Hills Haikou as the world's most memorable golf resort."


Note to esteemed broadcaster Terry Jastrow,  veteran Emmy-winning sports producer of sixty-eight golf majors and six Olympic Games during his career and to those people responsible for improving relations and golf initiatives (Mission Hills Group for one?) between Asia and the USA:


In order to introduce Asian golf and the latest resorts and travel destinations in Hainan (and throughout Asia) to the USA, it would have been a good idea to send the television signal out to the millions of golf fans here so that the average fan could watch the tournament. Reading a by-line on the internet and after-the-fact post scripts rarely work as golf is a visual sport.


Check a few of the posts on Sharkwatch.com where Norman fans say, "Wish we could have watched you in action!"  Me too!


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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Can the PGA and LPGA Tour bring Asian golf to the ROW?

The popularity of golf is escalating to a fevered frenzy in Asia but can the PGA and LPGA Tour help bring this emerging market to the rest of the world?

With the WGC-HSBC Champions event combining the talents of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for a possible dream match and Michelle Wie needing a bodyguard to keep fans at bay during the LPGA Malaysia, Asian golf fans are coming out in droves to witness star power in professional golf.

The Asian golf market is relatively unknown here in the USA but has plenty of events during the season sanctioned by the Asian Tour, OneAsia and the Japan Golf Tour. It appears as if all of the Tours operate independently of each other instead of combining strength to create one professional commission with larger purses and better known talent. The LPGA has already established the Japan and Korean Tours but the Ladies Asian Golf Tour remains a separate entity.

In July, Tim Finchem made rumblings that there may be more PGA Tour events springing up in China, Japan and Korea. Currently there are two such events; the inaugural Asia Pacific Classic in Malaysia (co-sanctioned by both the PGA Tour and Asian Tour) and the HSBC-WGC event in Shanghai.

In other words, if you can't bring the Asian Tour to the USA, bring the action of the PGA Tour to Asia.

Although the number of Asian golfers is "increasing in the majors" as Tim Clark has mentioned, Ernie Els doubts that golfers will make the long trip to the region. This, in my opinion, may keep Asian golf segmented from the rest of the world.

"It's a very long way from the U.S. to Asia so any more golf tournaments over here," said Els. It's going to be tough for players to travel. They have a full schedule anyway in the U.S. but it will be interesting to see what the commissioner [Tim Finchem] thinks about it."

Luke Donald has agreed with Els adding that more events on the PGA Tour roster may make the field "a little bit diluted." On the flip-side, Donald sees golf as global adding, that "people want to see the U.S. players playing in Malaysia, China or Japan"

"New events like this tend to increase fan support for the game and create awareness that there are great places around the world to play golf in."

Even though every win still counts and the event money is good, the Asian Swing might deter golfers because of the distance to travel. On the flip side, the Asia-Pacific Classic has a very solid group making the trip: the top twenty-five players on the FedEx Cup standings along with the top ten golfers from the Asian Tour and five sponsor exemptions for a select group of forty will play in this week's event.

Adding the star power of Michelle Wie and Natalie Gulbis to the region for last week's LPGA event in Malaysia will also help gain momentum for an Asian Swing. With all of the professional Tours working together to bring golf into the region by coinciding their events, this Asian Swing can be a success for the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Asian Tours and most importantly, the fans and the growth of golf.

Also read about golf supremacy in Russia?

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Monday, October 25, 2010

Golf supremacy for Russia at the Olympics?

With a golf academy currently being designed in Moscow, are the Russians eyeing domination at the 2016 Olympics?

 

The golf course design practice founded by five-time Open Champion Peter Thomson with partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb has been commissioned to design a new golf academy at Moscow’s Luzhniki Olympic Complex. 

 

The landmark development will introduce golf to Europe's largest sports center, venue of the 1980 Olympics and 2008 Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea, which boasts facilities for more than forty different sports with five million visits per year.
 


The new golf academy will include a new 9-hole par-3 golf course, driving range, practice putting, family adventure golf, plus a spacious clubhouse with indoor golf simulators.

 

Luzhniki Olympic Complex, Moscow

 
TPL principal Tim Lobb said: “The golf academy at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex will be an important development for Russia. This will be the closest golf facility to the city centre and will be a family friendly and social venue that will enable the people of Moscow to experience, enjoy and learn to play golf.
 


