My Blog

Have  clubs did travel! I made the senior open by qualifing at The Berkshire ok, and thought the greens were quick there…and then I played my 1st practice round at Sunningdale, whoow up to 11.5 on the stimp and the wind blew too! What a fantastic event to play in though, so many great names in the golf world, so many major champions and on such a terrific course too. Surely one of the worlds best inland courses, the overseas players to a man, just loved it.

I was paired in the 1st two rounds with American multi tour winner Gary Hallberg and Spanish former Ryder Cup player Manuel Pinero.  I played well and outscored them both, Manuel had 22 putts for level par 70! An exhibition of short game wizardry if ever I had seen one. Gary was ok but had 74.  Our 2nd round was delayed as a storm hit the region, so we got going at 5.30, only managed 13 holes and returned on Saturday to complete. A poor putting day then 2 loose shots and I struggled to make the cut by 1, on 143, 3 over. Gary was superb and 68 for 142, Manuel ,73 so we all made the week end! Such a relief, my little heart was beating fast over the closing holes I can tell you! Gary was such a nice guy to play with, good company and I would now say a new friend, a true gent.

The members certainly embraced the whole event..sorry Championship, many scoring with each match. Sarah, with my game on day one especially enjoyed the whole experience of being up close to the action. The week end was brilliant, to be there with Greg, Tom, Sandy & co on the practice ground is a great thrill. I played nicely too, the scoring zone was just not tidy enough, too many 3 putts & a couple too many loose shots, all in all; 69,74,71,72 was far from poor…just like school tho ‘should have done better’!

The winner was a previous Champion Loren Roberts, no surprise really that the leaderboard was pure class- McNulty, Norman, Watson, Langer. Oh, and Sir Nick as he would now like to be known…Faldo in case you missed it, well he was under par too. Mind you, I have to say and so do all the players too…what is all that about, having ‘Sir Nick’ on the golf bag ? Amusing? or sad? Make your own mind up, Cheers

Click to view BBC coverage of me at The Open 2009.

Well Turnberry to The Berkshire on Sunday, do you think I won the long drive prize? The Berkshire was the course I had to qualify on for the Open, and what a cousre it is. Simply one of the very best inland courses in the country!

The drive was really good, as I was driving a Lexus 600 h l. For those that know cars its a huge Limo! Just the most comfortable motor I have ever been in let alone driven. This treat was given to me by The RRG group, my car sponsors especially for the 1200 mile round  trip, not too bad hey? I was just born lucky!

Anyhow I played really well, despite a 4 putt from very close range on the 7th! And scored 2 under par 70 , to claim one of the 9 spots available. I was so chuffed to play so well, and the thought of the Senior Open at Sunningdale is seriously mouthwatering. This is a fabulous golf course, and with greens running at 11.5 on the stimp it is a tough but beautifully manicured test.

I have played 2 practice rounds and play at 10.50 on Thurs, the tour website- www.europentour.com has live scoring for those who want to follow their favs! And with Faldo….[sorry Sir Nick as he likes to be known], Norman, Lyle, Langer, Woosie, Kite , O’Meara and a few more Major winners in the field too, this is a serious event indeed! A good one to win I would say. My practice has gone well, I swopped my 3 wood today, to an T’Made R9, my pal has a club fitting centre in Basingstoke, Golf Principles is the name, so he was able to fit me correctly.

Nearer home Sandra has the Conway Corporate event out to the database and its almost full, so all well back at base I think,

Cheers A

I’ve just returned from the Open Championship at the magnificent Turnberry, my favourite place on earth!

As part of the BBC 5 Live commentary team it was an absolute joy and privilege to have a view from inside the ropes of the world’s best players, at such an outstanding course.

Day 1 – I was allocated Luke Donald’s game in the most perfect and benign conditions. Scoring was low and the outstanding story was Tom Watson shooting 5 under! The afternoon saw me out with Monty the people’s favourite in the middle of a scandalous row with Sandy Lyle.

Day 2 – The wind blew and we saw the demise of the “Tiger”. This time it was Turnberry showing its teeth in a stiff north westerly. His first missed cut of an Open!

Day 3 – Tom Watson was still there in a share of the lead, a remarkable story at 59 years old. Another stiff wind across the links made scoring incredibly difficult and yet there were two Englishmen in the frame, Messrs Westwood and Fisher.

Day 4 – and the winds stills hipped across the links. Watson in the final group – what a story!

I was allocated the Stewart Cink group who played terrific golf to post a total of 2 under. I then raced up to the commentary position to see history in the making. A Westwood 3 putt at the 18th was hugely gut wrenching, surely now Tom could make 4 from 160 yards out? Sadly not. In the ensuing play-off it was one way traffic and Cink was the man.

A 500 mile trip to the Berkshire last night, in a splendid new Lexus! I will strive to win one of 8 spots to compete in this week’s British Seniors Open at Sunningdale.
Keep your fingers crossed!!

We all had a great day at Lymm Golf Club, Cheshire yesterday, for my charity pro am. It was Lymm’s 1st time of hosting the annual event, and it proved pretty successfull I would say. The course was in great shape, Stu the head greenkeeper presented it really well, neat , tidy & great greens. The catering was fab too!

And guess who won? Yep, a tad embarrasing but my putter was hot and I scored 64, 7 under to set a new course record and my team of Paul, Carol & Richard won the team event on 15 under! Damn fine day then all round then.

Apart from that it was a day where we all contibuted to the chosen charities AND had a good day doing so!

The Together Trust, Steps & The Genesis Appeal will all benefit from the hard work  and good will and generosity of all our sponsors. So special thanks to The RRG group, True Temper golf shafts, The European Tour, Mercedes Corp Sales, and all the other suppliers from the trade who helped with prizes etc.

Lots of guys make a real effort for me on the day, Torsten my German mate flew in to play, Declan one of my sponsors came up from London to caddy as he is injured, Carras drove from Loch Lomand also. What it is to have friends that put themselves out for the tournament!

All my pals from the Senior Tour that played, seemed to enjoy the course too, so thanks to all those guys. Sandra in our office pulled it all together so deserves all the credit alongside John who just simply made it all work! We had 23 teams all contributing significantly financially to the day, so all things being equal should have raised over £12k. This will take the event total over the £200k mark.

Off to Turnberry now for BBC 5 Live, so listen in!

cheers

What a summer of sport so far ! And we have the Ashes and Open to come yet.

Next for me though is my charity pro am, hosted this year by Lymm Golf Club, in Cheshire. My kids are members there, its my local club and I’m really looking forward to taking the event there for the first time, next Monday. We have, over the years raised a significant amont of money for local charities due to the support of many family, friends & clients. This year is no different, the children all get ‘stuck in’ and help with the goody bags, the yardage chart and fund raisng on the day. Ben is back from Uni’ to take charge of the photo side on the day, Tom is the Pro with the RRG team, Matt is playing too now he’s down to 17. My target for him to play was 18! And Hannah is ‘on course ‘ fund raiser with Sandra, for Paul Barrington’s fantastic golf show after play.

Then…The Open at my favourite venue of all Turnberry, on the Ayrshire coast. I shall be there with BBC 5 Live, for my 18th consectutive Open as part of the 5 live team. I can’t wait, I hope  we enjoy the weather we had all fortnight in SW19 for the tennis…what a finale that was by the way! True champions at work, terrific entertainment too.

I will keep you posted on pro am info, if by chance you would like to donateto our worthy causes this year please feel free to contact myself or Sandra in the office.

cheers