Poker
Golf Course
It’s a combination of golf and poker and it’s being played at the Primm Valley Golf Club in, where else, Las Vegas.
This is the inaugural World Series of Amateur Golf.
Primm Valley Golf Club in Las Vegas
But this is just the first of what could be many variations on the same theme: playing golf and placing your bet on each shot you hit. The question of course, “you got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em” and really know, how good your game of golf is. (If you fold prior to your next shot, you get to ante up and start over on the next hole.)
Former USGA rules official Tom Meeks will be the top rules official for the event and Octogan, the global sports and entertainment management group, is producing it. Octogan’s Dan Baker is Tournament Director.
Who came up with this new way to challenge yourself? Terry Leiweke, the president of the World Series of Golf. “The World Series of Golf is a completely new way to experience the game of golf. It demands skill on the links, betting savvy and nerves of steel.” You can hear Leiweke on “The Golf Club” March 24th show at http://www.radiogolfclub.com/.
Here is the patent pending method of play for this first event.
Similar to poker, the players ante up before teeing off at each hole. Depending on how your tee shot turns out, you can then raise, call, check or fold on your next shot and so on until at the end of the hole, the winner takes the pot. In the case of ties, you split the pot. If you fold after your tee shot, you get to start all over with the ante on the next hole and go for the win. Naturally, the bets placed on each shot will depend on the player’s position, their confidence in making the next shot and the position of their opponents.
Not a whole lot of room for bluffing on this set up.
This made-for-television inaugural event, The World Series of Amateur GolfÆ will be played in Las Vegas on May 13-17, 2007. This is a three day elimination event. The inaugural event will have a minimum of 108 amateur players vying for over $750,000 in cash prizes. The event is open to amateur players of all skill levels through an application process. The event is designed for medium to high handicap players. The World Series of GolfÆ is the Texas Hold 'Em of Golf. A hole by hole, hit and bet, no limit amateur prize tournament with a $10,000 buy in.
The Mirage
Part of that buy in gets you a VIP stay at the The Mirage Hotel and Casino, opening night pairings party, pre-arranged transportation to and from the course, special entertainment and a closing night awards banquet in which the winner is crowned and the $250,000 first place prize is awarded.
In case you want to check it out on television, The World Series of Golf will be televised on NBC TV on Saturday, June 23rd and Sunday June 24th.
The Mirage is also the home of The Beatles™ LOVE™ by Cirque du SoleilÆ
VIJAY SINGH WINS THE ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL
It was the first Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. It’s been the Bay Hill Invitational hosted by Arnold Palmer for years but his daughters convinced the PGATour commissioner to change the name. It didn’t take a lot of convincing.
Arnold Palmer and the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational trophy
Tiger Woods was in the hunt. Rocco Mediate was on his game at the top of the leaderboard and in good health. But that was Friday before the weekend of amazing play. I say amazing because Tiger Woods melted down on the back nine on Sunday with triple and double bogeys, Mediate didn’t get the bounces and Vijay Singh came out of nowhere to take the blue jacket and the trophy!
St. Petersburg Times correspondent Bob Harig says “Every victory at this point in his career should be a coronation, another opportunity to celebrate what should be one of the most remarkable stories in sports. Vijay Singh won again Sunday, and the world mostly yawns.”
Vijay Singh is an incredible story. The former bouncer/golf instructor/dawn to dusk practitioner of his craft is inspiration for hundreds of youngsters from around the world and older golfers hoping to make it to the Champions Tour. His latest victory at Bay Hill Club is his 31st victory of his PGA Tour career and his 19th since turning 40.
The story most people don’t get to hear is the one about how Singh grew up in Fiji. Living in a home with a dirt floor, one of six children, learning to play golf from his father and teaching himself since then. "When I went back to Fiji, went back to my golf course and looked at where I played and practiced ... it's an eye-opener to go back and say, 'Wow, this is where I started the game and this is where I grew up,'" Singh said. "Those are the times you think and everything hits you a little bit. You have to go back to Fiji to really realize that. It's really unbelievable." You won’t get Vijay waxing nostalgic about those days but a lot of kids know the story and dream they can do it to.
