Six countries bid to host 2018 Ryder Cup

A total of six countries have announced their intention to bid to host the 2018 Ryder Cup. The deadline for the submission of bids is the end of April 2010 with an announcement expected the following year.

The countries – France, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden – have thrown their hats into the ring to host the team event. The 2010 renewal of the event will take place at The Celtic Manor resort, Wales before moving to the United States’ Medinah Country club in 2012. Gleneagles in Perthshire, Scotland will host the 2014 match with the 2016 match due to be played at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota.

Following the announcement of Gleneages’ staging of the 2014 match, it was decided that the European home match would return to the continent if suitable venues were found. Currently, Valderrama in Spain is the only venue to have hosted the Ryder Cup away from Great Britain and Ireland, in 1997.

The 2018 match between Europe and the United States will be the 42nd meeting of the two in the biennial encounter, although players from continental Europe only became eligible to play in the Ryder Cup in 1979.

Each of the six bidding nations have been staunch supporters of the European tour since it officially began in 1972; showing support for the development and continued growth of the game through the nurturing of players and hosting of tournaments.

The match will return to the United States in 2020, with the venue to be Whistling Straits, Wisconsin which has already hosted several top tournaments on the US PGA, including the 2004 PGA Championship. The same tournament will return to the venue in 2010 and 2015.

Ballesteros announces cancer foundation

Seve Ballesteros appeared in exuberant form in his first appearance since his collapse with a brain tumour in October 2008, as he presented details of his new cancer research foundation.

Looking tanned but frail, Ballesteros, 52, displayed a wound of war – a scar on the side of his head – but was undaunted by the gathering of press as he spoke about his survival which he referred to as a ‘miracle’. In true Seve fashion, he cracked jokes throughout and littered his presentation with expletives as he described his long battle against the disease and his desire to give something back.

Looking elegant in suit and tie, and accompanied by two of the doctors who operated on him, Ballesteros gave a thumb-up salute to photographers and thanked the doctors at La Paz hospital, Madrid. He also offered his gratitude to everyone who has supported him during his nine-month long struggle.

“A few months ago my life was hanging by a thread but I managed to get through it,” Ballesteros told the assembled press. “This is like a dream … It was very tough at the beginning. And when the doctors explained all they had done in my brain it’s a miracle.”

“Life goes on and life is full of setbacks. You have to fight, that’s all.”

Seve described the time when doctors explained to him the size of the tumor in his brain and said it was the size of two golf-balls.

During his recuperation at home in northern Spain, Ballesteros revealed that he had returned to the golf course recently to play nine holes with his son, Javier, but had lost out to Ballesteros junior.

“He beat me but it was a big effort,” he said. “In time I will beat him.”

Ballesteros’ foundation aims to contribute to cancer research and in particular the treatment of brain tumors. It will also help young golfers suffering from financial problems to practice and hopefully emulate the golfing great. Seve himself described his own struggle as a young, aspiring golfer when he said:

“My beginnings as a caddie were not easy and I had the good fortune to be able to rely on a number of people who helped my career take off … Golf has given me everything and I am especially pleased to be able to support and help young people in need.”

On his future, Seve revealed he would dedicate as much time as possible to his children, the foundation and giving lectures but would also continue with his golf course design business.

“I am a lucky man, I have a second opportunity and my desire is to help others,” he said.

Mickelson shows off new golf club design at Bethpage

Eagle-eyed spectators will no doubt have noticed the strange new club which Phil Mickelson used to great effect during his US Open challenge at Bethpage Black. The hybrid club, which Mickelson helped to design with the assistance of Callaway golf, is actually a prototype club designed to achieve greater consistency and distance from shots out of the rough.

While the club head features a distinctive, rounded sole shape, its centre of gravity means the club handles much more like an iron and features a wedge-style grind and grooves which run up the total face of the 18 degree-club. It has been designed as a rescue club which can be used from a variety of different ball lies as Mickelson showed, using the hybrid club from the heavy, wet rough around the Bethpage course.

The prototype’s grooves conform to the USGA’s new regulations regarding V-grooves, which come into effect in 2010.

Callaway’s head of research and development, Jeff Cotton, revealed that Callaway had spent considerable time with Mickelson at the Riviera Club in Los Angeles, California, and discussed the player’s requirements for the club.

“He wanted his hybrid to play more like an iron, as to where the centre of gravity is placed. And a unique, shallower sole shape allows him to use it out of a variety of different lies in the rough by hitting down and minimising turf interaction.”

