Golfing World Cup puts players ahead of teams

Organisers' hopes of a triumphant start for the re-tooled World Cup of Golf in Melbourne this week have been dampened by players' coolness toward the tournament's new format and a personal tragedy afflicting Australia's Jason Day.

The team component of the biennial tournament has been watered down to a footnote, with the format reverting to 72 holes of strokeplay to reward the best individual and offer a test event for the Rio 2016 Games, where golf will return to the Olympic programme after 112 years.

The previous editions since 2000 had compatriots pairing up and relying on each other in foursomes and four-ball competitions, but the winning team will now be decided by the aggregate of their individual scores in strokeplay.

With US$7 million of the total US$8 million in prize money allocated for the individual category, players will compete fiercely at Royal Melbourne, both as a team and against compatriots.

"It is a little strange, I must say," said world number two Adam Scott, who will represent Australia with Day.

"I mean, I was kind of hoping that I would be spending four days playing with Jase [Day]. I thought it would be good for both of us to do that, for sure.

"It is an interesting week, with an individual thing and a teams thing, and we are going to want to beat each other, but we are also going to want to win, so I do not really know how that sits."

US PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem defended the emphasis on the individual as a more "marketable" format.

"We think that it has a better chance of fulfilling its mission, which is to create more interest in the game in unique ways," he said.

"But we will see. If we go down this road and it doesn't work, we will adjust, but we are going to give this every chance to work and we are excited to see what happens this weekend."

US Masters champion Scott and Day form one of the most potent combinations at the tournament, but world number 18 Day will tee off weighed down by the loss of eight of his relatives, who were killed when Typhoon Haiyan pounded the Philippines earlier this month.

Emotional Day

Day, whose mother is of Filipino heritage, is mourning his maternal grandmother, an uncle and several cousins, according to local media reports, and said other family members were still unaccounted for.

"[I'm] definitely, you know, looking forward to seeing my mum at the end of this week, just to give her a hug," said Day, as he battled to contain his emotions. "I know that she has gone through some hard times.

"Everyone that I have talked to have said a prayer for me and my family, and I am trying to do the same for everyone else."

Scott is likely to vie for the individual trophy with world number seven Matt Kuchar, who won the last World Cup in China for the United States with team-mate Gary Woodland.

Kuchar will represent the US with world number 46 Kevin Streelman this time and along with Scott, has enjoyed an ideal preparation, after playing the Australian Masters at the same course.

Scott and Kuchar engaged in an enthralling final-round shootout on Sunday, with the American coming back from five strokes behind to seize the lead, before stumbling on the last few holes to gift the local hero the title by two strokes.

"To at least give him a run, it was awfully good," said 35-year-old Kuchar. "Last week is forgotten about and the same goes for Adam.

"He won and that helps with confidence, but you have got to do it all over again."

Despite the Olympic-style format and the added carrot of world ranking points at stake for the first time, the revamped tournament has failed to lure the biggest names from America and Europe.

Former major winner Graeme McDowell, who represented Ireland with fellow Ulsterman Rory McIlroy at the 2011 tournament, has returned, but will play with 75th-ranked Shane Lowry at Royal Melbourne, rather than the world number six.

Apart from the 26 teams competing in the 60-man field, eight players will compete individually, including former world number one Vijay Singh, who warmed up for the tournament with a third-place finish at the Australian Masters.

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Lydia Ko to make pro golfing debut

New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko will make her first venture into the professional golfing ranks this weekend.

The 16-year-old will line up alongside 69 other top golfers in the season-ending Titleholders' Championship in Naples, Florida.

Lydia Ko has been paired with American Michelle Wie, who enjoyed a similar path to success as Ko, turning pro shortly before her 16th birthday in 2005.

So far, Wie has failed to live up to the hype on the LPGA tour, where she has only won two tournaments since 2005.

The duo are well aquainted with one another from their time competing in the amateur ranks.

Wie yesterday tweeted about her excitement at the news of their pairing.

"Excited to play with @Lko424 at her first tournament as a pro! #ifeelold," Wie said.