Arnold Palmer and Vijay Singh, winner of the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational
You will hear Singh talk of his love for the man who gave him his first big break in the United States when Armold Palmer extended him an invitation to play and play Bay Hill he did. "I owe it to this tournament," Singh said. "It was really my starting point on the U.S. tour. I did well enough to pretty much get my tour card and I always played here. I love this golf course now. It's Arnold's tournament, I love Arnold and it's just a nice tournament to come back and play."
As for Rocco Mediate, who was leading at the end of the day on Friday, he is an inspiration for all of us who have been hurt. Mediate has always had trouble with his back but he has never given up!
Rocco Mediate was in the lead at the end of the second day of
the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational
Thailand’s Nirat
One of those youngsters inspired by Vijay Singh is Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat. He turned professional at the age of 15 and now at the age of 23 is the victor in the TCL Classic co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.
Thailand’s 23 year old “King Kong” Chapchai Nirat
The TCL Classic was played at the Yalong Bay Golf Club in China.
Nirat has a couple of nicknames. One is “coke boy” because of how much he loves soft drinks and now it’s “King Kong” for the way he handled himself on the golf course.
Most expected Nirat to fizzle out after his opening round 11 under
par 61 but he just kept on swinging.
"I'm very nervous and very excited," he told reporters after picking up the trophy and a check for $106,660. "This is a very big win for me and now I want to go on and play in more big events." Asked through his interpreter whether he would be taking advantage of his two year exemption on the European Tour, he said “absolutely”. By the way, Nirat has gone from a 20 cans a day soft drink habit down to one a day but he said it did have to cut down gradually.
TIGER WINS THE WGC AT CA CHAMPIONSHIP
Tiger Woods with Don Shula after winning the WGC CA Championship in Miami
A week after the world of golf dissected the collapse of Tiger Woods game on the back nine at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, weep no more ye sayers of doom. It wasn’t pretty but it was his third straight victory at the WGC and at Doral, or the Blue Monster as so many love to call it. (From what I see on television, I would be eaten alive on the first tee!)
There were a number of contenders nipping at his heels, including
Henrik Stenson and Brett Wetterich
Henrik Stenson, who sent three years rebuilding his game, is a contender.
I was going through some of the Getty Images from the Arnold Palmer Invitational and stumbled across a wonderful photo of Elin Woods. I came up with my own idea of what happened to bring out a couple of bogies and a triple for Tiger Woods on that back nine, when his putter, and his game, failed him miserably.
Tiger Woods figured out how to roll the putts after forgetting Sunday at the
Arnold Palmer Invitational
Imagine being Tiger Woods for a second. Here is his beautiful, very pregnant wife Elin, following his progress at the API at Bay Hill.
Elin Woods, on Sunday at the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational
Imagine Tiger Woods, the young man, who at the age of 3 was already completely “in love” with his daddy. The two spent the following 27 years almost inseparable physically and certainly mentally, developing a relationship that only a few of us have ever known with a parent.
Now imagine Tiger Woods in the midst of his competitive drive catch a flash in his peripheral view of life partner, his wife, soon ready to give birth to his child, to make him a father. I think even guys have moments when their vision may blur.
It probably never happened that way. But it’s just as possible as any of the hundreds of words I’ve read about Woods’ collapse.
OCHOA’S GAME ON
On the same Sunday in March, when the PGA Tour 2006 Player of the Year won at the CA Championship, the LPGA Tour 2006 Player of the Year won at the Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola.
Lorena Ochoa moves to the top of the LPGA official money list.
