Unlike his owner Clive Palmer, not a shy man, Jeff was eerily quiet over the first day of the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum.
He was following directions to a tee. There was no bellowing, no roaring, not even a golf clap from his tiny, useless arms. All he did was hypnotically wag his tail and wobble around in the strong winds buffeting the golf course at Palmer’s new resort.
Still, Jeff was getting plenty of attention. Even with a gag order in place, it’s difficult for an 8.5m Tyrannosaurus Rex to go incognito on a golf course hosting one of the biggest tournaments on the Australian calendar.
Australian PGA Championship fans did not seem to mind, and many posed for photographs with the apex predator, who busied himself during the upper cretaceous period devouring everything within bite. That was before being shipped to the Sunshine Coast via China by the mining magnate.
Jeff may not be alone for long. Palmer is intent on adding to his collection of enormous robotic dinosaurs and bringing them to the former Hyatt resort, which is now the Palmer Coolum Resort.
Instead of an elite golf destination, he hopes to turn it into a huge dinosaur park featuring 150 replicas. At least Palmer won’t have to worry about locking horns with golf organisers any more, with the tournament now heading elsewhere following a breakdown in discussions.
Jeff is holding court this week between the ninth green and 10th tee. One local councillor has already likened it to a scene from Happy Gilmore, where golfers have to bounce the ball off one of his legs before getting it in the hole.
Golf veteran Stuart Appleby was among those confounded by Jeff. He has played worldwide but can categorically say he has never flopped one out of the sand with a hulking bipedal carnivore in the background.
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“I had a chip out of the bunker yesterday with this thing in the background. I said to (caddy) Mike (Waite) ‘I’ve never seen a dinosaur in the background of one shot I’ve hit in my life’,” Appleby said.
“I’m watching it now. It wasn’t moving yesterday. It is strange. It is hard to comprehend that stuff. We won’t get around to religion and beliefs but it’s pretty weird.”
China’s Zhang Xin-Jun, one of the early leaders, said he was dumbfounded to see towering over him the giant T-Rex, which is reputed to be named after Queensland deputy premier Jeff Seeney.
“Ha, ha … I'm astonished. I never thought will see dinosaur on a golf course, and during the practice round its eyes were moving and his tongue looked, well, almost real. It certainly makes the course look different,” Zhang said.
The Americans are bringing back Tom Watson as Ryder Cup captain with hopes of ending two decades of defeats in Europe.
"We're just really tired of losing Ryder Cup," PGA of America President Ted Bishop said Thursday during a news conference at the Empire State Building.
Watson faces a tall order.
The Americans have lost seven of the last nine Ryder Cups and have not won away from home since 1993, when Watson was the captain at The Belfry in England. They are coming off a staggering loss this year at Medinah, where Europe strung together a remarkable rally from a 10-6 deficit going into the final day to win by one point.
Watson is the first repeat captain for the U.S. team since Jack Nicklaus in 1987, when the Ryder Cup was played on his home course of Muirfield Village in Ohio. Watson, one of the most respected figures in golf worldwide, becomes the seventh U.S. captain to get more than one shot.
His selection received an immediate endorsement from Tiger Woods, whom Watson has strongly criticized because of Woods' behavior.
"I'd like to congratulate Tom Watson on his selection as Ryder Cup captain," Woods said in a statement. "I think he's a really good choice. Tom knows what it takes to win, and that's our ultimate goal. I hope I have the privilege of joining him on the 2014 United States Team."
Alfred Dunhill Championship
MALELANE, South Africa - Gregory Bourdy of France shot a 6-under 66 for a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Thursday, with a revived Charl Schwartzel one of six players behind him.
Bourdy had six birdies at Leopard Creek Country Club at the second event on the European Tour schedule in the 2013 Race to Dubai.
Schwartzel, who won in Thailand last weekend for his first title since the 2011 Masters, had five birdies in his 67.
The South African was joined by countrymen Louis de Jager, Oliver Bekker and Darren Fichardt and English pair Steve Webster and Richard Bland.
Branden Grace shot a 68, while former British Open champion and No. 5-ranked Louis Oosthuizen struggled to a 73.