Ko is also excited ahead of the Florida tournament, having missed last year's event because of exams.

School commitments have interrupted her build-up once again, yet Ko says she squeezed in as much practice as she could.

There will be nerves, Ko said.

"I'm always nervous going into a big tournament, but it's worked out well so far. It's just another tournament and a good opportunity."

Her amateur record was nothing short of remarkable, but backing that up as a professional will be tough.

She's already won four professional tournaments, including her second Canadian Open and the New Zealand Open this year, but this will be different. The air of expectation has risen markedly.

"I know that there will be a lot of expectation on me [as a professional], but I will just try to take it one tournament at a time and hopefully get off to a good start this week in Florida.

"Being the number one amateur in the world for a few years came with some pressure, so that has helped prepare me for my pro career."

For the first time, Ko can afford to look at the prize pool and the US$700,000 (NZ$840,980) winner's cheque would make a handy first pay day.

The world's top 10 female golfers will all play, including current world number five Ko.

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Sony Corporation extends sponsorship of Sony Open in Hawaii through 2018

 

HONOLULU – Sony Corporation, the PGA TOUR and tournament host organization Friends of Hawaii Charities today announced a four-year title sponsorship renewal of the Sony Open in Hawaii. The new agreement takes effect following the 2014 tournament at Waialae Country Club and extends Sony’s commitment through 2018, the 20th anniversary of its sponsorship.

“Sony Corporation has been a fixture with the tournament since first becoming involved in 1999, making it one of our longest continuous tournament sponsors on TOUR,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “In addition to supporting the charitable initiatives of the Friends of Hawaii, Sony has actively showcased its new products and technology at the tournament, uniquely adding to the fan experience. We are delighted that Sony will continue these efforts through this new four-year commitment.”

The 2014 Sony Open in Hawaii will be held Jan. 9-12 and will be televised on Golf Channel from 2 p.m.-5:30 p.m. local time (7 p.m.-10:30 p.m. ET) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. (7 p.m.-10 p.m. ET) on Sunday.

Sony is among the five longest-running tournament sponsors on the PGA TOUR. The tournament, which has always been held at Waialae Country Club, dates back to 1965. Since its inception, the Sony Open in Hawaii has generated more than $13 million for local charities.

“The extension of Sony Corporation’s sponsorship of the Sony Open in Hawaii is exciting for Hawaii’s not-for-profit and tourism sectors, as well as the many community constituencies that receive benefit,” said Corbett Kalama, President, Friends of Hawaii Charities. “The blessing of financial resources to Hawaii charities is once again doubled by a tandem commitment from Sony Open charity partner, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc.

“Additionally, valuable support from the State of Hawaii and Hawaii Tourism Authority leverages hours of Sony Open live television coverage,” Kalama continued. “This Sony Open showcase of our beautiful island home reaches a massive global audience each January, providing valuable top-of-mind promotional benefit for Hawaii's tourism industry. Together, these valuable partnerships enable Friends of Hawaii Charities to distribute $1 million to Hawaii-based, not-for-profit grant recipient projects.”

The defending champion is Russell Henley, who won in his first tournament as a member of the PGA TOUR.

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Finchem confident Olympic golf course timeline 'in order' for completion

 

 

The timeline for completion of the golf course that will host the 2016 Olympics is "in order" according to comments made by PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem Wednesday in Australia on the eve of the ISPS Handa World Cup.

Finchem acknowledged earlier concern about several delays, primarily over land rights, in the construction of the venue. But he said the components of the irrigation system for the course, which is being designed by Gil Hanse, have been loaded onto a ship in Los Angeles headed for the Panama Canal.

The course is being built at Venue Reserva de Marapendi outside Rio de Janeiro, which will host the first Olympics to feature golf since 1904. The course was originally scheduled to be completed next year but Hanse now says 2015 is a better estimation.

"So hooray, we will now have some water on the property," said Finchem, who plans to go to Brazil in the spring to look at the course. "Actually the progress is reasonably good. We think the timeline is in order. We were really concerned there, as you know, for a good period of time. ...

