Another season ends as the European Tour wrapped up last weekend in the same way that the PGA Tour wound up more than a month ago, with Henrik Stenson winning it all.
That leaves the LPGA as the only tour still in its 2013 season, and their season-ending event is this week’s CME Group Titleholders at Tiburon in Naples, Florida. This will be your last chance to see the women play until mid-February.
Even with the seasons over or ending, there will still be golf to watch. The ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf is already under way down under in Melbourne, Australia, with a field that includes Matt Kuchar, Adam Scott, Jason Day, and a number of other names you would recognize. You would be doing well to recognize more than a half dozen of the names on the leaderboard when the European Tour tees off it’s 2014 season in South Africa this week. But that’s the way it goes in the Silly Season.
As always, HtL is here to point you toward some of the more interesting goings-on in the world of golf. Here’s what made the cut this week.
Hole #1: Stenson Wins Everything
Henrik Stenson finished 2013 off right. He won both the PGA TOUR Championship and the FedExCup points race, then turned around two months later and won the World Tour Championship this past weekend and the European Tour’s Race to Dubai. That’s not a bad season right there. [Link]
Hole #2: It’s Not Euro, It’s Me
Apparently feeling a tad jilted, the European Tour plans to review its qualifying rules after three of its most popular golfers failed to meet the tour’s criteria for playing the Dubai event. Starting this year, the new Finals Series (clearly modeled on the the PGA TOUR Playoffs) requires players to compete in two of the first three events to be able to play in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. Ernie Els, Charles Schwartzel, and Sergio Garcia all failed to meet those requirements due to other commitments. Els called the new system “farcical.” Hand wringing ensued. [Link]
Hole #3: Meanwhile In 2014…
Harris English added his name to the 2014 PGA TOUR’s list of winners by claiming the OHL Classic at Mayakoba last Sunday by four strokes. It was the final event of 2013 in which players could earn FedExCup points for 2014. Who’s on first? [Link]
Hole #4: Friday Night Drives?
ESPN’s Farrell Evans recently postulated that media stories focused on the long-term dangers of concussions and the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy may drive parents to push their kids toward safer sports, like say golf. [Link]
Hole #5: Another Honor for Annika
One of golf’s most decorated women, Annika Sorenstam, was recently named the 2013 PGA First Lady of Golf. The biennial award is presented to a woman who has made significant contributions to the promotion of the game of golf. Sorenstam will receive her award Jan. 22nd during the PGA Merchandise Show. [Link]
Hole #6: Golf Cambodia
Are you looking for a great location for your next buddy trip? Have you considered Phnom Penh? [Link]
Hole #7: Sometimes You Break the Glass, Sometimes It Breaks You
Now this was very nearly a true big break. Chi Chi hits himself in the chi chis (We know that’s not the right term but you can’t say “balls” in a golf blog). [Link]
Hole #8: Golf and the President
A new book takes a look at the ties, some of them tenuous, between golf and the 2012 U.S. presidential election. [Link]
Hole #9: Day Loses Eight Family Members in Typhoon
The shocking photos and stories of the destruction and loss of life in the Philippines following the landfall of Typhoon Haiyan there have been in the news since the disaster hit more than a week ago. Now we’ve learned that PGA TOUR golfer Jason Day lost eight members of his family, including his grandmother. No words can ever hope to address such a loss. All of us at The Sand Trap send our condolences to Jason and his family. [Link]