Tom Lewis Adds British Boy Championship to His English Title.

Tom Lewis continues in magnificent form as he has added the British Boys Championship to his English title by beating his international team-mate Eddie Pepperell 5&4 in the 36-hole final at Royal St George’s.

The English Boys Stroke Play Champion now adds his name to a list of champions which includes Sir Michael Bonallack, two-time Masters winner, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and David Howell; a fact that the 18-year-old England International struggled to take in.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s hard to explain. You don’t expect to be in the same boat as those players,” explained the young man from Welwyn Garden City Golf Club. “To continue being alongside those names is a tough goal but if I keep doing what I’m doing, which seems to be working, then hopefully I can continue being up there with them.”

In glorious sunshine and in front of a 200-strong gallery, Lewis won the second hole with a birdie, to grab control of the match as he had done in the majority of his contests over the week, maintaining at least a two-hole cushion on all but one hole. He was two-up at lunch, increased that early in the afternoon and wrapped up his victory with a birdie-four on the long 14th.

“I was only down once in the week,” he added. “Once I’ve been up, I haven’t lost it so it was good to win the second and be up for the rest of the holes I played.”

“I was just a little bit more solid and probably kept it together a little better. Eddie played better than the score made it look but I made the right decisions, didn’t short-side myself and made some putts when I needed to.”

Pepperell agreed with that assessment. Visibly deflated, the Drayton Park player knew he had not played to his full potential despite showing his undoubted talent on a number of occasions.

“I didn’t feel nervous out there. I felt really good; the same as I have done all week. But for whatever reason I wasn’t playing well enough today,” the 18-year-old said. “I scrambled well this morning, hanging on to Tom, but I felt like I didn’t give him a game. I’m disappointed as it was unlike me.

“There are lots of positives, though, which I’ll probably be able to reflect on a bit better in a few days time. But, overall, I loved it. It was great to have so much support.”

“I think he gave me a game more than he thought,” interrupted Lewis, a close friend as well as a team-mate of Pepperell’s. “Eddie’s the best grinder I’ve ever come across and he put a lot of pressure on me because he has such a good short game.”

Lewis will soon head to Ganton for the Jacques Leglise Trophy match where he will compete for Great Britain and Ireland against the Continent of Europe on 28 – 29 August.

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Did Tiger Fart On The 18th Green At The Final Of The Buick Open?

The hullabaloo was initiated by a CBS telecast of last Sunday’s final round of the final Buick Open that captured Tiger waiting to play his approach to the green at the 18th on his way to his rousing victory. Woods is seen moving around, a little impatiently, then lifting his right leg in a rather unusual way before an over-loud blast of what sounds like a fart is captured by the TV sound recorder.

Woods and his caddy both laugh loudly and are then seen looking to their right at someone out of the sight of the cameras.

For a while the world enjoyed a repeat play of this totally frivolous but highly entertaimning peice of golfing trivia on You-Tube, but it soon came off when the CBS claimed You-Tube was infringing their copright by running it.

Since then there have been daily reports and blogs speculating on whether it really was:

-Tiger who passed wind or whether it was
-his caddy, Steve Williams,
- a the CBS on-course TV reporter David Feherty who was tracking Tiger,
- a nearby spectator,
-or even, perhaps, someone having fun with a woopy cushion.

Tiger’s unusual leg lift just prior to the blast and his laughter and broad smile that followed the incident do seem to mark him as the culprint, but the over-loud blast of the fart, or whatever it was, on the other hand, does seem to place the perpertrator closer to the camera and exonerate Tiger.

CBS are maintaining it was not Tiger and saying no more and in recent days more and more people are claiming it was Feherty who was responsible.

One of the relatively reliable golf bloggers on the subject says a “highly placed” source, told him it was indeed Feherty who did the deed and Randy Youngman of the Orange County Register also believes that to be the case.

Here’s what he wrote on Wednesday: “None of this is surprising to me. A few years ago, I interviewed Feherty before the Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club, and he confessed that he, Woods and Tiger’s caddie, Steve Williams, sometimes have off-camera farting contests during tournaments.

“‘If you see Tiger and Stevie laughing hysterically (on camera) and you can’t figure out why,’ Feherty told me, it might be because one of them loudly passed gas.”

The fact that both Woods and Williams immediately looked to their right after the incident is further evidence that it was the fun-loving Irisman, who would probably have been much closer to the blast.

TMZ.com was another website that carried footage of the incident, but even if you do get to see it, you are not likely to get any closer to the right answer than anyone has got already – and to tell the truth, who really cares anyway.

It’s something every last one of us do at one time or another. We are just lucky we don’t have Tiger’s sky-high celebrity status and do not need to endure the endless cameras that inevitably focus on his exploits – large or small.

The Race To Dubai

Leading to the Dubai World Championship

• Replaces European Tour Order of Merit from the 2009 season

• The number 1 to 60 Tour players at the end of the season vie for US$10,000,000  prize fund at  the Dubai World Championship

• The Race to Dubai delivers additional Bonus Pool of US$10,000,000 to the15 top-ranked players after the Dubai World Championship

A new, exhilarating era in world golf  was launched on November 6, 2008, when The Race to Dubai – a season long competition on The European Tour International Schedule – began with the first shot hit at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, China.

