Wednesday 29 June 2011

Senior Ties for 6th in New York


Peter Senior closed out his week at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open with a 5-under par 67 to tie for 6th place with a tournament total of 10-under. This was Pete's 6th top 10 finish this season on the Champions Tour and has moved him up to 4th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. Great effort Pete!

Tuesday 28 June 2011

2011 US Open Championship

Finally found time to post the blog about my week in Washington DC for the US Open...



Sunday 12 June: After traveling with Scott Barr for 27hrs on Saturday, we turned up bright and early on Sunday morning to take our first look at Congressional.
The clubhouse and practice facilities were spectacular as expected of a US Open venue. Being the weekend before the 2nd major championship of the year, there were very few players around, with many either competing in the PGA Tour's FedEx St.Jude Classic or over in Europe at the BMW Italian Open.

I didn't know a whole lot about the golf course at Congressional before arriving in the United States capital, although I remember watching Ernie Els win there in 1997. All I knew was that Congressional was to become the longest course in US Open history at 7,574yds!...breaking the US Open record set by Bethpage Black in 2009.

The opening hole at Congressional eases you into the round....a 402yd par 4 with a generous fairway, thick but not horrendous rough and a relatively large flat putting surface. Walking off the 1st green, I had the impression that this may not be quite as intimidating as some of the past US Open Championship venues. I was immediately proven wrong as we stood on the 2nd tee...a 233yd uphill par 3 with quite a small green protected by 6 bunkers. Then came the 466yd par 4 3rd, followed by the 470yd par 4 5th....what an early grind! Players would usually seize birdie opportunities on the par 5's, but Congressional only has 3 par 5's and as we found out at the 636yd monster par 5 9th....the par 5's were no push-over!

While the front nine was a fair test, the back nine was absolutely brutal! Five of the back nine's par 4's measured above 467yds, with Congressional's finishing hole playing as a whopping 523yd par 4!!

Monday 13 June: We joined Adam Scott for a practice round on Monday.(pic below) Hard to imagine the number of spectators lining the fairways during a practice round! The media had created some hype around the fact Adam had Steve Williams on his bag for the week. Stevie is an old mate of mine, but is better known for being the caddie of Tiger Woods. After Tiger withdrew from the Championship owing to injury, Adam called on Steve to help him out at Congressional.

Steve shared with me that he had caddied 7 times over the years at major events held at Congressional, so it was therefore great to have his thoughts on the course. Scott Barr definitely benefitted from Adam and Steve's knowledge of the golf course and picked up some valuable tips from both Australia's No.2 ranked player and arguably the best caddie of all time.

Making up our foursome in Mondays practice round were American's Peter Uilhein and David May. Uilhein, was the 2010 US Amateur Champion and former No.1 Ranked Amateur golfer in the world.

Tuesday 14th June: I caught up with Michael Campbell at the range on Tuesday. Cambo is a former US Open Champion and has been under the coaching guidance of "The Guru" Gary Edwin since late 2010. In Gary's absence I helped keep an eye on Cambo's swing throughout the week of the tournament. I sent Gary some of Michael's swing footage early in the week and he was very happy with how Cambo's technique was looking.

The practice range on Tuesday was lined with the world's best players, their coaches and a large number of Major Championship winners, including the defending US Open Champion Graeme McDowell(below).

After some time on the range, I walked with Scott Barr who had joined the European pair of Freddy Jacobsen & Alex Noren for 9-holes. Scott's game was getting better and better each day of practice, and he certainly seemed ready for a solid US Open performance.

On Tuesday night we were invited along with the other Australian's in the US Open field to attend a dinner at the home of the Australian Ambassador, Kim Beasley. Kim treated us all to a terrific Aussie BBQ at his magnificent home in the heart of Washington DC.

Wednesday 15th June: Michael Campbell was looking great on the range on Wednesday. His golf swing was in good shape, appeared confident on the greens and was undoubtedly having good memories as a former US Open Champion. In 2005, Cambo fired a final round 69 at Pinehurst to defeat Tiger Woods by 2-strokes and claim his first Major Championship!(pic below)

After spending some time with Cambo, I did some short game practice and final range work with Scott Barr before heading out on the course for a 9-hole practice round with Robert Allenby & young American talent Bud Cauley. Forgot to mention how long it took the players to walk from the range to the 1st tee...with all the autographs to be signed!(see pic below).





Scott had chosen to play Wednesday's practice round in the afternoon from the 1st tee....similar to how he would be playing the golf course in Thursday's opening round, where he drew an afternoon tee time.

It was great playing on Wednesday with Allenby, a multiple PGA Tour winner who had made several tournament appearances at Congressional over the years. And to witness the talent of rookie professional Bud Cauley was impressive. This kid is only 21yrs of age, fresh out of College, and believe it or not playing in his first ever tournament as a professional golfer....what a place to kick-start your professional career!

Thursday 16th June: Michael Campbell was flushing it on the driving range early on Thursday morning. He teed off at 7:33am with local favorite Fred Funk and amateur David Chung, runner-up in the 2010 US Amateur Championship. I followed Campbell out on course together with Australian Rugby Union legend and former Wallaby captain George Gregon. George had made the trip over to Washington to support Cambo in his campaign to win a 2nd US Open Championship. Freddy Funk had a huge following so the atmosphere around there group was brilliant. Unfortuantely Cambo did not quite hit the ball as well as he was earlier on the range but still signed off for a respectable 75 around the brutally long Congressional layout.

