Tour Championship Round 1

A lot was made after the US PGA was held in stifling heat of Tiger's comment about fitness being of great help. Well it might be the case in stifling heat but in the storm interrupted first round of the Tour Championship a pudgy, short South African with a pot belly you can rest a pint on nicely showed the way with a blistering 8 under 62 on a course that was playing long for him!

So fitness may help, but hitting the ball well just seems to be more useful. Put the two together and you achieve great things and maybe that's why Tiger is Tiger. But for now, well done 'soft-in-the-middle' Tim.

Lefty Saturday!

I think i was just going to summarise performances after a tournament but since this is the first post in a couple (ok six) months let's have a looksee how lefties are doing.

There may well be more but ones i was going to follow included:

Phil Mickelson, Mike Weir, Eric Axley, Bubba Watson, Nick O'Hern, Richard Green, Steve Flesch, Ed Loar (plays on Nationwide/Asian Tour), Stuart Little (European Tour) and, for the ladies on the Ladies European Tour, Sophie Hunter.

So, Saturday.

Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village - Mickelson withdrew injured, Axley, Flesch and Weir missed the cut leaving Nick O'Hern flying the flag which he is doing quite well currently in the top 10 although currently being outshone by Bubba Watson.

Sophie Hunter looks to be missing the cut at the Northern Ireland ladies Open although her second round was a sound improvement on the opening round. Come back to that in another post.

Right now, it's time to get some food :-)

Phew!

Well i know i'd not posted in a while but it really took a crawl around the far reaches of the brain to sort out the username password!!

Well i'm back to pontificate some having got my first comment! YAY! VJ has commented for Sophie Hunter to say that the card I sent was received.

Anyway, now i've sorted out the password and stuff i'd better sort out what i'm going to write! Well it's not like i'm short of an opinion on anything so i shall sort that out no problem while i'm sat here and there's a rain delay for the Memorial tournament which i'm watching on Setanta.

HNY! kiss kiss

Just checking in, hope Xmas went well, Happy New Year to all.

I sooo have a crush on Stephanie Sparks lol but I do like a nice red :-)

Merry Xmas golf dudes!

I shall be back to feed my audience of zero with controversial golf thoughts and coverage of lefty golfers in 2007. Great thing about having no readers - you can be as controversial as you like :-)

I see Paul Casey has got RBS shot of the year for his ace at the Ryder Cup. First hole-in-one i'd ever seen that one so nicely done Paul. The LET have finally.....finally published their 2007 schedule (still don't know if they forwarded on my congratulatory card to Sophie Hunter) so i'll check out the ladies in 2007 now there's two lefties on tour. I note also that the Ladies European Masters is not on the schedule. Evidently (damn having to do a second edit) for whatever reason it will appear in the 2008 - not 2007 - LET schedule.

So, roll on 2007, will Michelle Wie give up on men's golf tournaments if (when) she fails to make the cut at the Sony Open in January?...Will Tiger make it a grand slam year or was his tournament domination of the second half of 2006 getting earl's passing out of his system?...Will a European win a Major?...Will square drivers crash the market or crash and burn?...Will the Solheim Cup return to Europe?...Will I give up buying Today's Golfer or Golf Punk?...Will my handicap get any better now that i've got a Leadbetter Swingsetter?...Will I get caught if i sneak onto The Wisley on Xmas day for a few holes...

i am the result of my cultural condition so Merry Xmas and if you're not christian then don't worry about it, neither am I :-). Be excellent to each other...how about that lol

Yay! for Eddie

Jeez, beautiful day for golf, if a little chilly, but i'm sooooo hungover, so while i'm sitting here watching old X-Files on FX and waiting for Clerks 2 to download i'll give a good shout out to corn-fed lefty Ed Loar who finished T6 (-6 282) in the season ending Volvo Asian Masters.

Watched Teenage Tourette's this morning. 5 UK teens with Tourettes at a Tourette's camp in the US. Absolutely the funniest thing i've seen in ages even if i was laughing at them!!

