0 Photo of the Day - 10 July 2014

John Key got a unique gift from the First Golfer on his recent visit to the USA; the Herald reports:

He's used to receiving innocuous pottery vases and decorative ornaments from international leaders while on foreign visits, but the engraved Ping golf putter - a gift from US President Barack Obama to Prime Minister John Key when he visited the White House last month - arrived on Monday via diplomatic pouch to the sheer delight of its recipient.
"We sent it back in the diplomatic bag from Washington which is why it's taken so long to get here. But I used it immediately," a chuffed Key told The Diary.
Luckily a mug was on hand to collect the accompanying presidential golf balls.
Honolulu golfing buddies Obama and Key share a love for the game. The putter came engraved with Obama's signature and the presidential seal and Key's initials, JPK, for John Phillip Key.

Here's the implement in question:

The Prime Minister has no excuse for missed putts any more! 

0 Steven's good week continues

Last week we brought you the good news that Steven Alker had qualified for this week's US Open. 

Alker's good fortune got better today, as the Golf Channel reports:

While some say happiness is the journey, not the destination, there’s a good chance Steven Alker was elated when his voyage to the winner’s circle finally came to an end Sunday … after 11 extra holes.
Alker, a 42-year-old from New Zealand who briefly played on the PGA Tour in 2003, outlasted another journeyman, South Africa's Dawie van der Walt, 35, at the Web.com Tour’s Cleveland Open by sinking a 3-foot birdie putt to end the longest playoff in Web.com history.
The marathon session tied the PGA Tour record for most playoff holes set at the 1949 Motor City Open, during which Carey Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum were declared co-winners when it was deemed too dark to play.
The most recent PGA Tour playoff even close was the 2012 Mayakoba Golf Classic, where John Huh beat Robert Allenby on the eighth extra hole.
Tied at 14 under after the final round, Alker and van der Walt made matching pars on 18, 18, 16, 17, 18, 16, 17, 18, 16 and 17 before Alker finally made a birdie on 18.
The win marks the 10^th professional victory for Alker, his fourth on the Web.com Tour.

 

As if playing 36 holes in a day last week wasn't enough, Steven Alker played almost two rounds today. But with a pay cheque of US$106,000 in his pocket, and two high-pressure victories, he will carry plenty of confidence to Pinehurst No. 2.

 

And today's result has rocketed Alker to #12 on the Web.Com Tour money list. One more high finish this year, and he is likely to find himself back on the PGA Tour next year.

 

Steven Alker is the quintessential Kiwi battler. We congratulate him on today's gritty win, and wish him well for his trip to the US Open.

 

 

 

0 Well done Steven Alker

Lydia Ko has been getting all the golfing headlines in recent months. But today, there's some good news to report from the men's ranks.

Steven Alker has made it through golf's longest day to qualify for next week's US Open. Sectional qualifiers have been played today at ten locations across the US. A total of 769 golfers had made it through local qualifying, or been exempt to the sectionals. Ahead of them stood 36 holes of sudden-death golf, for the last remaining 56 spots.

Steven Alker was playing in the California sectional, and his odds were even more daunting. Because his tournament wasn't where the PGA Tour was last week or this coming week, there were fewer places up for grabs. Alker was hoping for one of just five places available to the 110 California sectional entrants.

After the first round, it wasn't looking flash. Alker shot a 1-under 70 at the Olympic Club in the morning round to be mid-pack, and well out of contention. But all the golfing planets aligned for the Kiwi journeyman in the afternoon round as he shot the equal low score of the day, and the low score at Lake Merced; a seven-under 65. That left Alker in second place at eight-under for the day, with only Alex Cejka of Germany finishing ahead of him.

After the disappointment of narrowly missing his PGA Tour card for 2014, this will be a great consolation prize for Steven Alker. And let's not forget that the last time the US Open was played at Pinehurst #2, Michael Campbell came through sectional qualifying to make the 156-man field, and become just the second New Zealander to win a major.

Fellow Kiwis Danny Lee and Tim Wilkinson were not so lucky, finishing three and two shots off the number in their respective events. So with Michael Campbell's withdrawl, Alker will be the sole New Zealander in the field.

Pinehurst #2 will provide a searching test for the world's best golfers at the end of next week. We wish Steven Alker every success.

0 Lydia-watch

Lydia Ko tees off in the next few minutes in the final round of the Kingsmill Championship at Williamsburg, VA. She begins her final round in a tie for third place, five shots behind leader Lizette Salas.

