AT&T National Review

18 Feb

Apologies for the slight delay in posting this week’s report. It’s been a busy few days since arriving here in LA for the Northern Trust Open.

One bit of news this week is that we just announced that I’ll be playing in this year’s Irish Open at the spectacular Royal County Down. I haven’t played in the Irish Open for a while and I spoke with Rory McIlroy in Dubai recently about the event and am very happy for him that he is involved in hosting such a prestigious event. It is a similar role I have taken with the South African Open and it is a great honour to be able to host your national open.

I was at Royal County Down with my dad and a friend in 1998 and remember the course well. It has such great history and is probably in my top five links courses in the world. I am excited to play and I think the decision to host such a prestigious national open on such a great course is the correct one. Hopefully the weather will behave and we will have a great championship. I can’t wait.

Still, that’s a while away yet. For now, I’m focusing on this week’s Northern Trust Open at Riviera CC. Having missed the cut at Pebble Beach, which was disappointing, I’m keen to try to get something good going here in LA. I won the Nissan on this course in 1999 and was right in the mix for the PGA Championship in 1995. I love the whole vibe at Riviera and I’m a big fan of the design, the way the course flows and the angles they have with the greens – you really have to play all the shots to shoot a low number. It has to be one of the best courses we get to play all year and is always in great shape. Also, I admire the bunkering here and we tried to replicate a similar style of bunkering in one of our Ernie Els Design projects at Hoakalei in Hawaii. It really suits the site.

Talking of Hoakalei, the management there is very generously donating its golf course to host one of the regional events in this year’s Els for Autism Golf Challenge. Needless to say, we’re very grateful to them for their support and we know everyone who takes part in that event is in for a great day. As you can see from the picture below, it is a beautiful golf course in a really wonderful location. So if you like the sound of a day’s golf by the ocean in Hawaii (and let’s face it, who wouldn’t?), then do sign up quickly as there are only a limited number of tee times available.

Hoakalei #13

In fact, if the last four years have told us anything it’s that many of the events on the Golf Challenge schedule are quickly sold out, so my advice is don’t delay. For some they may be local courses you have always wanted to play and for others they may be iconic locations you have on your ‘bucket list’. We’ll have more details, along with a full schedule of events, here on the website in the coming few days, so do please keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, thanks so much for your support; it is making a big difference to the lives of those with autism.

Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy

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