My Caddy

I am soooo looking forward to the championship this year with lots of great players returning to the stunning Tanah Merah golf course. The one person I will definitely follow around for a bit is Catriona Matthew who showed the world what a pregnant woman could do on a golf course. I wonder how she will do not pregnant? Heh heh

Sandra Gal, the six foot German Golfer is also a must see for me this year. I have a feeling though that along with Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis, she will be the one with the most male fans in tow.

As for our local teen great, Joey Poh, can’t help but root for her as she won the coveted spot again. She can only have gotten better this year! But she will need to watch out for 10 year old Amanda Tan who has a 2 handicap and has much older players wonder how she produces so much distance with her tiny arms.

Lastly, this has nothing to do with the championship per se, but I wonder what HSBC has up its sleeve for this year’s event? It was fun putting, going through various simulated challenges and learning from the pros while waiting for the golfers to tee off. I still have my photo with Lorena Ochoa (ok, just the cardboard cut out) on the office cabinet- fooled a lot of people when I first put it up.

TICKET PRICES 2010 (Excludes GST & Sistic booking fees)

Standard:
Thursday February 25………S$20
Friday February 26…………..S$20
Saturday February 27………S$30
Sunday February 28…………S$30

Season Pass:
Entry for all four days….S$60

FREE for those 16 and below- you lucky youngsters!

And it wouldn’t be an HSBC event if it did not offer a PROMOTION FOR HSBC CUSTOMERS, right?

20% discount for HSBC Premier MasterCard Credit and Debit Card holders.
15% discount for all other HSBC Credit and Debit Card holders

There I have said it. Even though I love the game to pieces, it is, at its heart, a truly silly game. A white ball is hit with a bendy stick that requires contortions of the body, truly unnatural motions that cause back pain, knee pain, and even wrist injuries for those who get it completely wrong.

On top of that, there is little to no hope of entering a tiny hole hundreds of meters away, especially when trees and sand traps and tall grass is purposely designed to block the hole from view and for your golf ball to be impossible to find should it end up there.

Next, the game simply cannot be finished under 4 hours if you walk the entire course (versus using a buggy) and have 4 golfers playing which almost ensures that you will be sweltering under the heat of the sun for at least 2 hours (or alternatively soaking in the rain).

Lastly, you can trick your opponent into giving you advice and give him a one stroke penalty for being kind enough to share his expertise.   Actually, there’s more silliness but I will stop here because I need to mark my balls for tomorrow’s game.

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Btw, in the interest of true disclosure, I think my feelings about the game today has much to do with the fact that I just couldn’t hit the ball the way I wanted to at the driving range today as I tested out newly purchased clubs :D.

SBS Championship
‘It’s never disappointing in Kapalua,” Geoff Ogilvy said as he looked around the gorgeous 23,000 acre natural scenery. Located on Maui’s northwest shore, the pristine Kapalua Resort stretches from emerald mountain peaks to the edge of the glistening Pacific Ocean. ”It’s a pretty nice place. I think everyone who is in the tournament is glad they’re here.”

Ogilvy’s thoughts on who will be No. 1
”I think it’s an interesting time, obviously,” Ogilvy said. ”Number one in the world might be up for realistic grabs this year, depending on how (Woods’ hiatus) all takes shape. I think I am definitely one of those guys who could, I think when I play my best, I can play with anyone.”

Ogilvy is ranked 14th in the world and is the defending champion. US Open Champ Lucas Glover is currently leading with a 7-under 66. Nathan Green of Australia, Martin Laird of Scotland, Dustin Johnson and Nick Watson are behind by one at 67. Trailing close behind are British Open champion Stewart Cink and Masters champion Angel Cabrera with 68. Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy had a 69.

Final round will take place this Sunday, 10 January 2010.
(10.01.2010-4d anyone?)

About the SBS Championship & the Plantation Course
The SBS Championship is the opening event of golf’s PGA Tour season. It is a prestigious and unusual event in that the field is restricted to golfers who won an event on the Tour in the previous season. It is always played in the first weekend in January and has been at Kapalua Resort’s in Lahaina, Hawaii, since 1999.

Will he make a comeback or will he not? Although he never failed in his golf, he didn’t win a major in 2009 either. More importantly his once sterling reputation has soured greatly, and that’s putting it lightly. Sponsor after sponsor has dropped him as his string of dalliances keeps growing (last count is 18). The problem as New York Times columnist Frank Rich puts it is not that Tiger Woods committed adultery, but that it’s practically a way of life for him to have all these women and then he lies through his beaming teeth to everyone without batting an eyelash about his family coming first and always.

“What’s striking is the exceptional, Enron-sized gap between this golfer’s public image as a paragon of businesslike discipline and focus and the maniacally reckless life we now know he led. What’s equally striking, if not shocking, is that the American establishment and news media — all of it, not just golf writers or celebrity tabloids — fell for the Woods myth as hard as any fan and actively helped sustain and enhance it.”

Now that we know the truth … there’s no way anyone can see Tiger Woods in the same light again. Even if he plays well, which will be more than tough since golf is such a mental game, there will be legions of fans who will never go back to trusting him even if there may be thousands more who still think he’s the best athlete in the world.

So what will Tiger Woods do come 2010 as the sun sets for him in 2009?

I know, there are sales all around the island for the next 3 days as retailers ring in the new year with their cash registers. Unfortunately, prices of SKINS are still going up because of the strong Aussie Dollar. Nevertheless, we are trying our best to get this moisture-wicking clothing in your hands at 2009 prices so we’re not going to change the online numbers until the 4th of January 2010.

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Additional benefits of Skins™ sport include:
• reducing lactic acid build-up, increasing muscle oxygenation and enhancing circulation;
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