“It is a very exciting project to be working on and, with the return of golf to the Olympics in 2016, is befitting of the Luzhniki Complex’s vision to be a legacy of Olympic sport.”

  Among the Russian sports stars who have benefited from the facilities at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex are tennis aces Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin. The question is, could Russia’s first golf star emerge from Luzhniki’s new golf academy?
 

 

The first golf course in Russia was established in 1989 and has fourteen courses currently in operation. The Russian Golf Association is creating a five-year plan to establish a future in golf by increasing the number of courses to one-hundred, boosting the number of golf lovers to 100,000 and having a few golfers winning tournaments in time for the 2016 Olympics.

Posted via email from stacysolomon's posterous

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Greg Norman, Annika Sorenstam worried about the future of golf

In an effort to find innovative ways for golf to be more "affordable and accessible", Greg Norman, Annika Sorenstam and golf creative thinkers convened at the fourth annual Asia Pacific Golf Summit.

This 'call to action' in Thailand was only one of several forums designed to effect a change in the sport in order to attract more newcomers and to keep the golfers that already play interested in the game. Earlier this year, a Golf Business Forum in Turkey tackled similar questions with both Norman and Sorenstam in attendance.

Believing interest in the sport has hit its limit and is now declining, Hud Hinton, Troon Golf president and chief executive officer warned that, "The game is too expensive to play, too difficult to play, too expensive to operate and the pace of play is too slow."

Greg Norman came up with an interesting idea regarding the premise that it takes too long to play a round of golf.

"There's nothing to say that a golf course has to be 18 holes. Why shouldn't 12-hole courses be successful in Asia?"

Although it seems like an age-old question, what suggestions would you make in order to improve the sport and to bring in newcomers?

My idea?
Children are the future of the sport so perhaps add golf to a school's curriculum? Instead of just playing dodge-ball in a gym where kids learn it's okay to hit one another in the head with a ball, golf can also teach the nine basic principles of the First Tee Program.

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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Tiger Woods earnings down but still $30 million richer than Phil Mickelson

According to SI.com, Tiger Woods may have dropped $9 million in earnings from last year but he is still the number one golfer on tour and still about $30 million ahead of Phil Mickelson!

Tiger Woods Phil Mickelson

In spite of his scandalous year, advertisers dropping like flies and nary a win in sight, Tiger Woods earned a whopping $90.5 million: only $20 million in "salary" from PGA Tour standings but $70 million from endorsements! In spite of being dropped by Gatorade, ATT and Accenture (see below), Woods' $10 million FedEx Cup bonus helped keep him in the number one position on the "Fortunate 50", ahead of Mickelson, LeBron James and Alex Rodriguez, whose Yankees salary of $33 million with only $4 million in endorsements barely halves Woods' home run.

Here is a list of Tiger Woods' corporate partners and sponsors, according to Golf.com, which helped keep Tiger Woods ahead on the money list:

1. Nike - "Just Do It"
2. EA Sports
3. Tag Heuer - "What are You Made of?"
4. Gillette - "The Best a Man can Get"
5. Accenture - "Go Ahead, Be a Tiger"
6. AT&T - "Reach out and touch someone"
7. Gatorade - "It's in Tiger, is it in you?"

Although Greg Norman recently stated, "...He'll come back and win golf tournaments, but he won't be as dominating as he used to be," I think that Tiger Woods' "B" Game was good enough to take home trophies. Once Woods starts winning regularly and this part of his life slowly fades into the past, companies will start returning to "Team Tiger".

People have very short memories and in golf, that's a good thing!

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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Phil Mickelson unveils HSBC Champions official World Golf Championships trophy

Two-time HSBC Champions winner Phil Mickelson has helped to unveil the new trophy for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions: 'The Old Tom Morris Cup', reports Tim Maitland.
The new cup and name are in keeping with the other three World Golf Championships events, which also boast similarly-designed Wedgwood trophies named after golfing legends. The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship awards The Walter Hagen Cup to the winner, the World Golf Championships-CA Championship offers The Gene Sarazen Cup, and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational winner holds aloft The Gary Player Cup.

 “I am really fond of the original trophy, which can happen when you win something more than once,” says Mickelson, who lifted the 2007 HSBC Champions and then became the first winner of the tournament following its elevation to World Golf Championships status in 2009.

