ARCHIVES - Being A Pro Is So Easy?

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This time last year Simon Kahn was settling for 127th place in the Race to Dubai with earnings of €227,987 and looking to return to the Final Stage of Qualifying School once again at PGA Catalunya in the hope of regaining his card at thirty seven years of age. This would be his tenth visit to Q School having done so in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. On the last three occasions he failed to retain his card as well - which was even more frustrating. 

But as history records not only did Simon Khan win the Final Stage last December he also went on to secure the BMW PGA Championship title at Wentworth in May – earning a five year exemption for the European Tour - and now sits in 23rd place in the Race to Dubai with prize money of €931,143 to his credit. What a turnaround in golfing fortunes in twelve months. 

A year ago Edoardo Molinari was leading The Challenge Tour rankings and looking forward to join his older brother Francesco, who had reached the European Tour, ranks after a fourth place finish at the Final Qualifying in 2004 at San Roque in Spain. In twelve months Edoardo's career has encompassed all that could be imagined in the golf – winning at European Tour event in his first season at Gleneagles, then winning the World Cup in Mission Hills in China with Francesco, followed by not only playing in a the European Ryder Cup team - but also becoming a winner at The Celtic Manor in October.

Spain’s Alejandro Cañizares ended last season in 127th pace with €216,910 which was not enough to get close to top 115 places and so he too faced a return to Q School – from where he qualified in 5th place - along with Sam Hutsby, Stephen Gallacher, Marco Ruiz, Fredrik Ohlsson, Eric Tage Johansen, Mark Haastrup, Steve O’Hara and Clodomiro Carranza as the other players in the top ten.

Today Cañizares is 30th in the Race to Dubai with €744,560 in prize money.

Of all those players only Ohlsson of Sweden, Johansen of Denmark and Carranza of Argentina will return to Q School with others now exempt for the 2011 season having finished amongst the top 115 players.

What can be said of 17 year old Italian, Matteo Manassero, who this time last year could not have imagined he would break records at every turn.

Having recently became the youngest winner on the European Tour Member - after only making his professional debut at the BMW Italian Open earlier this year – he was also the youngest – and first Italian – winner of the Amateur Championship in June 2009, adding the honour of being the youngest winner of the Silver Medal awarded to the leading amateur in The Open Championship at Turnberry.

In April 2010 he then became the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters Tournament, finishing in a tie for 36th place in what was the best performance by a European amateur for 73 years.

All in all a year that players dream about when they are wiring to break into the professional ranks. But if of only it were always that easy all the time?

Kilkenny man, Gary Murphy, this time last year was amongst the mix of Khan, Hutsby and Cañizares in 124th place on €234,844 and also had to make the journey to Q School – ten years after his success of 1999 – from where he duly qualified 17th out of the thirty places on offer. This season however his fortunes have gone a different way with earnings of €19,152 after 26 events - a poor return for his efforts – and so he faces the return trip to the PGA Catalunya in December to regain his card.

For Murphy the problem this season has been too many missed cuts making the final rounds only six times as a lack of consistency saw him struggle for most of the year. It 2003 that he secured his best finish of 59th - which included a fourth place at the Barclay's Scottish Open - and missing no cuts that year

For Simon Thornton the story was not so much of missed cuts - although there were eleven in all out of 22 events played - it seemed more a failure to close out results on the final day of some key tournaments. The BMW Championship in Munich being an example given that he played in the final group on the Sunday with Bradley Dredge and Ross Fisher after carding three successive rounds of 67 – only to sign for a final round of 73 for ninth place.

Currently 135th in the Race to Dubai the Newcastle County Down based Thornton has finished the year a minimum of thirty thousand euro short of the cut off and perhaps knows that in a few events that difference could have been made up. In fairness though having qualified 29th at Final Qualifying Thornton’s performances in the early part of the season were impressive.

Following the first re-rank of the season in May he moved up 10 places in Category 11 to 18th place. At the time the former Royal County down Assistant Professional had been hoping to do even better and had the re-rank in his sights when he committed to the Madeira Islands Open BPI - Portugal, the weekend his first child, Katie, was due.

In August he benefited again moving up to 12th place - all of which was vital for tournament qualification when it comes to the reserve list.

On the other hand Gary Murphy went the other way dropping back to 36th place from his original spot of 17th - making it very difficult to qualify for the bigger events - and so he chose some Challenge Tour events to keep his game in shape.

With the season now drawing to a close and both players are not eligible for the Valderrama Andalucia Masters or the WGC – HSBC Champions in Shanghai so a visit to the Final Stage of Qualifying School now looks the most likely route back to European Tour golf next season.

With Stage 2 yet to be completed it remains to be seen how many Irish players can get through this year to the Final Stage with nine candidates – Michael Collins, Stephen Grant, Michael McGeady, Damien Mooney, David Mortimer, Mervyn Owens, Gareth Shaw, Barrie Trainor, Niall Turner – in action in Spain at the end of November.

