We really enjoyed our time off at Wentworth last week. Liezl and I went to Wimbledon to watch the tennis a couple of times, which was fantastic as always.
I played a bit of social golf and also some tennis with Samantha. The weather was unbelievably warm all week, so I can only imagine how hot it was out there on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Those top players are in incredible shape.
This week we’re doing something completely different. We’re taking a vacation to Croatia and cruising the Adriatic coastline and the islands along the beautiful Balkan Peninsular. Travelling as much as I have the past 25 years it’s rare that we get to go somewhere we’ve never been before, so that’s exciting. We’re all looking forward to it.
Next week, not that anyone probably needs reminding, is the Open Championship so I already have one eye – and a large proportion of my thoughts – on St Andrews. Psychologically, the build-up to this championship is different to the last major (pictured above) where the golf course was a new look to most of us. St Andrews, on the other hand, is one of the most well known venues in the whole of sport, the cradle of the game of golf, and next week it will be hosting the Open for an incredible 29th time.
Like a lot of players of my generation, I’ve walked a good few miles on the Old Course. In fact, I’ve lost count of the number of rounds I’ve played there in previous Opens, Alfred Dunhill Cups for South Africa, and Alfred Dunhill Links Championships. It’s certainly well over 100 competitive rounds. If you love golf, though, you never get tired of playing there. And seriously, there is nothing else like an Open at St Andrews. You just don’t want to miss it, which is why even a great champion such as Retief Goosen last week travelled sleep-deprived from Germany to Woburn, played 36 holes in a day, and then a sudden-death playoff, just to get through Final Qualifying. Hats off to Retief. That tells you how much all of us want to be at St Andrews next week!
In the meantime a quick update on the Els for Autism 2015 Golf Challenge, which the team tells me is rolling along very nicely. A lot of the events have been total sell-outs, including next week’s outing at Baltusrol, but we’re not yet halfway through the series so there are lots of other great venues on the calendar between now and its conclusion in October. Please click here if you’d like to enter a team. Even if you aren’t able to play at one of our regional events, there are other ways to get involved and, of course, we greatly value and appreciate your support.
Finally, do please follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy where the #RBCGolf4Kids charity fundraising campaign is in full swing. We heard the good news today that Jim Nantz nominated my ‘selfie’ as the winner of last week’s photo challenge – thanks Jim and thanks to everyone who re-tweeted this photo to show their support. It means RBC will be donating valuable charitable dollars to help families affected by autism. We’ve got more photo competitions lined-up in the next 10 days, which should be a bit of fun, and there are some nice prizes up for grabs. We hope you’re able to join in. It’s obviously all for a wonderful cause, with all 15 RBC Golfing Ambassadors doing their bit to try to help kids in need.
Bye for now.
