Leisure … more than a word, it's a lifestyle

Showing no signs of slipping, let alone melting down, Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open by eight-shots in a mesmerizing performance.  Jason Day came second on -8 while Lee Westwood, Y.E. Yang, Robert Garrigus and Kevin Chappell shared third place in a field that trailed so far behind that you could only sit back and enjoy the sheer brilliance of the young man from Northern Ireland. Coming on the back of his disappointing final round at The Masters you could sense this was a young man on a mission for his first major win.

The 22-year-old  never came close to a repeat of the Masters, where he blew a four-shot lead on the final day. He made his third birdie of the day on No. 10 to get to 17 under but gave a stroke back after driving into a bunker on No. 12. It was only the third over-par score he’d posted over nearly four days at Congressional.

His score for the four days was 268 and broke the U.S. Open scoring record of 272, held by four players, including Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

“Heck of a performance,” Woods said, in a statement read by NBC’s Dan Hicks during the final nine holes. “Looks pretty comfortable that Rory will raise the U.S. Open trophy. Congrats and well done. Enjoy it. This was an impressive performance.”

McIlroy has also earned himself a big fan in Jack Nicklaus, the career leader in major victories. McIlroy and Nicklaus had lunch shortly after his Masters meltdown, with McIlroy seeking advice on how to finish out tournaments.

“I think he’s going to have a great career and be great for the game,” Nicklaus said in a telephone interview with NBC during the final round. “He’s a nice kid. He’s humble when he needs to be humble and he’s confident when he needs to be confident. He wants to learn and he wants to get better. That’s everything you need.”

Praise indeed.

Congratulations Rory. Fantastic performance.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson head the field for the Arnold Palmer Invitational that starts tomorrow at Bay Hill Golf and Country Club in Orlando. Justin Rose, who captured two PGA Tour victories last year, and Northern Trust champion Aaron Baddeley were also among a handful of late entries who joined the field and the final roster features nine of the top 20 players in this week’s world rankings.

After skipping last years event six-time Bay Hill champion Tiger Woods is making a welcome return after a year’s hiatus. Wherever he goes Woods is always in the news and hopefully this tournament will be a chance for him to set the headlines for all the right reasons. It’s been a painful 18 months for the 14 time major winner and he’ll no doubt see this as the perfect opportunity to tune up ready for the 2011 Masters in a couple of weeks time. U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Masters titleholder Phil Mickelson also are among the headliners in a field that also includes six of this year’s 11 PGA Tour winners.

Late additions to the roster for this years event are Stewart Cink and David Toms who join the 120-man field, along with Bill Haas and Fredrik Jacobsen. The field also will include Champions Tour pro Andy Bean, entering on the 30th anniversary of his 1981 victory.  Last years winner was Ernie Els in a rain delayed tournament that actually finished a day late and he’ll be hopeful of defending his title this year. It’s going to be a great four days of golf in Orlando!

Here’s some video from last year’s event:

Twenty-four of the world’s top-ranked golfers will compete in the 2011 Tavistock Cup, which returns to Isleworth Golf & Country Club, near Orlando, on Monday March 14 and Tuesday March15.

This will be the eighth installment of the team event and this time there’s something new happening that will excite many golf fans. For the first time the event will will feature a four-club competition between the golf professional members of Albany, Isleworth, Lake Nona Golf & Country Club and Queenwood Golf Club.

Team Albany is made up of Tim Clark, Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and Tiger Woods and don’t worry if you’ve not heard of the team before because they are representing the new luxury resort community in The Bahamas developed by Tavistock Group. This team may well be the favorites to take the honors over the two day event as with golf greats like Woods and Els in their team, Albany has amassed a total of 198 worldwide victories with five of Team Albany’s players being ranked in the top 30 in the world.

Team Isleworth’s lineup features Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Brian Davis, J.B. Holmes, Sean O’Hair and Lee Janzen. Isleworth is home to this years event and is known for being the luxury residential community nestled amongst the Butler Chain of Lakes in southwest Orlando. This team has notched 244 worldwide wins and Isleworth’s players include four of the top 70 in the world.

Team Lake Nona has assembled Ross Fisher, Retief Goosen, Peter Hanson, Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson and Oliver Wilson. Lake Nona boasts a victory roster of 319 worldwide wins. Lake Nona is situated in southeast Orlando and forms a cornerstone to Tavistock Group’s emerging life sciences cluster becoming known as Lake Nona Medical City. Each player on Team Lake Nona is ranked in the top 100 in the world and the golf course is ranked among the top residential courses in the world.