Last year four Irish players – Niall Kearney, John Kelly, Colm Moriarty and Jonathan Caldwell - qualified from Stage 2 with Simon Thornton to PGA Catalunya where they were joined by Gary Murphy, who by the virtue of being a Tour player, was exempt to the final stage. This year Thornton will at least benefit from that privilege.

A year ago eleven players qualified for Stage 2 from which only five emerged to the Final stage. In the end only one – Simon Thornton – made it through.

This season there is chance to improve on that statistic with Thornton and Murphy very capable of regaining their status.

For the other nine Irish players the first huddle is Stage 2 in Spain on November 26th to 29th.


All rights reserved - October 2010

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Profile - Niall Kearney

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Since he was selected by Butch Harmon in 2004 to attend a week of tuition at the Harmon School of Golf in Texas, the future looked bright for the young Dubliner. 

In time Niall would go on to represent Irish and European teams at both Junior and Senior levels from 2004-2009, enjoying success along the way also captaining the GB&I Boys Team at the Jacque Leglise Trophy in 2006. 

There were also individual achievements most notably the Nassau Invitational win in 2007 and the South of Ireland title at Lahinch in 2008. 

However 2009 was when Kearney really made his mark by winning the Brabazon Trophy - the national amateur stroke play golf championship in England – a victory that proved instrumental in Kearney being selected as the only Irish representative on the 2009 GB&I Walker Cup Team. 

Although the team lost to their stronger American counterparts, Niall’s individual contribution was 2 points from a possible 4, including a singles win on the final Sunday. 

Shortly after his Walker Cup experience, Niall turned professional, and came close to securing his European Tour card at the first attempt in European Tour Qualifying School – finishing 49th at the PGA Catalunya. 

The result at Tour School gave Kearney a full Challenge Tour category for the 2010 season , in addition to a low ranking European Tour category. 

In 2010 Kearney played in seven events in total and missed the cut on six occasions – except at the Madeira Open de Portugal BPI on the European Tour schedule - where he finished in 69th place. In the other main tour events, South Africa Open and Jo'burg Open Kearney missed the cut. 

After the Turkish Airlines Challenge hosted by Caraya Golf Club in May he took a break from the game - in order to get treatment for a shoulder injury - returning in October to play two more Challenge Tour events in Toulouse and Rome. 

In only his second year at European Tour Qualifying School Kearney again reached the final stage after carding a second round 65 at Costa Ballena in round 3 for a share of 11th place – guaranteeing him a place at the PGA Catalunya in early December. 

However in the end he missed out.

Niall returned in 2011 after a season on the Challenge Tour with no top ten finishes and unable to reach beyond Stage 2 of Q School.

In 2012 with rights on the Challenge Tour Kearney finished 11th in the Fred Olsen Challenge Espana and 21st at the Norwegian  Challenge. However missed six cuts throughout the season. At the PGA Catalunya in the final stage of Qualifying School the Royal Dublin Pro failed to make the cut and had to settle for 92nd place.

This season Kearney has missed only two cuts and finished 12th at the Kärnten Golf Open presented by Mazda. Later in the year at Galgorm Castle for the Northern Ireland Challenge presented by Clannah and XJet he was 43rd.

He now returns to Q School next month for Stage 2

Career Highlights 

2009 Walker Cup Team Member 

2009 Winner Brabazon Trophy 

2008 Winner European Team Championships 

2008 Winner South of Ireland Championship (Lahinch) 

2007 Winner Nassau Invitational 

2006 Captained GB&I Boys Team 

Fact file

Date of Birth: March 10th, 1988 

Place of Birth: Dublin
Attachment: Royal Dublin / Team Ireland

Turned Professional – November 2009 (+ 4) 

Qualifying School: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

European Tour Profile

El Niño Meets New Kid in Town

In 1995, García became the youngest player to win the European Amateur Championship – which was then followed by the 1998 Amateur Championship. By the time he was sixteen Sergio had played in his first major, The Open in 1996 at Lytham and St Anne’s, which was won by Tom Lehman. 

It hailed the arrival and promise of El Niño

By the time the Ryder Cup came to Spain in 1997 Sergio Garcia could only be captivated and the manner of the victory - given that United States were armed with all golfing horse power along with the newest star of the USPGA Tour – Tiger Woods. But despite their dominance of the tournament for the preceding decade Seve Ballestero’s team squeezed a vital one point win against his old adversary, Tom Kite, captain of the USA Team. To keep the trophy in Europe. 

Although the legendary Ryder Cup pairing of Seve and Jose Maria Olazabal, ended in 1993 due to Chema’s – as he is affectionately known – battle with a toe injury the Hondarribia native returned in 1997 to play the Ryder Cup with Garrido. Doing so for his captain and former playing partner, Seve Ballesteros. 

