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A Look Back: Oct. 31 1958: Russ Cochran, PGA Tour member, is born in Paducah, Ky. 1971: Lee Trevino wins the Sahara Invitational edging George Archer by one stroke. 1982: Hal Sutton wins the Walt Disney World Golf Classic in a playoff over Bill Britton. 1993: Jim Gallagher Jr.'s 7-under 277 wins the Tour Championship at the Olympic Club by one stroke over David Frost, John Huston, Greg Norman and Scott Simpson. 1999: Tiger Woods wins his third straight PGA Tour event, the Tour Championship, by four strokes over Davis Love III. |
Courses
The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, an East San Diego Indian tribe,
purchases golf and tennis resort Singing Hills Resort in San Diego.
The resort, which features two 18-hole championship courses and a par-3
course, is just three miles from the Sycuan Reservation where the tribe
operates a successful casino.
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Glenwood Country
Club in Old Bridge, N.J., signs a multi-year agreement with Environmental
Golf for the latter to provide it with professional maintenance services.
The addition of the private 18-hole country club facility increases the
company's maintenance portfolio in the Northeast to seven -- 39 nationwide.
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Environmental Golf
also adds Rancho El Dorado Golf Club in Arizona to its list of
clients. The maintenance company will provide phased, grow-in services
for the daily fee golf course.
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Business
Golf course management company Troon Golf pledges its support to
the Red Cross to help raise money for the victims of the Sept. 11 tragedy.
All of Troon's facilities are collecting funds from greens fees and company
employees are participating in a dollar-for-dollar matching contribution
program.
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more...
Frankly Consulting,
owned by former USGA Technical Director Frank Thomas, announces the addition
of several golf experts to its team of international consultants. Among
the new experts: Dr. Debbie Crews, expert in sports psychology; Dr. Paul
Schempp, leading educator in coaching; Dr. Bob Christina, expert in practice
and performance; and Pia Nilsson, noted golf educator and coach.
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more...
Commentary
Dunhill Event
Goes Downhill
There was no formal announcement, but you could see this coming.
A year ago, Dunhill, a leading European luxury goods company, announced a change in the format of its sponsored event, the Dunhill Cup. No longer would three-man teams represent their respective countries in a refreshing pool and bracket format. No, Dunhill thought that by making it the Dunhill Links Championship a pro-am -- a cheap imitation of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am -- and playing it at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews the event would become a greater spectacle than what the Dunhill Cup had become.
But as David Davies wrote in Saturday's edition of The Guardian, "The Scots had no intention of paying to watch rich nonentities clutter up the field in especially foul weather and they stayed away in droves."
Now with such a dismal inaugural showing, coupled with a wretched economy, Dunhill is reconsidering its position with the event, even though it's signed on for four more years. Then the event was dealt another blow earlier this week, when the European Tour announced its 2002 schedule, which did not include the Dunhill Links Championship -- the tour's richest event.
Though next year's event is tentatively scheduled for the week after the Ryder Cup, there is no other incentive for players to sign on -- other than to pad their wallets while playing some of the world's finest venues.
First off, Dunhill should scrap its desire to want to rub shoulders with Hollywood glitterati such as Michael Douglas and Hugh Grant. Be content with a spunky Spaniard squad that features Miguel Angel Jimenez, Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal and return the tournament to its old format.
Then, the European Tour should reconsider its decision. A polling of European Tour players would likely produce more of a desire to have the Dunhill Cup -- even though the field is a bit more select -- on its schedule rather than the Omega Hong Kong Open.
While progress is often good, the European Tour should not proceed at the expense of something good, which, in this instance, was the Dunhill Cup.