Hi Everyone,
Last week was a great week for long term friend and student Tom Shadbolt as he won the 72 Lauro Open on the Alps Tour. He shot an amazing 18 under par for the week. He was in Stenson like form in the final round going out in the last group and shooting a 9 under par 63. In his round he achieved something very few golfers will ever do, back to back eagles! The first came courtesy of a pitching wedge approach on a par 5, followed by a 200 yard Par 3 where a far more lofted club than any of us would use, soared straight at the pin and then in! Not surprisingly he blew the field away and won by 3 shots.
This puts Tom in the top 5 on their Order of Merit, which if he maintains that (although we are looking for him to move further up the list) he gains playing rights to play on the Challenge Tour, which is the division below the European Tour. He is also entering Tour School and on present form has a good chance to get straight on. So fingers crossed and I know all members at Mid Herts will be cheering him on. He works really hard at his golf and is a credit to himself, his lovely family and to the Golf Club.
The Ryder Cup draws closer and even though the Americans have yet to pick their final player, they look very strong. However, behind the scenes I am sure Captain Darren Clarke will be leaving no stone unturned in his preparation in terms of looking after his players and how the pairings will pan out. On the prediction front (I'm good at that as you know, with my getting it right once every third of a century) my heart says Europe to win, however head says the Americans will prove too strong. For several of our younger players, Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Pieters this will be the beginning of a long Ryder Cup journey, so good luck to them and the rest of the team.
Speaking of sporting contests, a rather amazing football match took place recently featuring my team Watford and the mighty Man Utd. The beloved Hornets handed out an old fashioned 3-1 drubbing - 1st win over United in 30 years and their slightly egotistical manager, Jose Mourinho the self styled "Special One", became the "Morose One". Looking forward to seeing some more scalps this season and when Mrs P is not on editing duty I will tell you about them.
As the Autumnal weather starts to take hold, the fairways start to become damper and sadly our golf balls won't roll as far as they did. I thought I would include a great picture of leading Japanese Professional Ai Miyazato showing how we should look post impact with our driver. It is from a piece I did for Women and Golf Magazine and I hope it will give you some more carry.
Hopefully armed with this and a Tom Shadbolt positive mind set your good holes will definitely out weigh your not so good ones.
All the best
Barney