Seve and the R&A.

I stumbled across the following notification from the R&A web site informing the golfing world that the legendary Seve has accepted an invitation to become an Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.

This is an offer that simply recognises Seve's wonderful contribution to golf and should give him a wee boost in his continuing recovery from the life saving brain surgery, to remove a tumour, he underwent earlier this year.

This is great to see and we would dearly love to have him back at St. Andrews in 2010.

Ballesteros accepts Honorary Membership

Department: Club

Date: 11 Nov 2009

Severiano Ballesteros has accepted an invitation to become an Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. Severiano Ballesteros first caught the attention of the golfing public when, as a 19-year-old, he finished in a tie for second place with Jack Nicklaus at the 1976 Open Championship, held at Royal Birkdale. He then went on to win five Major Championships between the years of 1979 and 1988, adding two Green Jackets to his haul of three Claret Jugs. His three Open Championship victories came in 1979 and 1988 at Royal Lytham and St Annes, and in 1984 at St Andrews. His legendary fist pump, a reaction to holing the birdie putt on the final hole of the Old Course to claim his second Claret Jug, became famous the world over and is now used as a logo for his group of companies. “I am greatly honoured to accept Honorary Membership of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews,” he said. “I have had, perhaps, the outstanding moment of my career at St Andrews and the town will always retain a very special place close to my heart. I sincerely hope that I will be able to come back next year and be part of the 150th Anniversary of The Open Championship.” Ballesteros competed for Europe in eight Ryder Cups and Captained the European team to victory at Valderrama in 1997. He was also instrumental in creating the biennial Seve Trophy match, now called ‘the Vivendi Trophy with Severiano Ballesteros’, between teams representing Great Britain and Ireland and Continental Europe. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1999. Earlier this year, Ballesteros launched the Seve Ballesteros Foundation, an organisation which aims to aid research into cancer, particularly brain tumours. Simultaneously, the Foundation also assists young, underprivileged golfers to develop their golfing careers. Severiano Ballesteros joins an illustrious list of Honorary Members of the Club: His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh KG, KT. His Royal Highness The Duke of York KG, KCVO, ADC. His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent KG, GCMG, GCVO. The Hon. George Herbert Walker Bush GCB. Peter Alliss Tony Jacklin CBE. John Jacobs OBE. Kel Nagle Jack Nicklaus Arnold Palmer Gary Player Peter Thomson CBE, AO. Lee Trevino Roberto De Vicenzo Tom Watson

Caddie Season Ends

Monday 2nd November 2009 and there is no journey to my second home, the Caddie Pavilion, at the Old Course St. Andrews.

My golf season at St. Andrews came to a close with two rounds last week over the Old and New courses, both par rounds from the golfer. A rather pleasant surprise considering the awful conditions for the round over the Old Course: consistant rain and wind for the whole round. James, an English club-pro based outside Munich, Germany, and had travelled with seven members from the Golf Club Gauboden for a weeks golf in and around St. Andrews. They had such a good week that he has already booked up for October in 2011.

The caddying may have ended but the golf should continue over the forthcoming winter, when the weather permits! We do have a lovely invitation to Gleneagles Hotel lined up this coming Sunday from LB's cousin and hopefully we will get a game round the superb Kings Course which was designed by five time Open champion James Braid.

On Wednesday 11th November the new Castle Stuart Golf Links, situated in North East Scotland outside Inverness, will be hosting the inaugural Scottish Caddies Golf Tournament. By some fluke I managed to squeeze into 4th spot during the recent St. Andrews caddies outing and the top four have been invited to take part. As I understand it caddies from Kingsbarns, Carnoustie, Gleneagles, Turnberry, Royal Troon, Royal Dornoch etc. will be participating. Should be pretty competitive then!

I will posting some photographs, in a follow up blog entry, of this magnificent links course that I snapped back at the end of September.

Martin Laird PGA Victory

You have to be impressed with the local Glasgow boy Martin Laird and his victory last weekend at the PGA 'Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open', clinching victory over George McNeill with a birdie on the third play-off hole.