Nothing much

Joy, I get to sit in tonight and watch the Volvo Masters of Asia on Setanta while my golf buddy Adele is on holiday in the Turks & Caicos Island and my brother is in Barbados playing Sandy Lane this week having watched the World Cup last week. The weather isn't great so it looks like it's putting on the carpet for me!

Did send congratulatory card to Sophie Hunter, don't know if it got there but hey, it's the LET lol. I know where the Solheim Cup is in 2011 but I don't know what the LET's 2007 schedule is.

Damn, where's the booze? Go Jeev Milka Singh and Prom Meesawat!

Kingswood was running a clearance sale for a shop re-fit for the new year last weekend. Ironically it specialises in good stock for the lefties but the right handed stuff was discounted more heavily. Terry has always been good to me though so i picked me up a YES golf Olivia putter and a Leadbetter swingsetter. So i'm going to try the swingsetter and the momentus swing trainer in 07 and see how i get on.

I tried some 3 Woods too but having got a bit rat arsed the night more and had far too few hours sleep i was all over the place and couldn't notice anything other than the Taylor Made R7 Ti is very nice, but didn't buy. Will maybe look at tweaking the bag in the spring.

Ok, It's xmas the week after next so i'll get a bit of time to play with the blog and make it look purtier and a bit more useful. Maybe someone will read it then lol.

Nick O'Hern claims title in Oz :-)

I was generally intending on coming back to this blog at the beginning of the new year as all tours restart but if i'm here it's for something good and today it's down to Aussie lefty Nick O'Hern claiming his first title since 1998 on home soil at the Australian PGA Championship.

He had to work for it though with the lead changing hands through the day. O'Hern gave himself some momentum with eagles on 8 and 12 with a further birdie on 15 but then gave a shot back and missed closing out on 18 with a nervy missed short putt. Having to mentally regroup he defeated Peter Lonard at the fourth extra hole.

So YAY! for Nick O'Hern and let's hope that propels him on to greater things in 2007. With Charl Schwartzel currently the 54 hole leader in S.Africa these talented guys (right or left handed) need to be able to generate wins regardless of the territory they're playing in as that is the true mark of being world class.

So there you are, worth coming out of hibernation for that one!

Left-tee Golf

LET Mail!

I'll give the LET a chance to redeem itself for having a rubbish website. I'm going to send Sophie Hunter a congratulatory message for getting her tour card but i don't have a Scooby Doo where to send it so I shall send it to the LET and ask them to forward it.

The Men's European tour mention that they would do such a thing in their FAQs.

Will let you know if anything happens.

Good job noone's looking!

I guess it's a good job noone is reading this blog yet.

Having got excited that with Sophie Hunter winning a full card for the 2007 Ladies European Tour there would be a left handed lady (and English) golfer to follow I have just found out that this isn't quite the case.

Googling the results for Q-School brought up an article from Golf Today in 2005 profiling that year's Q-School qualifiers including Swede Karin Borjeskog. Now I was sure that i'd read somewhere Sophie was the only lefty on the LET. So back to the LET's website and Sophie's profile which says 'Plays left handed, the only player on tour to do so.' Back to the Golf Today article and it says that Karin is the only other left handed player apart from Sophie Hunter. But then the LET's profile of Karin throws up 'Is one of only three left handed players on the LET.'

Confuzled! lol

Anyway, my bad for not knowing there was another one although by looking at her profile she doesn't swing to the UK that often for tournaments and her best results in 2006 were 68th/70th place so she's probably not going to generate much attention.

But we shall follow her too :-)

Lol, i'm going to have to double check all the lefty blokes now.

Lefty Golf Today

I was away with friends yesterday so i'm back today bleary eyed and checking out what's going on.

To finish off with the LET Q-School I think their final coverage of the event is poor. There's an article going on about Sam Head, Kiran Matharu and a couple of others but there's not even a list or picture of the 28 qualifiers.

