O’Grady Orders Spanish Players To Speak English Like Normal Humans Or Get The Hell Off His Tour

In his Christmas address released yesterday Tour Chief George O’Grady was scathing in his criticism of Spanish golfers, warning them to speak like normal human beings or get the hell off his Tour.  Dressed in a light blue office shirt with the sleeves rolled up to portray an air of doing something other than farting around all day O’Grady said  “Don’t get me wrong, I love Spanish golfers; they are flamboyant, strong and skilful, they just speak their own language at a million miles an hour and then are just rubbish at English.”

“Any man who says ‘JOO’ instead of ‘YOU’ deserves to be kicked in the arse,” continued O’Grady. “That’s basic stuff you might learn on the first day at school, yet they all still go around saying ‘joo this’ an ‘joo that’ and it’s getting on my wick.  I swear to God that upstart Larrazabal is just doing it now to piss me off.”

“From January 1st, all Spanish golfers found substituting the words ‘Joo’ for ‘You’ and ‘Percaps’ for ‘Perhaps’ can feck off and start their own Tour coz they’re not playing on mine.”

More as it emerges. 

Video: 3 Bays GSA Tiny Golf Swing Analyzer

First and foremost I have absolutely no vested interest in this, I rarely post videos for swing analyzers and training aids. It’s the 3 Bays GSA Golf Swing Analyzer and it’s just a tiny button on a tee like device that fits onto the butt end of the golf club.  In the video Martin Chuck puts it through its paces and compares the data to that produced from trackman.  What do you think?

 

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Video: Gary Player and Billy Horschel Play With Clubs From the 1920’s, 1960’s and Today

I had to take the embedded video out of this post because the sly buggers at Forbes had it set up so as to play automatically on my site.  I hate that!

Anyway you can click on the pic above or here’s the link to watch the video on the Forbes site. 

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World Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2013 International Ballot Results

World Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2013 International Ballot Results

Candidate                                 Voting Results (%)
Colin Montgomerie                 51 %
Graham Marsh                           34
Ian Woosnam                             21
Padraig Harrington                   19
Retief Goosen                           18

Grab the tissues. Here’s what Monty said.

“I know I am very fortunate to have enjoyed such a successful career playing the game I love and it makes me feel very proud that my achievements have been recognized in this way. While my eight Order of Merit wins were very special, as everyone knows my Ryder Cup experiences have provided the very best moments in my career and receiving this great honour is the icing on the cake. I am delighted that my dear friend Ken Schofield’s notable contribution to European golf will also be recognized at next year’s Ceremony and I look forward to sharing this special occasion with him.”

 

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Mobile Phones Should Be Banned From The Dinner Table At Squad Sessions

I’ve heard this all year long.  First from a member of an International Amateur golf team and just last weekend from Sean Kelly who manages a pro cycling team in Belgium.  Where once the dinner at squad sessions was all chat and banter it’s now almost deathly silence with every man just staring blankly at his phone.

He’s checking his facebook or twitter, or maybe posting a picture of the great time he’s not having because he’s too busy on his phone. It’s an epidemic that’s ruining team building all across sport.

How do you build team spirit?  At the dinner table and in group sessions where players get to know each other, get to interact, get to slag each other off for playing badly.  Believe it or not it’s this interaction, this bonding, this joking around that helps build team moral.

Carry on with our heads buried in our phones and where will be?  A bunch of repressed shy retiring individuals, who for whom team will mean nothing.

So please managers and coaches of every team, from club to country, implement a rule of no phones at meals or group sessions.  You can always leave 10 minutes at the end for the guys to rub out a quick tweet behind the bike shed.

Rant Over!

 

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Final Top 50 Of The Official World Golf Rankings Who Get Masters Invites

The last OWGR for the year were finalized on Sunday.  This is important in that Augusta National invites the top 50 to next year's Masters.

Desperately unlucky to not make it was Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who won the Portugal Masters but missed the lucrative Dubai World Championship due to illness. Others to miss out include Henrik Stenson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Richie Ramsay, Marcus Fraser and Padraig Harrington who finished in 59th

On a brighter note Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen's did make it into the top 50, ironically enough by not playing since the Dubai World Championship. Geoff Ogilvy, who is 56th, is in line to temporarily pass Olesen into 50th,  after a fourth-place finish in the Australian PGA Championship, but Olesen will again overtake Ogilvy over the next two weeks.

Weird I know but the OWGR ranks players based on average points earned per tournament in the past two years. Points earned for a specific finish decrease as time passes from that tournament; thus the reason for Ogilvy's fall.

Others to make it to Augusta are George Coetzee, Paul Lawrie, Francesco Molinari, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Branden Grace, Nicolas Colsaerts, Matteo Manassero with Bill Haas and Jason Day from the PGA Tour.

