George O’Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, on the growth of golf.
It is appropriate that this weekend’s Volvo Masters – the 21st edition of the European Tour’s season-ending tournament – provides the opportunity to reflect on an era of substantial growth in golf and an era that galvanised the Tour on the European stage.
We came to Valderrama, which, at the first Volvo Masters in 1988, was the undisputed No 1 golf course on the Continent, just a few months after Seve Ballesteros had won his third Open Championship. Seve, who inspired our other great major champions, contributed enormously to the unification of the Tour throughout Europe. The past 20 years have seen outstanding levels of growth in golf. We feel now is the time to truly embrace our sport’s ever-increasing global nature.
The Race to Dubai, which begins next week at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, will replace the European Tour Order of Merit. This will bring the Tour cohesion and focus – globally. The season-long Race to Dubai, which carries a bonus pool of $10 million, will culminate with the Dubai World Championship, in November next year, which has a prize fund of $10 million. This financial injection will provide greater visibility to everyone connected with the European Tour.
The aim of Leisurecorp, our partners in the Dubai initiatives, is to develop the best golf courses in the world with architects such as Sergio Garcia and Greg Norman, Vijay Singh and Pete Dye, as they are doing at Jumeirah Golf Estates, the home of the Dubai World Golf Championship. Norman has already been a great ally in developing this concept globally.
Our brand image is changing to reflect Harry Vardon’s status as golf’s first touring professional. As Vardon himself once said: “Golf is now the game of all nations – and it deserves to be.”
Justin Rose, the defending champion in the Volvo Masters which starts in Spain on Thursday, will be like a riderless horse at Valderrama in that he is out first, on his own, in the opening round.
“Some of the guys are outraged and have been asking, ‘How can you do this to the defending champion?’ but I’m OK with it,” Rose said. “In fact, I think it could work to my advantage.”
The explanation for what is going on is that Rose did not qualify for this week like the rest of the field. As one who is lying comfortably outside the top 58 on the European Order of Merit, he would have missed out altogether but for the fact that he won the tournament last year.
After Rose has teed off at 8.30, he will be followed by those in 57th and 58th on the Order of Merit, with Robert Karlsson and Padraig Harrington, the leaders, out last at 12.55.
Rose may or may not get the best of the weather but he will certainly get the best of a somewhat soft Valderrama. He will also have the chance to post the kind of early score which could serve as something of a distraction to the rest.
Rose, who stresses that he does not feel remotely piqued at his situation, made the point that there was nowhere else the European Tour could have put him. “I wouldn’t,” he ventured, “have wanted to be in the way of those vying for the Order of Merit.”
Those wanting a brisk early-morning walk will obviously do best to follow Rose. However, what goes on with Karlsson and Harrington and Lee Westwood and Miguel Jimenez, two more in with an Order of Merit chance, should be riveting from the start. There are all manner of permutations, but suffice to say that if Harrington should win this week, Karlsson cannot afford to finish any lower than second.
Karlsson does not necessarily think it fair that he can make off with the Order of Merit in a year when Harrington has captured two majors, “but if I win it, I’m not going to complain.”
Meanwhile, the news on Seve Ballesteros has been encouraging. Wednesday’s bulletin from the La Paz hospital, the first since the golfer had the third of his operations on a brain tumour, was as follows: “The patient has a favourable trend in his neurological status but needs to be further controlled in the Intensive Care Unit.”
A spokesman added that Ballesteros had undergone a tracheotomy to help with his breathing. “But like many other procedures this is customary and it is part of protocol established for similar cases.”
Seve Ballesteros has shown “a favourable trend in neurological status” after undergoing his third operation to remove a brain tumour.
Ballesteros, who had his first operation on Oct 6 and the second two days later, underwent his most recent procedure on Thursday, Oct 23. It lasted all day but, by the end of it, doctors were confident they had succeeded in their mission to alleviate pressure on the brain caused by bleeding, and to remove remaining tumour tissue.
In the first statement released since Ballesteros’ third operation, a spokesman at the La Paz hospital said: “The patient, Mr Seve Ballesteros, has a favourable trend in his neurological status but needs to be further controlled in the Intensive Care Unit.”
Ballesteros’s tumour has been diagnosed as an oligoastrocytoma, one which affects two types of brain cells and is apt to spread “diffusely” in the brain cavity.