“But the new trophy has even greater worldwide significance. First, it is instantly recognizable as one of the WGC prizes, second, it carries the name of one of the legends of golf. Third, and perhaps most importantly, it is proof of just how fast the game of golf in China and Asia has evolved and how significant that growth is to the world of golf,” the four-time Major champion adds.

In choosing Old Tom Morris the world’s local bank has found a figure recognizable to the established golf world. HSBC chose one of the famous names in the history of Scottish golf because the pioneering work “Old” Tom Morris did in the 1800s to shape the game of golf is symbolic of the pioneering work being done in Chinese golf now.

“Old Tom represents the birth of the game of golf. Asia, China and the WGC-HSBC Champions in varying ways represent the future of the sport and, you could argue, will in time be looked at as being part of one of the most dramatic shifts for golf since Old Tom’s era,” says Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“The WGC-HSBC Champions could be described as the nucleus which has shaped the way tournament golf in Asia is evolving and developing on the world stage, in the same way the Old Tom Morris helped shape and define the sport of golf” he adds.

Padraig Harrington, Ireland’s three-time Major winner, describes Old Tom as one of the bedrocks on which the sport was built.

“He’s the heritage of the game! He was one of the first Open Champions and won it four times; it adds a lot to an event when it has heritage and I know it takes a long time to build heritage, but this helps" said Harrington. "It’s a trophy that anyone would be proud to lift and they’ll be proud of the association with Old Tom Morris and the history that goes with that. It’ll help the players feel even more about the event and it’ll make it that little bit more special.”


Morris was greenkeeper and golf professional on the Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland; a four-time winner of The Open Championship and ranked among the top links course designers of the 19th Century. Among the 75 courses he designed or remodelled are some of Scotland’s world-famous courses, including Carnoustie, Muirfield and Royal Dornoch.


“You’re talking about one of the legends of the game. You talk about Tom Morris you’re talking about Prestwick and St Andrews and you’re talking about a game steeped in history; the legends of the game are hugely important to us!” exclaimed 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell.

“Guys like him shaped the game we play now. How different would it be if you didn’t have Old Tom Morris, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods?  How big is the game now? A TV spectacle, a global game, you just look at the milestones of the game and he’s one of them.”

In one way or another, “Old” Tom influenced almost every aspect of the sport. He helped to set up the first (British) Open Championship in 1860 and competed in every Open until 1896. Various authorities and experts have attributed everything from standardising the number of holes to 18, the size of the golf hole, the appearance of bunkers and several fundamentals of greenkeeping to the influence of “Old” Tom.

“Old” Tom Morris, who was born in St. Andrews in 1821 and died there in 1908, is remembered as a true pioneer and exponent of golf.

In recognition of his service, the R&A has hung his portrait on permanent display in its clubhouse, while the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's most prestigious honour is the Old Tom Morris Award.


WGC Winners
16 – Tiger Woods (USA)*
3 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS)
2 – Phil Mickelson (USA)
2 – Ernie Els (USA)**
2 – Darren Clarke (NIR)
1 – Hunter Mahan (USA)
1 – Ian Poulter (ENG)
1 – Henrik Stenson (SWE)
1 – David Toms (USA)
1 – Kevin Sutherland (USA)
1 – Steve Stricker (USA)
1 – Jeff Maggert (USA)
1 – Mike Weir (CAN)
1 – Vijay Singh (FIJ)
1 – Stewart Cink (USA)
1 – Craig Parry (AUS)
*plus 2000 World Cup
**plus 2001 World Cup


HSBC Champions
Format: 72-holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: Approximately 78 players, consisting of tournament winners from around the world and the best players from the International Federation of PGA Tours, as dictated by each Tour’s money list, order of merit, etc.
2009 – Phil Mickelson (USA) 271 (-17) (Sheshan International GC, Shanghai, China)
2008* – Sergio Garcia (ESP)
2007* – Phil Mickelson (USA)
2006* – YE Yang Yong-Eun (KOR)
2005* – David Howell (ENG) 268 (-20)

* = Before granted WGC status


Bridgestone Invitational*
Format: 72-holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: Members of the most recent United States and International Presidents Cup teams and the United States and European Ryder Cup teams. Players ranked among the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking. The past year’s Major winners.