 

		Pt.s Avg	Tot. Pts	# of Evts	Pts. Lost 2010/11	Pts. Gained 2012
1	Rory McIlroy,  Nir	13.22	621.31	47	-364.27	596.99
2	Luke Donald,  Eng	8.62	439.74	51	-447.49	345.77
3	Tiger Woods,  USA	8.53	341.31	40	-172.24	369.87
4	Justin Rose,  Eng	6.42	333.73	52	-210.39	337.66
5	Adam Scott,  Aus	6.21	260.71	42	-212.63	215.02
6	Louis Oosthuizen,  Zaf	6.14	319.27	52	-179.83	334.85
7	Lee Westwood,  Eng	6.03	313.71	52	-320.61	271.50
8	Bubba Watson,  USA	5.29	259.43	49	-213.58	288.71
9	Jason Dufner,  USA	5.29	269.85	51	-158.75	267.95
10	Brandt Snedeker,  USA	5.23	271.71	52	-162.96	267.89
11	Webb Simpson,  USA	5.13	256.37	50	-217.61	202.01
12	Ian Poulter,  Eng	5.00	254.89	51	-171.42	232.12
13	Keegan Bradley,  USA	5.00	259.85	52	-157.10	241.47
14	Charl Schwartzel,  Zaf	4.90	254.70	52	-222.23	205.41
15	Graeme McDowell,  Nir	4.81	250.10	52	-245.16	252.31
16	Sergio Garcia,  Esp	4.73	231.99	49	-148.07	194.26
17	Phil Mickelson,  USA	4.69	229.87	49	-213.24	232.79
18	Steve Stricker,  USA	4.65	190.60	41	-204.57	176.69
19	Peter Hanson,  Swe	4.59	238.89	52	-148.72	234.55
20	Nick Watney,  USA	4.54	235.98	52	-203.14	200.84
21	Matt Kuchar,  USA	4.44	226.34	51	-246.10	218.05
22	Bo Van Pelt,  USA	4.41	229.29	52	-159.96	206.94
23	Dustin Johnson,  USA	4.36	209.22	48	-230.23	170.53
24	Ernie Els,  Zaf	4.34	225.54	52	-155.40	252.88
25	Zach Johnson,  USA	4.25	212.34	50	-159.94	217.60
26	Hunter Mahan,  USA	3.85	200.39	52	-212.04	209.85
27	Jim Furyk,  USA	3.83	198.95	52	-146.66	209.36
28	Martin Kaymer,  Deu	3.67	190.65	52	-274.42	131.00
29	Paul Lawrie,  Sco	3.53	176.42	50	-97.44	187.32
30	Francesco Molinari,  Ita	3.42	177.62	52	-167.98	181.16
31	Rickie Fowler,  USA	3.37	171.84	51	-161.56	157.73
32	Carl Pettersson,  Swe	3.34	173.51	52	-103.64	197.08
33	Gonzalo Fdez-Castano,  Esp	3.31	132.52	40	-82.57	97.76
34	Branden Grace,  Zaf	3.17	164.58	52	-65.55	197.40
35	Bill Haas,  USA	3.12	162.23	52	-172.45	149.30
36	Nicolas Colsaerts,  Bel	3.10	161.30	52	-99.57	169.52
37	Jason Day,  Aus	2.89	127.08	44	-195.35	79.01
38	John Senden,  Aus	2.85	148.11	52	-128.55	118.23
39	Robert Garrigus,  USA	2.84	147.57	52	-89.40	161.44
40	Ryan Moore,  USA	2.76	132.59	48	-106.82	123.72
41	Scott Piercy,  USA	2.71	141.12	52	-56.69	141.23
42	David Toms,  USA	2.68	118.09	44	-144.13	87.21
43	Hiroyuki Fujita,  Jpn	2.64	137.44	52	-102.30	122.29
44	Matteo Manassero,  Ita	2.59	134.77	52	-106.99	132.29
45	Thomas Bjorn,  Dnk	2.52	118.55	47	-134.84	92.01
46	David Lynn,  Eng	2.42	116.26	48	-71.97	103.04
47	Jamie Donaldson,  Wal	2.39	112.41	47	-77.86	103.53
48	K.J. Choi,  Kor	2.30	119.52	52	-182.66	69.16
49	George Coetzee,  Zaf	2.27	117.84	52	-80.30	104.60
50	Thorbjorn Olesen,  Dnk	2.20	114.27	52	-61.81	117.78

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Oakley Taking Rory McIlroy and Nike To Court Over Contract. This Could Get Messy

It was only a matter of time before things got messy with Rory’s existing sponsors as we all know Nike are not into sharing their stars. Oakley who have invested hugely into Rory and built their golf clothing collections around him have filed a lawsuit against both Rory McIlroy and Nike, claiming breach of contract.

 

The case revolves around Oakley which used its right of first refusal to match Nike proposal and which they claim was ignored by the McIlroy camp, thereby breaching the Oakley-McIroy contract.

Reports say that Oakley offered about $60 million to McIlroy but the true figure wasn’t in the court documents.

Oakley now say their relationship with Rory is "irreparable",  which allows them the right to block McIlroy’s Nike contract through the courts.

Oakley have completed all production and branding for the 2013 and spent $300,000 on a photo shoot for the 2013 apparel. They are seeking damages.

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