Brett Rumford Wins European Tour Ballantines Championship

 

  

 Brett Rumford from Australia today made the most of a massive reprieve to win his fourth European Tour title in the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea.

Rumford made an eagle three on the first hole of a play-off with compatriot Marcus Fraser and Scotland's Peter Whiteford after squandering a two-shot lead with two holes to play.

A wild drive on the 17th led to a penalty drop from a bush and a double-bogey six, while another errant tee-shot on the 18th in regulation meant Rumford eventually had to hole from eight feet just to save par.

When playing partner Fraser was also unable to birdie the 543-yard par-five, Whiteford knew he needed a four to win but the 32-year-old from Kirkcaldy - seeking his first tour title - missed from five feet to card a 69 and finish alongside Rumford (68) and Fraser (68) on 11 under.

The players returned to the 18th and after Whiteford and Fraser missed the green in two, Rumford seized his opportunity in brilliant fashion with a stunning long-iron approach to four feet.

Whiteford chipped and putted for a birdie and Fraser looked certain to also make four after chipping to two feet, but Rumford calmly holed out for a winning eagle.

Ladies European Tour (LET) - Russia’s Maria Baliokeva taking on dual role

   

Combining motherhood with a full-time job is a notoriously difficult task, particularly when you are a professional sportswoman, but try telling that to Maria Baliokeva (maiden name, Verchenova).
The Russian golf star became famous for putting glamour on the fairways, blending sport with modelling commitments in a similar fashion to tennis stars Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova. She continues to do so, despite the arrival of her first child.
Her daughter, Maria, was born on 18^th September, 2012 and Maria posed in a bikini for the Russian version of Maxim looking immaculate just six weeks later.
She came back from maternity with a tie for 54^th place at the 2012 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters in December and started her first season back this March when she played in the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, where she missed the cut.
She is currently in Antalya, preparing for the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open, the next event on the 2013 Ladies European Tour schedule taking place for the fifth time at National Golf Club, from May 9-12.
In a recent interview, the 27-year-old offered an insight into what life is like as a globe-trotting professional golfer with a young child in tow and how she aims to get physically stronger this year.
“I probably will play a little bit less from now on because I have a baby and I want to spend loads of time with my family as well. I want to play quality golf,” she said.
She married Russian businessman Valery Balikoev in 2012 and added: “I was happy because my husband can travel with me as well, not loads, but most of the time and I can take my baby and be mommy as well. I’m going to put loads into my golf but I still want to keep my family around me.
“When I gave birth I thought it was going to be easy because I was back in shape pretty much straight away but I didn’t realise that I got really weak and started practising again a lot after Dubai. It really hurt my back and I was struggling with my back quite a bit.

Maria loves to cook!

“My first priority is getting stronger and changing my swing, because in the past I was swinging it good, but I need something more that I can do every day and recuperate from really well.
“When I was pregnant I played until six months and I did yoga classes four times a week up until the last day. I think when I delivered, I was the same size pretty much after four days and I even had a photo shoot a week later and I was still looking good. But the muscles just went, everything protecting your back, that’s more important. You look okay but more important is the muscles and it was so hard to put them back. I’m actually trying to put on weight and get stronger, that’s my main goal for now.”
Baliokeva was the first Russian to join the Ladies European Tour (LET) full-time for the 2007 season. She began playing golf by chance at the age of 12 after her father took her for a coffee at a golf club in the Czech Republic. She returned to hit balls the following day and was hooked, later signing up at Moscow City Golf Club. Her career highlights involve finishing 5th in the 2008 Tenerife Ladies Open, when she finished 55^th on the money list.

Maria on a Russian cooking show

Despite more Russian golfers on the women’s tours, such as Anastasia Kostina, who made history by winning the GolfStream Ladies Open at Kiev Golf Club in Ukraine on the LET Access Series last May, and LET rookie Galina Rotmistrova, whose sister Ouliana played on tour briefly in 2004, Baliokeva says that golf in Russia is still largely unknown. She is trying to raise awareness through her media appearances, which have included a number of cooking programmes on Russian television with other celebrities over the past few years and for her, cooking is a passion.
She said: “Throughout my pregnancy I was just trying to entertain myself. I was taking cooking classes, mostly I do baking, making cakes. You’ve got to do the cooking! On one hand there’s a baby and the other hand cooking, so it’s putting it all together.