2010 – Hunter Mahan (USA) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2009 – Tiger Woods (USA) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2008 – Vijay Singh (FIJ) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2007 – Tiger Woods (USA) 272 (-8) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2006 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2005 – Tiger Woods (USA) 274 (-6) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2004 – Stewart Cink (USA) 269 (-11) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2003 – Darren Clarke (NIR) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2002 – Craig Parry (AUS) 268 (-16) (Sahalee CC, Washington, USA)
2001 – Tiger Woods (USA) 269 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
2000 – Tiger Woods (USA) 259 (-21) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
1999 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)
*From 1999- 2005 known as NEC Invitational


CA Championship*
Format: 72 holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: 65-70, including 44 of the top 50 from the Official World Golf Rankings and leaders of the six Tours' Official Money Lists/Order of Merit.
2010 – Ernie Els (RSA) 270 (-18) (Doral, Florida, USA)
2009 – Phil Mickelson (USA) 269 (-19) (Doral, Florida, USA)
2008 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 271 (-17) (Doral, Florida, USA)
2007 – Tiger Woods (USA) 278 (-10) (Doral, Florida, USA)
2006 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-23) (The Grove, Hertfordshire, England)
2005 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (play-off) (Harding Park, San Francisco, California, USA)
2004 – Ernie Els (RSA) 270 (-18) (Mount Juliet Conrad, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland)
2003 – Tiger Woods (USA) 274 (-6) (Capital City Club, Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
2002 – Tiger Woods (USA) 263 (-25) (Mount Juliet Conrad, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland)
2001 – Cancelled (Bellerive, St. Louis, Missouri, USA)
2000 – Mike Weir (CAN) 277 (-11) (Valderrama, Spain)
1999 - Tiger Woods (USA) 278 (-10) (play-off) (Valderrama, Spain)
*From 1999-2006 known as American Express Championship

Accenture Match Play Championship
Format: Match Play
Field: Top 64 available players (Based on the Official World Golf Ranking)
2010 – Ian Poulter (ENG) 4&2 vs Paul Casey (Dove Mountain, Arizona, USA)  
2009 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 4&3 vs. Paul Casey (Ritz-Carlton GC, Arizona, USA)
2008 – Tiger Woods (USA) 8&7 vs. Stewart Cink.  (Ritz-Carlton GC, Arizona, USA)
2007 – Henrik Stenson (SWE) 2&1 vs. Geoff Ogilvy  (Gallery,  Arizona, USA)
2006 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 3&2 vs. Davis Love III (La Costa, California, USA) 
2005 – David Toms (USA) 6&5 vs. Chris DiMarco (La Costa, California, USA) 
2004 – Tiger Woods (USA) 3&2 vs. Davis Love III (La Costa, California, USA) 
2003 – Tiger Woods (USA) 2&1 vs.  David Toms (La Costa, California, USA) 
2002 – Kevin Sutherland (USA) 1 up vs. Scott McCarron 1 up (La Costa, California, USA) 
2001 – Steve Stricker (USA) 2&1 vs. Pierre Fulke (Metropolitan GC, Victoria, Australia)
2000 – Darren Clarke (NIR) 4&3 vs. Tiger Woods (La Costa, California, USA) 
1999 – Jeff Maggert (USA) 38 holes vs. Andrew Magee (La Costa, California, USA) 

Note: From 2000 to 2006 the World Cup was a WGC event. Winners as follows:
2006 - Germany (Bernhard Langer/Marcel Siem) 268 (play-off) (Sandy Lane, Barbados)
2005 – Wales (Bradley Dredge/Stephen Dodd) 189 (Victoria Clube, Algarve, Portugal)
2004 – England (Paul Casey/Luke Donald) 257 (Real Club, Seville, Spain)
2003 – South Africa (Rory Sabbatini/Trevor Immelman) 275 (Kiawah Island, South Carolina, USA)
2002 – Japan (Shigeki Maruyama/Toshimitsu Izawa) 252 (Vista Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)
2001 – South Africa (Ernie Els/Retief Goosen) 264 (play-off) (Taiheiyo Club, Shizuoka, Japan)
2000 – United States (Tiger Woods/David Duval) 254 (Buenos Aires GC, Argentina)



Golf for Beginners thanks Tim Maitland for this informative article.