Martin becomes the first Scottish golfer to win on the PGA Tour since 1988 when the legendary Sandy Lyle won three times: Greater Greensboro' Open, Phoenix Open and then the Masters.

In fact Martin is the first Scot to play on the PGA Tour since Lyle and only retained his card for the 2009 season by holing his final putt, in his last tournament, to finish on the mark at 125th on the money list. Looks like the boy enjoys the end of the season battle as he had a runners up spot in last months 'Legends Reno-Tahoe Open'.

The press here in Scotland have rightly accorded him some good publicity from his win and he has now become the topped ranked Scot in the world rankings at 106. Nearest to him is European Tour player David Drysdale at 150. Good God we could do with a few more guys doing some golf over the next ten months or so as the Ryder Cup may well have another year go by with no Scottish representatives!

Congratulations to Martin Laird for the gritty victory and for gaining his all important two year exemption to the PGA Tour. He also gets a bonus with a start in the winners only 2010 SBS Championship in Hawaii. Wonderful stuff.

Castle Course, St. Andrews

I thought you, my dear reader, may like to view some photographs that I managed to snap on a few holes of the Castle Course at St. Andrews which was opened in 2008.

As you will see it was an incredibly windy day with up to +50mph winds with gusts of 60mph!

It is a wonder the flags stayed in the holes.

The 9th green appears to be suspended over St. Andrews Bay.

The intimidating Par3 17th tee. There is a bail out towards the left bunker.

The Par3 17th green and the ravine you have taken on!

LB making sure the 17th flag remains in the cup.

The approach to the Par5 18th green of the Castle Course.

17th Road Hole changes for 2010 Open

There has been some conjecture over the last couple of months about the positioning of the 17th tee on the Old Course at St. Andrews and in an official announcement today the rumours can now be confirmed...it is to be moved! Below is the news release from the R&A informing the golfing world of the change.

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE R&A

16 October 2009, St Andrews, Scotland: The 17th hole of the Old Course will be lengthened ahead of the 150th Anniversary of The Open Championship at St Andrews. The ‘Road Hole’, which has remained the same length for more than 100 years, will increase in length by some 35 yards to 490 yards. A new Championship tee will be constructed on the practice range of St Andrews Links Trust.

It has long been suggested that the 17th hole would benefit from additional length to restore the original challenge of the hole. In advance of the 1964 St Andrews Open, three-time Open Champion, Henry Cotton, recommended the alteration stating: “I would make a tee just beyond the railway line on the other course [he was referring to the Eden Course which is now the practice range]. It would restore this drive to its former value.”

An increased premium will be placed on an accurate drive of sufficient length over the sheds, encouraging players to take driver from the tee. The fairway will be widened slightly on the left hand side to ensure that the tee shot remains fair. Crucially, the difficulty of the second shot will be re-established, making it more difficult to hold the approach on the putting surface and increasing the threat posed by both the road behind the green and the Road Bunker.

“The 17th was played at the same yardage in 1900 as it was in 2005 and this fuelled our belief that the formidable challenge of this iconic hole should be returned for The Open Championship,” said Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A.

“Over the years, we have seen the threat from the road behind the green, and to a lesser extent the Road Bunker, diminished as players have been hitting shorter irons for their approach shots allowing them to avoid these hazards more easily. This change will ensure that the hole plays as it was originally intended.”

“We have spent some time discussing this with The R&A and I know they have carefully considered making this change for The Open Championship,” said Alan McGregor, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust.

“The Road Hole is the most famous hole in world golf and we believe the changes will increase the challenge of the hole whilst remaining true to its spirit.”

Work on the new Championship tee will commence in the coming weeks. The lengthening of the ‘Road Hole’ is the only significant change planned for the Old Course ahead of the 2010 Open Championship.

This will certainly toughen up the most famous golf hole in the world and should create quite a fuss from the traditionalists in the golf world. Expect to hear howls of outrage from the more conservative golf commentators about how the integrrty of the hole is being jeapordised!

