Stoke Park Club latest club to join National Golf Club Challenge

Stoke Park Club, one of the finest parkland golf courses in the South of England, is the latest high profile golf club to register for the 2010 National Golf Club Challenge. The Challenge aims to raise a million pounds for the worthy Help for Heroes charity.

The National Golf Club Challenge, on course to become the largest amateur golf event to take place in the UK, will bring hundreds of golf clubs, and thousands of golfers together on the same weekend as part of a nationwide charity golf event.

Giammario Ragnoli, Hotel Director, Stoke Park said  “Stoke Park is delighted to be hosting the National Golf Club Challenge. We hope that our support and the support of other golf clubs will raise a considerable donation for Help for Heroes charity.”

Opened in July 1908, the Stoke Poges course has stood the test of time. The exceptionally high quality greens, which have been consistently maintained, are a particular feature of the course. The challenging and demanding golf course, together with exquisite views and an amazing mansion clubhouse, contribute to Stoke Park being voted one of the top 100 golf courses in the world.

“Stoke Park is an outstanding venue.” Said Stacey Jeffries, Event Director, “Its beautiful surroundings and magnificent clubhouse make it one of the instantly recognisable courses in golf. Having Stoke Park participate in the Challenge is a real boost to what we are aiming to achieve.”

The National Golf Club Challenge, to be held on 24th and 25th July 2010, will give golfers up and down the country the opportunity to compete for some outstanding prizes – including golfing holidays to Egypt.

The format for the National Golf Club Challenge is very simple; the Challenge will coincide with each participating golf club’s monthly stableford event, with each club turning the day into their own charity golf event, raising much needed funds for Help for Heroes. The competing clubs will submit their aggregate scores from their best scoring 10 players. This will determine the top 6 golf clubs against standard scratch, who will then be invited to compete in the National Final.

The Grand Final, sponsored by YourGolfTravel.com, will be the conclusion of the 2010 National Golf Club Challenge. The two day event – hosted by The Belfry, one of the world’s leading golf resorts, and four times host to the Ryder Cup – will be a superb grand final, featuring a practice day, golf clinic, overnight accommodation, the final competition and a gala dinner, including guest speakers and the prize presentations.

For more information about The National Golf Club Challenge, including how to enter your golf club, go to http://www.nationalgolfclubchallenge.org.uk or www.ngcc2010.com.

For more information on the Help for Heroes charity and the work they do please visit their website: http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Westwood claims top spot in Europe with course record finale

Lee Westwood saved the best until last at the Dubai World Championship and became Europe’s number one golfer, after a blistering final round 64 saw him romp to victory over the Earth Course.

Taking a two-shot lead into the final round, Westwood held a healthy advantage over chief rival Rory McIlroy and despite McIlroy carding a final round 67, had to succumb to Westwood’s course-record final round which saw the Worksop golfer claim the title by a whopping six shots.

The victory saw Westwood claim his second Order of Merit – his last was in 2000 and helped banish the memories of throwing away a first major at the British Open at Turnberry.

Westwood earned £744,180 for winning the tournament and a further £893,016 from a bonus pool for the top 15 on the inaugural Race to Dubai, which saw him comfortably overhaul McIlroy’s lead going into the tournament.

Westwood’s fellow Englishman Ross McGowan finished in second place – six shots behind Westwood, with McIlroy finishing in third place. Australian Geoff Ogilvy and three-time Order of Merit winner Padraig Harrington shared fourth place, with Sweden’s Alexander Noren in sixth place.

Its rare that a final day 67 and a four round total of 15-under par doesn’t win a tournament, but Rory McIlroy was the first person to congratulate Westwood as he walked off the course, but the youngster’s day will surely come when he reaches the top of the pile – his own heroics over the season has seen him break into the World’s top ten, to join Spain’s Sergio Garcia as the only 20-year olds to ever make the top ten world rankings. An astonishing feat, given that current World number one Tiger Woods didn’t break the top ten until he was 21!

For Westwood, his win sees him climb back to fourth place – the highest of his career – and the red-clad Westwood, taking a leaf out of Tiger’s final day playbook by donning a red shirt will next head to Tiger’s tournament in Los Angeles later this week where he will take his place in an elite 18-man field.

The final European Tour ‘Race To Dubai’ Standings:

1 Lee Westwood (Eng) £3,776,702
2 Rory McIlroy (N Ire) £3,217,257
3 Martin Kaymer (Ger) £2,552,707
4 Ross Fisher (Eng) £2,255,795
5 Paul Casey (Eng) £2,105,863
6 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) £1,963,152
7 Oliver Wilson (Eng) £1,791,457
8 Simon Dyson (Eng) £1,611,072
9 Ian Poulter (Eng) £1,580,519
10 Sergio Garcia (Spa) £1,480,097

Wie withdraws as Ochoa takes the lead in LPGA Tour Championship

Michelle Wie’s quest for back-to-back LPGA victories is over after the 20-year old was forced to withdraw from the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship with an ankle injury.

Wie, who had injured the ankle during her Solheim Cup heroics, shot a second round 72 but aggravated the injury during her round. She had reached 3-under par through 12 holes but on the 13th tee felt her ankle give way, causing her to slice her shot into the rough as she stumbled backward before eventually finishing with a bogey.

She bent over in apparent pain on the 14th hole, before a second slip on the seventeenth tee at the Houstonian Golf and Country Club.

After coming off the course, Wie headed straight to the treatment tent and withdrew from the tournament an hour later; preferring to look after the injury rather than risk doing any additional damage.

Lorena Ochoa, whose tournament Wie won last weekend, holds a one-shot lead over Reilley Rankin in the tournament where she is bidding to overhaul South Korea’s Jiyai Shin, who leads the Mexican world number one 156-148 in the race to become the tour’s player of the year. To earn that accolade, Ochoa must win the tournament or finish no worse than third and also hope Shin places out of the top 10.

The pair are also locked together for the Vare Trophy, which is presented to the player with the season’s lowest scoring average.

But for Wie, her season is over.

“I wanted to do everything I could do to fight through the injury,” Wie said in a statement. “It bothered me last week in Mexico, but I was able to play through the pain. I realized today that I wouldn’t be able to continue to play through it.”

Westwood maintains Dubai advantage

Lee Westwood holds the lead after the second round of the Dubai World Championship following a second round of 69 to add to his opening 66. His nine-under par total sees him maintain his two-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and the rest of the field in the race to be Europe’s number one.

McIlroy matched Westwood’s round to share second place with overnight leader, Australian Robert Allenby and four others including Camilo Villegas and Padraig Harrington. Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher – the only other players who could win the Race to Dubai sit on two-under and level-par respectively and the race now looks a straight match between Westwood and McIlroy.

McIlroy had started strongl and a front nine of only 31 saw him briefly take the lead before Westwood pegged him back. McIlroy’s front nine included an eagle on the 572-yarad seventh hole, as well as birdies at the first two and last holes of the nine. However two bogeys on the back nine – on the 14th and 15th holes – could prove costly, especially as he missed three-footers for par on each

Kaymer had managed to reach four-under par after his outward 34 but a poor chip on the 17th was followed by his finding water on the last for a pair of bogeys to finish off and his second successive 71.

Westwood is now a best priced 11/4 with the bookies to win the title over the Greg Norman-designed Earth Course, while McIlroy is 5/1.

Gary Player shows support for National Golf Club Challenge

Gary Player is the latest high profile golfer to lend his support to the challenge and joins a host of players which include the likes of Ian Poulter, Oli Fisher, Nick Dougherty, Sam Torrance, Simon Dyson and Christie O Connor Jnr. Read more

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