By the time Olazabal’s next Ryder Cup came around in 1999 the Spanish membership was joined by Sergio Garcia, who had just turned professional, and was to become an important part of the match at Brookline Country Club in Boston. The Rookie signalled his intent by winning his foursomes and four ball matches ahead of the Sunday singles. 

At the start of the final day’s singles the European Team’s lead was to quickly prove insufficient as the United States Team mounted a final day comeback, winning 8 ½ points of a possible 12 points, to win the Ryder Cup Trophy for the first time since 1993. Amongst the casualties that Sunday was the young prodigy from Castellon who lost to Jim Furyk four and three. 

In the rescheduled event of 2002 at The Belfry Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood formed a fruitful partnership winning two foursomes and a four ball - losing one of the four ball matches to Tiger Woods and Davis Love III. 

In the singles Garcia was drawn in the second match of the day behind Colin Montgomerie and lost his battle by one shot to David Thom. As the event was ultimately won by Europe courtesy of Paul McGinley on the eighteenth green, Garcia tasted Ryder Cup victory in only his second outing. 

At Oakland Hills near Detroit in 2004 Garcia was probably at his most inspiring when he secured a total of four and half points with a foursome pairing with Luke Donald capturing two points in their matches and the combination with Lee Westwood, revived for the four ball, earning with 1 ½ points from a possible two. 

But it was in the singles that El Niño really came of age after he was drawn against Phil Mickelson and started out dropping shots to go two down early on. But a run of three birdies from the ninth through the eleventh turned the numbers red setting the tone for the European Team following behind and the ideal platform for an inspired victory by Bernhard Langer’s men against the US hosts in a huge margin of 18 1/2 points to 9 1/2. 

At the K Club in 2006 Garcia was one of Ian Woosnam’s Talisman on Irish soil with Darren Clarke the popular wild card choice during that now infamous weekend in September in Kildare. Garcia again bagged four points although failed to win his singles match against Stewart Cink – with the American wild card playing the match of his life that day. 

Indeed from the off at the first hole Cink’s putt dropped for a birdie leaving Garcia battling from behind from the outset – failing in the end – losing four and three. 

Amidst the margin of Europe’s victory of 18 ½ points to 9 1/2 once again the result of Garcia’s singles match was lost as he proved a key component of the European team effort - despite his young 26 years. 

Clearly it was an environment in which he seemed to thrive. 

The trip to Valhalla in 2008 however was a wake-up call as the USA rookies took to the Ryder Cup with relative ease leaving the European team experiencing a five point defeat in Louisville, Kentucky. For Garcia the burden of expectation may have become more noticeable and despite rotating his playing partners in the foursomes and four ball with his old sparring partner Lee Westwood, fellow country man Miguel Angel Jimenez and Paul Casey, Garcia only earned one point in Valhalla. 

That point was the result of two halved matches in foursomes with Casey and another halved match with Lee Westwood in the four ball. In the singles on the Sunday, pitched against the latest Asian American USPGA star, Anthony Kim, Garcia went one down after the second hole and never really recovered losing five and four. 

Once again Garcia experienced defeat on the other side of the Atlantic which came fast on the loss a month earlier at the 90th PGA Championship in Oakland Hills to Padraig Harrington - where on that final Sunday Garcia ended up in another head-to-head after dropping a lead on the 15th and 16th holes. 

Playing against the same player in the PGA Championship who had beaten him in playoff at Carnoustie in The Open Championship the previous summer, El gave Harrington an opening after hitting his approach at the 16th into the water, allowing the Dubliner then repeat what he had done in Scotland the previous summer - roll in clutch putts on the final three holes, two for pars and one for birdie to seal the win – leaving Garcia naturally aghast. 

In the wake of the 92nd PGA Championship at Whistling Straits and ahead of the 2010 Celtic Manor Sergio Garcia decided to take a two month break from the game for the first time since he was three years old. In the wake of such an unimaginable decision Captain Colin Montgomerie named him as a Vice Captain avoiding the possibility that a European Ryder Cup team could for the first time in three decades take on the USA without any player from Spain in the team.

At the Master last year Garcia showed that he still had what it takes to compete at the highest level when he shot a three-under-par 69 in the opening round of the Masters on Thursday. But it was a round that contained a bit of everything, after he eagled the par-five 13th hole and then made four birdies which were followed by three bogeys, including one on the last hole.

He walked off Augusta National with a wry smile that was proof enough that even after a rollercoaster day he was at least enjoying himself.

Once regarded as the man most likely to challenge Tiger Woods, Garcia never lived up to those high expectations and like many others has yet to win that elusive major. On Saturday he is paired with the new promise in golf, 22 year old Rory McIlroy, the current golfer of the US Open tile.

It remains to be seen how Garcia will react as the senior player in the pairing on Saturday at Augusta National. Last July both players were paired together for the final round of the Open Championship at Royal St. George.