"But I think Gil Hanse from all indications is doing a good job working with our architects and we are excited about it. This is first foot in the Olympics so we hope to have a first-class playing ground for that event."

Finchem also said the International Federation of Golf supports the addition of the game of golf to the Paralympics in 2024.

That mission is dear to the heart of Dr. Haruhisa Handa, the Japanese businessman and philanthropist whose International Sports Promotion Society sponsors the World Cup for the first time this week. Handa has long been involved in encouraging the blind and disabled to play golf. 

"We are aware and admirative of his effort to reach out to individuals with physical challenges with the game of golf and his efforts to try to, now that golf is on the Olympic program starting '16, to add golf to the list of sports played in the Paralympics," Finchem said.

"We certainly support that initiative and effort and the International Federation of Golf, which is the governing body for golf in the Olympics, has discussed that initiative and what is involved in it.

"While our major focus right now is preparing for 2016 and then 2020, because the vote for whether golf stays in the Olympics comes after the ‘16 Olympics, we think a 2024 launch to golf in the Paralympics would be appropriate and I think our Board and the International Federation of PGA Tours certainly are supportive of that."

The World Cup, which began in 1953, is being contested this week under an Olympic-style format that features 72 holes of individual stroke play with participants chosen based on the Official World Golf Ranking.

There will be a team component, though, which will not be part of the Olympics with the two best scores from each country determining the order of finish. In the past, the World Cup has been contested with two-man teams playing Foursomes and Four-balls.

Finchem said it was too soon to decide whether the team aspect of the World Cup has been "lost." 

"We haven’t played yet so let’s see how that plays out and then we will see," he said. "We feel like these are concrete steps. We feel like the tournament is more marketable. We think that it has a better chance of fulfilling its mission which is to create more interest in the game in unique ways.

"But we will see. If we go down this road and it doesn’t work, we will adjust but we are going to give this every chance to work and we are excited, as you are, to see what happens this weekend."

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The desert sand was barely settled following Henrik Stenson's season-ending victory in Dubai to top the European Tour money list when he withdrew from the first tournament of the new golf season.

While Stenson finally gets to rest a lingering right wrist injury, the unrelenting European Tour schedule rolls right on this week with the South African Open in Johannesburg, the first event on the 2014 calendar.

It's the first of 52 tournaments -- surely the most constant schedule in sport -- that will take the Race to Dubai back to Dubai in exactly 12 months.

After playing four consecutive tournaments with the bothersome injury in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates in a successful attempt to hold on to his lead in the money race, Stenson decided to skip Johannesburg to recover.

Stenson won the South African Open last year but his absence when the season starts again on Thursday -- as usual without any gap -- leaves 2011 U.S. Masters champion Charl Schwartzel as the favorite to win a first title at his home open, which dates to 1893 and is the second oldest national championship after the British Open.

Stenson is golf's man of the moment and owes a little to this week's event.

He said he pulled out "with a heavy heart" after his victory 12 months ago delivered his first title in three years and launched the finest season of his career. It culminated with his double-double a year later on Sunday, when he claimed the World Tour Championship and European money title to go with the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup title.

So, Schwartzel is now the leading candidate at Glendower Golf Club, where a victory would end his lean streak. Schwartzel has won just once on the European Tour and twice anywhere since a pulsating finish of four straight birdies on only his second visit to Augusta National in April 2011 sent him to instant stardom.

Hailing from a city just south of Johannesburg, Schwartzel has been preparing rigorously for the season-opener at Glendower in the eastern suburbs of South Africa's biggest city to start his year right.

"I didn't know Glendower at all, so I started playing here two weeks ago for the first time in 15 years," Schwartzel said.

His compatriot Retief Goosen is also entered after a long battle with a back injury saw the two-time U.S. Open winner plummet to as low as No. 212. The Goose hasn't won a tournament since March 2009.

Other notables include Europe Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley and David Duval, the 2001 British Open champion. South African veteran David Frost returns having won the last of his two titles at the South African Open in 1999.

"I still like to measure myself against the young guys," said the 54-year-old Frost, still one of the country's favorite golfers.

Schwartzel's younger brother, Attie, a pro on the South African Sunshine Tour, is also playing.

