“South America becoming fertile ground for golf” plus 3 more |
- South America becoming fertile ground for golf
- Golf-Casey wants courses to be treated like listed buildings
- Golf-The future is Asian not OneAsia says Tour chief
- Former U-M QB Hewlett's golf outing personal
| South America becoming fertile ground for golf Posted: 19 May 2010 10:05 AM PDT PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (AP)—The Olympics in Brazil are six years away and golf has only one shot to make a good impression before another vote to determine whether the sport makes it beyond the 2020 games. More than finding (or building) the right golf course in Rio de Janeiro is making sure golf is embraced. Golf in South America has been growing slowly but steadily over the last 10 years, producing such stars as two-time major champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina and Camilo Villegas of Colombia. Which makes the Tour de las Americas, among golf's smallest circuits, more important than ever. "This process needs to be speeded up a little bit because of the Olympics and because of the globalization in golf. And we can say with the crisis of the economy, it makes new markets more attractive," Henrique Lavie, commissioner of the Tour de las Americas, said during a break in meetings with U.S. golf officials. "The U.S. PGA Tour has been very successful in what they have done in Latin America," he said, mentioning tournaments in Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and a recent Nationwide Tour stop in Colombia. "This is a great opportunity to look closely at that market. And they are talking to the Tour de las Americas on how to do it. I think there's real interest, and we're excited about it." U.S. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in March that golf needs to get to South America to develop interest, whether that's the Presidents Cup (which has an opening in 2015) or a regular tournament. One proposal under consideration is to alternate a World Golf Championship between the United States and South America during the next television contract that begins in 2013. Lavie said he spoke to U.S. tour officials two years ago about Brazil, which has a burgeoning economy and will host the Olympics in 2016. "Brazil will be a strong leader in the near future, and taking a world championship there is great preparation for the Olympics and a great measure to test the market in terms of the ability to get a big sponsor," said Lavie, who was based in Venezuela. As for the golf course, Lavie said nearly a dozen architects have shown an interest in building the course to be used for the Olympics. His biggest concern is that the Olympic course is open to the public. "I think that's probably mandatory," Lavie said. "A public golf course can make a big difference. I mentioned at the Presidents Cup the beauty of Harding Park (in San Francisco) being public, because such an event going to a public place means a lot to the game." Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Golf-Casey wants courses to be treated like listed buildings Posted: 19 May 2010 06:05 AM PDT By Tony Jimenez VIRGINIA WATER, England, May 19 (Reuters) - Defending PGA champion Paul Casey has called for golf courses to be offered the same status as listed buildings to prevent too much change after the remodelling of Wentworth's iconic West Course. Triple major winner and local resident Ernie Els has masterminded extensive alterations meaning few of the 18 holes remain untouched on the leafy layout on the outskirts of London. "I suggested to (R&A chief executive) Peter Dawson yesterday maybe we should introduce some kind of scheme along the lines of that which we have with historic buildings in this country," Casey told reporters on the eve of the PGA Championship. "(For instance) Ernie's beautiful house by the 16th hole with the thatched roof and the (superb) plaster work. He owns it but that doesn't give him the right to paint it pink and put a tin roof on it. "When you're an owner of a Grade II listed building it's much like you're the caretaker for the next generation… (similarly) if you're the owner of a golf course does it give you the right to make the changes you want? "Is that in the best interests of that particular course or for golf in general?", added the world number eight. The Briton went on to suggest the rule-making R&A could play a role in protecting venues. "I think we need to keep courses in as good a condition as we can… but maybe (owners) need to go through a procedure to make sure these changes are in line," said the 32-year-old. "Maybe that's something that would have to go through the R&A… along the lines of listing golf courses." DIFFERENT TEST Casey said the West Course, which now has a reduced par of 71 rather than 72, would represent a completely different test in the European Tour's flagship event this week. "It's a course where I'm not sure my local knowledge means much any more," said the Englishman, who has a house at nearby Esher. "I think it's going to be a very difficult challenge. I think the scores are going to be higher. "I'm not getting emotional about what I think about the changes. For me this is just like a new venue and I'm trying to figure out a way to get around in the fewest possible shots." Casey said the last thing he wanted was to criticise Els's changes. "This was Ernie's vision of what he thought a modern West Course should look like and I'm not going to blast him or even praise him," said the Englishman. "I'm just going to sit on the fence right now and worry about trying to get round in this