Telfer's Thoughts

For as long as professional golf has been around, the game’s honeypot has always been the American Tours - the USPGA and Seniors Tours for men and the USLPGA for women.

Change comes slowly to this notoriously conservative sport, whether it’s rule changes, dress wear or tournament routines. The one exception, however, has been prize money, which has catapulted skywards in recent years and not just in the USA.

We had the unusual sight last week of the world’s leading men’s and women’s weekly tournaments in Europe, not America, offering a combined total of $17 million in prize money, $9 million for the men, $8 million for the women.

Now it’s far from a revolution that is shaking world golf, more just an unusual coincidence.

The world’s leading female players gathered on the shores of Lake Geneva to contest their 4th Major of the year, the Amundi Evian Championship, which carried US$8 million dollars in prize money. Meanwhile the USPGA Tour had moved to the town of North Berwick, east of Edinburgh, for the Scottish Open. Here the prize pool was US$9 million.

The Scottish Open in recent years has acquired co-sanctioning status, meaning it’s part of both the USPGA Tour and the DP World Tour. It’s always played the week prior to the Open Championship and gives players from around the world a chance to accustom themselves and their game to those distinctively different courses that host the Open every year. They’re usually staged on flat, treeless links courses, fully exposed to the ravages of European weather systems.

Unfortunately, Kiwi golfers competing in both events saw very little of the combined $17 million purse. Ryan Fox made a very good start in the Scottish Open, firing a 4 under 66 on Day 1, to lie in a tie for 9th place. That proved to be his only sub par round as he went 70, 74, 72 for the next three to finish in a tie for 65th place. Daniel Hillier fared worse, failing to make the cut.

Over on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lydia Ko was not faring much better, shooting two rounds over par - 74 and 71 - which left her at 5 over for the 36 holes and 3 shots off the cut mark. To date it’s been an awful Major Championship season for Lydia and given her great form at the end of last year and the start of this year, it’s mystifying why her form has been so poor. From the 4 Majors this year, Lydia’s results have been T52nd, T20, T12 and a missed cut. Of those 14 rounds of golf in her 4 Majors she hasn’t broken 70 once. However, Ko is resilient and we’ve seen her bounce back spectacularly before from previous ruts she’s found herself in. Let’s hope she can do it again in the

year’s final Major, the Women’s Open Championship starting on July 31.

While Lydia was leaving Lake Geneva early, an astounding finale was playing out at the end of the Evian Championship.

The eventual winner was 22-year-old Australian Grace Kim who eagled the 72 nd hole to get into a play-off with Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul. Thitikul looked certain to win the event on the first extra hole after Kim was forced to take a penalty drop from just off the 18th green. In a scene uncannily similar to what we saw from Ryan Fox at Myrtle Beach last month, Kim chipped on from some 70 feet off the to the left of the green for a birdie. Thitikul, from a handy position, made her birdie putt for a 4 as well. So back to the tee they went for another crack at this par 5 finishing hole. Once more another eye-popping shot from Kim – from well over 200 yards out, she dumped her fairway wood

2nd to within inches of the hole. Thitikul could do no better than make birdie, leaving Kim with a tap in for eagle to claim her first Major title. But what a finish! She played the last 3 holes of this Championship eagle, birdie, eagle. Not even the much-vaunted State of Origin matches produce excitement of this calibre.

Bonza mate!