Caddie Golf Tours

The 'Town Match' is an annual game played between the members of the R&A and those of the local golf clubs in St. Andrews. It is played over the Old, New & Jubilee courses here on the links in the Foursomes format, alternate shot, and is one of the great fun events of the year. I finally got my name into the hat along with my golfing buddy of many years, Andy. I sponsored Andy into the St. Andrews Golf Club this year and we were picked out as a team to golf on the Jubilee Course at 11.44am Saturday. Our opponents, from the R&A, were named as Mr J Rigg & Mr D Fay and our team's combined handicaps are 23, so no one gets any shots in this match play foursomes game. Andy arrives at my 'holiday home' just outside St. Andrews on Friday evening after a horrendous day at work so the decision to head to the Dunvegan Bar in St. Andrews, after a couple of glasses of wine, was a no brainer! Once some food was taken with a couple of pints of guinness I sugges...

The young Argentinan Estanislao Goya, a tour rookie, won at Madeira by one shot after an extraodinary final back nine from another rookie, the Scot, Callum Macaulay.  Macauley shot a 28 on the back nine with eight birdies, six of those were in the final six holes! Goya held his nerve after double bogeying the 16th with two pars to win his first European title and a two year exemption. My 'adopted' player for the 2009 season, David Horsey, played all four rounds finishing in 23rd position.  

The European Tour's 'Race to Dubai' continues this weekend after the big events in the USA over the last couple of weeks. This is a hardcore, run of the mill, tournament no matter how you package it and is the the sort that has really good players in the field but the cream are resting, after their exertons of late. Poor souls.   Good to see my adopted rookie golfer for the year, David Horsey, make the cut, reasonably comfortably, with a pair of 73s'.   There are a couple of guys I've caddied with (not for) at the top of the leaderboard - Damien Mcgrane at the Scottish Open Loch Lomond. He is a delightful man and a winner on the tour last year. The other is Joaggem Haeggman who I encountered a couple of years ago at the Dunhill Links jamboree, held in October over the Old, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns. Poor lad was going through a real loss of form and eventually lost his card. Good to see him back as he was really corteous to my (amateuer) golfer and genuinely depor...

The young English golfer David Horsey, whose career I have been following closely over the last couple of years, put in a tremendous final round of 64, with a fantastic 29 on the back nine, at the Malaysian Open to finish in a tie for second place, one shot behind the winner Anthony Kang of the USA. David Horsey and his caddie, me, on the 18th fairway of the Old Course at St. Andrews This is Davids best result in his rookie season on the European Tour and the 'Race to Dubai'. It propels him up the money list and into 23rd position.  He said "I am pleased - I would have certainly taken that score at the start of the day but then there is a little bit of disappointment not to win having gone so close. I am very pleased with how I have applied myself". "I managed to birdie the last three holes so I couldn't have done much more. I have just tried to put myself up there which I have sort of done so far, especially this week I have got up there and given myself a g...

The wonderful young talent of Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, still only 19, has won his first professinal title at the Dubai Desert Classic. A wire to wire win to boot!   He edged out the Englishman Justin Rose, who has returned to a wee bit of form recently, by one shot finishing on 19 under par. Rory had a bit of a wobble on the back nine with a few bogeys allowing Rose to get within a shot thanks to a great eagle and some birdies but he held on and with a good up and down from a bunker at the 18th, after Rose missed his 15 foot birdie putt, to secure his first title in his short professional career.   This win takes Rory up into the top 16 on the World Rankings and into 2nd place behind Garcia in the European 'Race to Dubai'. This young guy has it all, great temperament, steady driving, superb iron play and invention around the greens . It is going to be great to watch him, Kim and Villegas battle it out over the next few years. A new generation is coming to golf...fantasti...