Golf, by TourMiss

….. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Asian Tour Commissioner Cho Minn Thant sits on the Official Golf World Rankings (OWGR) committee but he admits it comes as a ‘shock’ to him that this week’s Asian Tour Saudi International attracts less World Ranking points than the PGA Tour’s AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The inaugural 2023 Asian Tour event boasts the strongest field of any tournament this New Year with 12 major champions initially in the field ahead of the withdrawal, due ...

…. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Past champion Dustin Johnson is the latest to step forward insisting there will be no tension at the Masters Champions Dinner next April at Augusta National. It was Spaniard Jon Rahm’s reaction to news late last year from the green jacket members club in Augusta club that all eligible LIV golfers would be free to tee-up on the Georgia golfing gem while past winners of the Masters, including Johnson, would not be denied from attending the dinner. Rahm believed ...

…. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Dustin Johnson’s quitely confident he will be fit for the opening event later this month of the 14-tournament 2023 LIV Golf series in Mexico. Johnson arrived in Saudi Arabia with a lower right back strain forcing him out of Wednesday’s Pro-Am and also to withdraw from the now $US 5m Asian Tour event he won both in 2019 and 2021 on the Royal Greens course. However the former World No. 1 chose to remain in Saudi Arabia mingling with VIP guests and also delighting ...

…. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Former champ Graeme McDowell safely made his way into the weekend rounds of the Saudi International before surprising Richard Bland with a iciing-laden 50th birthday cake. McDowell, winner of the now Asian Tour event in 2020, added a three-under 67 to his opening round of 70 to be sharing 30th place in the $US 5m event on the Royal Greens course to the north of Jeddah. Fellow LIV golfer Abraham Ancer continues to lead the way moving to 11-under-par thanks ...

….. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Being a caddy to a professional golfer whether male or female is not an easy job as it’s widely known in the trade that if a player is not competing at their best the first to be sacked is the caddy. Just ask Bo Martin, who has just been recently sacked by Open Championship winning Shane Lowry. Well there is a new player/caddy partnership clearly hitting it off at this week’s opening event on the Asian Tour’s Saudi Invitational. Paul and Pollyanna ...

…. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia There was a bizarre incident on the first tee involving Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau on day one of the Asian Tour’s Saudi International. No sooner had Reed been introduced to fans when DeChambeau jumped out of a motorised buggy, rushing-up to the tee with driver and ball in hand. DeChambeau was playing in the group ahead of Reed’s but was forced to return to the tee when he could not locate his own opening tee shot, and with Reed’s permission ...

…. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Past champion Charl Schwartzel insists if there is any tension at this year’s Masters ‘Former Champions Dinner’ it will not be his doing. Augusta National announced five days prior to last Christmas there will be no restriction on the six now LIV Golf past Masters winners including – Phil Mickelson (2006, 2010 and 2014), Schwartzel (2011), Bubba Watson (2012 and ’14), Sergio Garcia (2017), Patrick Reed (2018) and Dustin Johnson (2020) – in being ...