LEGOLAND Florida is getting into the holiday spirit with the first annual Christmas Bricktacular. Festive decorations and sounds of the season will fill The Beginning and Fun Town through the holidays, Dec. 8-31, followed by Kids’ New Year’s Eve on Dec. 31. With more than 50 rides, shows and attractions all dedicated to families with children age 2 to 12 and one of the widest selections of LEGO® products available, LEGOLAND Florida is the best place to celebrate the season and pick up the Christmas gifts that are on every child’s wish list – LEGO!
The Beginning is home to a truly spectacular, Bricktacular sight – a more than 30-foot-tall LEGO Christmas tree made with a combination of 270,000 forest green LEGO and DUPLO® bricks. The park’s first-ever tree lighting ceremony takes place on Dec. 5 with a special master of ceremonies. Through Dec. 31, a special family will be chosen to help light the Bricktacular tree each night. Santa Claus even makes special daily appearances in the historical botanical gardens making a picture perfect spot to capture family memories sure to be treasured for years to come. Kids’ New Year’s Eve on Dec. 31 let’s kids rock out and watch the sky explode with LEGO fireworks at just the right time for them, midnight KST (Kid Standard Time) – otherwise known as 7 p.m. EST. Holiday events are included in park admission.
The ladies are back in town and this week sees the culmination of the 2011 LPGA season at the CME Group Titleholders tournament. The tournament is being staged at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando from 17th to 20th November and will feature a field of 66 players who qualified as the top-three performers in each of 22 LPGA tournaments this year. Those players will compete for a total purse of $1.5 million in the unique season-long qualifying format with the winner earning a prize check of $500,000.
Yani Tseng & Nigel Worrall
Headlining the field and seeking her eighth LPGA title and 12th worldwide title of the year is 2011 Rolex Player of the Year Yani Tseng (pictured above) of Taiwan. Currently No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, Tseng secured top-player status in early October at the HanaBank Championship in South Korea and will be honored with the LPGA’s Rolex Player of the Year award for the second consecutive year during this week’s CME Group Titleholders.
Among her 2011 milestones, Tseng became the first male or female golfer to win five major championships by age 22 when she emerged as the champion of the 2011 RICOH Women’s British Open. Prior to that victory, she won the tour’s second major championship of the year at the Wegmans LPGA Championship by 10 strokes, becoming the youngest female golfer to win four majors by age 22.
In addition, Tseng has dominated the race for the 2011 Vare Trophy, which rewards the LPGA player with the lowest season scoring average. That award also will be presented this week.
Tseng has recorded 40 rounds in the 60s this season and currently holds a 2011 scoring average of 69.56 strokes per round in 21 events. Hoping to win her second consecutive Vare Trophy, Na Yeon Choi is in second place with a season scoring average of 70.54 in 20 tournaments. If Tseng holds on this week and maintains a sub-70 scoring average, she will become only the sixth LPGA player in history to break 70 for a season-long average, joining Annika Sorenstam (1998, 2001, 2002, 2005), Karrie Webb (1999), Grace Park (2004), Lorena Ochoa (2006, 2007, 2008) and Na Yeon Choi (2010).
Hee Kyung Seo of South Korea, who also qualified for the CME Group Titleholders, will be honored during tournament week as the 2011 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year. The rookie finished second in a playoff at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open and hopes to end the season with a win at the LPGA’s final tournament.
Lexi Thompson & Nigel Worrall
Other headliners who have qualified for this week’s event include two-time winner Michelle Wie of Hawaii, LPGA and World Golf Hall of Famer Karrie Webb of Australia, 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship winner and Rolex Rankings No. 8 Stacy Lewis of Texas, and Florida teenage wunderkind Lexi Thompson, (pictured above) who qualified this week by winning the Navistar LPGA Classic. Thompson also earned 2012 LPGA Tour membership for the Navistar victory.
In addition, Florida natives and Rolex Rankings No. 3 Cristie Kerr and No. 10 Brittany Lincicome, along with fan-favorite Christina Kim of California, also qualified for the event. They join the final three qualifiers from last week’s Lorena Ochoa Invitational, Americans Juli Inkster and Natalie Gulbis, and Beatriz Recari of Spain.