Team Queenwood’s competitors include Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke, David Howell, Soren Kjeldsen, Paul McGinley and Adam Scott. Queenwood is one of the most exclusive private members’ golf clubs in the United Kingdom, and it is a team that has secured 64 worldwide victories. Queenwood features four players in the top 110 in the world, as well as a number of Ryder Cup veterans.

Totaling it all up and through the end of 2010, Tavistock Cup’s participating clubs have won more than 825 worldwide victories, including 59 major championships. Some record and some indication of the talent that will be on show on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

In the spirit of Tavistock Cup competition, there is an official dress code for the tournament; spectators are encouraged to wear either ALBANY PINK to show their support for Team Albany, ISLEWORTH RED to show their support for Team Isleworth, LAKE NONA BLUE to show their support for Team Lake Nona or QUEENWOOD GREEN to show their support for Team Queenwood.

The Tavistock Cup’s world-class field hails from all corners of the globe, making this year’s tournament the most internationally diverse one yet. Tavistock Cup contestants play for prize money, team hole-in-one prizes and the title of World Golf and Country Club Champion.

Established in 2004, the Tavistock Cup began as a friendly inter-club match between Isleworth and Lake Nona’s golf professional members. The past seven matches have left Isleworth and Lake Nona tied in the series. Each club has claimed three Tavistock Cup titles, with the 2005 matches ending in a tie following a sudden-death playoff.

The Tavistock Cup through the Tavistock Foundation has donated millions of dollars to local, national and international charities since the tournament’s inception. Some of this year’s beneficiaries include Audubon of Florida, The First Tee, Health Central Foundation, Orlando Minority Youth Golf Association, University of Central Florida Foundation and Valencia College.

The two-day tournament will be broadcast live on the Golf Channel in the U.S., Canada and Japan and airs on international affiliates throughout the United Kingdom, Latin America and South Africa. TavistockCup.com will feature real-time live scoring of the matches.

Yani Tseng - LPGA Player of the Year

All of the LPGA’s major awards were up for grabs over the last four days in Orlando, and an exciting finish saw Maria Hjorth take a 1-stroke victory over Amy Wang in the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship.

In doing so, this meant that Yani Tseng became the first player from Taiwan to win LPGA player of the year; South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi won the year’s money title as well as the Vare Trophy for the year’s lowest scoring average; and South Korean Jiyai Shin kept her No. 1 ranking to become Rolex Rankings No1. edging out American Cristie Kerr, despite shooting 12 over par, 17 shots behind Hjorth.

At the end Hjorth commented:  “Every win is emotional for me.  But being a mother and coming back after giving birth is definitely something that I’ve been hoping for.  It’s nice to prove that it’s possible.”

An emotional Yani Tseng said: “Yeah, actually it’s my honor to be the Player of the Year and when at the announcement, “Yani Tseng is Player of the Year,” the emotion just – it’s kind of – because I never thought I would be holding the trophy, winning Player of the Year.  Because I was always holding the trophy in a tournament, but just one week, but this feels like I’m holding for a year, I’ve been working so hard to chase this title.”

Cristie Kerr & Nigel Worrall

3rd placed Cristie Kerr paid tribute to Tseng : “Yani had a great year.  Besides winning the two majors, she won one more, Arkansas.  That was the difference.  I knew that I had to win probably three tournaments to win Player of the Year, and I just fell short, a little bit short.  Not much.  Not enough to hang your head on.”

It’s  nice to see so many Korean born players on the tour and how at home they seem to be here in Orlando. Shin spoke of the help she received from fellow Orlando resident Annika Sorenstam: “Yeah, I think it’s probably beginning of the year when I talked to Annika.  Because I think she really helped me a lot and she always e-mails me to encourage me when I was in the British Open or this week or some other weeks when I needed. She’s always, saying, you know where I live, you can just stop at my door and just ask me a question.  But I was shy to go ask (laughing).  I knocked on her door one time because I want to give her a card, and then I was glad she’s not at home because I don’t know what I’m going to say, I was so nervous (laughter). But she’s just so nice, such a nice people, and I’m really happy that she’s enjoying her life right now and still supporting the LPGA, supporting golf and to help everybody out.”