Maria in Russian Golf Digest

“I was still trying to do all this when I was pregnant. I did a shoot and this and that. I’m trying to help Russian golf a little bit, to grow. Hopefully we’ll get the right coaching as well.”
Baliokeva will have taken inspiration from Scotswoman Catriona Matthew, who returned to competition 11 weeks after the arrival of her second daughter to win the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham in 2009.
She was the first Scottish woman to win a major championship and will be among the favourites when the championship returns to St Andrews for only the second time this August on her home soil.
So what does the future hold for Maria Balikoeva… perhaps a maiden professional title this year?
“I’m missed being a competitive golfer, being out here competing and being able to do what I love,” she said. “Now I feel relaxed because I have a daughter and family around me. I just feel relaxed and do what I love to do.”

Maria with her daughter, Maria and husband, Valery

To find out more about Maria, visit her official Facebook page (search: Maria Verchenova)
 Ladies European Tour (LET) - Russia’s Maria Baliokeva taking on dual role

LET Access Series - Emma Cabrera-Bello brings glamour to Ocho Golf Ladies Open in Galicia

                                                  Emma Cabrera-Bello  
Emma Cabrera-Bello will be the leading lady when the inaugural Ocho Golf Ladies Open Galicia 2013 takes place in Spain, on 1-3 May.
The 54-hole stroke play tournament at Augas Santas Balneario and Golf Resort in Pantón, Lugo, promises to be one of the most exciting and glamorous affairs of the 2013 LET Access Series and Cabrera-Bello will play a dual role as both a professional golfer in the tournament and clothing designer for the title sponsor, the Spanish golf wear company Ocho Golf.
After playing on the Ladies European Tour full time for four years from 2008-2011, Emma wanted to combine her love for the game with another passion: fashion design, in a quest to improve ladies’ golf wear.
The 27-year-old from Gran Canaria will model her collection “Ocho Golf by Emma Cabrera” during the tournament, which will also be fashionable for several other reasons, with the presence of YoDona magazine on site all week.
“The first idea was to sponsor me but in the end, we decided to work on my own brand with my name on it. So we started to work together and the design is 100% mine, under the direction of “Paquita”, their official and own clothing designer. We make up very fashionable and modern skirts focused on young people, polo shirts made of 100% Lycra DuPont, all with great quality and of course everything made in Spain.”
The Ocho Golf Ladies Open, supported by, among others, Reale Seguros, the Real Federación Española de Golf and the Federación Gallega de Golf, will showcase women’s professional golf in Spain and a large contingent of 24 Spanish players in particular, who form part of the field of 108 competitors.
Amongst the Spanish players joining Cabrera-Bello are LET rookie Virginia Espejo of Madrid, former LET winner Maria Hernandez from Pamplona and exciting amateurs Patricia Sanz Barrio and Silvia Banon. Cabrera-Bello commented, “We are all looking forward to the first week of May and the event. Augas Santas is supposed to be spectacular and we are told that the golf course is getting ready. Moreover, I always have good memories when I go to Galicia, as I won the Spanish National Individual Amateur Championship there in 2001.”
“The organisers are taking care of all the details and there will be a lot of surprises going on and programmed for the week, including a golf exhibition from an old and historic bridge. The “Ocho” Team, Mireia Prat, Maria Salinas, Margarita Ramos, Maria Hernandez, Patricia Lobato and I won’t miss anything.”
The tournament field features represenatatives of 24 different countries including four of last year's LETAS tournament winners: Anastasia Kostina of Russia, Antonella Cvitan of Sweden, Italy's Anna Rossi and Austrian Christine Wolf.
The LET Access Series offers a leg up to the Ladies European Tour. At the close of the 2013 LETAS season, the top five players on the 2013 Ranking will earn membership of the Ladies European Tour while players in sixth to 20th positions will have the opportunity to progress to the final stage of Lalla Aicha Tour School for 2014.
 LET Access Series - Emma Cabrera-Bello brings glamour to Ocho Golf Ladies Open in Galicia