As I see it the professional golfers have been using 3 woods and driving irons from the tee and are still only having 7 irons or less into the green. I believe it is the right time to put a more rigorous test to these guys. The decision has now been made and I would hope to keep you all posted on the progress of the new tee position.

John.

Simon on the Old Course.

A close friend of my wife and I had asked if I would be able to get her Step Father, Simon, onto the Old Course for a round of golf. An ambition that had been long held. Always one for a challenge I confidently said that I could and we set about organising a date for the game, a hotel and booking a local restaurant for our evening meal.

I entered our names into the 'Ballot' for a tee time on Friday 9th October...we failed to secure one! I subsequently found out that the Ballot had been over subscribed by 59 other groups trying for a tee time. This meant that with Simon arriving on Thursday evening I would have to queue at the Starter's Hut first thing on Friday morning and hope that the Starter could join us up with a two ball.

When I arrived, at 6.05am, there were 11 golfers already in a queue! Good grief some had been at the hut since 3.45am...that is dedication for you.

The Old Course Starter did get us both out and onto the famous links at 10.20am whereupon we had a great round of golf, though my drive on the 1st could have been better...OB on the road to the left, just missing a car! A few friends saw it and I'm sure I'll be hearing a lot more about it. They are not going to miss this opportunity.

Simon had a whale of a time and played the ball sensibly down the middle of the fairways and onto the greens, mostly. A few of the notorious bunkers did manage to catch the occasional wayward shot and for the most part he extricated the golf ball pretty well!

As we played the 12th on the Old Course my caddy buddy from Augusta, Matt, turned up. I knew he was in St. Andrews for a couple of days before going back to the USA, but it was a delightful surprise to meet him out on the course. Simon was in heaven to have an Augusta caddy as well as an Old Course caddy with him for his round and believes he will be able "to dine out on this great day for a long time".

After the final ball was putted we retired to the Dunvegan Bar for a couple of well deserved pints of Guiness and swapped a few post round tales with our new found friends. A super day that started out tricky but finished up wonderfully.

Dunhill Links weekend.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Trophy has been won by the 31 year old Englishman Simon Dyson, who had a blistering start to his final round over the Old Course at St. Andrews, with six birdies in his first seven holes. After a few birdies in those initial holes on the Old Course you would normally be feeling pretty good about how the round was progressing, so goodness knows how Mr Dyson must have been feeling as he watched all those putts drop into the hole.

Go on and win the tourny my son...Your time has come.

My amateur golfer from San Francisco, Doug, had his best Dunhill for quite a while only missing the 'Team Event' on the final day by one shot. We managed to score -20 for the tournament but the cut for the final day was set at -21. Doug picked up 8 shots at Kingsbarns after starting out at -12. A wonderful effort.

Below I have copied/pasted a full run down of the final days events as reported via the great Scottish golf web site 'Golf Scotland'.

Scotland's Richie Ramsay achieved his highest European Tour finish - joint fourth - in this his first season playing with the "big boys" and his biggest cheque for 149,809 Euros (£134,677) guarantees him playing rights for next season and well beyond because this performance should work wonders for his self-confidence.

After four sub-par rounds over Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and the Old Course (twice), the Aberdonian, in his second year as a pro after a stellar amateur career, can probably hardly wait for next year's Open championship over the Old Course, although he might take an iron off the tee at the last!

Former US amateur champion and Walker Cup player Ramsay is 96th in the European Tour money list with 308,871 Euros to his credit. Another Scottish rookie, Callum Macaulay is in 124th spot with 209,443 Euros in winnings. Steven O'Hara is 151st with 151,273 Euros to his name. Ramsay could actually have finished joint second but he missed a short, downhill putt on the Old Course's sloping last green. Had he holed it, Richie would have earned an additional £82,000.