So that wraps up the 2010 season and it’s been a great one. Instead of just one player running away with everything, we’ve seen a close run race for every title and that’s what has made the ladies tour so interesting. It’s also been great for Orlando golf to host the final championship of the year and with so many of the leading players coming from the area, it also gives it a nice homely feeling.

Se Ri Pak and Nigel Worrall

What was also nice to see, was the availability of all the ladies to meet and greet the fans. The men could learn from this as all of the ladies were happy to spend time signing autographs and posing for pictures after their rounds. I was particularly pleased to spend a few moments with woman’s legend Se Ri Pak, the woman who has arguably done more to widen the appeal of the game of golf than even Tiger Woods.

Pak made her debut on the LPGA Tour in 1998. There were no South Koreans on the tour back then. Today eleven players from South Korea, a country of about 48 million, one-sixth the size of the United States, are ranked in the top 30 of the Rolex world rankings, more than the United States (eight), Japan (five) or any other country.

Further, South Koreans have won 8 of this season’s 17 L.P.G.A. events and even more remarkable is the depth of the talent; the eight events were won by eight different women, all of them under 30. Today there are 32 South Koreans on the tour and another 36 playing on the Futures Tour. So, that’s it for this year… we have a lot to look forward to as we look to next season.

Hall of Famer and 2003 Disney champion Vijay Singh returns to Disney for the first time in four years at this week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic, Nov. 11-14, joined by two more members of the U.S. Ryder Cup squad.

Rickie Fowler, who made Ryder Cup history as the first PGA Tour rookie to land a U.S. roster berth, was announced last week by tournament officials and by the time the entry window closed Stewart Cink and Jeff Overton also appeared on the 124-man list.

Stephen Ames, Disney’s champion in two of the past three years, will sit out this edition with back problems that flared up two weeks ago in Las Vegas. Doctors have advised him to spend the rest of the year healing.

Four other former champions will make their returns – Davis Love III (2008), Joe Durant (2006), Ryan Palmer (2004) and Jeff Maggert (1993).

The entry list also features three winners from the Fall Series’ other four events. Jonathan Byrd, whose playoff ace ended the Las Vegas event, joined the field along with Rocco Mediate (Frys.com Open) and Heath Slocum (McGladrey Classic).

A strong contingent of Orlando-based pros includes Chris DiMarco, Brian Gay, J.B. Holmes, Charles Howell, Lee Janzen and Chris Couch. Golf Channel’s Big Break Disney Golf winner Mike Perez received sponsor’s exemptions and will now compete against his brother, Pat Perez, ranked 103rd on the money list.

“The DiMarco family has long been a part of the Disney Classic, dating back to Chris’s father, Rich, who played in the Pro-Am, and continues to this day with Chris and his kids participating in the traditional father-child event here at Disney,” said tournament chairman Kevin Weickel. “Mike Perez obviously knows our course well after winning Big Break Disney Golf, and we look forward to seeing his dream come true of playing in a PGA TOUR event here at Disney.”

The two-day pro-am field, which will compete the Thursday and Friday of tournament week, is headlined by Julius “Dr. J’’ Erving, White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, San Francisco Giants outfielder Aaron Rowand and Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Carlos Pena and pitcher James Shields.

Once again, guests also will have the opportunity to experience the Wine & Dine Walk, throughout the back nine of Disney’s Magnolia Golf Course. Patterned after the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, five specialty locations will offer culinary pairings of tapas-sized appetizers, entrees, desserts and wines especially for the event.

Tickets for individual rounds ($10), badges for Classic week ($20) and a new one-day Wine & Dine ticket ($45) are available at www.ChildrensMiracleNetworkClassic.com or through www.ticketmaster.com. The new Wine & Dine ticket is good for five entrees, one at each location, and one beverage, along the back nine of the Magnolia Golf Course. Net proceeds go to Children’s Miracle Network hospitals, including the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies in Orlando, and Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville.

Today is one of the biggest days in the golfing world… it’s the first round of the US Open.

The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States.  It is the second of the four “majors” in golf and is always staged in the middle of June by the United States Golf Association (USGA).  The event is scheduled so that, if there are no weather delays, the final round is played on the third Sunday, which also happens to be Father’s Day. 

The U.S. Open is staged at a variety of courses and set up in such a way that scoring is always very difficult with a premium placed on accurate driving. U.S. Open play is normally characterized by tight scoring at or around par by the leaders, with the winner emerging at around even par.