Exactly 382 days later there is the mouth-watering prospect of one player earning a staggering US$ 3,666,660 with the last shot of the season when the Dubai World Championship unfolds on the Greg Norman-designed Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai, UAE, on November 19-22, 2009.

In between The Race to Dubai will take in 51 tournaments in 26 destinations with players from no fewer than 40 countries vying to be the first to face the most lucrative shot in golfing history.

That thrilling crescendo was conceived when The European Tour and Leisurecorp, the company developing Dubai’s leading residential golf community at Jumeirah Golf Estates, announced a wide-ranging five-year partnership.

The announcement was made, appropriately, in the Burj Al Arab hotel which towers 321 metres above the Persian Gulf in the dynamic city of Dubai – and the jewels in this Arabian crown are The Race to Dubai and the Dubai World Championship.

The Race to Dubai will offer a US$10,000,000 bonus pool from which the Number One player will receive not only US$2,000,000 but also the iconic Harry Vardon Trophy, first awarded in 1937 and won in recent times by Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Colin Montgomerie, Greg Norman, Ronan Rafferty, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Ian Woosnam, in addition to a seven year European Tour Card exemption.

All the world’s leading golfers will tee-up on The Race to Dubai and therefore hold the chance to qualify for the Dubai World Championship from which the champion will earn US$ 1,666,660 from the US$10,000,000 prize fund and a five year European Tour Card exemption.

In The Race to Dubai the players will be ranked according to their earnings from all events on The European Tour International Schedule including all European Tour events, the Major Championships and the World Golf Championships and the Number One to 60 players will qualify for the Dubai World Championship.

George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, said: “The Race to Dubai will take us on a wonderful week by week, tournament by tournament odyssey around the world – creating great drama and theatre for the spectators and generating immense global media coverage.

“Leisurecorp’s sponsorship is giving us great confidence for the future and it will bring a whole new dimension to The European Tour by significantly raising the bar for the players to exhibit their outstanding skills on the world stage.”

The comprehensive agreement between The European Tour and Leisurecorp will run initially for five years, with an option to extend for a further five years, and will also include significant support for selected European Tour events; funding of The European Tour’s Physio Truck; the construction of a new International Headquarters for The European Tour at Jumeirah Golf Estates; and the creation of a global property company in a joint initiative to develop new tournament venues around the world.

What Golf Equipment Is In Tiger Woods Golf Bag?

A question most of you will be interested to know, “What’s in Tiger Woods golf bag?”. Well the answer is as follows:-

Golf Driver – Nike SasQuatch Tour 460cc driver, 7.5 degree loft

Fairway Wood – Nike Sq 11 3 Wood, 15 degrees loft and Nike Sq 11 5 Wood, 19 degrees loft * Tiger will put his two iron or 5 wood in his bag subject to course set-up

Golf Irons – Nike Forged Irons 2-PW, all irons are 1 degree upright, have D4 swingweight, standard size tour velvet grips, and True Temper Dynamic Gold X-100 Golf Shafts

Golf Wedges – Nike 56 degree pro combo Sand Wedge and 60 degree SV Lob Wedge

Golf Putter – Scotty Cameron by Titleist Studio Newport 2 putter (standard loft and lie, length 35?)

Golf Ball – Nike One Platinum (Only 1s with Tiger on them)

Golf Gloves – Nike Dri-Fit tour glove

Golf Shoes – Air Tour TW 8.5

On July 1, the 18-year-old from Devon will start work as an assistant professional at Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland, where the Open Championship will be held just over

Colin Montgomerie

two weeks later.

Snow will work with Montgomerie, one of her golfing heroes, at his Academy, developing her interest in sports science and swing technology.

It is a plumb job at one of the most prestigious courses in the country.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Snow, who is leaving her role as an assistant pro at Oake Manor near Taunton.

“I’m a bit scared but well excited too. It’s one of my ambitions but I didn’t expect it so early.

“My boyfriend and I sent our CVs off to Turnberry. He got an e-mail back saying ‘no thank you’, I got one saying ‘come up for an interview’. He’s a bit upset!

“Dad and I went up for the interview and they spoke to us about the job and showed me around. More than 100 people applied and I got shortlisted to the final two.

“I was told to go out and hit a few balls, so they could see how I swing. They asked about my ambition and what I wanted to do out of Turnberry. Then they rang a few days ago to say I’d got the job.”

Montgomerie’s state-of-the-art Academy will be the ideal place for England international Snow, who plays off four, to develop her interest in the science of golf.

“Apparently he spends a lot of time there now he has moved back to Scotland,” she said. “You can’t beat him and we will be doing it his way, learning his rules.

“He’s got a couple of swing technology rooms up there and I find how the muscles work and what blood vessels do what in the golf swing really interesting.

“Hopefully at some point I can set up a swing technology centre.

“I used to be a really good player but I’m more into the sports science now.”