There is also a larger photo gallery accessible at the bottom and while the photographer has done a good job of came the same pose again and again and again in the different players the pictures available on the site are limited. There is only one of our lefty girl Sophie who qualified but multiple pictures of others.

So basically, LET website. Rubbish.

A big YAY! for Australian Richard Green (don't care about the Ashes lol). The lefty Aussie whom i followed a bit at US Open Qualifying at Walton Heath this year notched up a nifty second place in his homeland at the Australian Masters behind England's Justin Rose. People seem to have made much of a win drought for Rose but he's still only 26 and he has been playing really well the last few months in the US but just didn't seem to be able to close out a win there so well done to him.

That'll do!

Who is Sophie Hunter?

Today, Sophie Hunter won her card at Q-School to play on the Ladies European Golf Tour in 2007.

She was born in Lincoln on January 25th 1978 so she is an all grown up 28 years old. At 5'3" she's shorter than me and i wonder if that's a disadvantage for lady golfing. She probably has a perma-tan as she now lives in the Algarve (doesn't it get a bit hot in the summer) although she'll probably be spending more time away from there now in places like Kazakhstan andRomania (well if the LET published its 2007 schedule - jesus only behind every other tour) as she makes her way in the field of competitive golf.

My golf buddy Adele says that there are a lot of lesbians in lady golf but Sophie is a very attractive lady :-)

Apparently she gained her PGA qualification through the De Vere Belfry which sounds pretty top class. I found that in some article from a Portuguese paper aimed at wrinklies which also said that the author had recommended some sports psychologist to her which may or may not have helped depending on how you look at it (COUGH triple/quadruple bogey COUGH).

This post has the only pictures of her i've come across. One is from the LET website player's section which is tiny and about 5 years old, the playing one from Friday which is a good one but you can just about see her in the distance and the third one is one from Portugal Resident which, I wouldn't be surprised if she ever reads this blog, she'd ask me to remove lol.



Anyway, Sophie, you've won you card, now keep it :-)

I shall be focusing on left golfers on tour for the 2007 season (damn, missed the first half of the European Tour 2007 and its still November 2006) and Sophie will be our left handed lady.

YAY! Sophie Hunter Q-School qualifier

I am fully re-writing this last post as i went off for a snooze and realised that i'd missed something quite significant. 'Joint 27th with one other person' is the bit that didn't twig. 28 players get full cards for the LET in 2007.

So, with one more check of the scoreboard as it at 2.45pm GMT, Sophie is joint 27th with Martina Gillen. The only players left out on the course are those above her on the leaderboard which means:

SOPHIE HUNTER HAS WON A FULL CARD TO PLAY ON THE LET IN 2007.

CONGRATULATIONS SOPHIE :-)

I started this blog a week earlier than I intended to because she was in Q-School and i'm pleased to have highlighted her. The LET now has a left handed lady professional golfer on the full tour (ok, category 8 playing rights) so it was worth giving her a bit of love and attention these last few days.

As a top 28 finisher she is awarded Category 8 playing rights. According to Q-School information on the LET's website that means she 'may not play every week' but will 'maximise' her opportunities to play.

I have no idea what that means but hopefully we can find that out.

I'll do one more post with a profile then i'm off out :-)

Jeez, i wish i had gone to La Cala this week now!

Now we wait but the outlook isn't great!

Left handed LET Q-Schooler Sophie Hunter has finished her final round now. Out of the blocks on fire she racked up 3 birdies in a row from the 3rd before a bogey spoiled the party but she reached the turn at -2 which is exactly what she needed to give her the chance of a full card.

Three bogeys back to back however from 10 really peed in the pool before she got a shot back at 16 to finish on even par and a score of +5 and joint 35th. The top 28 automatically get a full card.

To be positive she is just one shot off a group who are joint 27th so she can afford, all other things being equal, for one golfer to improve a shot but she would then need the rest of the group to drop a shot. As it stands that would mean 7 players. A long shot but not out of the question.

