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| A Look Back: July 25 1965: Billy Casper wins the Insurance City Open. 1971: Arnold Palmer wins the Westchester Classic, beating Gibby Gilbert and Hale Irwin by five shots. 1976: Jerry Pate shoots 63 for a four-stroke victory in the Canadian Open. Jack Nicklaus is runner-up for the second consecutive year. 1993: Lauri Merten wins the U.S. Women's Open by one stroke. 1999: Jackie Gallagher-Smith wins her first LPGA title at the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic. She is the sister of PGA Tour players Jim and Jeff Gallagher. |
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Tournaments
Under an agreement with the PGA Tour, the 2003 John Deere Classic will
be played Sept. 8-14 before moving to the second week in July - immediately following
the Western Open and before the British Open - in 2004-2006.
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more...
Enterprise
infrastructure and integration company Sybase sponsors this week's LPGA Tour event,
the Sybase Big Apple Classic, and its technology will allow fans around
the world to access real-time scoring information for each hole using Web-enabled
wireless devices.
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more...
The Golf
Coaches Association of America announces the 16-team field for the inaugural Hooters
Collegiate Match Play Championship at Barefoot Resort Nov. 8-10.
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more...
Courses
Ray Hearn-designed Hemlock Golf Club in Ludington, Mich., which has five
sets of tees playing to a maximum 7,044 yards, opens on the shores of Lake Michigan
and utilizes the natural sand dunes as part of the layout.
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more...
Associations
The Virginia State Golf Association celebrates the opening of the Museum
of Virginia Golf History at Independence Golf Club's Charles House clubhouse.
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The
membership and the Board of Directors of the Golf Course Builders Association
of America plans to conduct their Summer Meeting, which will include presentations
by industry executives and a golf tournament, in Minneapolis Aug. 15-18.
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The
PGA of America and Jack Nicklaus present $210,000 in grants supporting
25 chapters of The First Tee, a program that creates facilities and provides
access to golf with an emphasis on youngsters who may not have an opportunity
to experience the game.
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more...
The
National Golf Course Owners Association launches a Beginner Friendly Course
Certification to help people locate courses in their area that welcome new golfers.
Approximately 500 courses have been certified as Beginner Friendly.
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more...
Publications
Golfer's Guide, the nation's largest network of regional golf publications,
expands its reach of magazines to cover the Hawaiian Islands, the 26th region
now represented by the digest-sized publication.
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more...
Advertising
adidas Golf will run a 12-week, single-treatment print ad campaign commemorating
Ernie Els' win last weekend at the British Open.
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more...
Equipment
Australian firm Motorized Golf International launches its line of motorcaddies
in the United States with an accompanying Web site at www.motorizedgolf.com.
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Briefly
WildCat Golf Wear debuts a new line of golf gloves with matching visors
and head covers at the PGA Fall Expo Aug. 2-3. More information on the gloves,
made of a lycra blend with leather grip, is at www.wildcatgolfwear.com.
...
Environmental organization Audubon International certifies its
500th Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. Many of those 500 sanctuaries are located
on golf courses. ...
Cleveland Golf announces that Jonathan Kaye joins
its PGA Tour staff and Candie Kung becomes one of its LPGA Tour staff members.
Both will play TA7 irons and 588 wedges, carry a Cleveland bag and wear the logo
on their hats. ...
Shaft maker Aldila reports net sales of $10.6 million
for the second quarter ended June 30, an 8 percent increase over net sales of
$9.8 million in the second quarter of 2001. It also took a net loss of $0.03 per
share compared to $0.09 loss in last year's second quarter. ...
PGA of America
and Aronimink Golf Club kick off ticket sales for the 2003 Senior PGA Championship
with an indoor celebrity putting contest to benefit the Variety Club of Philadelphia
and the City of Philadelphia Department of Recreation. Details are at www.seniorpga2003.com.