Perhaps the burden of memories may prove too for Garcia when El Niño plays alongside the new kid in town.

McIlroy and Garcia tee-off in the third last group on Saturday at 7.25pm Irish time.

Volvo World Match Play

Lee Westwood and Luke Donald fill the top two places in the world rankings today because of what they have done in Asia and America respectively recently – but for the next two weeks they are in Europe and locking horns with each other.

First comes the Volvo World Matchplay Championship, starting tomorrow at Finca Cortesin on Spain’s Costa del Sol, which has been more wet than sunny so far this week.

Westwood, who kicks off against Dane Anders Hansen, is going for a third successive title after wins in Indonesia and Korea.

Donald, whose opening group game is against American Ryan Moore, is trying for a Match Play double after lifting the World Golf Championships version in Arizona in February – the first of seven successive top 10 finishes he has had in the States.

Next week they will be at Wentworth for the BMW PGA Championship and Westwood said: “Hopefully we’ll have a typically balmy British spring-summer, everybody will be in T-shirts and there will be 100,000 people there.

“Next week’s going to be one of the strongest and best fields that I think the PGA Championship has ever had, so if that doesn’t get them out nothing will.

“It’s the first time I think a country has had one and two in the world other than America and it just shows you the state of English and British golf right now.

“We have two Northern Irishmen in the top six, Paul (Casey) at ninth and people like Ian (Poulter) right up there too.”

Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy – the two Ulstermen in question – Casey and Poulter are also back in Europe for this fortnight and, with third-ranked Martin Kaymer playing as well, the Match Play has five of the world’s top six and all four current major champions in its 24-man field.

They are competing for a first prize of €800,000 that is second only to the British Open in Europe this year – and any one of Westwood, Donald or Kaymer could be number one on Sunday night.

First they have to negotiate the group stages. Not held last year, the championship returns with a new format in which there are eight groups of three, with the top two in each on Friday night progressing to the knockout stages.

In theory, all 24 players could be involved in sudden death play-offs to decide who goes through if, for instance, they all win one group game and lose the other.

This is McIlroy’s first playing appearance in Europe since his closing 80 in The Masters and McDowell’s first, of course, since he shot 79 when he led The Players Championship into last Sunday’s final round in Florida.

“I sent him a text saying ‘It happens to the best of us’,” said McIlroy with a smile. “It can happen to anyone. He’s a major champion, but it’s tough to finish off tournaments no matter who you are. Tiger made it look so easy for 15 years or whatever.”

All of Woods’ 14 major victories have come with him at least tied for the lead after 54 holes and he had a perfect record until YE Yang beat him at the 2009 US PGA.

Yang and fellow Korean Noh Seung-yul are in the same group as Kaymer, but the best first-day clash on paper is that between US Open champion McDowell and Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.

Eight of the 24, including holder Ross Fisher and Scotland’s 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie, have to wait until Friday to enter the fray as the eight bottom seeds.

Lawrie qualified through his win – his first on the European Tour for nine years – at the Andalucian Open in March.

Elsewhere, five Irish competitors will line up in the Madeira Islands Open: Gary Murphy, who has received a sponsor’s invitation, will be joined by Michael Hoey, Simon Thornton, Colm Moriarty and Niall Kearney.

THE FORMAT

Twenty four players are divided into eight groups of three based on world rankings, with two points for a win and one for a halved match. 

Thursday : Top two seeds in each group play each other, matches starting at 11.05am. 

Friday : Bottom seed in each group plays the second seed, then the top seed, matches starting 6.45am. Top two in each group progress to last 16, with ties on points settled either by their head-to-head result or by sudden-death play-off. 

Saturday morning : Runner-up C v Winner F (Match 1); Winner C v Runner-up F (Match 2); Runner-up B v Winner G (Match 3); Winner B v Runner-up G (Match 4); Winner D v Runner-up E (Match 5); Winner D v Runner-up E (Match 6); Winner Group A v Runner-up H (Match 7); Winner Group H v Runner-up Group H (Match 8). 

Saturday afternoon : Winner Match 1 v Winner Match 2; Winner Match 3 v Winner Match 4; Winner Match 5 v Winner Match 6; Winner Match 7 v Winner Match 8. 

Sunday : Semi-finals and final. 

Prize money : Winner €798,000, runner-up €420,000, losing semi-finalists €220,000, losing quarter-finalists €115,00, last 16 losers €90,000, last in group €70,000.

Kaymer and Connelly Go Separate Ways

Craig Connelly and Martin Kaymer

Less than three months after becoming world number one Martin Kaymer has broken up with his Scottish caddie Craig Connelly.

Connelly flew with the German from Florida to Spain on Sunday night, but it will be Kaymer's brother Philip who will be carrying his bag in the Volvo World Match Play Championship starting on Thursday.