The one major difference with the U.S. Open is it is the only one of the four major championships that does not go immediately to a playoff if two or more players are tied at the end of the four rounds. Instead, the players play a fifth 18-hole round the following day (Monday), but if a tie still exists after the round, then a sudden death playoff is held. Only three times has the U.S. Open gone to sudden death after the playoff round, most recently in 2008 when Tiger Woods defeated Rocco Mediate on the first playoff hole at Torrey Pines.

This year the event returns to one of my favorite courses, Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach Golf Links is  located in on the Monterey Peninsular in California and is one of four courses in the coastal community of Pebble Beach. The other courses are The Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Del Monte Gof Course.

Pebble Beach is one of the most beautiful courses in the world. It hugs the rugged coastline and has wide open views of the ocean. In 2001 it became the first public course (i.e. open to the general public for play) to be selected as the No.1 Golf Course in America by Golf Digest but greens fees are among the highest in the world, currently at $495 (plus $35 cart fee for non-resort guests) per round.

Pebble Beach has hosted the U.S. Open four times and has an exceptionally distinguished set of Open Champions including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Tiger Woods.  It was also the venue of the 1977 PGA Championship which was won by Lanny Wadkins.

So, who’s in the running this year? Well, the last two weeks have seen English victors on the PGA Tour with Justin Rose and Lee Westwood winning the Memorial and the St. Jude Classic respectively. Both Rose and Westwood are in fine form and you can expect a challenge from both of them.

The sentimental pick, particularly after his performance at the British Open in 2009, is Tom Watson but other notables and those who usually challenge for honors are Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk. Then, of course, there’s the best player in the world, and if Tiger Woods can recapture his wayward form in 2010 then it’s hard to see past the title going to one of these nine names.

There’s much to look forward to… let the action begin.

Phil Mickelson capped a turbulent year with a superb 4 days of golf to deservedly win the Masters from England’s Lee Westwood. Westwood was very magnanimous at the end saying “great champions make the shots” and that’s exactly what “Lefty” did at the 13th hole when he hit the shot of the tournament in hitting his approach shot off the pine straw to within 6 feet of the hole.

Although he missed the eagle attempt he then expanded his lead at the par 5 15th hole and although Westwood made a 5 foot birdie at 17th to put some pressure on, Mickelson hung on and then drained a birdie at the last for a 3 shot win.

The most moving part of the day though wasn’t the golf… it was seeing Phil hugging his wife Amy at the end. Tears rolled down his cheeks and it was clear to all just what it meant to him to have his family with him.

Antony Kim came third at -12 and Tiger Woods and K.J. Choi tied for 4th at -11.

Well it’s here again… the 2010 Masters. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year as we get to see the  gorgeous Augusta National Golf Club course again. This course is always kept in pristine condition and with hole names such as Pink Dogwood, Flowering Peach, Flowering Crab Apple, Yellow Jasmine, Tea Olive and Redbud you just know you’re in for an attack on the visual senses as this colorful feast brings such a visual array of bloom and great golf together.

The Masters Tournament is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, it is the first of the majors to be played each year. Unlike the other major championships, the Masters is unique in that it is held each year at the same location, Augusta National Golf Club, a private golf club in the city of August, Georgia.

The Masters was started by Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones who designed Augusta National with course architect Alister MacKenzie.  The Masters is also remarkable in that the field of players is smaller than those of the other major championships because it is an invitational event, entry being controlled by the Augusta National Golf Club.

The tournament has a number of traditions. A green jacket is awarded to the winner of each tournament, which must be returned to the clubhouse after a year. The Champions dinner, inaugurated by Ben Hogan, is held on the Tuesday before each tournament, and is only open to past champions and certain board members of the Augusta National Golf Club.

Also, another tradition that began in 1963 , legendary golfers, usually past champions, have hit an honorary tee shot on the morning of the first round. Such golfers have included Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer, who has hit the tee shot the last two years.

Since 1960, a semi-social Par 3 Contest, on a par-3 course on Augusta National’s grounds, has been played on the day before the first round of each Masters Tournament… that would mean today!  The winner of this event usually looks upon it as bad luck as the winner of the Par 3 ever has never gone on to win the main championship event.

Jack Nicklaus has won more Masters Tournaments than any other golfer, winning six times between 1963 and 1986. Nicklaus has never won the Par-3 event though… perhaps he knew something others didn’t? Other multiple winners of the Masters include Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, with four each. Gary Player, from South Africa, was the first non-American player to win the tournament in 1961.