Australian PGA Championship
COOLUM, Australia - Daniel Popovic shot an 8-under 64 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Australian PGA Championship on Thursday.
Fellow Australian Scott Strange shot 66 and was alone in second, followed by 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and OneAsia Tour regulars Zhang Xinjun of China and Singapore's Choo Tze-huang, who carded 67s.
Greg Norman pulled out after two holes - both bogeys - due to food poisoning. Tournament officials said Norman was treated in his hotel room by a local doctor and was expected to make a full recovery.
Bolter Daniel Popovic will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum.
Popovic is 13 under par for the tournament after firing a classy three-under 69 on Saturday with fellow Victorian Anthony Brown his closest challenger after shooting a blistering 64.
Australian Open champion Peter Senior (68) is equal third three shots back with Matthew Griffin.
Another nine players, including four-time PGA winner Robert Allenby (73-67-68), US Open winner Geoff Ogilvy (67-69-72), big-hitting Queenslander Rod Pampling (71-67-69) and China's Zhang Xin Jun (67-67-74) are within five shots of Popovic.
Popovic made a wonderful last-hole birdie from eight metres across the slope to close his round in style.
"I'm over the moon, I couldn't fell any better," said Popovic, holding his new $175 putter which could net him the $250,000 winner's prize.
"I knew I had it in me. I know I've got one more good round in me if I stick to the routine that has worked so far." Popovic said the Odyssey No.7 putter he had be given before the PGA had saved him "at least three or four strokes a round".
"I'm never going to let it out of my sight," he smiled as he clutched to putter which has playing cards on the handle.
Zhang and Brown both snatched the lead from Popovic at various stages during an intriguing third round known in golf circles as "moving day".
One of the players in his path will be Senior, the ironman of Australian golf and the last player to lead every day when he saluted in 2003.
Popovic on verge of amazing PGA win | Golf | Fox Sports
Ireland — A driving downpour at Old Head Golf Links soaked through Tim Lang’s rain suit, blew in his face as he lined up daunting shots along cliffs above the gray Atlantic, and made it difficult to hold his ground on a prosthetic leg in the wet grass. Nobody should have been playing in such conditions, but on this October day, they made Lang feel more alive. On the same date in 2006, Lang, then a Marine sergeant, was seriously injured when the Humvee in which he was the turret gunner struck a roadside bomb in Iraq. His right leg was shattered, and it was eventually amputated. Two of his closest friends were killed in the explosion.
The anniversary of a soldier’s injury is called his alive day, a kind of second birthday. It is typically reserved for contemplation and remembrance of comrades who were not so fortunate.
On his alive day this year, Lang, 26, played golf in the manner in which he has decided to live: fiercely, with grace and determination in the face of adversity — even if the adversity is stormy weather in which the wind pushes a few balls toward the ocean. But if a combination of training, luck and an unwillingness to die saved Lang in combat, golf, of all things, helped save him when he returned home.
Lang, like many wounded in military service, spent several years recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. During physical therapy there, he met Jim Estes, who runs the 250-member Salute Military Golf Association, a nonprofit that helps injured soldiers adjust to life in peacetime, a process sometimes as painful as their more obvious wounds.
“It’s deeply moving to see guys come out of the hospital much better off as a result of playing golf,” said Estes, a teaching pro at Olney Golf Park in Maryland. “A lot of them were good athletes and think they can’t do anything now. Then they take up this sport and see that they can play better than guys who aren’t injured. They already have the character traits necessary to excel at golf: mental toughness, a work ethic, physical fitness, perspective on life, perseverance and the ability to handle pressure.”
Estes persuaded Lang, a former high school football star, to overcome his aversion to golf and attend a clinic.
“The clinic ran from 10 o’clock to 12:30,” Lang said. “I stayed there hitting balls until the facility closed that evening. Then came back the next day. And the next.”
In the midst of more than 40 medical procedures, and at the depths of depression, anger, pain and confusion, he eventually discovered that golf provided a reason to leave his hospital room and live.