'For me it was just time to change and move on,' said the 26-year-old.

'We've talked about it a few times already, but on Sunday we had a little chat and just decided to go our separate ways.'

A full-time replacement could be in place for next week's BMW PGA Championship - and after the year Kaymer has had there will be no shortage of people willing to step into Connelly's shoes.

Kaymer lifted the first major title of his career at the US PGA Championship last August, won his next two tournaments as well - three if you include the Ryder Cup - and in November topped the European Tour.

In February he took over from Lee Westwood as world number one by reaching the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play in Arizona, but he then missed the cut in The Masters for the fourth successive year and has since slipped to third in the rankings behind Westwood and Luke Donald.

Kaymer added: 'Obviously Craig and me, we had a fantastic year together - he's a very good caddie.

'I just felt like I needed a change. It has nothing really to do with Craig - he's a fantastic guy and he's been a good caddie for me.

Since his amateur days Kaymer has been mentored by Fanny Sunesson, former caddie of Nick Faldo and now with struggling Swede Henrik Stenson.

Almost certainly she will not be taking the job as his caddie, however.

'I think what we are doing is very good and I don't think we will really change that.'

His brother, who is studying law in Cologne, worked as Kaymer's caddie in his rookie season.

'I'll just try to have some fun with him this week and we'll see what happens at Wentworth if I find somebody.

'If not, I'm sure I will find somebody for the US Open.'

Seve 1984 Open triumph as greatest

Seve Ballesteros considered 1984 Open triumph at St Andrews to be his greatest feat - Telegraph

Seve Ballesteros Remembered

A player of great daring and flair, Ballesteros won 87 titles, including three Open championships (1979, 1984 and 1988) and two Masters at Augusta (1980 and 1983). At one stage he made the World Match Play championship at Wentworth his own, winning it four times between 1981 and 1985. He also proved a charismatic captain of the European team which won the Ryder Cup at Valderrama in 1997.

Among Ballesteros’s many assets was his considerable strength; he had large hands with each of which, it was said, he could grasp 11 golf balls at once. He was also a most engaging personality, and the glamour that attached to him was in the early days enhanced by his youth. In July 1979 he became the youngest player in more than 100 years to win the Open; the following year, at Augusta, he became, at 23, the youngest Masters champion.

At his best Ballesteros was gifted with a soaring drive, and his short game was among the best ever seen on a golf course — on countless occasions he was able to make a birdie or par where neither had seemed possible. He once observed: “It doesn’t matter where you hit the drive if you make the putt.”

He was a superb chipper of the ball and a master of the bunker shot; and he seemed to know instinctively how best to redeem a difficult situation, although he himself put it more prosaically: “The more you go into trees, the more you have practice.”

Never a man to shirk controversy, Ballesteros enjoyed some long-running battles with tournament referees and with officials of both the European and US Tours. A fierce pride was part of his make-up, in the tradition of his Cantabrian forebears.

Severiano Ballesteros was born on April 9 1957 at Pedreña, a fishing village on the Bay of Biscay in northern Spain, the fifth son of a dairy farmer. One of his brothers died in childhood, and the other three, like Seve, were to become professional golfers. It was a sporting family: Seve’s father had been a well-known rower, and his mother’s brother had been a professional golfer who had competed in the Masters.

As a young boy Seve was a gifted athlete and football player, but at the age of nine — with the encouragement of his uncle — he followed the example of his older brothers and became a golf caddie. The family’s farmhouse was situated close to the second hole of Real Pedreña golf course, but caddies were not permitted to play on it; so Seve practised secretly at night when the place was deserted, and during the day made use of the nearby beach. At the same time he augmented his pocket money by betting on chip and pitch shots with the other caddies as they waited for clients.

At the age of 10 he took part in the caddies’ championship, playing the first hole in 10 and all nine holes in only 51. In the same event the following year he finished second (returning a score of 42); and the next year he won it, over 18 holes, with 79. This achievement led to his being allowed to use the course in the evenings; more practice was carried out in the family’s barn, in which he would drive the balls again and again into a hanging backcloth. He later said that between the ages of 12 and 18 he had probably driven as many as 1,000 golf balls a day.

Seve left the local school when he was 14 to concentrate on the game that would become his life. Three years later he qualified for the Portuguese Open at Estoril, in which he scored 89. Later that year he came fifth in the Italian Open, and he won the Spanish Young Pro tournaments in both 1974 and 1975.

It was in 1976, however, that the world of golf realised that it had a potential new superstar. That year Ballesteros took part in no fewer than 34 tournaments, only once missing the cut and amassing some $100,000 in prize money. In the Open at Royal Birkdale, at the age of only 19, he finished in a tie for second place with Jack Nicklaus; Ballesteros had begun the last round in the lead, but in the end succumbed by six strokes to Johnny Miller.