After Cambo's round, it was back to the range for me to meet Scott as he warmed up for a 12:40pm start alongside Maarten Lafeber and American Ty Tryon. Ty was the junior golfer who made headlines in 2001 by becoming the youngest player in history to earn his PGA Tour card through the gruelling Qualifying School.

Barr put together an impressive ball-striking display around Congressional on Thursday, hardly missing a shot. He was also rolling the putter nicely but just couldn't get anything to drop on the greens....4 putts lipped-out and 2 others were left hanging on the edge of the hole. This led to round of 75, which with a bit of luck could comfortably have been 1 or 2-under par. Nonetheless, Scott did a terrific job in his opening US Open round and would go into the 2nd round knowing he just needs a few putts to drop and he will be right back in there.

Friday 17th June: Scott Barr was the first group off 10th tee on Friday morning. I can assure you that at 7am, the 218yd par 3 10th hole across water at Congressional is one of the tougher opening shots in tournament golf!(pic below)
Scott continued his good play from Thursday but got very unlucky with a few shots on his first nine and just like the day before, could not quite get a putt to drop. A back nine of 1-under par gave Barr another round of 75 and although he played some brilliant golf, it would unfortunately not be enough to stay around for the weekend's play. Scott's statistics for the Championship looked like this....

Fairways in Regulation: 50%
Greens in Regulation: 50%
Putting Avg: 30
Driving Avg: 305.25yds
Sand Saves: 57.14%

After Scott's round I was back out on the range to see Michael Campbell warm-up. Cambo was once again flushing it on the range and looked ready to put a low number on the board. Campbell started well, rolling in a nice birdie putt on the difficult 10th to get his round underway. Unfortunately not much else went Cambo's way on Friday....a few wayward drives and several missed putts, and he would end the day with a disappointing 77.

The weekend: I went out to watch the final days play from the comfort of the players hospitality lounge inside the Congressional clubhouse. I did sneak out onto the course to catch a glimpse of the leaders, but with the crowds 10 deep behind the ropes....it was a far better option to return to my seat in front of the big screen back at the clubhouse! It was really fantastic to see several players(even some who’d missed cut)return to Congressional on Sunday afternoon and hang out in the players lounge watching Rory McIlroy make history. There was a huge amount of respect shown to Rory for the incredible golf he had played all week and for re-writing the US Open record books. A well-deserved and most impressive victory!

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Marc Ong 2nd in Vietnam Amateur Open


15yr old Singapore junior golfer Marc Ong has performed commendably in the Vietnam Amateur Open, finishing in outright 2nd place with a 294 total of 4-over par. Marc stormed into the lead after a 1st round course record-breaking 68 around the spectacular Greg Norman designed Dunes Course at Danang Golf Club. Marc continued to play very solid throughout the tournament but could not keep pace with eventual winner, Chanachox Dejpiratana of Thailand. Chanachox came home strong with a final round 68 to be the only player in the 120 strong field to finish under par.

This result has moved Marc into 2nd place in Singapore's 26th SEA Games Selection Ranking....putting him in a good position to earn one of 4 coveted spots in the 2011 SEA Games Team.

Monday 13 June 2011

IFS Corporate Golf Day


The 2nd Annual IFS Corporate Golf Day was held on Friday 10th June at Sentosa Golf Club's beautiful Serapong Course, home of the Barclays Singapore Open.

IFS(International Financial Services)are one of Scott Barr's major corporate sponsors, so it was with great pleasure that Scott, myself and fellow Golf Instructor Richard Harries were in attendance for the IFS event, offering instruction, advice and encouragement to all participants.


It was a terrific day, comprising a golf clinic, luncheon, 18-hole individual event, beat-the-pro competition as well as a prize-presentation dinner.



I would like to thank to all those sponsors who supported us in this event!

Saturday 4 June 2011

Pampling Shares 2nd at Muirfield Village


Rod Pampling's 2nd round 6-under par 66 has vaulted him into a share of 2nd place at The Memorial Tournament. Pampling had a flawless bogey-free round at Muirfield Village to sit just 3 shots behind Steve Stricker heading into the weekend.

Lucius Cruises to Victory

Academy student Lucius Toh has recorded a terrific final round of 2-under par 70 to be crowned the 2011 Singapore Junior Open Champion(12-14yrs Boys).

Fighting off an illness during his first two rounds of 74,74, the 14yr old Singapore Sports School student played an almost flawless 3rd and final round to claim a 6-stroke victory over Malaysia's Paul San. Against a very strong field of 15-17yr old boys, Lucius was placed 3rd overall with a 54-hole total of 2-over....a fantastic result!

The Overall Boys Champion was former Academy student Gregory Foo. The 17yr old Singaporean who spent six years grooming his game under my guidance, fired a blistering opening round of 8-under par 64 which smashed the Keppel Club course record and set him up for what was to be a 3-shot victory over Singapore Sports School student and Keppel Club member Nicklaus Chiam.

Academy student Princeton Yeo also played some great golf early in the tournament, shooting a 2-under par opening round of 70. Princeton eventually finished in 8th position in the Boys 15-17yrs Division.