First off, congrats to Charl Schwartzel on a great win at Innisbrook – his first on American turf since the 2011 Masters – and no real surprise given the nice form he’s been showing especially on the European Tour.
As I was saying a couple of weeks ago, it’s been an impressive start to the year for South Africa’s golfers. In fact, Charl’s victory makes it seven wins by our nation’s golfers across the European and PGA Tours…and we’re only in mid-March. That is some going.
As you can imagine I’m very keen to get in on the act and I do feel like my game is right there, but not so much at the Valspar where unfortunately I was one of many players who’s challenge was blown off course on a wild and windy Thursday afternoon. The Copperhead layout is a tough test any day of the week and unfortunately a few holes on Thursday put me in a difficult position for the week. You know a course is tough when the winner, Charl, said that he was just trying to keep bogeys off the card on his final round! Obviously I never like having a weekend off, but I used the time wisely and decided to travel early to my accommodation at Bay Hill so that I could get down to some serious work on my game in preparation for Arnold’s tournament this week.
It is a fitting end to the Florida Swing and has a great field. These Florida Swing courses all seem to have a really tough last few holes and Bay Hill is no different. There have been some great memories down the years and I think that Robert Gamez’s 7-iron hole-out back in 1990 is still one of the best to watch – https://youtu.be/Q2w3l0WZtHw. As a past winner I can honestly tell you that it is a true honor to receive that trophy from Mr. Palmer. He has done so much in the game and for the game.
We all know what a spectacular golfer Arnold was, but you could make a strong case that his off-course achievements are even more remarkable. He does an amazing job with this tournament, which is one of our favourites of the year, but it is through ‘Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation’ where we really have to take our hats off to Arnold. For more than 50 years he has shown an unwavering commitment to helping others and we salute him for that. Honestly, all of us current players feel blessed to be able to play in Arnold’s tournament and support his many charitable endeavours. The nice thing is, the public can also get on board either through the website or via Twitter @APinv or indeed at the PGA TOUR’s excellent Volunteer Challenge website.
Moving away from the tournament scene, I hope you’ll forgive me if we reflect again on what was a truly amazing week for The Els for Autism Foundation. First, we had the Eighth Annual Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado Els for Autism Pro Am at Old Palm Golf Club. That day alone raised almost $2 million for autism thanks to Rickie Fowler’s hole-in-one and the incredible support of our family of Tour Pros, amateurs, partners and sponsors. It’s certainly a day none of us will ever forget.
You may be interested to know that we’ve since launched an initiative inspired by Rickie’s ‘million dollar moment’ where we hope to encourage 100,000 fans to each donate $10 and raise another $1 million to help support the second phase of construction at The Els Center of Excellence. Simply text E4A to 243725 in the US, or click here to donate internationally. Again, thank you for your support. Rest assured that all of the money we raise is making a positive difference to the lives of individuals and families on the spectrum, not just in the US but all around the world.
Then on Thursday Liezl held the eighth annual Tea Party (pictures below) at our home here in Florida. Liezl and the team do an amazing job organising this event and, as always, it was a total sell-out with 275 ladies enjoying the Spanish theme and raising around $260,000 for autism, which is a superb effort all round. I know Liezl has thanked everyone who attended, but I’d just like to add my thanks to that and also to our event sponsors: Palm Beach Illustrated, Terlato Wines, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, SAP, Moet Hennessy USA and Stonehage Fleming.
So it’s been a busy couple of weeks but I can’t wait for this week to get started. I’m off at 1.32pm on Thursday and 8.47am on Friday in the company of Billy Horschel and Ryan Palmer.
Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