The golfer has been kept under sedation over the last few days and has undergone a trachectomy to help with his breathing.
However, hospital authorities have been at pains to stress that the procedure in question is nothing out of the ordinary.
“It is customary and it is part of protocol established for similar cases,” they said.
Meanwhile, Ballesteros’s golfing colleagues are busy preparing to play in the Volvo Masters, the Valderrama tournament which decides the European Tour’s Order of Merit.
The name Seve Ballesteros has been cropping up all the time, with one player after another recalling how the old champion re-designed the long 17th - he was apparently paid a million dollars for the exercise - prior to the 1997 Ryder Cup.
Typically Ballesteros, he took a mischievous pride in making the hole as tough as he could. So much so that the moment the match was over, Jimmy Patino, the owner of Valderrama, had to set about softening the slopes to make it playable again.
BANGKOK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng is the first player to be picked for next year’s Royal Trophy after being named on captain Joe Ozaki’s Asian team to face holders Europe.
Prayad’s selection comes after his best season yet, which included back-to-back victories on the Japan Tour and a 15th-place finish at the U.S. PGA Championship.
“I have had a very good year in 2008, and it has just got even better with my selection for this,” Prayad, 42, said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Playing for Asia is undoubtedly a huge responsibility but also an immense opportunity. I am so proud to be part of the Asian Team.”
The annual matchplay contest resumes in January after this year’s postponement following the death of Thai Princess Galyani Vadhana, whose brother, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, donated the trophy in 2006.
Europe won the first two editions, which feature singles, foursomes and fourballs competitions.
Organisers are waiting on news of Europe captain Seve Ballesteros’s recovery from brain surgery before making any announcements regarding the European team.
The Spaniard was in a stable condition in intensive care at the weekend after a third operation to reduce swelling and remove remnants of a brain tumour.
Asia captain Ozaki said: “(Ballesteros) has inspired so many and touched the hearts of people all over the globe. We hold the deepest and strongest hope for his speedy recovery.”
The Royal Trophy takes place at the Amata Springs Country Club in Chonburi, east of Bangkok, from Jan. 9-11. (Reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
Sergio Garcia dedicated his first European Tour win since 2005 to Seve Ballesteros after victory in the Castello Masters where he played as a boy.
The 28-year-old, hosting the inaugural event at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo where his father is still the host professional, closed with a four-under-par 67 to finish three shots ahead of Sweden’s Peter Hedblom, who signed for a 66, and five clear of Alexander Noren (65).
Ballesteros, 51, is seriously ill in hospital following three operations on a brain tumour.
“I couldn’t help but think about Seve,” Garcia said. “I’m sending all my love to him and his family and hope he recovers soon. I hope this victory helps him to get a little better.”
Having taken a four-shot lead into the final round after scores of 66, 65 and 66, Garcia held off the strong challenge of Hedblom, the only player who threatened to spoil the fairytale story when he opened on Sunday with four successive birdies.
But he never got ahead of Garcia, who used his knowledge of every nook and cranny of the course to complete a memorable victory and move up to third in the world rankings.
English duo David Lynn and Simon Dyson were tied for second overnight alongside Hedblom and Soren Kjeldsen, but failed to close the gap and ended up joint fourth after rounds of 69.
“It feels absolutely awesome,” Garcia said. “I didn’t play amazing and when Peter had such a great start I thought these guys were not making it easy for me.
“On the back nine I felt I had it under control and had a lot of chances and putts but didn’t make that many.
“It just feels very special and means so much. Just getting the tournament here was special for me and my family but to play the way I did and win it is awesome.”
Garcia birdied the first hole to move to 17 under overall but Hedblom did the same to keep him in his sights, and then reined the Spaniard back in with three more birdies to narrow the gap to just one shot.
At the par-three sixth, Garcia missed the green from the tee and had a tricky chip which he failed to get up and down, while Hedblom sank a simple putt for par to draw level on 16 under.
Garcia immediately responded by picking up a shot at the seventh, holing a putt from eight feet following an excellent approach shot, to regain the outright lead, and extended that advantage with a birdie on the eighth.
Both players birdied the 13th and 16th and when Hedblom bogeyed the 17th to fall three shots behind, it was all but over.
There was also drama as two players battled for 118th place on the Order of Merit to retain their card for next season.