And there's more than money at stake. A win at the Kingsmill Championship will see Lydia Ko become the world's #1-ranked women's golfer. At just 17 years of age, being the best woman golfer in the world would be another remarkable achievement for the talented Miss Ko. She would become the youngest player ever to be the top-ranked player in the world, male or female.

We'll keep tabs on her progress during the morning, but you can follow the live leaderboard here; go Lydia!

0 Congratulations Lydia Ko

Lydia Ko turned 17 last Thursday. Today she got the best birthday present possible; CBC Sports reports:

With the 18th pin and a championship in sight, Lydia Ko found herself in the rough again in a day filled with off-target drives. The teen told herself she just needed one more important chip with the tournament on the line.
Poised and unflappable, Ko made the perfect pitch up to the green and birdied the final hole for her first LPGA Tour victory as a professional and third in all, holding off Stacy Lewis and Jenny Shin on Sunday in the inaugural Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.
In one memorable week, Ko turned 17, earned a spot as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine and captured her first LPGA Tour win as a pro — all while playing with a fill-in caddie from the local club.
"Normally they would say sweet 16, but I would say it's sweet 17," Ko said. "I don't think I could have any better birthday week."
It went down to the final shots, and the teen made a 6-foot birdie putt moments before Lewis knocked in a 4-footer of her own to finish one stroke back.
After beginning the day a stroke behind Lewis, Ko birdied three of her final four holes on the front nine on the way to a 3-under 69 and 12-under 276 total at Lake Merced.

And this win was all the more special for personal reasons; read on:

Ko earned $270,000, celebrating on the 18th green three days after celebrating her birthday at the first tee box with the gallery singing "Happy Birthday."
Ko, born in South Korea and raised in New Zealand, will move up two spots to No. 2 in the next world ranking.
Her father, G.H., got to see her win Sunday.
"Tears nearly ran down my face. You may lose friends but you're always going to have your parents," Ko said. "I try to make myself not cry of happiness but it was coming to that point."

To have her father present for her first LPGA Tour victory as a professional made this an extra special win the New Zealand prodigy. She has now won on women's golf's biggest tour in three consecutive years, and it is hardly likely that the winning habit will be broken as Ko becomes more and more familiar with the itinerant lifestyle of a professional sportswoman. 

The world of women's golf is Lydia Ko's oyster. It's only a matter of time now before she wins a major, confirming her standing as one of the best ever sportswomen to come out of New Zealand. Superstardom beckons for Lydia Ko.

0 Steve's final Masters?

Adam Scott's reign as Masters Champion is almost over. With just four holes to play, he is back in the pack, and will not successfully defend his title.

But it could be Scott's caddy's final journey to the hallowed grounds of Augusta National; Stuff reports:

Retirement and Steve Williams have been well discussed in recent months. But this week, Augusta National's unique aura is making the penny drop a little.
Rather than simply smelling the azaleas, Williams is making sure to savour them.
"Could this be my last Masters? It could be, yeah. It's a definite possibility," Williams told the Sunday Star-Times.
"It does make me feel different going in to this week, absolutely. I'm definitely taking it in a bit more than I normally would. This week is quite a special week to me."
At 50, Williams is well short of retirement age. And on form, his results with Australian Adam Scott are more the start of an enduring and history-making partnership, than the end of a glittering career.
But life on the road, and moreover, life away from his family, have Williams ready to call time.
Having announced this would be his last season caddying full-time, Williams' future, including the possibility of one more time at Augusta, sit solely in the hands of Scott.
"My plan is to see out 2014 and next year I'm either going to caddie half the year, or not at all. If Adam wants me to caddie for half a year, then that's what I'll do," Williams says.
"If he's not agreeable to that, then that's me done."
As insurance, Williams even thought it best to call in a favour this week, while he still could.
"One of the things that Adam was kind enough to do was get me some tickets, I've got six friends here this week. They've not been here before, they always watched it on TV."
After annual visits to Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones' golfing mecca over the best part of three decades, this week Williams, for the third time in his career, wears the number "1" patch on the left breast of his white boiler suit, the digit reserved for the caddie of the returning champion.

Although he wasn't carrying Tiger Woods' bag when Woods won his first Masters in 1997, Williams has caddied for the winner four times; three times for Woods, and Adam Scott last year.

And who will ever forget this moment from the 2005 Masters?

Steve Williams has had a stellar career. If he walks off the 18th green at Augusta for the final time in a few minutes, he has much with which to look back on with pride.