Buzzin Golf

seve ballesteros

Seve Ballesteros is among 32 former champions who have been invited to take part in a four hole tournament as part of the 150th Open anniversary celebrations on the eve of the Championship proper.

Ballesteros who has made a remarkable recovery from the four operations to remove a brain tumor diagnosed in 2008, stated last year that he would love to make a return to the British Open that takes place this year at St Andrews, in July.

Among the other former champions who have been invited to take place in the four hole tournament are Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Nick Faldo.

The tournament will take place on the first, second, 17th and 18th holes on the old course on July 14th. Ballesteros won the second of his three Open Championships on the St Andrews course in 1984.

Spanish Golf Federation president Gonzaga Escauriaza said that Ballesteros is doing well , he started playing again last summer but radiotherapy and chemotherapy had weakened him. Now he his getting better and better and would love to be on the first tee for the four hole tournament, adding “He will probably be there.”

In amongst all the promises, the apologies and the admissions, the sporting world learned absolutely nothing about Tiger Woods after he revealed he had no idea when he would be returning to the PGA Tour.

Rumours had him returning next week, next month, in time for the Masters, not at all this season or never depending on the source you read, and Friday’s ‘press conference’ did absolutely nothing to stop any speculation about the world No 1’s future.

While Tiger Woods is under no obligation to tell everyone when he might be ready to return, the style of the speech he made showed that he is in no frame of mind to be taking his eye off family matters for now, and just a brief mention of the sport that has made him a worldwide superstar showed that he clearly has plenty of other things on his mind.

For now, golf betting has Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy as the front runners for most tournaments and it is up to them to try and keep Woods out of the headlines. The way his return to the public eye was designed was widely criticised though, most vocally by Ernie Els.

You can understand the South African’s disappointment as well, given that the speech took plenty of gloss away from the WGC-Accenture World Matchplay, ironically sponsored by one of the companies that used to sponsor Woods.

So what now? Well, the PGA Tour has to move on without Woods and based on the first six weeks of the season it might not be easy. Attendances are down (although next week’s Phoenix event is traditionally a big draw), interest is down and the names of the winners so far have hardly set the Online Betting world alight.

No doubt PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, while publicly backing Woods, is desperate for him to return sooner rather than later but, for now, he will have to hope that some fireworks come soon or even big events on the schedule like Bay Hill and the Masters could prove to be damp squibs as well.

But for now there is nothing golf fans, golf punters and the golfing press can do but speculate, and that’s never really good for anybody. We all went into Friday hoping for something concrete, but despite the candidness of the admissions and apologies, all that happened was a scripted piece of theatre which told most people nothing.

Rent-A-Club - the UK’s first online golf equipment rental service

Rentaclub.co.uk, the UK’s first online golf equipment rental service, is giving golfers the opportunity to hit their best shots with top brand equipment, whenever and wherever they want.

The exclusive new service will enable golfers to test drive new products from Callaway, TaylorMade, Nike, Cleveland, Srixon and Mizuno, among others, just 24-hours after ordering the clubs online.

The new website goes live on Wednesday 17th February and features a simple, five-step process with a virtual assistant helping golfers select clubs beneficial to their game.

The clubs are then delivered securely next day by UPS to the golfer’s home, or a location of their choice, ready to be put into play.

Matthew Fagan, Managing Director of Rentaclub.co.uk, said:

“Golfers love talking about new equipment, including the latest drivers, and how it will improve their game. However, new clubs can be expensive, so this is an ideal way to test drive clubs thoroughly on your own course before making a purchase.”

He continued:

“Having returned the club, if the golfer then decides they want to buy the product, Rentaclub.co.uk will refer them to an experienced local PGA professional within the TGI Golf network for a free custom fitting to ensure the clubs are perfectly set up for their game, guaranteeing optimum performance. They will also benefit from a £25 discount off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.”

The service, which has the backing of leading brands, will offer drivers only initially, with models including the new Callaway FT-iZ, Nike Victory Red Tour STR8-Fit, TaylorMade R9 Super Tri (available March) and Cleveland Launcher DST (available late February).

