Golf Prodigy of the week

The golf prodigy this week is Tom Gueant and this kid has an amazing swing well worth watching. Unfortunately the audio is in French, but you don't need to understand the language to admire the swing. At 5 years old I was pulling pig tails - I really wish I was honing my swing instead! Enjoy

Smorty Review

I have recently joined smorty a site that bloggers can use to get paid for blogging. Advertisers can also use smorty to buy blog advertising.

It is very easy to use and if you already have a blog that is a few months old and is cached in google then you can try signing up to see if your blog is accepted. If your blog is accepted you can start accepting offers from advertisers to write a little review of their site/product. Before you accept an offer you can read a simple brief of what you are required to do and visit the advertisers website. Once you accept you have 3 days to write the review and submit it to smorty for approval. After 5 day your post will approved (if you have followed all of the guidelines) and you will be paid.

Unlike some of the other sites I have tried new offers seem to occur regularly, but you need to be quick to snap up the offer.

Overall it is a great site and it is very easy - simply follow the link to get paid for blogging

Singapore Open Preview

In recent years this event has undergone an overhaul. The major change being the barclays sponsorship which has seen an increase in prize money ($4 Million US), which has led to some major players making the trip in recent years. Adam Scott will be out to make it a hat trick, but he will have to beat a field that includes Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Angel Cabrera and K.J. Choi.

For a while it looked like big Phil wouldn't make it with his house being in the line of the Californian bush fires, but the house made it through.

Many people will be keen to watch the redeveloped swings of Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh.

My tip would have to be Adam Scott who after a disappointing PGA season, by his standards, will be keen to turn things around. In an interview on the Australian cable golf show he is pleased with how he was striking the ball in the later part of the season, but was disappointed with his short game.

Feel free to leave a comment with your tip for the event.

Ashop Commerce

Like me this site happens to be Australian and it is one of the leading providers of eccomerce software (shopping cart software). This means that if you are trying to sell items on the internet then this software will help you manage your sales.

The web site is well set up and there is heaps of information about the eccomerce software and other services they offer. Their services are available in the US, UK and Australia and the site clearly lists pricing so there are no hidden surprises later.

For new users or users with little experience in ecommerce they have a very good help section with great tutorial movies that show you how to set up your eccomerce software step-by-step.

They have some big clients - the most well known (Australian wise) is the Penrith panthers online shop.

If you currently run, or are planning to run, an ecommerce site then you might like to check out this shopping cart software for yourself. They are offering a free 10 day trial to test the features of this product. To visit the site simply follow the link:
ecommerce software

Golf Trick Shots (Video)

I love searching through youtube for golf videos - it's almost like an addiction, but today I found a great trick shot video that I wanted to share with everyone. If you like crazy golf shots then this is one video that is certainly worth watching. The shot where he is standing on a exercise ball shows some amazing balance (I can't even sit on one). I hope you enjoy the video.

Sponsored Post - Top USA Casinos

Sports gambling is big business and the site top online sportsbook will give you reviews of the best places to have a flutter. The site is crisp and clean and really does what it says it does - simple yet effective. Remember though that this site is mainly focused at US players.

The reviews of the casino sites are quite detailed and they give the best features of the site along with a number rating for each section of the site. The site also lists the bonuses you will get for signing up to certain casinos.

The site also lists top online poker rooms. This types of gambling is becoming very popular and many people are now doing this online instead of visiting a casino.

I am not into gambling, but if you like a flutter then this site might be worth a visit. (Just remember to gamble responsibly)

If you are interested in visiting the site then you can follow the link at the top of the page.

Golf News: Chopra wins for the first time on the US tour

Swede Daniel Chopra has captured his first win on the US tour in a weather delayed final round at the Ginn Classic. Chopra had to wait overnight to play his final three holes, but held on well to take out the 4.5 million dollar tournament. He later told reporters that he played those three holes over and over in his head the night before.

"I was wound up pretty tight last night," Chopra said. "I came up this morning after a good night's sleep and I mentioned to my wife, 'Wow, it's amazing how much more relaxed I feel today.'

"I kind of let it all kind of sink in and put it into perspective. I thought, 'What is the absolute worst that can happen? I'll finish third, which is one (heck) of a great tournament.' I would have taken it in the beginning of the week."

A great attitude from a worthy winner!

Bourdy wins Mallorca Classic golf tournament

France's Gregory Bourdy won the EPGA Mallorca Classic on Sunday with a closing final round of 67 for his first European Tour title to qualify for the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama next week.

Bourdy carded three birdies and no bogeys in near flawless fourth round for a 12-under-par total of 268, his only moment of concern coming when his approach to the 16th cleared the water guarding the front of the green by a matter of feet.

The 25-year-old from Bordeaux, who was drenched in champagne by compatriots Thomas Levet and Christian Cevaer on the 18th green, claimed the first prize of 238,000 pounds after finishing two shots clear of England's Sam Little.

Read full article....


I was really pleased that Bourdy won and have a feeling that this guy could go far - I have been watching a fair bit of the European Tour this year and I have liked the look of his game.