With 118th-placed Patrick Sjoland failing to make the cut, Garry Houston needed just under £8,800 to keep his card but finishing two under overall left him short.
Francois Delamontagne was eventually the lucky man, scraping in by about £240 despite carding a three-over 74.
Severiano Ballesteros’ third operation since he was taken into hospital with a brain tumour has been declared a success.
A team of doctors, which included three neurosurgeons, took 6½ hours to carry out the surgery.
A hospital spokesman said last night: “In the operation, the aims originally planned have been achieved and the edama and the remnants of the tumour eliminated. There were no complications and the patient is now stable and currently under observation in the intensive care unit.”
On Thursday Dr Geoff Pilkington, a tumour expert at the University of Portsmouth, described Ballesteros’s tumour – an oligo-astrocitoma or mixed tumour – as one which can be particularly difficult to eradicate. But he added that the patient’s survival time could be improved by a course of radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy.
Though the hospital has not confirmed as much, Dr Pilkington suspected that the mixed tumour was likely to develop in time “to a high grade tumour”. Yet there are exceptions to the rule and the suspicion is that Ballesteros, as he builds up his strength after one more debilitating operation, will adopt the same approach as Kirsty Taylor, the former Wales Open champion. Taylor, who was diagnosed with a partial Grade 3 tumour in January, said she has been tackling her recovery in much the same way as she tackled golf – a shot at a time.
“You have to stay on the attack,” she said.
Justin Rose earlier offered words of support to the golfing great. The Englishman, who had just completed his second round at the Castellon Masters, said all the players were waiting anxiously for further news.
“Everyone is keeping a very close eye on the situation and wishing Seve all the best,” said Rose.
“I know everyone here is sending their heartfelt best wishes and thinking of him.”
Sergio Garcia hit a six-under-par 65 to give him a share of the lead at the Castellon Masters on the course he grew up playing.
The Spaniard, hosting the inaugural tournament, showed sparkling form at the Club de Campo Mediterraneo, where his father Victor is still the professional, to reach 11 under after his second round.
That put him level with Englishman Richard Finch, who had six birdies from the fifth, and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen, the first-round leader.
Surgeons in Madrid have successfully completed a third operation on golfer Seve Ballesteros to reduce swelling from his brain tumour.
“In that operation the targets originally planned have been achieved and has eliminated the oedema and the remnants of the tumour,” a statement from Madrid’s La Paz hospital read.
“The patient is stable … and is currently controlled in the intensive care unit”.
The operation on the 51-year-old, led by La Paz’s chief brain surgeon Javier Heredero, lasted 6-1/2 hours.
Ballesteros is suffering from an oligoastrocytoma, a tumour that affects two types of brain cell, and spreads diffusely inside the brain cavity.
He was admitted to hospital on Oct 13 after collapsing at the airport in Madrid when bound for a golf show in Munich.
His first operation called for a follow-on procedure two days later in which a section of skull was removed – a decompressive craniectomy – to allow for the initial brain swelling.
There was some mildly encouraging news around the weekend when the hospital said that Ballesteros had woken up on the day after the second surgery – and that they had noted that his reactions were satisfactory before putting him back under sedation.
However, further bleeding and a loss of consciousness necessitated today’s operation.
Tiger Woods has said he is “very confident” that he will compete in the Masters next April, even though his doctors have yet to name a date when he can start playing again following knee surgery.
Woods said: “If I have six months off from surgery, that puts me into January – and another four months puts me at 10 months. I figure I can come back after 10 months.
“Generally it’s between six to nine months when American football players are able to come back and if they can do it at that level, I hope I can do it in golf.”
However, Woods balanced his optimism with caution. “You have to let the ligament heal,” he said. “It has to get more taut. I don’t want to stretch it out because I don’t want to have it go back to where it was.” Keeping it taut means that the world No 1 must stay “on a straight plane” rather than attempt anything in the way of rotation.
Woods has not taken a full swing since the US Open at Torrey Pines in June. That was the week when he defeated Rocco Mediate on what he called a “play-off play-off” to bag his 14th major.
He had an operation the next week in which the tendon from his right knee was used to replace the damaged anterior cruciate ligament in his left leg.
On Monday, when he appeared at Torrey Pines as caddie for the winner of a Buick sweepstake, Woods did not have any problems as he stepped out of his buggy to study the lines of putts.
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October 2008
October 31st, 2008 