Driver rentals start from £25 for five days, including free delivery, pick-up and return.

Graham Martin, Callaway’s Regional Sales Director UK and Ireland, said:

“Callaway invests heavily in research and development to create equipment that give golfers an advantage. The best way for consumers to experience this is by enjoying playing and testing the clubs themselves, so we are fully supportive of Rentaclub.co.uk.”

TGI Golf, the UK’s leading network of green grass golf professionals and retailers, is also supporting Rentaclub.co.uk, with its 400 members offering free custom fitting services to the website’s customers.

Matthew Fagan added:

“Although renting clubs is a new concept in the UK, it is a well established practice in the USA. From our own market research, we know that golfers here are keen to try new products in this way and that they will appreciate the value, convenience and fun of turning up at their home course with the best new products – and hitting their best shots.”

Rentaclub.co.uk customers receive their clubs in pre-paid packaging, making it easy to return products. On the fourth day of their rental they will be sent an SMS text message reminding them to call UPS to arrange a pick-up the next day from a location of their choosing, including home or work.

Rental prices for fairway woods, hybrids, sets of irons, wedges, putters and full sets of clubs will be announced as the clubs are added to the rental list.

For more information visit www.rentaclub.co.uk

Steve Stricker moved back to the number two spot in the world rankings after his victory in the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club last the weekend on the PGA Tour.

The dependable Wisconsin native led for most of the last three rounds and, unlike early last season, showed a good deal of composure after seeing his six-shot lead cut to two on a couple of occasions by Luke Donald and JB Holmes.

Stricker’s story is quite an amazing one as it is only six years since he lost his card on the PGA Tour and wondered what the future would hold after completely losing his swing with a driver, something a player with little distance off the tee would find a career-killer.

But he bounced back in style in 2006, finishing in the top ten at seven tournaments, mainly on sponsors’ exemption entries. Since the end of 2006 he has won five tournaments and competed well in the majors.

Victory in one of those has to be the next aim as he has top ten finishes in all four of them over the last two seasons.

Stricker’s resurgence is underlined by the fact that those betting online can get 5/2 on him topping this year’s US Money list.

He will never win any prizes for distance or for playing an exciting game, but in these times of improved technology he gets by, and on the greens there is barely a better player in the world. He topped the PGA rankings with the flat-stick in 2009 and putted superbly at Riviera while others were wasting chances.

Now, with Tiger Woods on the sidelines, he has the right to call himself the best active golfer in the world and what a deserved honour that is for a man who could walk down most high streets in the US and not be recognised.

Steve Stricker is certainly more deserving of the recognition at the moment than a surly Phil Mickelson, who huffed and puffed his way around a Riviera course he has won on twice in the past.

Who cares if Stricker admits to being boring? When it comes down to it, getting that little white ball into the hole is all that matters to him. At the moment he is the best in the world at doing it. Golf doesn’t always have to be exciting or controversial – boring will do just fine after all the travails Stricker has been through.

Recently, fame-hungry individuals have fed the media’s obsession with prying into the lives of celebrities by fuelling speculation about Tiger Woods‘ private life. It’s become such a focus in the press that one could be forgiven for forgetting that Woods is one of the most talented and successful sportsmen in history.

It’s therefore refreshing to see one of the player’s closest rivals, Phil Mickelson, express his desire to see the talented golfer back on the scene sooner rather than later.

Phil Mickelson revealed that he cares “deeply” about the problems currently affecting Tiger Woods and is obviously desperate to see him make a quick return for both personal and professional reasons.

Some might have been betting that those golfers put in the shade by Woods’ obvious talent would be rubbing their hands in glee at his absence from the sport but, according to Mickelson, this simply isn’t the case. Rather, it would seem that everyone is missing Woods, especially since “nobody will be able to fill the shoes that are voided right now”.

Any sportsman who cares about the public image of their sport wants the best players to be competing on a consistent basis and there is no doubt that without Woods, golf has taken something of a knock. It’s now up to players like Mickelson to come together and show the world that they’re capable of stealing the headlines away from the few determined to make them focus upon less savoury topics.