Since Tiger Woods convincingly walked away with the title in 1997 at 18 under, the tournament organizers have extended the length and layout of the original course in order to meet developments in equipment technology not to mention player skill. This years event has heightened interest thanks to the Tiger scandal and it will interesting to see how he performs on his first event back since the revelations in regard to his sex life came to the fore last Thanksgiving.

Whatever the outcome, we can all be assured of a great tournament.

Yesterday was Pro-Am day at the final leg of the Florida swing for the PGA and the Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Invitational. Today the real action begins and this year we are going to get a new champion as the winner of the last two years, Tiger Woods, is missing.

This isn’t the only change to be seen at this famous Orlando course this year as every single one of the 18 holes at Bay Hill has been altered in some way or another over the past year.

It’s going to be hard to pick a winner from such an exceptional field and players like Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Ernie Els, Robert Allenby, Retief Goosen and Steve Stricker are bound to both entertain and be up there close to challenging for the title. That said, we shouldn’t rule out a challenge from some of the younger guys who have put on impressive performances already this year. Though only seven players in their 20s won PGA Tour events in all of 2009, already five twenty-somethings have won this season: Bill Haas, Dustin Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Camilo Villegas and Derek Lamely (Puerto Rico) through 12 events and you should also keep an eye on last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational runner-up  Sean O’Hair.

Arnold Palmer Pro-Am 2010

Keeping 80 year old  Arnold Palmer happy will be his grandson, Sam Saunders, will make his second appearance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Saunders, 22, was a fresh-faced amateur the first time around but now he’s a young professional having turned pro last fall and has played in four PGA Tour events to date, earning money in two of them. His best showing was a tie for 17th at the Honda Classic.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational’s trophy is one of the most coveted on the PGA Tour. Not only is there a $6,000,000 purse with $1,080,000 going to the winner but there’s another important prize at stake at Bay Hill – a spot in the Masters.

Any player who is not already exempt for the Masters can earn an invitation with a victory either at the Arnold Palmer Invitational or the following week’s Shell Houston Open. The top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking after the Arnold Palmer Invitational also earn Masters invitations so there’s much to play for and you can expect the competition to be intense.

I spent some time at the pro-am yesterday afternoon and enjoyed seeing some great golf and meeting with a few of today’s top golf pro’s … if you are in the Orlando area over the next four days you really should make the effort to go… after all, it’s not every weekend that a PGA golf tournament visits town.

I also bumped into the gorgeous Kelly Tilghman, host of Golf Channel’s PGA TOUR coverage, fresh from her recent interview with Tiger Woods as she spent a few moments with Arnold Palmer…

Arnold Palmer & Kelly Tilghman

I’m all excited today… my tickets for the Arnold Palmer Invitational Bay Hill PGA event arrived yesterday. I’m going to the practice pro-am on Wednesday 24th March and then I’m going to try out the Wine and Dine on 9 on Friday 26th during the main tournament.

The special event pass is sold separately and will entitle me to try out appetizer and wine samples from such great local restaurants as Morton’s, Flemings, Timpano’s and The Capital Grille.  It’s a great idea and I’m sure it will be a great success!

Although it’s unlikely Tiger Woods will be there, player commitments for the Palmer Invitational continue to roll in. As of this date, player commitments include Retief Goosen, local resident Zach Johnson, Ryan Palmer, Kenny Perry, Vijah Singh, Bubba Watson and rising star Brandt Snedeker. Daily player pairings for the Arnold Palmer Invitational are announced on the event website. Tournament proceeds benefit the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies.

If you’re planning a trip to Orlando then this is a great event for all golf enthusiasts. The event starts on Monday 22 March with a pro-am tournament and youth day, meaning all those under 17 can get in free of charge. Tuesday is a practice day for the pros and then Wednesday sees the main Pro-Am before the main event begins on Thursday 25th running through four intense days of competition ending on Sunday 28 March.

If you are also looking to play a little golf in Orlando during the tournament, then check out our golf page on the main Florida Leisure web site or do a search on “golf” this blog using the the “search” button at the top right.  You’ll find lots of information on local courses and where to play.  Also, it’s important to note that all of our vacation home communities are located just 20-25 minutes away from the Palmer PGA tour event.

Hit them well.