Last week was primarily about being at home with the family for my daughter Samantha’s 17th birthday. Having missed out on that experience for much of the past 10 or so years, it was a real treat for me to be part of her celebrations.
It was also an opportunity to work on my game here at The Bear’s Club, thus building on some of my good play in recent months, and also catch some of my favourite sporting events on television. There was much to enjoy for an all-round sports fan like me.
Colonial Country Club is one of the iconic venues in golf and it was nice to see Jordan Spieth back in the winner’s circle there at the weekend and adding that famous plaid jacket to the green jacket that he already owns.
Obviously, I was also a keen observer of events at this year’s BMW PGA Championship and congratulations to Chris Wood on a superb victory. The tournament was blessed with wonderful weather and Kenny Mackay and his team did a great job presenting the course in fine shape, which is no easy task in the often cool conditions they have to contend with in the spring months leading up to the championship. So, hats off to everyone at Wentworth Club and to BMW, the European Tour and to the many volunteers. I hear that over 100,000 fans flooded through the gates at Wentworth, which is an incredible turn-out and part of the reason this is always such a special week for European golf. Congratulations also to the Golf Channel who presented it fantastically well on television here in the US. I know that any golf fan will have been impressed with the coverage.
Talking of special, there’s no way I can write this report and not mention my beloved rugby team, the Golden Lions, who thrashed the Blue Bulls by 56 points to 20 in their latest Super Rugby match at the weekend. The style and tempo of their play was just incredible to watch and it was good to see the new Springboks coach, Allister Coetzee, later name a handful of Lions players in the first Springboks squad of the winter. Well done to those guys.
Anyway, time to get back to the day job and my focus turns to this week’s Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Ohio. Everyone knows how I feel about Jack’s tournament – it’s one of my favourite events on the PGA TOUR schedule and winning here in 2004 (pictured below) will forever remain one of the highlights of my career outside of the Majors.
There’s no question Jack did a fantastic job with the original design. Even though some changes have been made over the years, in my opinion it remains one of the best courses that we play all year. Jack sees things though the eyes of both player and architect and I think that always shows in the way this course is set-up. He wants the players to feel challenged by the course but also provide scoring opportunities and in that sense he gets the balance just right. And because Jack prides himself on quality, he also wants it to be in perfect shape. And believe me this golf course is perfect in every way. The practice facilities are superb, as well. Honestly, I love everything about coming here and having played some good golf in recent months I’m looking forward to a strong showing and maybe channelling some of those 2004 vibes! That’s the goal, as always.
Finally, I have to close on a sad note with the news this weekend of the passing of one of the game’s legendary off-course figures, Will Nicholson Jr., a former president of the USGA and chairman of the Masters Rules Committee for almost 20 years. Mr Nicholson’s list of achievements is long and illustrious and he was one of the pioneers in golf administration, really leading the game into the direction it should be going. I always admired him, personally and professionally, so it was of course a huge honour for me to be the eighth recipient of the Nicholson Award in 2013 for services to golf. That involved attending a wonderful dinner in Denver hosted by the great man, a very special evening that I’ll never forget. The game of golf will miss Will Nicholson Jr. and I send my personal condolences and best wishes to his family at this emotional time.
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