Ladies European Tour (LET) - Trish Johnson sets out in search of Solheim Cup return

   

Trish Johnson in Halmstad, Sweden, during The 2007 Solheim Cup

England’s Trish Johnson will be targeting her ninth appearance as a member of Europe’s Solheim Cup team for the 13^th staging of the tournament, which takes place at Colorado Golf Club in the United States on August 13-18.
Johnson, who competed in the inaugural match in 1990, is currently ranked 12^th on the European points list from which the top four players will qualify when the team is announced at St Andrews on August 4.
She has represented Europe in the event eight times as a competitor, in 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2005 and 2007, but was also on hand to witness Europe’s stunning victory at Killeen Castle in Ireland in 2011, when she acted as an on-course commentator for Sky Sports.
Talking about what makes The Solheim Cup so special, she commented: “I’m sure it’s been said before but it’s the only team golf we play. I can’t really express the difference between the pressure of playing for yourself and playing for 11 other team mates: captain, vice-captain and your tour, basically. Everybody is behind you, so it’s the sort of thing, you want to go in playing the best golf you’ve ever played because when you’re struggling a little bit it is purgatory. It’s really hard work.
“You’re not going to find your game at a Solheim Cup, so to enjoy it I think you’ve really got to be playing well because there’s an awful lot of pressure. The rewards are more enjoyable. You just have to watch, whether it’s Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup on TV, and see unusual behaviour and immense camaraderie, which you do sometimes see individually but not on that scale, at all.”
Johnson was a member two victorious European teams, at Dalmahoy in 1992 and at Loch Lomond in 2000 and she added: “It’s just such a euphoric feeling if you manage to win. It’s not something you can replicate by winning a golf tournament.”
She described how playing in The Solheim Cup can also improve a player’s confidence once back on tour.
“If you play in a Solheim Cup and you perform to a high standard; a perfect example is, I don’t think Mel (Reid) earned a lot of points last year but she played exceptionally well. It elevated her status and it’s as simple as that. When you come back on tour you feel like you are one of the best players and half the battle with winning is actually feeling like you should be winning all the time. When you get to that standard it’s something you’ve got to do week in week out, which obviously Mel does. It elevates your status basically. You start to think a little bit differently, you start to think like a winner.”
The winning mentality will be especially important for Liselotte Neumann’s 12-woman team this summer when Europe attempts to win for the first time in America.
There is the tantalising prospect that her team could end Europe’s search for glory on American soil and retain The Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Denver, following on from the extraordinary achievements of the European men who retained the Ryder Cup in Chicago last year.

Ladies European Tour (LET) - Trish Johnson sets out in search of Solheim Cup return

Lord Coe Is Hopeful That Rory Plays In Rio

 

  Lord Coe is hopeful that world No 2 Rory McIlroy will make himself available at the next Olympics Rio 2016   despite the difficult decision that still to be made about who he should represent at the Games.
The 23 year-old Northern Irishman could be eligible for selection by either Ireland or Great Britain and Northern Ireland is feared to be thinking of opting out for fear of upsetting people by his choice.
British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Coe said they are waiting for the eligibility criteria to be finalised.
He said: 'As somebody who has welcomed golf in to the Olympic family I think that most of us want to see the best players playing. I hope that Rory is there.'
McIlroy has played for Ireland at amateur level and World Cup level.
Mark England, the BOA’s Games services director, said information is being gathered about a range of issues including McIlroy’s previous participation for Ireland.
'We are fact finding at the moment and waiting to hear back about those facts,' he said.

 

No Tigers Spotted On The Fairways but Gators!!!

 

Ricky Barnes got an early lead with an eight-under-par 64 in New Orleans despite some local gators wandering around the course!

Boo Weekley came close, carding three birdies on his last five holes to open with a bogey-free 65. He was matched late in the afternoon by Lucas Glover, who had six birdies on the front nine (his second nine) en route to a 65 of his own. D.A. Points and rookie Morgan Hoffmann were another shot back after matching 66s.

Guan was playing after being invited by sponsors after making headlines at The Masters, where he made the cut but also was punished for slow play - there was no danger of that happening in New Orleans.