At Old Head, Lang and 10 other wounded soldiers were midway through a 12-day golf outing organized by Golf Digest Irish Tours. Linton Walsh, the chief executive of the new tour company, arranged for hotels and golf courses to host them as thanks for their service. As evidenced by the toasts offered by residents throughout the country, many Irish believe that American soldiers have always fought for their freedom, too.
At dinner one night, while creamy Guinness pints settled on the bar, Lang stood to tell his story. When he first took up golf, he hid his prosthetic leg, he said, because he never wanted to use it as an excuse or elicit sympathy. Then, when his golf handicap dropped to 5 and he was trouncing other players in competition, he started wearing shorts to show off his carbon fiber and titanium limb; he had transformed it from an affliction to a core part of his strength.
“When you lose a limb and you’re hospital-bound and unable to care for yourself, you lose your self-confidence,” said Lang, who married a year ago is now majoring in criminology at Eastern Michigan University. “I want to share the message that this game brought me out of my darkest days. Golf gave me the feeling that I’m whole again. Even with a different handicap, I can still compete with everybody.”
And by handicap, Lang generally refers only to the number that represents a golfer’s ability and allows him to compete fairly against others.
“I’ve got a broken back, a traumatic brain injury and one leg,” Lang said. “But golf put me on a level playing field and made me feel I’m just like anyone else. I started taking pride in being normal — and in beating able-bodied people. And that’s when it really became fun.”
Shock news – NHS doctors will have to work at weekends. Medical chiefs have decided that patients have the right to the same hospital treatment on Sunday as on Monday. They plan to change physicians’ contracts accordingly.
About time, too. It seems as if every medical emergency I’ve faced over the past few years – involving alternately my father and my mother – has taken place at a weekend. Each admission brought us into over-crowded, under-staffed departments where NHS workers (both doctors and nurses) were frantic. We had to wait hours for those scans and lab tests that were available over the weekend; many weren’t.
Long before researchers proved it, I suspected that when my mother was rushed into hospital on Saturday night, she was at greater risk of dying than if she’d been admitted on a Wednesday (16 per cent greater, according to a report published this year.)
The new extended schedule will prove a bitter pill for many doctors – not to mention golf clubs up and down the country, accustomed to charging high weekend prices to the well-heeled consultants working on their handicap. For while doctors take pride in being public servants, many resemble snooty Whitehall mandarins rather than frontline emergency services who are on call round the clock. Imagine ringing the fire station only to be told “sorry, you can’t reach firemen at the weekend”; yet this is what happened to my friend with cancer when she asked if she could contact her consultant after hours.
Physicians are grand, and have attitude. They don’t see themselves as jobbing mortals, but as the Olympians of the wards, the gods of the operating theatres. From Hippocrates to House, this powerful elite have banked on our deference, and enjoyed a lifestyle rooted in prestige, with handsome salaries and Royal Colleges as their trade bodies. All this, plus weekends off.
They’ve had centuries to grow accustomed to this special status, so physicians are bound to fight the medical chiefs’ plans. But the NHS bosses must not lose their nerve: this is a battle not of life and death, but of lifestyle versus death.
***
Doctors’ self-regard is not the only issue troubling the NHS. With 2.5 million Britons over-eating, obesity has grown to the point where people are talking of levying fat taxes and of copying Mayor Bloomberg in New York, who has banned outsize sugar-sweetened drinks.
Let me suggest an even simpler change: Britons should make a meal of it. Instead of eating on the go, scoffing cupcakes on the train and chips in the street, everyone should sit at table, with a plate and cutlery, and family, friends, or Radio 4 for company. In this way, the eater will be much more self- (and food-) conscious. Once eating properly replaces grazing unthinkingly, the battle of the bulge becomes winnable – and public spaces can be reclaimed from the hungry herds.
***
Queen Victoria may be cherished as a wise matriarch in whose care the Empire flourished, but with her own children, she was a tyrant. A forthcoming documentary, drawing on royal letters and diaries, will expose the mother of nine as a heartless parent who scarred her offspring for life.