If it stays as it is though Sophie will win a category 10 exemption which gives her limited playing rights on the LET next year. That should include the odd English event so it would be nice to watch her in action maybe at Chart Hills in June 2007.

Off to bite nails!

Go Sophie! - Part 2

Right, i've crawled out of my wee bed at 9.25am (hey, i'm on holiday!) to have a look at how things are going for Sophie Hunter, our lefty lady aiming for the LET in 2007. Some sort of gypsy's curse or something meant that she had two disastrous holes yesterday to undo all her great work in the first two rounds to drop her from an automatically qualifying level par position to +5 and joint 38th. The top 28 (and no ties) get a full LET 2007 card.

My view is that +3 or maybe +4 will be where that 28th place sits so Sophie has to turn in a round of the week to give herself a chance of that card - most likely through a play-off.

The Q-School event is being held at La Cala in Spain so it's 2 hours ahead in time. She teed off at 0900 in Spain meaning that she's been out for about two and a half hours now. However the LET website is 2 years behind every other golf website (well the 'merrican ones) in its delivery of live scoring.

I'm pleased to say though that LET live scoring has her at -3 after 6 holes, putting her in joint 19th place. Talk about nail biting! Go Sophie, Go Sophie! In reality she's probably into or heading into the last 6 holes so that scoring is at least 6 holes behind (bad LET website) so i will be on the coffee and cigarettes all day (although i don't drink coffee or smoke) to see if the LET will have its one and only left handed pro golfer in 2007 which, in case you were wondering, is the reason for all the excitement.

Left handers seem to be very under-represented on the pro tour with only a handful on the men's US PGA and European Tours although i'll look at that in other posts. One reason though might be to do with handed-ness. i am right handed but play left and many lefties i know are the same. What that means is left handers may actually play right handed. But i digress.

I know there is the Australian Masters event on this weekend but i don't have time to look at what lefties, if any, are doing there, so this last few days has been about Sophie Hunter.

Q-ing up!

I feel gutted for Sophie after her round today but we'll stay positive for tomorrow.

As for the rest of the field. Sam Head carded an impressive 65 to top the leaderboard (do players get anything extra for winning Q-School?). In fact a couple at the top of the leaderboard went into the 60s today although yesterday's leader Hana Leena Salonen slipped towards the mid 70s but she remains well placed. Kiran Matharu will be the European Tour's 'Michelle Wie' no doubt. She's female, she's Asian and she's a very good golfer - and i don't see big sports management having too heavy a hand a la Michelle Wie. Another steady 70 keeps her in with a shout of topping the pile.

That could be a good omen though to try and win Q-School. If you're top 5 then, unless something bad happens, you'll get your card so if you want to be a competitor - go compete!

Other good rounds saw redhead (like them too lol) Felicity Johnson shoot an impressive 69 (Cristie Kerr of the future???) while an excellent 67 pulled up the socks of Thailand's Titiya Plucksataporn who was heading for the ranks of the next best after her first two rounds.

Sisterly news has the Schaeffer's Jade and Fany joint 11th which is nice :-) Pretty (i think lol) Jade won first stage qualifying in Italy a couple of weeks back and now seems set to join her sister on tour.

So, looking forward to a good final day. Go Sophie! :-)

Grumpy old man par!

After 2 rounds cruising towards a full card for the 2007 Ladies European Tour our lefty heroine Sophie Hunter suffered a real knockback today slipping from joint 13th on level par at the start to joint 38th on +5 after a couple of par 5 holes got in the way.

From her card it looks like she started in standard fashion - a bogey on her first hole - but again she stabilised with a solid par at the second before taking the initiative with birdies at three and four. Then, for whatever reason, a blip became a crash when a bogey at 8 was followed by a triple bogey 7 on the par 5 9th, which she had birdied in rounds 1 and 2, to leave her +2 at the turn.