tournament. I do have an opinion but this isn't the time or place to go into that." (Editing by Ken Ferris; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com) Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Golf-The future is Asian not OneAsia says Tour chief Posted: 19 May 2010 04:05 AM PDT By Patrick Johnston SINGAPORE, May 19 (Reuters) - Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han has questioned the long-term future of bitter rival OneAsia after cracks appeared in the fledgling circuit's "dangerous structure". The Asian Tour and OneAsia have been engaged in a long-running dispute after the emergence of the ambitious new series, formed by the PGA of Australia, China Golf Association, Korea Golf Tour and the Korea Golf Association in 2009. "A tour of 10 tournaments, long term, is not going to survive," a relaxed Han told Reuters dressed in his golfing attire, overlooking the Orchid golf course on a stifling hot Wednesday in Singapore. "So they have to get very aggressively very quickly and shake us up and they are seeing it is not working, it's just a mess." The OneAsia Tour increased their number of tournaments from five last year to 11 for this season but have been accused by the Asian Tour of "cannibalising" their events after taking six from them. However, OneAsia struck problems last month after a brief boycott by Korean players of their tournaments which they blamed on a smear campaign without naming who was behind it. "If you see what happened in Korea last month it just happened and we had nothing to do with it," Han said. "It shows there are cracks in the (OneAsia) structure." OneAsia, who work with Singapore-based sports marketing group World Sport Group, have said they hope to have 17-20 events for 2011 with a minimum purse of $1 million across nine countries but Han remains sceptical. COMPLEX PROJECT "I think they (OneAsia) will only be there while the sports marketing company is backing it or it is going to go bankrupt. "I think it is dangerous, we got out of that kind of structure earlier and we are structuring ourselves the same as the PGA Tour and the European Tour." "I would like to see them really attract the big companies to sponsor events rather than just underwriting." Han agreed that the concept of trying to link the many tours was the right move but that he had warned of the pitfalls of rushing into such a complex project. "It's hard for the golf associations to come up and try and do without the player endorsement but they (OneAsia) felt that if they put the tournaments up the players would play. It (the boycott) shows they started to soon." While Asian golf is booming with the emergence of Korea's Yang Yong-eun, the continents first major winner, compatriot Noh Swung-yul and Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa, the battles and disputes are plaguing the sport in the region. Han agreed the fighting amongst the two circuits competing for the same players and events was unhealthy but that he was willing to discuss the matter with only the tours involved. "I said I will speak to the tours but not to a third party running behind it," Han, who admitted he had been talking with the Korean Tour, said whilst reaching for his iced water. "Tour to tour we can talk and work things out I have always said that. It's not healthy for both tours. We lost five or six events and more potentially in China. "OneAsia as a whole was never conceptually formed properly so I would rather talk with each country." (Reporting by Patrick Johnston; Editing by John O'Brien; To comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com) Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Former U-M QB Hewlett's golf outing personal Posted: 19 May 2010 09:09 AM PDT Posted May 19, 2010 - 11:45 a.m.By MARK SNYDER More than a decade ago, Rich Hewlett's son Jeffrey was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and Hewlett's family began giving their time to finding a cure. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation got contributions from fundraising walks but as a former Michigan football player, Hewlett knew he could do more. That's why he created a golf outing in 2008 to raise money for JDRF and has teamed with the U-M comprehensive diabetes center for another outing that took place Monday on the U-M Golf Course. Hewlett played from 1979-83 and was the primary backup on the 1980 Big Ten title team but his most memorable moment was getting thrown in as a starter for the 1979 Michigan/Ohio State game as a true freshman. The outing featured quite a bit of U-M star power, from former coaches Lloyd Carr and Jerry Hanlon, to Cathy Schembechler, representing Hewlett's her late husband and former coach, Bo Schembechler, to a number of former players, including quarterback John Wangler. Jeffrey, now 15, was able to play as well. While the donations were expected to top $45,000, Hewlett believes the outing will get a foothold and grow as it becomes an annual event. Hewlett, who is now an attorney, was able to get his law firm, Dawda Mann, as a primary sponsor. "Right, what we think makes this event so unique is it is a very personal issues for us," Hewlett said. "There are other children and relatives have type 1 diabetes. My wife and I both are from Plymouth and went to Plymouth Salem so many people were able to come. It's a very family, very personal thing to us and many others. This year we're starting to build some awareness of the disease and we're already starting to plan for next year." Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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