Kathryn Hughes, who wrote a brilliant biography of Mrs Beeton, reveals that Queen Victoria derided her offspring as “ugly” and “frog-like”. She threatened them with beatings if they didn’t learn their lessons properly, and encouraged them to outdo one another in trying to please her.
But wait: an over-critical scold with ultra-high expectations? Surely what we have here is not a monstrous monarch, but the original Tiger Mum.
Doctors should get off the golf course and into the wards - Telegraph
Billionaire Clive Palmer’s decision to erect a roaring, 26-foot robotic dinosaur at this year’s Australian PGA Championship wasn’t even his strangest yet.
On Monday, the billionaire owner of the Palmer Coolum Resort said that he’s not interested in having Tiger Woods play in his tournament because the 14-time major champion is "an emotional wreck" and "not a good example for kids."
"Tiger Woods isn’t the No. 1 golfer in the world anymore," Palmer said, via Brent Read of the Australian. "We don’t want to look backwards; we want to look forwards. So why would we get Tiger Woods here? I would prefer to have (this year’s winner) Peter Senior than Tiger Woods. I am sure Peter Senior could beat Tiger Woods on a good day. I am sure he could."
"Tiger Woods has improved a lot, but he’s an emotional wreck, and he’s not a good example for kids, anyway."
It was reported last week that the Australian PGA was headed for a different course in 2013 and beyond after negotiations between Palmer and tournament officials broke down, though Palmer remained hopeful that the event would remain at his course – even with the dinosaur and the 60-plus painted signs promoting many of his own companies.
Instead of Woods – who, it should be noted, has never played the Australian PGA – Palmer will instead focus his efforts on wooing world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, even saying, according to the report, "If you rang him now, he would probably tell you unless it’s at Palmer Coolum Resort, I won’t come. We can be sure he won’t come if it goes somewhere else. If it stays here, there is a chance he might come here. We had Darren Clarke and Bubba Watson."
You can imagine the scene. The boy's eyes were bulging, his teeth and fists were clenched and he just could not think about losing.
They were only play fights when there was nothing better to be done by a pair of brothers, a typical sibling scenario, but this one involving the Poulter brothers of Hitchin spawned one of golf's truly great competitive spirits.
“It is the most amazing adrenalin rush you can ever get. I can't equate it to anything else I have ever done”
Ian Poulter on playing in the Ryder Cup
It is the tenacity of Ian Poulter that sets him apart in the ultra-competitive world of professional golf, particularly so in the Ryder Cup.
For so single-minded a sportsman, it is within the team environment that he prospers most. His is a self-made talent that doesn't only yield selfish spoils. Just ask his team-mates at Medinah this year.
"He's the heartbeat really," Luke Donald told BBC Sport in the wake of Poulter's four points out of four in Europe's great comeback victory.
"He gets so up for it that you feed off his energy. He makes his views very clear - he doesn't want to lose and he's going to do whatever he can to motivate the team.
"He obviously gets so inspired by the Ryder Cup and you can see that raw emotion in his face. His eyes almost pop out a few times a day and its good to see and good to be around."
Donald was speaking as part of a special tribute to Poulter to be aired on BBC Radio 5 live at 21:30 GMT on Tuesday 18 December.
His fellow Englishman's inspiration of the most unlikely of Ryder Cup victories sits comfortably alongside so many of the extraordinary sporting performances witnessed in 2012.
Poulter takes us back to his childhood when those competitive instincts that proved so valuable to European golf in September were first honed.
"Family life was fun," he told me. "In the early years I shared a bedroom with my brother. It was very much the brotherly love/hate relationship.
"If we weren't out playing having fun, we were fighting, just like any other brothers. We were very competitive; it was a very competitive household. "My dad was a pretty decent golfer and we fell in love with golf at an early age, and I also fell in love with football."
Until he was about 15, Poulter played a lot more football than golf. He was the man up front sniffing glory at every opportunity until he developed asthma and dropped back to centre-half.
Even so, he still made sure he took all the free-kicks and corners. "I had this competitive spirit in me," Poulter recalls. "I detested losing. I wasn't the best sportsman at school but I did most sports.