  

 

   

 

Ladies European Tour (LET) - LET No.1 Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand answers our "Women in Sport" questionnaire

   

Ariya in action during the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco

Ariya Jutanugarn, 17, from Thailand, shot to the top of the LET's 2013 ISPS Handa Order of Merit after securing her maiden victory at the the recent Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco last month and also leads the Rolex Rookie of The Year Rankings. Ariya turned professional in January 2013 after a spectacular amateur career, during which she won the LET's Lalla Aicha Tour School in December, also played in Morocco. Find more information about Ariya here.
Here we test her knowledge of other sports and female athletes:

1. Do or did you practice any other sports apart from golf? Which ones? Tennis and Swimming.
2. What is/was your level at that Sport? Good!
3. What could you tell us about following sports? No idea, only about tennis.
4. Compare golf with other sports you like. Which one do you think is the toughest? Golf.
5. Who is your favourite sportwoman outside golf? Why? Venus and Serena Williams, because they are sisters, same as me and Moriya.
6. Tell us names that you know of top sportswomen? What do they have achieved? Venus: all grand slam trophies.
7. Have you met any of them? I have never met any of them and I would like to meet Venus some time.
8. Is there any Sport that you would like to practice professionally if you weren’t dedicated to golf? Tennis.
9. What is your opinion about women’s sport? It has improved a lot from the past.
10. Which sport do you think is more popular? Tennis.
11. And less popular that would deserve more recognition? Field hockey.
12. Do you think women’s sport is popular enough? Yes, but only in some sports.
13. Do you think there is same information as there is on men’s sport? NO

Ladies European Tour (LET) - Paralympic legend backs ISPS Handa mission

  

Paralympic legend David Roberts received his first golf lesson as part of the ISPS HANDA PGA Academy Programme and immediately backed its mission to make golf a Paralympic sport.
Swimmer Roberts, who equalled Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson’s record of 11 Paralympic gold medals, enjoyed his first taste of golf under the watchful eye of ISPS HANDA PGA Academy Programme coach Mark Taylor at Celtic Manor.
Roberts said: “I think it’s harder work than swimming but I was pleased to get a few nice ones away by the end of the session.
“I’ve always wanted to get into golf and the work that the ISPS HANDA PGA Academy Programme is doing to get more disabled people into golf is amazing. Part of the mission is to make golf a Paralympic sport and I think it would fit perfectly into the Games.
“The skills I’ve seen from the more experienced disabled golfers today have been quite incredible.”
The disabled golf clinic teed off Sponsors Day for the ISPS HANDA Wales Open and joining Roberts at the event were Derrick Sheridan, the Chairman of the International Blind Golf Association, Junior Disabled British Open champion Frankie Jones, who has cerebral palsy, Tony Lloyd, who has shortened arms as a result of phocomelia, amputee Andrew Skinner and autistic golfer Jordan Rosser.
Celebrating the first anniversary of its launch, the ISPS HANDA PGA Academy Programme has educated 170 coaches who between them have already delivered over 1,500 coaching sessions to blind and disabled golfers within the UK.
PGA tutor Mark Taylor said: “It’s great to see the enthusiasm of beginners like David and I’m delighted that more and more disabled people are being introduced to golf by the ISPS HANDA PGA Academy Programme.
“What some of the other guys here have already achieved in the sport – and what they have gained from their experiences – shows just what a great game this can be for disabled people.”
The ISPS HANDA Wales Open kicks off the race for qualification for the 2014 Ryder Cup when it takes place at Celtic Manor from August 29-September 1.
About ISPS:  
ISPS is a ‘General Incorporated Association’ based in Tokyo.  ISPS was founded by Japanese philanthropist Dr Haruhisa Handa in 2006 to support charitable causes throughout the sporting world.  ISPS has fostered partnerships with golf governing bodies worldwide to help develop the game at every level and promote blind and disabled golf.  ISPS’s heritage in supporting blind and disabled golf and Dr Handa’s interest and philanthropic contribution in golf has formed the foundation of its wider mission for golf to become a Paralympic sport.  Visit www.ispsgolf.com
Ladies European Tour (LET) - Paralympic legend backs ISPS Handa mission