Only a few weeks later — in the Double Diamond World Golf Tournament at the Gleneagles hotel — Ballesteros beat Miller. Pointing out that, on this occasion, Miller had been off his game, the Spaniard charmed everyone with his remark: “If at Birkdale he play like this, he lose.”

In the same year Ballesteros performed creditably in the other European open championships, winning the Dutch event, and in October became the youngest player to take the Harry Vardon Trophy for the lowest stroke average. He also beat Arnold Palmer to take the Lancôme Trophy in Paris; having announced to the crowd watching him at the ninth tee: “My heart tells me that the time has come”, he proceeded to birdie five of the remaining nine holes. With Manuel Piñero, he won the World Cup for Spain at Palm Springs, California. He headed the European Order of Merit that year, as he would in 1977 and 1978.

In 1977-78 Ballesteros served in the Spanish Air Force, but was able to continue with his golfing career. He won the Swiss, French and Japanese opens; and he again won the World Cup, this time with Antonio Garrido, held in Manila.

Ballesteros now appeared to be almost unstoppable. In 1978 he won a further five open titles (Swiss, Japanese, Kenyan, Scandinavian and German) as well as finishing second in the French and the Irish events. He also won his first American title, the Greater Greensboro Open in North Carolina.

The British Open of 1979 was held in testing conditions at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s. No continental European had won the event since the Frenchman Arnaud Massey in 1907. Ballesteros, who at the time was still only 22, hit some wayward drives (on one occasion he found himself having to recover from a temporary parking lot) but returned scores of 73, 65, 75 and 70 to finish with a one-under-par 283, leaving in his wake opponents such as Jack Nicklaus and Hale Irwin. He was the only player in the field to finish under par.

Nine months later Ballesteros won the Masters at Augusta at his fourth attempt; he was (until Tiger Woods’s triumph in 1997) the youngest player ever to win the event — three months younger than Jack Nicklaus had been when he took the title in 1963. Some of his opponents claimed that Ballesteros was fortunate, in that the conditions suited him. The Spaniard replied: “I win on narrow courses, I win on open courses. I win when it’s wet and I win when it’s dry. I win when it’s windy and I win when it’s calm. Still they say I am lucky.”

Proving that this success was no fluke, Ballesteros again won the Masters three years later. In 1984, at St Andrews, he won his second Open before adding a third, in 1988, at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s.

During the 1980s and 1990s Ballesteros represented Europe in the Ryder Cup, and his partnership with José María Olazábal — the pair gleaned 11 wins and two halved matches in their 15 outings — was the most successful in the history of the competition. With his help Europe won the Cup in 1985 and 1987, retained it in 1989, and regained it in 1995. In 1997 he captained the side when it won the event at Valderrama Golf Club at Sotogrande, in Spain, the first time the Ryder Cup had been held on the Continent.

During the 1990s Ballesteros began to suffer increasingly from back problems. Eventually he was struggling to find his form, and his long game began to desert him. A Seve Trophy match was introduced in his honour, and was first played at Sunningdale in 2000. Ballesteros played in it that year, defeating Colin Montgomerie at the top of the singles line-up. In 2002, at Druids Glen, he beat the Scot again.

In 2003, as it became clear that he was in the twilight of his career, Ballesteros observed philosophically: “You are born, you live and you die, and it is the same with golf: you go up, you are there for some time, and then you go down.”

Three years later he returned to play in the Open at Hoylake, where one of his sons caddied for him. Although he missed the halfway cut, all the top professionals gathered around to watch him practising his bunker shots on the range.

In 2007, on the eve of the Open at Carnoustie, he announced his retirement from the game, saying that he would still play golf with his children and that his focus would now be on his family and on his Madrid-based business, an enterprise designing golf courses and organising tournaments. In October 2008, however, he was operated on for a brain tumour and subsequently underwent chemotherapy.

From his earliest years Ballesteros had been driven by a profound love of the game of golf. He certainly enjoyed receiving appearance money, but the material rewards — which, in his case, were considerable — were, he maintained, secondary: “From the start, from a very early age, I played the game because I loved it. I never played because I wanted to become professional, make a lot of money, have a big house and drive a Ferrari. It was all because I enjoyed doing it.”

Seve Ballesteros married, in 1988, Carmen Botín, of the family that owns Banco Santander, but the marriage was dissolved; they had two sons and a daughter.

Phil Mickelson Commits to Wells Fargo

Jim "Bones" McKay and Phil Mickelson in 2010

Phil Mickelson, winner of 39 PGA TOUR events, and the No. 4 ranked player on the Official World Golf Ranking, committed today to play in the Wells Fargo Championship, scheduled for May 2-8. 

Mickelson will be making his eighth appearance in the Wells Fargo Championship. Last year, he finished second to Rory McIlroy by four strokes. 

"Phil has consistently competed in our tournament since 2004 and we always are glad he chooses to come to Charlotte. He is not only one of the most talented players in the game, he is also popular among the sports fans," said Wells Fargo Championship Executive Director, Kym Hougham. 