"I played cricket, basketball, pole-vaulting. I had a go at everything because I just really enjoyed sport, the competitive spirit of it and what a difference it made to me.
"Sitting in a classroom putting my head in a geography book, to be honest, really wasn't that interesting to me. But going out on an athletics field doing 100m hurdles or throwing a discus, that to me was a challenge.
"It was no surprise to me that I came through to do a sport - even though it wasn't football, my first love."
Poulter wanted to play for Arsenal and had trials for north London rivals Tottenham, but it didn't work out. By this time the golf bug had struck and at the relatively late age of 15 he decided his future lay in the game.
"I started working in a golf shop at Chesfield Downs [in Stevenage]. I was playing off a four handicap so I really wasn't much cop at that time. I won my club championship and that was really about it to be honest with you," Poulter said.
His real talent was a firm work ethic and the enthusiastic technique to earn commission on sales of golf equipment. Eventually he became an assistant pro.
"At that stage I always had the dream to become a golf professional," he says. "You could be an assistant off a four handicap, so I signed my handicap certificate card and sent it off to the PGA."
However, self-certification, enterprising as it is, is not the prescribed method so now he had to back up his claim that he was good enough to be a PGA pro.
"I passed my playability test in the first four events, opening up with rounds of 66 and 66," he says.
He was on his way, with a self-belief that has never left a player who now boasts a dozen titles worldwide including two World Golf Championships.
But, inspired perhaps by memories of the camaraderie of football dressing rooms, it is at the Ryder Cup that he has reached his peak - so much so that he was always going to be a wildcard pick for Medinah if he didn't make the team on merit.
And how Poulter justified captain Jose Maria Olazabal's faith by inspiring Europe's comeback from 10-4 down late on the Saturday afternoon in Chicago.
In partnership with Rory McIlroy he rolled in five consecutive birdies to snatch a vital point from Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson to ensure Europe were only four points down going into the final day and make what followed possible.
What is it like to go on a run like that in such circumstances?
"When Michael Jordan, one of the greatest athletes of all time, is watching you make birdie and birdie and birdie and it's frustrating him, and it's pleasing me, and it's pleasing Rory and all the European fans around the world - it is the most amazing place to be and it so enjoyable," Poulter recalls.
"Yes it is pressure packed and, yes, there is so much tension - but it is the most amazing slow walk and the most amazing adrenaline rush you can ever get. I can't equate it to anything else I have ever done.
"It takes you to a place I didn't know exists. It's very, very, very special."
And so too were the results his European team-mates subsequently produced.
It could be argued that, at Medinah, Poulter produced the greatest individual display the Ryder Cup has ever seen; what is beyond doubt is that he inspired one of the great eye-popping stories of an astonish
The 2012 Open champion, Ernie Els, is the latest star to confirm his entry into the season-opening Volvo Golf Champions at the Durban Country Club from 10 to 13 January 2013.
Els heads a strong South African challenge for European Tour’s ‘tournament of champions’ including defending champion Branden Grace, two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen, and 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.
One of South Africa’s most accomplished sportsmen, Els has 69 professional career victories to his name, including four Major Championships, two World Golf Championships and a record seven World Matchplay titles.
As a former World No 1, Els is one of the most prolific winners of his generation and the global reach of his victories is almost without parallel. He has triumphed in tournaments all over the world and was inducted into the prestigious World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.
In 2012, Els came agonisingly close to winning the Volvo Golf Champions after a dramatic all South African play-off with Retief Goosen and Branden Grace, with Grace triumphing to win his second title of the season.
Els commented, “I am delighted to be able to include the Volvo Golf Champions in my schedule. It is the perfect way for me to start off my year playing in South Africa in front of my home fans.
"I am looking forward to returning to the Durban Country Club as I’ve won there before and have some great memories of the course. After coming so close at Fancourt, I would love to be able to finish one place higher in January to start off my season in the best possible way.”
Els, who in 1999 established a Foundation in his name to assist aspiring young golfers in South Africa, added: “A prestigious European Tour event like this is broadcast to millions of homes around the world, which not only showcases the fantastic golf facilities South Africa has to offer but also highlights the current strength of our nation’s golfers.