Several Orlando residents will have the opportunity to commute from their homes and sleep in their own beds this week. Rolex Rankings No. 7 Paula Creamer of California, No. 22 Maria Hjorth of Sweden, No. 35 and LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame member Se Ri Pak of South Korea, No. 2 Suzann Pettersen of Norway and top-ranked Yani Tseng of Taiwan, all will be making the short drive to work this week from their home driveways. Both Creamer and Pak hope to join Hjorth, Pettersen and Tseng as tournament winners this season at the last event in Orlando.
Suzann Pettersen & Nigel Worrall
A number of top performers from this year’s 2011 Solheim Cup also have qualified for the CME Group Titleholders this week, including Europe’s Suzann Pettersen of Norway, Caroline Hedwall of Sweden and Spain’s Azahara Munoz. Also joining the list of top Solheim Cup point-getters is American LPGA rookie Ryann O’Toole of California, who was a 2011 captain’s pick.
Of the 66 qualifiers, Tseng leads all players in the field with multiple season wins. Tseng enters the CME Group Titleholders with seven 2011 LPGA victories. Karrie Webb, Suzann Pettersen and Brittany Lincicome each have two wins this season.
While this week’s CME Group Titleholders is an inaugural tournament, the Titleholders name dates back to the Titleholders women’s golf tournament held from 1937 to 1966, and one additional year in 1972 in Southern Pines, N.C. The tournament was originally staged at Augusta Country Club in Augusta, Ga., prior to the formation of the LPGA in 1950. Past Titleholders champions include LPGA founders Patty Berg, Louise Suggs and Babe Zaharias.
So if you’re in Orlando this week… a day at the golf to see some of the best players in the world is probably the done thing! Get there!
Here’s some video from Lexi Thompson’s press conference…
World number 1 Luke Donald (pictured above) put together an incredible string of six birdies on the trot as he shot a final round 8-under 64 to take the 2011 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic at Walt Disney World today. In doing so he secured the PGA Official Tour Money List title and left little doubt who was No. 1 on the PGA Tour.
Donald trailed Webb Simpson (pictured above) by some $363,029 coming into the final round of this years PGA Tour and he leapfrogged his playing partner to take the winners check of $846,000 and end the year with $6,683,214 some $335,861 ahead of Simpson. He also kept alive his bid to become the first player to win the money title on the PGA Tour and the European Tour in the same season. His lead in Europe is just over $1.8 million over Rory McIlroy with five tournaments remaining.
He wound up with a two-shot win over Justin Leonard (pictured above), who finished with eight pars for a 71. Leonard already is exempt for next year, but kept alive his streak of never finishing out of the top 125 on the money list since joining the tour in 1994.
“This is one of the most satisfying wins of my career,” Donald said afterwards at the press conference, “Everything was on the line, I’m thrilled and over the moon.”
It was an incredible back nine as he holed four straight birdie putts inside 8 feet, took the lead with an 18-foot birdie on the par-5 14th hole, then sealed his stunning rally with a 45-foot birdie on the 15th hole.
It was his second PGA Tour win of the year and also won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest adjusted scoring average. There’s also a good chance that he’ll become the PGA Tour player of the year as no one else has won more than twice this year.
Webb Simpson seemed very matter of the fact afterwards as he said “We gave ourselves a chance. The fact is, playing against the best player in the world, he’s going to do something great like that most of the time, and he did. Made six birdies in a row. Tough to compete against.”
At the end of the day it was Donald who stole the show. He only entered the Disney event after Simpson decided to play at Sea Island last week. Simpson took runner-up honors there and established the lead on the money list so Donald knew his best chance was to win this weekend. It was an extraordinary exhibition of attacking aggressive golf that fittingly took the title. It was a privilege to be there. Congratulations Luke!
Professional golf returns to Orlando this week as the PGA’s Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic comes back for its annual event at Walt Disney World’s Palm and Magnolia golf courses. The first players to tee off at the Palm course will be Jeff Maggert and Shaun Micheel on Tee #1 while on Tee #10 James Driscoll and Bobby Gates will share the 7.50am starting time. Also at 7.50am over at Disney’s Magnolia course Tommy Gainey and Chris Couch begin the day at hole #1 and Paul Goydos and Troy Merritt will be teeing off at hole #10.