The Aberdonian's last drive landed on the tarmac road that bisects the 18th fairway. It is an integral part of the course and you either play off it or take a lift and drop under a one-stroke penalty. Ramsay's second shot, played from the tarmac, came up short of the green in the notorious Valley of Sin. From there he putted up four feet passed the hole - and, a la Doug Sanders in the 1970 Open, missed the next one. "I said at the start of the week that I was going to be as positive as I could and I'm not going to let that Scottish negativity creep in," said Ramsay later. "I'm delighted, not only to have done so well in one of the biggest tournaments on the circuit at the home of golf, but also to have secured my job for another year." Ramsay, whose previous best European Tour finish was 10th in the Wales Open earlier this year, added: "Things have fallen into place this week and I feel this could be the start of something that I need to replicate more often. Scottish golf is looking for a player to be up there winning some big titles. We have a number of players knocking on the door like Callum Macaulay, Steven O'Hara and myself who are all looking to be the guy to make the breakthrough."

Wallace Booth earned his first cheque as a tour pro - £6,000 - for a total of four-under-par 284.
Simon Dyson must have known it could be a special day from his second shot - a pitch to three feet that brought him level with Donald, who, with a 73, fell all the way back to seventh place. Luke still has not won for three-and-a-half years. By the eighth tee, Dyson was already four clear - and although McIlroy did cut it back to two by turning in 32 to the winner's 30 that was as close as it got. Dyson added another birdie on the 12th and could afford to bogey the Road Hole 17th.

McIlroy ruined his chances of winning by bogeying the 12th, 16th and 17th. But his birdie on the last was huge for the Tour money list battle. For Wilson it was an eighth runners-up finish - he has yet to win - while for 20-year-old McIlroy it was good enough to take him from third to first on the money list with two months of the race to go. Dyson now leads Europe's Ryder Cup race and is in the world's top 50 for the first time.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72). Final round over Old Course, St Andrews.
268 Simon Dyson 68 66 68 66 (540,440 Euros).
271 Rory McIlroy 68 65 69 69, Oliver Wilson 69 67 70 65 (281,690 Euros each).
272 Richie Ramsay 67 66 70 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 68 65 69 (149,809 Euros each).
273 Ross McGowan 66 68 71 68
274 Luke Donald 72 65 64 73, Darren Clarke 68 68 67 71
275 Gary Lockerbie 69 71 67 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 71 68 66, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 71 67 67 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 67 67 68, Kenneth Ferrie 69 66 69 71, Paul McGinley 69 67 69 70, Lee Westwood 73 67 66 69
276 Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 64 75 65, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 68 69 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 71 68 70
277 Brett Rumford (Aus) 68 71 70 68, Marc Warren 70 69 71 67, David Dixon 68 67 73 69, Simon Khan 74 70 67 66, Graeme Storm 69 69 72 67, Michael Hoey 67 66 70 74, Paul Broadhurst 70 67 72 68
278 Richard Bland 72 67 71 68, Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 69 69 71 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 64 70 74, Graeme McDowell 69 70 68 71, Steven O'Hara 71 66 74 67, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 68 70 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 72 66 68, James Kamte (Rsa) 69 69 70 70, Sam Little 68 71 67 72, Padraig Harrington 70 70 72 66
279 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 69 68 69, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 68 69 71, Damien McGrane 71 71 68 69, Dale Whitnell 69 69 73 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 67 68 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 71 71 69
280 Callum Macaulay 72 73 67 68, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 69 70 73 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 69 71 69, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 64 74 72 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 71 70 69, Danny Willett 71 67 70 72, Mark Foster 71 70 68 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 69 73 68, Bradley Dredge 72 69 69 70
281 Gareth Maybin 66 73 71 71, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 66 73 72
282 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 70 70 72 70, Graham Delaet (Can) 70 68 74 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 70 71 71, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 71 70 71, Brad Faxon (USA) 74 67 71 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 67 72 72, Keith Horne (Rsa) 70 70 70 72, Richard Green (Aus) 72 69 69 72, AlastairForsyth 70 64 77 71
283 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71 70 72, Gary Murphy 71 72 69 71, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 73 67 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 68 70 73
284 Brett Quigley (USA) 72 71 69 72, Wallace Booth 72 65 75 72, David Lynn 73 66 73 72
285 Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 69 69 74 73
287 Lee Slattery 68 71 72 76