That would not have been disastrous. My post yesterday reflected on the psychological nature of the forthcoming two days with a need to focus on hanging around 'old man par'. Easier said than done though. Sophie's card looks like she evened out with pars at 10 and 11 while a first bogey of the week at 12 received the riposte of a first birdie of the week at 13.

At this stage Sophie was still +2. I've stated that i think +2 would definitely get a card so she was still good to go. The par 5 15th which had not taxed her in rounds 1 and 2 threw up something today that left Sophie with a score i know well, a 9! Even with a plucky birdie at 17 to pull a shot back Sophie finished round 3 on +5.

Yesterday's post on the LET site stated that 28 cards were up for grabs. I guess that would mean 28 and ties. I think +3 will certainly do it and i think it might go to +4 as the final round takes it toll on those hovering around 28th place.

Sophie can still do it. She can go under par here and i think a 71, just like her first day, will get a 2007 card so I am rooting for her. Damn i wish i was there. I was going to take a few days at La Cala this week and play a bit and watch a bit but real life kind of got in the way and with no coverage i only have the ultra slow LET live scoring to go by.

Anyway, Sophie, you have a 71 and even a 70 in you for this course. A 71 will, i think, get you that card so good luck, go get it.

GO SOPHIE, GO SOPHIE! :-)

To Wie or not to Wie

Just read that Sony, one of Michelle Wie's sponsors, has given her an exemption into the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.

It's on home ground and she has performed well here before. We'll see how it goes this year.

Bad Sony!

Space Shuttle Niklaus?

Had to laugh today.

Following on from Russian astronaut Mikhail Tyurin making a golf shot outside the International Space Station this week I see that Earlston Golf Club in South Scotland has made a claim for a course layout on the Moon. The club has been without a course itself since the end of World War II with members having playing rights at neighbouring courses.

A bunch of Americans and Canadians have now signed up to membership of the lunar golf club!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/6175994.stm

A Wie question...

Clever, huh :-)

Anyway, thought i'd stick two pence in on the subject of Michelle Wie who is currently languishing in last place after round one of the Casio World Open in Japan.

Firstly, i'd have to say i'm a fan. She's clearly talented at golf and has the potential to create a lot of interest in the game which can have a number of benefits across the world of golf.

However, I don't believe that anyone, least of all her, is really gaining from an ever increasing series of missed cuts in men's events (making one in the south korean one armed men's open notwithstanding). The argument that she's taking the place of someone more deserving (and male) is very lightweight. What I do think is that it is increasingly looking like a gimmick as she is not demonstrating an ability to compete at that level and it is a gimmick that is beginning to wear thin.

Her appearances are Marketing driven and not golf driven which is why i think they will continue until someone either says enough is enough or she improves to a standard where she is worthy of a place in the field of a men's event.

The risk of course is that she goes all Andrea Jaeger or Jennifer Capriati in being a young, female sports prodigy with the world at her feet but external pressures take their toll. Look at Tiger! The guy was bred to be the best golfer in the world but he still played the US College circuit, set a 'bunch' of records, won a bunch of amateur titles (cracks me up when he says he's having a 'bunch of fun'), but - crucially - was all grown up when he turned pro.

Michelle Wie is doing none of that. She's 17 and is now owned by big sports management, marketing and equipment manufacturers. There are no titles of real note, no track record of winning and from her schedule how is it going to come about?

The signs I see are a series of near misses. The number of second places, the poor third or final rounds or poor first rounds followed by excellent second rounds. It all looks to me like she hasn't learned to close out the win yet. I think also with the emergence of Lorena Ochoa this year and some other strong LPGA golfers Michelle Wie has no automatic right to the mantle of best female golfer when it isn't Annika Sorenstam. She still has a lot to prove at all levels, so why not start like her peers and show us some stuff on the LPGA tour (and the LET).

It doesn't take a genius to see though that, apart from the Women's British Open her appearances outside the US will be heavily tied to appearance money and corporate influence.

I'm sure her parents have been telling her since she entered her teens to stay away from boys and focus on her golf. I think that's probably good advice for the next couple of years too.