From one Stanford golfer to
another, Tom Watson has advice
for Tiger Woods. Interviewed
by his hometown NBC affiliate,
the twice-married Watson said
Woods’ sex scandal was “bad for
our game” and that “he needs
to make some amends and show
some humility to the public
when he comes back.” Watson
also took Woods to task for his on-course tantrums.
“His swearing and club throwing, that should end.
That’s not part of what we want to project as far as
the professional golf tour is concerned.”
Tom Watson
With the contracts of last week’s New Zealand
Open and this week’s Moonah Classic expiring
at the end of 2010, there is speculation that one
or both of the tournaments — co-sanctioned by
the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Nationwide
Tour — could be scooped up by the fledgling,
but deep-pocketed, OneAsia tour. It would be a
financial boost for both events, as OneAsia of-
fers a minimum $1 million purse compared with
$600,000 for the NZ Open, and would provide
OneAsia a larger foothold in the Asian market,
where it competes with the more established Asian
and Japanese tours.
Daniel Nisbet, the second-highest ranked Aus-
tralian in The R&A’s World Amateur Golf Rank-
ing at No. 26, is facing a two-year ban after being
found in possession of steroids when returning to
Australia. The 19-year-old was caught attempting
to re-enter the country after representing Aus-
tralia at an amateur tournament in Canada late
last year. Nisbet is appealing the charge. Any ban
would prevent Nisbet from competing in amateur
or professional events.
Bettors believe Tiger Woods will make his
2010 debut at The Masters, so British bookmaker
William Hill has cut the odds on Woods playing
there from 4-6 to 1-4. Of the first 224 bets placed,
217 of them were that Woods will play at Augusta
National. At 1-4 odds, a $4 bet returns $5. He may
be teetering, but Woods still tops the Bloomberg
Business Week list of most powerful athletes, with
companies saying he would have held the top spot
even if his infidelity had become public earlier.
The prestigious and much-studied list was released
Wednesday and is based on earning potential and
was compiled with the assistance of CSE and Hor-
row Sports Ventures. LeBron James of the NBA’s
Cleveland Cavaliers was second, followed by Phil
Mickelson.
Italy’s Matteo Manassero, the No. 1 ranked
amateur in the world, will provide a glimpse of
his talent when the 16-year-old prodigy joins a
star-studded field led by the 60-year-old Watson
at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club this week. Manassero was Watson’s
playing partner the first two rounds of last year’s
Open Championship at Turnberry and received
the silver medal given to the leading amateur, the
youngest winner of the award since it was introduced 60 years ago. l
Danny Lee and David Smail picked up
the major trophies at the New Zealand Golf Awards function in Queenstown last weekend. Lee, the 2008
U.S. Amateur champion, was named
Golfer of the Year for 2009, while
Smail won the PGA of New Zealand
Professional Golfer of the Year. Lee
was the only New Zealander to win
on a major tour in 2009, claiming the
Johnnie Walker Classic.
$375,000 to the winner. Golf Channel
will broadcast from round two on.
Jack McDonald of Kamloops, B.C. was
inducted as the 107th President of the
Royal Canadian Golf Association during the National Sport Organization’s
annual general meeting, Jan. 21-23 in
Vancouver.
Tournament officials announced last
week that the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf has extended its contract with the Westin Savannah (Ga.)
Harbor Golf Resort & Spa through
2012. First played in 1978, the Liberty
Mutual Legends of Golf is credited
with launching the Champions Tour
for players over age 50 in 1980. In
2010, Liberty Mutual will celebrate
its 31st consecutive year as the
event’s title sponsor. This year’s tournament will be held April 19-25 and
will feature a $2.7-million purse.
nya’s Daily Nation broke the news last
week that an event was in the cards
in Mombasa in August. Kenya Commercial Bank on Tuesday announced
a sponsorship package of 12.5-million
Kenyan shillings (about $165,000) for
the KCB East African Golf Tour, whose
finale at Nyali Golf and Country Club
in Mombasa now will feature Sunshine Tour professionals.
ments generated more than $4
million, two more than 2008 when the
TOUR announced a record $124 million had been raised. The Valero Texas
Open led the way with $8 million.
The LPGA announced Jan. 26 the de-
but of the Sybase Match Play Cham-
pionship, to be held at Hamilton
Farm Golf Club, in Gladstone, N.J.,
May 20-23. A field of 64 will com-
pete for a $1.5-million purse, with
The Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open will
move to the Rokko Kokusai Golf Club’s
East Course in Kobe, Japan this year,
following an extension of the co-
sanction agreement between the Asian
Tour and Japan Golf Tour. The tourna-
ment will be played Sept. 23-26.
Sunshine Tour Commissioner Gareth
Tindall announced an added African
event on the 2010 calendar after Ke-
The PGA Tour announced last week
that its combined charitable contribu-
tions from tournaments on the PGA
Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide
Tour came to $108 million for 2009.
That pushes the tour’s all-time total
to nearly $1.5 billion. Eight tourna-
The Canadian Tour announced the
venues for its two major Cana-
dian championships – the Players
Cup at Winnipeg’s Pine Ridge GC,
July 12-18, and the season-ending
Canadian Tour Championship at St.
Catharines, Aug. 23-29. Both events
received hefty purse increases, with
the Players Cup up from $200,000
to $300,000 Canadian dollars and
the Canadian Tour Championship up
from $250,000 to $325,000. l
