Golf Australia July 2015

TWO Australians have won The Open Championship at the Home of Golf, St Andrews. The The last man to do it was Kel Nagle, one of the game’s great gentlemen who sadly passed away earlier this year. It is now legend how the then 39-year-old maintained his composure to fend off a charging Arnold Palmer to win the Centenary Open in 1960. The first man onto the final green to celebrate with the new Open Champion was good mate and World Cup winning team mate Peter Thomson (pictured above). “When I greeted him on the 18th green, it was the happiest moment of my golfing life,” Thomson confessed in his eulogy at Nagle’s funeral. ‘Thommo’ did more than shake his friend’s hand, he gave him the jacket off his back…

For more than 50 years, the Horton Park Golf Club was the green centrepiece of Maroochydore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. By the late 1990s, residential and commercial development of its surrounds virtually landlocked the course in the regional centre’s CBD. Plans to relocate away from the centre of the CBD were first tabled in 2004 when the club was told by council it planned to build a transport corridor, including a train line, through part of the course. The writing was on the wall, so when the club was approached by Babcock & Brown with an incredible deal worth tens of millions of dollars, it was an offer too good to refuse. But the global financial crisis and the subsequent collapse of the global investment firm put a swift end…

THE COURSE LOCATION: David Low Way, Bli Bli, Queensland. CONTACT: (07) 5373 1000. WEBSITE: maroochyrivergolfclub.com.au DESIGNER: Graham Marsh (2015). SLOPE RATINGS: Men: 127/125/122/115; women: 122. PLAYING SURFACES: Greenlees Park couch (tees and fairways), Bermuda TifEagle (greens). COURSE SUPERINTENDENT: Pat Pauli. PGA PROFESSIONAL: Sean Seymore. GREEN FEES: $50 (18 holes), $30 (9 holes), $38 (cart). THE CLUB MEMBERSHIPS: There are six membership categories available, including seven day men’s memberships costing $1,016 annually,while ladies cost $1,014.There is a joining fee of $1,500. Juniors (under 18) pay $196.10 (boys) and $197.60 (girls). CORPORATE GOLF: The club can offer your company exclusive day-long use of the course on Corporate Fridays, while the new clubhouse has been designed for impressive flexibility – the function room opens on to an al fresco terraced area to…

THE 85 Tiger Woods shot at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament in early June was sure to elicit a wide range of opinions from everybody with a forum to express one.And in the age of Twitter, everyone has a forum. Hank Haney taught Woods after he left Butch Harmon in 2004 and, if winning was the measure, was equally successful. Woods won six majors (out of 23) and 31 Tour events from 93 starts with Haney and eight majors from 24 starts and 34 from 127 Tour events with Harmon. If it’s not the greatest career in golf, it’s only behind Jack Nicklaus; and no matter what happens from here, at his best he showed us golf played at a level unattained by anybody else. Haney resigned his commission in 2010…

AT no stage in the 144 years of the Open Championship has there been so many Claret Jugs in one room. In fact, one could have been forgiven for thinking they were seeing ‘quintuple’. Five-time Open champion Tom Watson recently took his five Open trophies and winner’s gold medals to St Andrews to form the centrepiece of a special exhibition established in his honour at the expanded British Golf Museum at the Home of Golf. The exhibit will feature all five Claret Jug trophies alongside important items, such as the putter he used in 1975 when he defeated Jack Newton to win his first Open. Four of Watson’s Open titles were claimed in Scotland: Carnoustie in 1975, Turnberry in 1977, Muirfield in 1980 and Royal Troon in 1982 before his…

MAY PHOTO CAPTION COMPETITION We had some clever entries to our photo of One Direction’s Niall Horan taking a tumble during his caddie duties for Rory McIlroy. The best entry according to our judges came from Peter French of Barton, ACT, with: “Niall, I know I told you to keep a low profile, but this is ridiculous!” Congratulations Peter, you win a pair of adidas Tour 360X shoes worth $149. BRIDGESTONE DRIVER WINNERS All subscribers to Golf Australia magazine were entered into a draw to win one of six Bridgestone J715 drivers,valued at $599 each. The winners were: Marilyn Buckley of South Yunderup,WA; Ray Dunn of Bundaberg East,Qld; Chris Foley of Kallangur, Qld; Albert Lam of Mona Vale, NSW; Greg Malligan of Kelso,NSW and Jim Yeadon of Ballina,NSW. golf Australia…