I wandered over to the course today to see what shape it’s in and it looks really good. The weather forecast has some rain in the area during the week so that will certainly help to keep the course looking very green. Of the two par 72 courses, Magnolia is the slightly longer measuring 7,516 yards while the Palm comes in at 7,010 yards. The golfers will play once on each course along with their pro-am partners for the first two rounds and then the real action begins as the amateurs step aside after 36 holes and the field is cut. The final two rounds will be played at the Magnolia course and a purse of $4.7 million sees the winner collecting $846,000.
The defending champion is Robert Garrigus who shot a 21 under par 267 to beat Roland Thatcher last year and he’ll be keen for a repeat performance this year. Full week passes are just $20 and single day tickets $10. Youths aged 17 and under receive free admission when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
Also, a “Wine & Dine Experience” daily ticket for $30 includes access to five food stations near the Magnolia course’s putting green. Parking is free in the Magic Kingdom parking lot and from there you gain access to the golf courses via a complimentary shuttle to the main entrance….and watch out for Mickey and Minnie as you get off the shuttle as they’ll be around somewhere!
More photo’s from around the course and some of your favorite Disney characters are on our Facebook/FloridaLeisure page here.
Hot on the heels of the exciting events in Ireland at the Solheim Cup is the opportunity to watch the best women golfers in the world right here in Orlando. The ladies are due to visit from 15th to 20th November at Grand Cypress Resort and this year there’s a brand new format that will ensure that play is as competitive as it has ever been.
The season finale will have a field made up of three qualifiers from every official LPGA Tour tournament, a format never previously used in professional golf. The “Countdown to CME Group Titleholders” will be the culmination of a season-long unifying program that showcases the best performing players from the 2011 LPGA Tour season, and also highlights each and every title sponsor on the LPGA Tour. It promises to be an interesting showdown and ticket s can be obtained at the LPGA web site.
The Solheim Cup was finally won by a jubilant European team in dramatic circumstances earlier today. Following rain delays, lightning threats and the shock withdrawal of Cristie Kerr due to injury before the start of her match, Europe finally regained the Solheim Cup in thrilling fashion with a narrow 15-13 victory over the USA. It was a day where fortunes flowed back and forth as both teams had the chance of victory at Killeen Castle in Ireland.
Both teams were packed with players who call Orlando home so the event was full of interest for those who love golf in Central Florida. The USA team had Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lang, Christina Kim, Brittany Lincicome and Vicky Hurst from the Central Florida area as well as Boca Raton’s Morgan Pressel while Europe had Assistant Captain Annika Sorenstam, Suzann Pettersen (pictured below), Maria Hjorth, Anna Nordqvist and Sandra Gal as well as Ponte Vedra’s Sophie Gustafson.
In the end it all came down to the last three singles matches and a dramatic final half hour. It was during this time that the USA held the upper hand but the pendulum swung firmly in Europe’s favour as Suzann Pettersen started the fightback. One down with three to play against Michelle Wie, the world No. 2 pulled off a dramatic win on the final hole after a run of three successive birdies on the 16, 17 and 18 holes.
This only served to spur on Caroline Hedwall who was two down with two to play against Ryan O’Toole and she managed to win the last two holes to half her match and gain a valuable half point. Azahara Munoz then had the honour of clinching the vital point in the final match as she managed a one hole win over Angela Stanford.
It was the first win for Europe since 2003 and for Captain Alison Nicholas’s European team the 7-5 singles score meant it was a fourth win from 12 contests, and they will go to Colorado Golf Club in two years’ time hoping to win in the USA for a first time.
Walt Disney World Resort and Arnold Palmer Golf Management have signed a 20-year strategic alliance to create even more magic for Disney golfers. Beginning Sept. 25, Arnold Palmer Golf Management will operate, manage, maintain and help promote all five Disney courses including Disney’s Palm and Magnolia, Lake Buena Vista, Osprey Ridge and Oak Trail golf courses.
As part of this long-term alliance agreement, golf legend Arnold Palmer and his golf course design team will be actively engaged in implementing strategic and innovative design features to several of the golf courses. Future enhancements include plans for a full renovation of Disney’s Palm under his direction to become an Arnold Palmer designed course.
“After 40 years as a golf course architect, I’m looking forward to this opportunity to contribute to Disney’s rich and storied golf legacy,” said Arnold Palmer. “I’ve enjoyed a lifetime of memories playing golf and it will be a great reward to pass that on to those who share a passion both for Disney and the game of golf.”