He has a really great name for golf too - Bourdy for birdie :-)

Phil Mickelson backflip video

I found this while looking through my youtube favourites this morning. Unfortunately the title is a bit misleading - Big Phil probably doesn't perform too many back flips. However, this is one amazing way to get your ball over the bunker from the side of a hill. I would try this but I am too afraid that I would hit the ball straight up and it would come down and kill me :-)

It is well worth the watching the 44 second video even if it is just to see a young slim Phil Mickelson. Enjoy.

Golf: Weekend Results

Mike Weir wins Fry's Electronics Open
Former Masters champion Mike Weir ended a victory drought of more than three years on Sunday with a one-stroke triumph over Australian Mark Hensby in the PGA Fry's Electronics Open.

Weir drained a six-foot par putt at 18 to seal the victory and collect the 900,000-dollar first prize in the five million-dollar tournament. Read full article...

Webster Wins Portugal Masters

Britain's Steve Webster clinched an emotional second career win when he eclipsed the Portugal Masters field on Sunday with a closing round eight-under-par 64 at the Victoria course.

He finished two strokes ahead of final-round playing partner Robert Karlsson of Sweden, who shot a 65. Read full article...

Cabrera wins Grand Slam of Golf

US Open champion Angel Cabrera overcame an atrocious start with a spectacular finish to win the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, outlasting Padraig Harrington in a playoff.

Cabrera recovered from a triple bogey on the opening hole that put him five shots behind with a birdie-eagle finish to close with a two-under 68 and get into a playoff with the British Open champion at Mid-Ocean Club.

He finally beat Harrington on the third extra hole with another booming tee shot and a 4-iron into 18 feet on the par-5 18th.

Cabrera took two putts for birdie, which was all he needed when Harrington hit into a deep bunker off the tee and still had four feet for par when the Argentine tapped in.

It was the first time Harrington, who closed with a 69, had trailed all afternoon.

Cabrera finished at 4-under 136, earning $US600,000 ($A674,574) from the tournament restricted to major champions...

Read full article here

The biggest disappointment of this event was that Tiger didn't play and it almost felt like the tournament didn't mean anything because of it (well for me anyway!).

Els wins seventh World Matchplay title

Ernie Els has done something no one else has winning the HSBC World Match Play Championship for he seventh time and he did it in impressive style. When you consider that you must beat 4 players straight to win the tournament it is a fairly impressive result, even with the top players missing. Els beat Colin Montgomerie, Andres Romero, Henrik Stenson and, finally, the reigning US Open Champion Cabrera 6&4 to win the 1000000 pound prize money. The win shoots Els to the top of the European order of merit.

It might be said that this is a win that Els needed having gone winless since last December in a streak that even had sports writers saying he was past it. In an interview Ernie told reporters:

“This is a very important tournament to me and my career. We had some really fine players here this week and it needed good golf to get through.

“Obviously the World Number One, Mr Woods, wasn’t here this week but it’s a tough one to win. It’s very satisfying to win any tournament but I’ve always been a fan of this kind of match play event.

“I’ve played some good golf these last two years and although it might seem that I’m a very patient guy, in fact I am quite impatient when it comes to getting results. So to get a win, and to play the way I did this week, is really satisfying. Hopefully this opens up the doors for me to get other wins.”

Path to Victory

Ernie Els	v	Colin Montgomerie
Ernie Els won 6 & 5

Andres Romero	v	Ernie Els
Ernie Els won 6 & 5

Henrik Stenson	v	Ernie Els
Ernie Els won 3 & 2

Angel Cabrera	v	Ernie Els
Ernie Els won 6 & 4

Frys.com Open - McNeill wins and what a story it is

For me this is one of the stories of the year, as far as golf goes anyway. Last year McNeill had lost his passion for golf, he was working in a golf pro shop and thought he was as far away from winning on the US tour as a golf professional could be. Earlier today he completed an amazing turn around by winning the Frys.com Open. He played a formidable final round making only one bogey on the final hole where it didn't matter anyway. The win secures his tour card for the next two years and I bet he feels about as far away from that pro shop as possible!

Scorecard

																	Total
					George McNeill (SM)					-23							264
					D.J. Trahan (SM)					-19							268
					Cameron Beckman (SM)					-15							272
					Robert Garrigus (SM)					-15							272
					Bob May (SM)					-14							273
					Bo Van Pelt (SM)					-14							273
					Jason Gore (SM)					-13							274
					Mathias Gronberg (SM)					-13							274
					Garrett Willis (SM)					-13							274

HSBC World Match Play Championship

This is another of my favourite European Tour golf tournaments, maybe I just like it when things are a little different or something. For those new to the game match play this little snipet from wikipedia.org might help explain things better:

Unlike stroke play, in which the unit of scoring is the stroke, in match play the unit of scoring is the hole. On each hole, the most that can be gained is one point. Golfers play as normal. The golfer with the lowest score on a given hole receives one point. If the golfers tie, then the hole is halved.