Mickelson holds the Wells Fargo Championship record for the most top ten finishes. He has five top ten finishes in seven appearances. Along with his solo second a year ago he finished T5 in 2004, T7 in 2005, T3 in 2007 and T5 in 2009. 

This will be Mickelson's first appearance on the PGA TOUR since the Masters Tournament.

Colsaerts Comes Back from Brink

Nicolas Colsaerts is living proof of what you can achieve when you set your mind to it. 

Ever since he exploded onto the golfing scene in 2000 as a fresh-faced 18 year old, becoming the second youngest player to successfully negotiate all three stages of the European Tour Qualifying School, Colsaerts’ talent has not been in doubt. 

But talent is nothing without the temperament and application to back it up – a fact which was perhaps lost on a teenager with both talent and money to burn.

For much of his early career, Colsaerts determinedly set about trying to disprove American inventor Thomas Eddison’s theory that “success is ten per cent inspiration and 90 per cent perspiration”, as the house music lover and part-time DJ spent as much time socialising as he did practising. 

Having finished 77th on the Money List in 2003, the success perhaps went to Colsaerts’ head and over the ensuing years, the big-hitting Belgian appeared in danger of committing the cardinal sin of frittering away a potentially brilliant career. 

The nadir came in 2008, when Colsaerts endured a wretched season on the Challenge Tour, making the cut in only four events and earning just over €6,000 in prize money in the process.

He had hit rock bottom, and the only way was up. Colsaerts knew something had to change, and fast. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, on the advice of his friend’s father he flew thousands of miles to the A-Game International Golf Academy at Brookwater Golf Course in Brisbane, Australia, where he hooked up with swing coach Ken Berndt. 

For several weeks, Colsaerts did little else except eat, sleep and hit golf balls. Finally, the penny had dropped, and the results were nothing short of spectacular.

Colsaerts won twice and finished in the top ten on a further eight occasions en route to finishing in third place in the 2009 Challenge Tour Rankings. 

After spending too long in the golfing wilderness – he had fallen outside the top 1,000 on the Official World Golf Ranking, but was up to 127th by the end of 2009 – Colsaerts was back where he belonged, in the big time. 

In days of yore, Colsaerts might have rested on his laurels and spent the winter months toasting his success with friends back home in his native Brussels.

But the new and improved model was determined to make the most of his second chance, so Colsaerts returned to Brisbane for some more intensive training in preparation for his first European Tour campaign since 2006.

Despite a sluggish start, the practice and dedication paid off as he ended the season in a career-high of 67th in The Race to Dubai, thanks largely to a third place finish at the BMW Italian Open and a further four top ten finishes. 

But still Colsaerts was not satisfied, and so after identifying his chipping as a weak link he turned to short game specialist and Sky Sports analyst Mark Roe for what he hoped would be the final piece in the puzzle. 

With a vastly improved short game to complement his prodigious length off the tee, a maiden win seemed inevitable and the door duly opened last week at the Volvo China Open, where victory moved him to the heady heights of tenth in The Race to Dubai and 105th on the World Ranking. 

Speaking afterwards, an ecstatic Colsaerts – who received a message of congratulations from his compatriot and fellow European Tour champion Philippe Toussaint – put his success down to a new-found maturity, and paid tribute the people who had helped him rediscover his appetite for the game. 

He said: “I’ve waited for this moment for such a long time but even through all the hard times, I never lost faith in myself. My career’s been a real rollercoaster, and until recently I’ve probably experienced more downs than ups. 

“I’ve made mistakes on and off the course in the past, but now I feel much calmer, happier and more in control of things. My wins on the Challenge Tour definitely helped me, because I knew I could do it so I didn’t get too nervous. It’s just amazing how much my life has turned around over the last two years. 

“I have a lot of people to thank for that: Ken Berndt, Mark Roe, my coach Michel Vanmeerbeek, my caddie Brian Nilsson, who turned 41 today, and my parents, who have been so supportive of me. I’m sure they’ll be having a party back home, and I can’t wait to get back there and join them.” 

Still only 28 and with his best years ahead of him, it is unlikely to be the last party thrown by the Colsaerts clan.

Ian Poulter in Korea to Win Ballantine's

Ian Poulter

Ian Poulter brought his refreshingly honest approach to Korea by declaring that he has made the journey from the east coast of America to the Far East for one reason only: to win the Ballantine’s Championship.

The Englishman is looking to go one better than his last visit to Korea when he finished second at the 2008 Korea Open, and he is in his usual confident form going into the €2.2 million event at the Blackstone Golf Club.

“I’m here to win the golf tournament, simple as that,” said the matter-of-fact Englishman, currently ranked 17th on the Official World Golf Ranking. “I am not saying that I will definitely win but you have to believe that you are going to win every week.