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Reader's Forum The 131st British Open is over. Muirfield Golf Links was a fair test, Tiger Woods' quest for the Grand Slam was shut and Ernie Els eventually won a playoff over three other players. What were your impressions of the year's third major? Let us know your opinions by sending your responses to info@gpagolf.com with the subject line RE: Impressions. Also include your first initial and last name, along with your email address. |
In Their Own Words
Revisiting
Ernie Els' British Open week
Monday before the Open:
I have to play a lot better. I haven't played that good the past couple of weeks. I've worked on it a little bit playing out there today, but shots aren't coming out the way I'm visualizing at the moment, so it's a little difficult, but obviously if I get my game together, I've got to keep it there. It's a strong field, a lot of players are coming here with great form, especially Tiger and Phil Mickelson. It's a four-day event, you have to try to hang tough. I would like to see my game a little bit better by Thursday.
I don't know if I'm a little tired of it or what it is, I'm just not -- I just can't get it together at the moment. I had two weeks off after the Hartford tournament and I came to London and spent some nice time with the family and practiced and -- but it's not just quite there. My swing is not tight enough, I feel. The ball position is out a little here and there, a couple of things, and it compounds to quite a problem at times.
Friday, after shooting a front-nine 29:
If you look at the way I played last week and the way I felt last week, I didn't feel very good last week. I think the work myself and David Leadbetter did the last three or four days has really changed my mindset and changed my swing around, so I feel I'm hitting the ball a lot better and more crisply, and I feel like a different player right now.
I'm in a position where I'm challenging for a major championship again. I guess you guys know what my goals are in my career, what I want to do, so I've got an opportunity to achieve one of my goals and that's win a Claret jug. That's what I would like to do and obviously other players would like to win this tournament. It's going to be pretty exciting come Sunday.
Saturday, after battling bad weather conditions:
I was standing on the fourth tee and we had a half hour wait there, and you couldn't believe how the conditions were. At that moment I really thought we were in trouble. At that stage, the only playable holes were the downwind holes and most of them were on the back nine, and we were standing on the fourth tee, so, no, to be honest with you, I never thought I would get it to 5 under. I thought, at best, to have broken 76 or 77 today would you have been a hell of a score, the way the weather conditions were.
I'm really pleased with the round. I cannot explain it well enough, I don't think. Even when it was calm, you know, there's so much pressure. You don't want to let shots go because you know now it's calm; now you're supposed to play better and you're supposed to catch up, so I was really pleased the way I came in, and now I'm in the lead by two, so it doesn't happen very often.
Sunday after a four-hole playoff and a one-hole sudden death playoff:
I'm still a little bit in shock. It was a very tough day, but how do I feel? I'm kind of -- in a couple of hours I will be out of my skin, probably. It's just been an unbelievable four days. Four days and five holes. I really -- most of the time I played really well. I really hung in there well mentally, physically. My game stood up well most of the time. I say most of the time. But I just grinded it out, I guess. I didn't come here with a lot of confidence. I'm going to leave here as the Open Champion. It's been a little journey for me this week.
The last couple of years, I haven't been good in playoffs. I've been pretty well beat in playoffs for quite some time. I did not have a good feeling. I really tried my best on the 72nd hole to try to birdie it, because I just felt I wasn't good in playoffs. And when I left that putt short and I signed my card, I was really pretty much down in the dumps, really. I sat there for a while. Ricky (caddie) didn't want to say anything. He probably was scared of what my reaction would have been. I just sat there.
I hit a beautiful drive down the first playoff hole and I played it actually quite well, except for the pitch shot into 17, which I totally missed again. But other than that, the four playoff holes, I was composed.
I guess after prevailing yesterday evening, it gave me the chance and opportunity to sit yesterday. I had a lot of patience yesterday and to be honest, I guess I had a lot of patience today. To almost be a clear winner and almost be a clear loser in the space of three or four holes, I had patience and I guess I had staying power this time.