However, Callaway have no plans at the moment to release a version of the new hybrid club for club golfers but haven’t ruled out such a release of the club in the future once they have seen how the club performs in the long run.

Fisher and McIlroy look to the future

After an excellent showing at last weekend’s US Open at Bethpage Black, New York, Brits Ross Fisher and Rory McIlroy returned to Europe brimming with confidence following top-10 finishes in the year’s second major served to highlight the fact that both players have a huge future in the game.

Englishman Fisher, who contested the lead with Phil Mickelson, David Duval and eventual winner Lucas Glover right up to the penultimate hole, was heartened by his performance which found him more than holding his own in the tournament, especially considering the calibre of opponent he faced at the top end of the leaderboard.

“It was tough,” Fisher said. “You are looking at the leaderboard. You’ve got Lucas Glover and Phil Mickelson and a certain Mr Woods… so there was some good golfers playing in this tournament.”

Fisher’s challenge eventually came to grief when he bogeyed the 15th hole and recorded another at the 17th to eventually finish in fifth place, three shots behind Glover, who was recording a first major win.

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy was also upbeat about his performance which featured one of the lowest rounds of the day – 68 – on the final round, and saw the young Irishman tie for 10th place. Afterwards, MIlroy suggested his game was suited to the rigors and demands of competing for major tournaments.

“I feel that I can be patient when I want to be.” McIlroy said. “That’s what the majors are all about, patience and making pars. I only made one bogey on the 15th and it was just very solid golf.
“I know my game can handle majors.”

“Obviously it would be a little different if I was in the final group in the lead but hopefully I can get that experience and it is a case now of trying to get to that position soon.”

Following impressive Masters debuts back in April, and again at Bethpage, both men will undoubtedly take confidence into the season’s next major – the British Open at Turnberry – as well as a belief they both have what it takes to compete at the very highest level in golf for years to come.

Tiger: “Putter was to blame for Bethpage failure.”

After failing in the defence of his US Open crown, world number one Tiger Woods attributed his poor putting over the four days as the main reason for his downfall.

Although happy with his ball-striking, Woods, who recorded 30 putts or more on three out of his four rounds at Bethpage Black still found himself in contention and made plenty of opportunities to successfully defend his title, but ultimately struggled on the greens where it mattered.

“I hit so many putts…my good ones are not going in and then my bad ones aren’t even close.” Woods said.

Woods was among the early starters in Thursday’s opening round, and managed only six holes before being forced off the course, following the abandonment of play due to heavy rain. Returning to the course on Friday to finish his first round, Woods shot a four-over par 74 and those four strokes might have been his downfall – he finished four strokes behind winner, Lucas glover – after rounds of 69-68-69 saw him almost force his way into contention after seemingly being out of the game.

However, despite reaching one-under at the 14th hole of his final round, it was the 15th hole which proved to be Tiger’s nemesis – he dropped a total of four shots to par at the hole over the four days. Although he carded a bogey on the hole, Woods plugged on and gave himself birdie chances on each of the closing three holes, but like so many chances before, he couldn’t take them.

Woods has traditionally blamed his putter for most of his losses even though he is among the most assured putters in the game. However, there can be little argument about the failure of his shortest club on this occasion – four rounds played, 14 birdies scored with several other chances missed. When his putter is hot, even the glass-like greens of Augusta National hold no fears for Woods.  However, something about Bethpage’s greens had given the world number one cause for concern. In reference to the rain-sodden greens, Woods said he found them hard to gauge.

“It is a little bit slow and bumpy but you have to be committed to hitting it that hard, and I left a lot of putts short,” he said. “Then when I tried to hit it harder, I gunned it past the hole. I didn’t make the adjustment the right way.”

Woods is undoubtedly the best golfer of this generation, and his record bears strong testament to that fact, but there is perhaps one chink in his armour – the weather is a great leveller, and while Tiger can often beat the wind by shaping his shots to suit, it may be that he finds rain is a much more formidable opponent; one which he cannot influence or control, or play into submission; one whose effect is far reaching and stretches beyond the here-and-now.

It is, of course, the same for everyone – the elements have an effect on every golfer in different ways. Some can adapt, others struggle to cope and it is those who cope best with the prevailing conditions who win.

There can be no doubting Tiger’s record of tournament successes, but it would be interesting to see how many of his victories have come when the weather has taken a turn for the worst, where the wind blows and the rain falls.

It might seem like a blasphemy to question the Woods’ credentials, but could it be that Tiger – for all his tournament wins – is a fair weather champion, albeit a great one?

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