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Lusetich: Integrity trumps technology as golf alters video rule

 

At the heart of golf lies integrity.

It’s always been so, in good part because of necessity.

There is simply no realistic way to police the Rules of Golf other than to rely on the honor of the Tiger who ventures into the woods.

And thus golf has a long history – and a reputation well-earned – for being a gentleman’s game.

There’s no despicable diving in the penalty box or flopping under the hoop in order to dupe the official because you are not just the player but the referee, too.

In golf we need to believe that personal integrity is more important to our opponent than victory won unfairly.

Perhaps it’s naïve and doesn’t always work, but it’s vastly superior to the logical alternative of an Orwellian world of suspicion and surveillance cameras.

Some will not, of course, play it as it lies but I’ve always taken some solace in the fact that the foot wedge comes at a price; paid spiritually if obviously not in cash.

In the late '70s, my father-in-law played a round of golf with Richard Nixon at Los Angeles Country Club. The disgraced President was a single, looking for a group. No surprise he was ostracized: Nixon repeatedly shaved strokes off his score and then, at the end, demanded payment for “winning.”

In the urge to punish cheaters, however, golf has arrived at a dangerous intersection: the corner of Salem and Inquisition.

At a place where every golfer – especially Tiger Woods – is suspected of being guilty until proven innocent.

A place where viewers DVR and forensically examine golf broadcasts in the hope of spotting some infraction.

A place where there is little distinction made between inadvertently breaking a rule and cheating.

In the 2004 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Stuart Appleby didn’t know that every bunker on that forsaken course was to be treated as a hazard, even if it was outside the ropes and the venue for a picnic by a dozen fans.

Once he’d cleared out the folding chairs, coolers and blankets, he proceeded to remove a leaf.

And then took a practice swing.

A fan who’d been watching waited for Appleby to hit his approach before announcing that he’d be reporting him to a Rules official. The Australian took a quadruple bogey nine and instead of finishing one shot out of a playoff, fell to 17th.

Like Dustin Johnson at the same venue seven years later, Appleby should have known the rule.

But is it not also incumbent upon the fan to do the right thing?

Wouldn’t the honorable, decent thing to do have been to inform Appleby he was in a hazard after seeing him remove the leaf?

Not, it seems, in our Gotcha! world.

Emblematic of that devolution has been the viewer call-in.

Unlike, say, football, where a referee can openly blow a call and the result still stands, golf indulges millions of Rules officials from the comfort of their living rooms.

It’s not just unwieldy but unfair given how often some players – like Woods – are on air compared with others.

On Tuesday, golf’s ruling bodies – the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient – decided to essentially end the madness.

From January 1, the armchair rules official will be marginalized by a new Rule – 18.4 – that decrees a ball moving that can’t reasonably be seen by the naked eye will not result in a penalty.

“Where enhanced technological evidence shows that a ball has left its position and come to rest in another location, the ball will not be deemed to have moved if that movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time.”

It’s already being called the Tiger Rule after Woods was assessed a two-shot penalty at the BMW Championship in September.

Woods moved a twig that he maintained only caused his ball to oscillate – move but return to its original position – which is allowed under the rules.

However, after reviewing the incident on a High-Definition camera in slow motion, it was deemed the ball moved and an infuriated Woods was penalized.

The incident also led to an unseemly debate, triggered by Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, about whether Woods was a cheat; something none of us, based on the evidence, could possibly know.

There will be those who say the system worked in Chicago because the ball DID move and Woods was given the appropriate penalty.

But for a rule to be fair, it should apply to all, equally.

If one of the 99 other players in the field in Chicago that week had been in the exact same situation and maintained their ball hadn’t moved, be sure there wouldn’t have been a camera on them and, thus, no penalty.

The answer isn’t to install more cameras because this entire debate isn’t just about the video evidence.

What the ruling bodies are addressing runs deeper than technology.

They’re going to the heart of what has made golf so special: the idea that a man’s conscience will be his judge and that, given the responsibility, he will do the right thing.

They’re trying to give golf its soul back and should be applauded.

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