Match play scores of a game in progress are kept with a running tally. At the start of a match, the score is "all square" or tied. The score is then recorded in terms of one player's lead over another player. For example, if Player A has won 3 holes, Player B has won 1 hole and they have halved 2 (or any number of) holes, Player A is said to be leading, "2-up" (3 holes won minus 1 hole lost).

These are the results from the first round (source www.europeantour.com):

Match : 1 Paul Casey v Jerry Kelly Paul Casey won 3 & 2 Match : 2 Retief Goosen v Angel Cabrera Angel Cabrera won 6 & 5 Match : 3 Justin Rose v Hunter Mahan Hunter Mahan won 5 & 4 Match : 4 Rory Sabbatini v Søren Hansen Søren Hansen won 4 & 3 Match : 5 Padraig Harrington v Anders Hansen Anders Hansen won 4 & 2 Match : 6 Henrik Stenson v Woody Austin Henrik Stenson won by 1 Hole Match : 7 Niclas Fasth v Andres Romero Andres Romero won 3 & 2 Match : 8 Ernie Els v Colin Montgomerie Ernie Els won 6 & 5

For me the most interesting results were Ernie Els thrashing Colin Montgomerie and Angel Cabrera also thrashing Retief Goosen, who I rate as a very good player. I also liked the look of Andres Romero and after his British Open heroics could be one of the players to watch next year!

In the Quarter finals we have:
Paul Casey V Angel Cabrera
Hunter Mahan V Søren Hansen
Anders Hansen V Henrik Stenson
Andres Romero V Ernie Els

I think the match to watch out for will be Romero and Els both coming off impressive performances yesterday!

Golf's ultimate fight - PGA Tour Versus European Tour

I have been on holiday the last week so I am sorry for the lack of updates - some people have all the luck right!

PGA Tour Versus European Tour
The PGA tour and the European Tour have been fighting for golf supremacy for years. The PGA tour has always been the more glamorous and offered the most money, but does that make it the best?

Last week former Australian professional Brett Ogle created some controversy when he told viewers of an Australian cable television golf show that the European Tour was "about 2 shots behind the US tour." Ogle's opinion was brought to the attention of the commentators during the Dunhill Links Championship and they were most displeased with his comments as they believed that many of the European Tour events were very close if not equal to the US tour. They argued that because they had 7 of the worlds tops 20 golfers then the event was likely to be just as strong as a US tour event and that the different types of courses on each tour make it much closer than many people think.

Considering Ogle has played, and won, on both tours he should have some insight into the matter. There are certainly some great golfers playing on both tours. What I want to know is what you, the glf watching public, think about the two tours. Is one clearly above the other or are they very similar?

If you have an opinion on this issue I would love to hear it. Feel free to leave a comment and I will try to respond to everyone.

Dunhill Links Championship - Dougherty Wins

This tournament is one of my personal favorite European Tour Events. If you haven't heard of it then I will explain it very quickly. The tournament is played at 3 different courses over the first three days with final round being played at the "home of golf," St. Andrews. There is basically two sides to the tournament

• Pros playing for themselves
• Pros also team up with an amateur
  

Teams of one professional and one amateur play one round each at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. It is a men's professional event, but women amateurs may enter. The leading 60 professionals make the cut to play in the final round, as do the leading 20 teams, whether or not the professional member of the team made the cut personally. (source Wikipedia)

In my opionion playing the tournamnet over 3 different courses really makes it interesting and even adding some celebrity amateur's doesn't seem to cheapen the event. It is the richest golf tournament on the european tour and the winner takes home $800000 US.

Congratulations to Nick Dougherty who won the event today to complete his second win on the tour.

Top 10 - Leaderboard

1	Nick Dougherty	ENG	-18	270	67	66	66	71	F
2	Justin Rose	ENG	-16	272	68	69	66	69	F
3	Rory McIlroy	IRL	-15	273	71	67	67	68	F
4	Paul Lawrie	SCO	-14	284	66	73	64	81	F
4	Barry Lane	ENG	-14	274	69	70	68	67	F
6	Ernie Els	SAF	-13	275	67	67	70	71	F
6	Trevor Immelman	SAF	-13	275	73	65	67	70	F
8	Soren Hansen	DEN	-12	276	66	70	71	69	F
8	Padraig Harrington	IRL	-12	276	70	66	67	73	F
10	Niclas Fasth	SWE	-11	277	67	70	67	73	F
10	Peter Hanson	SWE	-11	277	68	68	69	72	F
10	Paul Casey	ENG	-11	277	74	68	68	67	F
10	Scott Strange	AUS	-11	277	66	70	69	72	F
10	Anton Haig	SAF	-11	277	68	66	75	68	F

Golf Trick Shots Video - World Championship

This is the time of the year when golf slows down a little bit so instead of reading my usual golf news I went looking for golf videos on youtube. I came across this amazing, and a little crazy, golf trick shot video from the World Championship of golf trick shots (...yes you read correctly - World Championship of Golf Trick Shots). This is basically a mini documentary, but it is worth watching for some of the amazing trick shots that these golfers do. I can really see this taking off :-) Enjoy!