YourGolfTravel.com European Championship – Day 1

Day one of the YourGolfTravel.com European Championship at Wensum Valley in Norfolk saw some extremely tough scoring conditions. Read more

Your Golf Travel European Championship Underway

The YourGolfTravel.com European Championship has begun at Wensum Valley in Norfolk. This is the first official event of the 2011 PGA EuroPro Tour season and it promises to be a good one! Read more

Scotland claims Wychwood win

England’s Zane Scotland clinched a dramatic victory in the recent ABC Solutions UK Championship on the PGA EuroPro Tour at De Vere Wychwood Park in Cheshire after rival James Busby stumbled with a final hole double bogey.

Scotland fired a final round, four-under-par, 68 to match the best round of the tournament and post a five-under aggregate, claiming the winner’s £10,000 cheque.

Jon Farmer, manager at Wychwood Park in Weston, said: “We had a fantastic week of competition and it was great to see so many players in with a chance of winning. Zane played very well and to score 68 in the final round is very impressive… the fact that there were only a few scores in the 60s shows just how good a challenge it is.”

Wychwood Park has established itself as one of the premier championship venues in the North West, hosting PGA Order of Merit and PGA EuroPro Tour events, as well as becoming a venue for the European Tour Qualifying School Stage One in September.

Mickelson takes advantage of grooves loophole

Phil Mickelson, amongst others, has taken advantage of a legal loophole surrounding the USGA’s new regulation that bans square grooves on irons and instead insists on ‘V’ grooves. ‘Lefty’ has got round the regulations by putting an old Ping-Eye 2 lob wedge in his bag.

Eagle-eyed golfers and equipment experts will no doubt be aware that the Ping-Eye 2 strictly doesn’t adhere to the USGA regulations as it has square grooves. However, the Ping-Eye 2 doesn’t fall within the guidelines as Ping have a longstanding lawsuit against the USGA which was settled 20 years ago and states that any Ping-Eye 2 made prior to 1st April, 1990 is allowed.

Mickelson isn’t alone in using the Ping-Eye 2 wedge. John Daly, who collects Ping-Eye 2s in recent months used one in Honolulu earlier in the season, as did Dean Wilson. Brad Adamonis and Hunter Mahan also have played Ping-Eye 2 wedges in recent tournaments.

Mickelson had several wedges from when he played Ping clubs at Arizona State as a freshman. He and he had Callaway – his current club manufacturer – bend from a 60-degree to a 64-degree club.

Some pros, have however, criticised Mickelson and other players who have adopted Ping-Eye 2 wedges as violating the spirit of the rule and gaining an unfair advantage. Mickelson has defended himself by claiming he has submitted groove designs that are legal according to USGA specifications but have been declined for play.

Mickelson has discussed the issue with the PGA and USGA, so, while they might not meet USGA guidelines the Ping-Eye 2 is indeed a legal club and fair game for him – and others- to use, providing they can find them, as Ping are unable to reproduce the pre-1990 design.

US Masters 2010 – Who will wear the green jacket?

The PGA Tour got underway this week and with it, the build up to the season’s first major. The US Masters will, as always, be contested over the Augusta National course in April where Argentinian Angel Cabrera will seek to defend his green jacket and become the first player to successfully win back-to-back Masters titles since Tiger Woods in 2001/2002.

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