It was nice to get four rounds under my belt at each of my last two tournaments, the Valspar Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
I must say the teams there do such a wonderful job with these events. They’re two of my favourite stops on the PGA TOUR, on two tough golf courses that I’ve always enjoyed playing. Although it’s hard to be satisfied about my finishing position at either event (tied-64th and tied-49th), you’ve got to take the positives out of it, especially when you’ve had a period of time not getting much out of your game. It’s all about trying to build some momentum, get some confidence going, and then the results should follow. It’s been a while, obviously. But overall, I’m feeling pretty good.
As you’ll have seen, there have been several other reasons to feel good this past couple of weeks, with some big announcements. We have to start with the news of my captaincy of the international team for the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia. Both Tiger and myself have given a lot to this event over the years and it’s been a privilege to play for our respective teams and for some wonderful captains.
For me to now be able to lead the international team into competition is a great honour and very exciting, like a dream job really. Royal Melbourne is an unbelievable venue in a great sporting city. I’m really looking forward to it. We know it’s going to be a tough job against a formidable US captain and what’s bound to be a strong US team. But we’ve won at Royal Melbourne before and we’re going to give it absolutely everything we’ve got.
In other news, we were told at the beginning of this month that I’d be receiving a special exemption into this year’s US Open at Shinnecock Hills. It’ll be my 26th straight US Open and I’m grateful to the guys at the USGA for this opportunity. The US Open is kind of where it all started, you might say. Winning at Oakmont at the age of 24, as I’ve said before it was almost like a shock the way it happened. I still thought I had some steps to climb to get there. Then ’97 was just a very, very special week, winning in the nation’s capital, and that set me up for a really great year. For me there are so many wonderful memories from US Opens and, as I said, it’s exciting to be able to keep that story going.
And Shinnecock…honestly, that is right up there among my top 2 or 3 courses in the US. It’s a magnificent layout, a beautiful, natural golf course. It’s got kind of a links-style feel about it and it tests every department of your game, perfect for the US Open. When you think of Shinnecock, you think of one great hole after another. Can’t wait!
Meanwhile, right between the Valspar Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational was the staging of our 10th Annual Wine Spectator & Cigar Aficionado Els for Autism Pro Am at its traditional home, Old Palm Golf Club in Florida. As in previous years, we had incredible support from my fellow Tour pros. In the line-up this year were Branden Grace, Bruce Fleisher, Bud Cauley, Cameron Tringale, Camillo Villegas, Charl Schwartzel, Heath Slocum, Jack Nicklaus, Jamie Lovemark, Jon Curran, Keegan Bradley, Louis Oosthuizen, Marc Leishman, Nick Price, Peter Malnati, Peter Uihlein, Robert Allenby, Rory McIlroy, Rory Sabbatini, Thomas Aiken and Tony Finau. Guys, thanks so much for your support.
Despite some wild weather, it was another special day and we raised over $1.06 million for Els for Autism, bringing the grand total at this event to over $10 million. Thanks again to our hosts at Old Palm, to our inspiration and driving force at this event, Marvin Shanken, and to Wine Australia who sponsored the $1 million hole-in-one contest. Also, congrats to Robert Allenby and his team who took top honours on the golf course. You can click here if you’d like to find our more about our work at The Els for Autism Foundation.
Okay, that’s it for now. I’ll be teeing it up again at next week’s Houston Open, which is another tournament that I’ve enjoyed playing in over a number of years. Always good to go back there.
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