GARY PLAYER
Gary Player is a true legend of the game. The South African is one of only five players to have won a career Grand Slam of all four Majors. He has won a total of nine Majors and nine Senior Majors, among 167 Tour events worldwide.
Bjorn and Rose Get Back to Winning Ways
IT'S always good to see a player who's been struggling to find his form getting his game back together and winning tournaments again. It's happened to Thomas Bjorn and Justin Rose in recent weeks and I'm delighted. They are both two of the nicest players in the game.
I couldn't have been more pleased to see Thomas Bjorn win back-to-back tournaments at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles and the Omega European Masters in Switzerland. He'd won the Estoril Open de Portugal last year to end a four-year draught without a win.
He started the season in the best possible way by winning the third tournament of The European Tour's Middle East Swing in February, the Qatar Masters, in confident style by four shots from the 2009 champion Alvaro Quiros.
Thomas has done a lot in representing The European Tour players. He was appointed Chairman of The European Tour's Tournament Committee in 2007 and has done an excellent job. He's one of the most popular and most respected players on The Tour and he's always been prepared to help his fellow players and The Tour.
He was the first Dane to play in The Ryder Cup and contributed considerably to Europe's success. He was on the winning team on both occasions he played, at Valderrama in 1997 when Seve was Captain and at The Belfry in 2002 when Sam Torrance was Captain. He was also one of Bernhard Langer's Vice-Captains at Oakland Hills in 2004 and one of Colin Montgomerie's Vice-Captains at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales last year when Europe defeated the USA by one point.
He also played in the Continental Europe Team in the Seve Trophy against Great Britain and Ireland five times from 2000 and went on to Captain the Team in 2009. Thomas has represented Denmark in four World Cups and later this year will partner Anders Hansen in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China.
He's an all-round team player but he's also a very talented and determined individual. He showed just how good he can be when he's under pressure. At Gleneagles he had to endure a five-man play-off before winning the 12th title of his European Tour career. It was a case of last man standing as it took five successive trips down the 18th hole before Thomas's third birdie in a row knocked out the remaining George Coetzee.
The following week Thomas shot a magnificent 9-under 62 in the final round to defeat Martin Kaymer by four shots. Thomas played the last five holes in five-under having started his final round three shots off the lead. Thomas's three wins matched Luke Donald's three wins in the 2011 season.
It was also good to see Justin Rose winning again - becoming the first European to win one of the events in the PGA Tour's Play-off for the FedEx Cup series and the first to win the BMW Championship in the US since 1934. Justin was unfortunate not to be selected as a Captain's pick by Colin Montgomerie in last October's Ryder Cup, having won twice on the US PGA Tour last summer.
But Justin took his disappointment well and continues to play well in the States despite not having won on The European Tour since 2007.
Justin had the good grace to admit that it was a bizarre final round at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club, Chicago, in the third event of the four-tournament PGA Tour Play-offs for the FedExCup. He was five shots ahead with ten holes to play and seemed to be coasting to victory. With a bogey on the 15th his lead had been cut to one shot by Australian John Senden but he chipped in on the 17th for an unlikely birdie and calmly two-putted the final hole for an eventful victory.
I WAS pleased that the US PGA Tour have recognised David Toms in awarding him the Payne Stewart Award for his dedication to helping at-risk children. David is a fine golfer but, more importantly, a fine man. I cannot think of a more deserving recipient of the Payne Stewart Award, which is for a player who shares Payne Stewart's respect for the tradition of golf, commitment to charity and presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct. As a recipient of the Award in 2006 I know what a great honour it is.
The Australian Open has received a huge boost with Emirates Airline taking up the title sponsorship of the event. As a former winner of the Championship (Gary took the title seven times between 1958-1974) it's good to see Emirates extend their golf sponsorship for this year's event at the Lakes Golf Club in Sydney from November 10th -13th. Emirates already sponsor 18 golf tournaments worldwide, including the Australian PGA Championship which I was also fortunate enough to win in 1957.
I WAS delighted to hear that the 27-hole course we designed at Jinji Lake Golf Club, Suzhou, eight years ago on reclaimed land has become the first golf club in mainland China to receive Golf Environment Organisation certification. It is an honour and something we can be very proud of. Protecting the environmental integrity of a golf course and the surrounding land is something that I and our entire design team is very serious about and Jinji Lake Golf Club being the first to receive the GEO certified ecolabel is fantastic. A commitment to environmental sensitivity can only be successful if the management team is committed to doing so and the team Jinji Lake Golf Club has clearly made the commitment - well done to all of them.
