The golfing world has lost one of it’s greatest ever characters. Brian Barnes sadly passed away at the age of 74 on Monday after a brief fight with cancer. A larger than life character Barnes will always be remembered as the man who beat Jack Nicklaus twice in one day at Laurel Canyon in 1975 Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup featured two singles sessions in those days.
Benjamin Hebert birdied the final hole late in the day to steal the first-round lead at the Magical Kenya Open presented by Johnnie Walker, the Frenchman carding a seven-under-par round of 64 to take a one-stroke advantage ahead of a packed leaderboard at Karen Country Club.
There was a bizarre incident at today’s moving day at the Czech Masters. Belgium Thomas Pieters shot a 7 under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Sweden’s Pelle Edberg going into the final day. And he managed his 65 with a two shot penalty for hitting the wrong ball!
The Open Championship is the final major of the season with the 151st playing of The Open and the 13th at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, the first since 2014. 42 players in the field competed at the 2014 Open Championship, including winner Rory McIlroy and four others that finished in the top 10: Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel and Shane Lowry.
Swaziland’s Nobuhle Dlamini and Scotland’s Kelsey MacDonald fired opening rounds of four-under-par 68 to share the lead after the first day at the Estrella Damm Ladies Open presented by Catalunya at Glub de Golf Terramar in Sitges, Spain.
I must admit to being quite confused when Maria Fassi received a two-shot penalty at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, which contributed to her missing the cut. It was not that I did not think she deserved punishment but rather why it was two shots and why were no other penalties handed out at the tournament? There have been two other penalties handed out to LPGA players this year.
The Ladies European Tour is back this week with Nuria Iturrioz set to defend her crown against an international field in the latest event on our 2020 schedule at the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic from 4-6 November. In such a unique format, it is not very often that a player has experience playing under the floodlights but Iturrioz let us into a little secret ahead of her first round.
The haggis has been piped in, the Solheim tartan is out in force and the smiles are out, for the meoment. Countdown to the Solheim Cup has begun and may the best team win. This year, of the twenty four players taking part nine of them are rookies, three on Team Europe side and a record six joining Team USA.
Lexi Thompson, world number 5, has withdrawn from the British Open in order to "recharge" her "mental batteries" after 18 months which have seen her suffer rules controversies.
Natalie Gulbis is making another return to competitive golf, after successfully recovering from her fourth back surgery.
Golfers fortunate enough to own a ground-breaking Motocaddy S5 CONNECT electric trolley or a CUBE CONNECT push cart can now benefit from exciting new features introduced automatically to the brand’s ‘Smart Cart’ models through its free GPS app.
Tiger Woods has missed the cut at Riveira for the first time in nine appearances as a pro.