With an extensive following of serious golf enthusiasts, Arnold Palmer Golf Management is known for its excellent course conditions, pace of play, service standards and player development. In addition to course operation, the company also manages “Palmer Advantage,” a reciprocal club and concierge service program, that provides members with unique travel benefits and access to more than 250 private clubs, resorts and golf courses around the world.
“Drawing on Arnold Palmer Golf Management’s expertise and experience enables us to build on our mutual strengths and extend our appeal both among leisure players and avid golfers,” said Ken Potrock, senior vice president of Disney Sports Enterprises. “We’re excited about this new collaboration, which will benefit Disney guests and Palmer Advantage club members wanting a destination golf experience.”
The agreement gives Arnold Palmer Golf Management an opportunity to add a uniquely Disney, family-friendly golf destination to its portfolio of more than 70 private clubs and championship golf courses. Disney Golf will be promoted within the Palmer Advantage network of golf devotees, through a dedicated website and featured within the exclusive publication, “Kingdom Magazine,” which celebrates Mr. Palmer’s contributions to the game of golf and extensive philanthropic ambassadorship.
“With a reputation for service excellence and exceptional family entertainment, Walt Disney World is an ideal complement to our member offerings,” said Jim Hinckley, president of Arnold Palmer Golf Management. “This collaboration will give our members both a superior golf experience and a one-of-a-kind family golf vacation.”
Since Walt Disney World opened with two 18-hole courses in 1971, golf has been a key component of the resort. Over the past four decades, Disney World has hosted professional and amateur golf tournaments, including one of the longest-running events in PGA Tour history – the PGA Tour’s Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic. Disney has also hosted the LPGA Tour, NCAA golf championships and dozens of celebrity golf tournaments.
Good news for Give Kids The World (GKTW) yesterday as they were the recipient of more than $30,000 from The Golf Channel Am Tour (GCAT). More than 5,000 GCAT members from the 2011 season made donations that were collected from participants at the GCAT 25, two-day “Major Championships” from the 2011 season and from the 2010 GCAT National Championships at TPC Sawgrass.
GKTW is the official charitable organization for Golf Channel and the Golf Channel Am Tour provides golfers of all ages and skill levels the opportunity to compete in local, regional and national golf tournaments at top facilities and golf destinations nationwide. Golf Channel – part of NBC Sports Group – owns and operates the Am Tour, a professionally managed tour that features more than 800 local championships conducted annually nationwide.
Golf Channel on-air personalities Win McMurry and Charlie Rymer presented the $30,250 check to Give Kids The World President Pam Landwirth at today’s ceremony at Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee. Accepting the check with Landwirth were three “wish families” who are staying at the Give Kids The World Village this week. Each family has a child facing a life-threatening illness whose one wish is to visit the theme parks of Central Florida. GKTW helps fulfill the wishes of these children by providing families with weeklong, cost-free, fantasy vacations, complete with accommodations in whimsical villas, transportation, donated attractions tickets, meals and much more.
Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, as well as several learning disabilities, 16-year-old Megan Collins from Pittsburgh, Pa., wants to become a cartoonist and said it was her dream to visit Walt Disney World. Remarking on the trip, her mother Brenda Collins said, “This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I could never have afforded to take her here and seeing her now, with her imagination coming to life, is wonderful.” Dressed in a princess gown with pink sparkling earrings, 5-year-old wish child Carolina Floding is jubilant about today’s plans to feed the dolphins at SeaWorld. Visiting from San Diego, Calif., with her parents, she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) at age three and is now in remission. GKTW helped grant Carolina’s one wish to visit Central Florida’s most beloved theme parks. The Collins’ and The Flodings are just two of the 110,000 families that GKTW has welcomed over the last 25 years.
Serving families from all 50 states and more than 70 countries, the global non-profit organization relies on the generosity of countless volunteers, private donors and corporate sponsors to help run its 70-acre “Village.” “We want to extend a heartfelt thanks to the Golf Channel and to all of the players who participated in the Am Tour. Their donation to Give Kids The World will help to provide a week of magical, unforgettable memories for our families,” said Landwirth. “Golf Channel has been a longtime supporter of Give Kids the World, and we are excited and honored to extend that support from the more than 5,000 members of the Golf Channel Am Tour,” said Golf Channel Senior Director of Events Kenny Booth. Culminating the 2011 Golf Channel Am Tour season will be the national championships, taking place Sept. 18-27 at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif.
