Golf, by TourMiss

…. 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 ...

…. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Sergio Garcia may not be in the European Tour good books but the leading Ryder Cup points scorer says he’s determined to be in a position that Luke Donald cannot head to Rome without him. It came to notice ahead of last week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic when European Tour CEO Keith Pelley revealed that Garcia and any other European who has been afforded honorary life membership is eligible to be selected to represent Europe. That includes LIV stars Graeme ...

…. Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Graeme McDowell has every reason to be excited ahead of the start of celebrating a 21st pro season along the stunning Red Sea shoreline in Saudi Arabia. McDowell, 43, joins 11 other major champions in the strongest field this new year competing in the $5m PIF Saudi International, again being hosted on the Royal Greens course. The event is special for McDowell having won the then European Tour event in 2020, and for this year it is the second hosting under the ...

.… Royal Greens GC, Saudi Arabia Open Champion Cam Smith says it’s like they’ve just seen a ghost as that’s been the reaction when he’s had the famed Claret Jug in his possession. Smith celebrated the 150th staging of golf’ oldest major last July in also becoming the first Australian ‘Champion Golfer of the Year’  in some 30-years, and after Greg Norman in 1993, to be handed Claret Jug following his one-stroke victory over the Old Course at the Home ...