Her $225,000 winner's check at the Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola, however, now gives her $309,691 in season earnings and puts her atop the season money list and the ADT points list. ADT Points are based on money earned in official LPGA events each half and will mirror the LPGA Official Money List for the first half. Stacy Prammanasudh dropped to second on the list with $275,739, but the two share top honors in the race for the 2007 Rolex Player of the Year with 42 points each. Paula Creamer took advantage of a tie for 11th this week to move ahead of Meaghan Francella, who missed the cut. Creamer sits in third with $214,461 with Francella at $196,037 in fourth. Jee Young Lee rounds out the top-five with $168,963.
Ochoa comes clean out of the sand at the Safeway International
Ochoa also leads the Tour with rounds under par (12/13) and is in a five-way tie for the lead in birdies as she carded two during the Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola.
Suzann Pettersen of Norway had her career best finish at the Safeway International.
Check out the smiley face on her golf ball.
Pettersen stuck with Lorena Ochoa the entire event with scores of 69-68-69-66=272 (-16). She is a three time European Solheim Cup Team member and now has over a $1 million in career earnings in her five years on the LPGA Tour.
ST. PATRICK’S DAY IN IRELAND
New non stop air service from Boston and New York to Ireland West Airport in Knock, County Mayo, starting this month may get you to the Emerald Isle quicker than you thought possible. There are also new travel opportunities for folks looking for a golf trip to China. If you’re interested in either destination, or another, get in touch with Norm Gunther at Hawaii Golf News and Travel.
Our intrepid travel correspondent, Michael Patrick Shiels, dragged himself off to Ireland from the freezing cold of Michigan where he forced himself to enjoy the countryside, the golf, the accommodations and the pubs. It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it. He spent lots of his time in Donegal and Doonbeg. Check out http://www.doonbeggolfclub.com/ for the spectacular accommodations.
Doonbeg hole #18 with the Suites in the background
Doonbeg is also the home of a Greg Norman designed course that Shiels says was just about unplayable when it first opened but it’s been tweaked into a very nice course.
Doonbeg #4…or is this a moonscape with lovely grass springing up?
NIKE SUMO2 RECALL
Your new golf driver could be illegal but do you care? That will be the question answered as Nike puts a full recall on it’s new Sumo2 driver. Nike says the Sumo2, with the square head, was found to have a face that don’t meet the USGA regulations. The face is too hot and that allows for greater distance. Maybe a handful of yards say the folks at Nike. Nike is setting up an exchange program for the club but just how many people will take advantage is an interesting note on how many people feel it’s important to follow USGA regulations as a recreational golfers. Even though most golfers play with the established GHIN handicap they use at Club championships and member guest tournaments, will they comply on all levels? Nike will begin it’s replacement program on March 26. There’s a web site and call center…866 632 6453.
By the way, there will be a way for you and your competitors to know whether your Sumo2 is conforming. The replacements will have a circular notch in the clubs sole plate. If you use the club without a notch, the round just played either can’t be used for handicap purposes, or in the case of using it during competition, the user could be disqualified.
I’m on my way to Savannah, Georgia, to see my son Cain Hennings. He is a Kahuku High School and Ka’a’awa Elementary school graduate who began serving in the U.S Army before the September 11th attack on New York. Cain was in the first wave into Iraq when President Bush declared victory. He returned after that first tour, and less than a year later, he was sent for a year in Afghanistan. He has been back in the U.S. since August of last year and now he will be deployed back to the war zone, this time it’s Iraq. He expects to be there for a year. I need to see him before he goes to a place where he is being shot at. I have to hug him and tell him I love him and that I’m looking forward to seeing him soon.
He’ll have to do the same with his son, who is 3 now. He’ll be a big 4 year old by the time his daddy comes home.
Until next time, I’m easy to find. Traffic Monday to Friday, morning and afternoon, on KRTR, KCCN, KINE and KHNL TV. Saturday morning, you can hear my golf show, “The Golf Club” on KUMU, KTOH, KONI, KPUA.
Thank you for your Mana and may you hit the sweet spot every time.
Aloha,
Danielle