“You are not going to win every week –in the same way that you are not going to birdie every hole that you play but I can honestly say that I will be trying to birdie every hole this week. I know I won’t do it but I will try and that is what I have to do.”

Poulter is relishing the chance to go head to head with his friend and World Number One Lee Westwood this week as well as a number of the game’s very best.

“Lee Westwood is back to World Number One and he is the man to beat this week. Yes, any player in this field could win the tournament if they play to their very best but you have to look at Lee and say he is the man to beat because he is the best in the business right now.

“I’m confident coming into the week, my game is in decent shape and I now that if I prepare well and get ready for the tournament properly then I will have a good chance."

Ballantine's Championship Korean Flavour

Y.E. Yang

As the prestigious Ballantine’s Championship tees off at the beautiful Blackstone Resort in Seoul this week, the tagline is a timely reminder of the impact that Korean players have made in world of golf.

The Korean golf explosion can be traced back to the days when Kang Wook-soon first ignited the scene in the 1990s.

Kang, nicknamed Hahoetal which means friendly face, was the king of the fairways back then and inked his place in the annals of history by becoming the first Korean to win two Order of Merit crowns in Asia along with seven career titles.

Fast forward a decade and it is the illustrious names of Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi who are creating the headlines these days. Like Kang, they’ve brought golf in Korea up to unprecedented levels with their successes, first on the Asian Tour and then aboard.

Yang made his name as the first Asian-born player to win a Major with a come-from-behind victory over then world number one Tiger Woods while Choi is the first Korean-born player to earn his PGA Tour card, and also broke into top 10 of the world rankings.

The dynamic duo have been recognised by the Asian Tour for their exemplary achievements and have been accorded the distinguished honorary member status.

"I hope this win will create an impact both to golf in Korea as well as golf in Asia so that all the young golfers, Korean and Asian, would build their dreams and expand their horizons," said Yang in his victory speech after winning the PGA Championship in 2009.

Voted Korean PGA Tour rookie of the year in 1999, Yang honed his game on the Asian Tour where he played regularly from 1999 to 2003 before moving on to Japan where he won five titles.

The strongman eventually followed in the close foot-steps of his close friend Choi by leaving for the United States.

“The Asian Tour opened the door to international competitions for me. I started my playing career on the Korean Tour but I found out through the Asian Tour that there was a high level of competition. There were so much more possibilities for me and I practiced and persevered and I was diligent enough to succeed,” said Yang who will star at the Ballantine’s Championship which is sanctioned by the Asian, European and Korean PGA Tours.

Choi joined the Asian Tour in the mid-1990s and won the Korean Open in 1999 before venturing to Japan. He would later earn his US Tour card from Qualifying School at the end of 1999.

Like Yang, Choi also recognises where the secret of his success lie.

“The Asian Tour set the foundation for my golfing career. Through the opportunity to travel to different countries, I learned about different cultures, playing in different conditions, and these things taught me to be patient,” said Choi, who has won four times on the Asian Tour.

Since its establishment year in 2004 till 2009, the Asian Tour has sanctioned 17 tournaments in Korea close to a total of US$20 million, with pride of place going to the Ballantine’s Championship, inaugurated in 2008 and carrying a lucrative US$2.8 million in total prize money this week.

The opportunities to hone and develop into world-class players on the Asian Tour are endless.

Like the path that his predecessors have taken, it’s now the turn of 19-year old Noh Seung-yul to benefit from the playing opportunities on the Asian Tour.

At 19 years and 204 days, Noh became the youngest ever player to win the prestigious Order of Merit crown last season. Noh rise to the top has also been quick.

Since bursting onto the Asian Tour in 2008 through our Qualifying School, the young Korean has won two titles and played in three Majors through his own merit. In just three years, he has earned over US$1.3 million on the Asian Tour to be ranked in the top-20 of the career earnings list. He is also the youngest player to surpass the million dollar mark in Asia.

The teen titan is touted as the next big star to spearhead the new wave of golfers from the Land of the Morning Calm.

“The Asian Tour has done so much in my career and I am thankful for the opportunities that I have enjoyed since coming through from Qualifying School in 2008. My game has become better over the years through the high level of competition on the Asian Tour and I will continue to represent the Asian Tour proudly,” said Noh.

Westwood Targets Long Stay at the Top

Lee Westwood [Courtesy European Tour]

Lee Westwood returned to the summit of the game following his victory at the Indonesian Masters last week and is determined to make his stay at the top a long one with another win.

The English ace will be the first current world number one ever to play in Korea and wants to live up to his stature as the world’s best golfer

“It’s nice to get back to number one on Sunday. I played well last week and my confidence is high,” said Westwood.

“I’ve great expectations of myself and I hope to do well and win this championship on Sunday afternoon,” added the world number one.

The 2011 Ballantine’s Championship will once again be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and Korea PGA