"Although I was disappointed to miss out on winning in 2012, it was nice to see Branden Grace make his mark as one of the world’s best players in front of his home crowd. Not so long ago he was a member of our Foundation and we’re all so proud of what he has gone on to achieve. He’s an inspiration to our current crop of members.”
Entries to the of €2-million (approximately R22.5-million) tournament close at midnight on Thursday and, with one or two late entries anticipated, the 2013 Volvo Golf Champions field already contains many of European Tour’s best players, including Matteo Manassero, a three-time winner on the European Tour at only 19 years old, Miguel Ángel Jiménez who last month won the Hong Kong Open to become the oldest winner on the European Tour at age 48, and Jeev Milkha Singh, the first Indian player to win his European Tour card.
European Ryder Cup stars, Nicolas Colsaerts, Paul Casey, Peter Hanson, Paul Lawrie, Francesco Molinari and Henrik Stenson have also confirmed their participation along with Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie, José María Olazábal and Thomas Björn who claim their places as current Tour Members with more than ten European Tour victories.
The Durban Country Club is a renowned Championship course with an impressive résumé having hosted the South African Open on no fewer than 17 occasions.
It was recently voted one of the Top 100 golf courses in the world by Golf Magazine USA and is undoubtedly a shotmaker’s course that players will have to think their way around during the Volvo Golf Champions.
Els to challenge at Volvo Golf Champions - SuperSport - Golf
All that happy talk about Phil Mickelson becoming part owner of his hometown San Diego Padres was just that -- talk.
Mickelson will not be involved with the group that bought the Padres in August, his spokesman, T.R. Reinman, told The Associated Press on Tuesday night.
Reinman said the professional golfer told friends of his decision before a meeting at Torrey Pines Golf Course to discuss renovation of the North Course.
Mickelson feels the O'Malley and Seidler families, which bought the Padres along with local businessman Ron Fowler, have the depth of commitment the city needs. Reinman said Mickelson feels he can't match that level of commitment, at this point.
"While we have had productive and enjoyable discussions with Phil, I respect his decision and appreciate his sincere approach," Peter Seidler said in an email to the AP on Wednesday. "We share a passion for San Diego, a commitment to the community, and I look forward to a long friendship."
Mickelson had spoken excitedly about the possibility of joining the ownership group.
On Oct. 15, after taking a charity wedge shot at halftime of the Denver-San Diego NFL game at Qualcomm Stadium, he said: "It looks pretty promising and hopefully here in the next few days we'll have something to announce. I think we're getting it worked out."
On the day the Seidler-O'Malley group announced the $800 million sale had closed, Peter Seidler said there was one spot left in the ownership group and it was being held for Mickelson.
Two-time champion Mickelson and Masters winner Bubba Watson have committed to play in the Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
Defending champion Kyle Stanley and 2011 winner Mark Wilson also are entered in the Jan. 31-Feb. 3 event.
Mickelson, a former Arizona State star, will open his season Jan. 17-20 in the Humana Challenge in La Quinta.
Rory McIlroy is the near unanimous choice as the best male player by the Golf Writers Association of America.
McIlroy received 190 of the 194 votes cast by GWAA members. Three votes went to FedEx Cup champion Brandt Snedeker, and the other went to Tiger Woods.
McIlroy previously won player of the year awards from the PGA Tour, European Tour, PGA of America and British-based Association of Golf Writers.
The GWAA said Stacy Lewis was voted best female player with 79 percent of the vote, while double major winner Roger Chapman won the senior player award with 60 percent of the vote. This is the fourth time in the past five years that the GWAA award has gone to a European player.
Colin Montgomerie was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame by the slimmest of margins.
Montgomerie and Ken Schofield, head of the European Tour for nearly 30 years, were announced as the latest inductees. They fill out the 2013 class that includes Willie Park Jr., Fred Couples and Ken Venturi.
Montgomerie led the European Tour money list a record eight times. He received 51 percent of the vote on the international ballot.
That makes two inductees in this class -- Couples was the other -- who got in through a special provision. If no one gets the minimum 65 percent, the player with the most votes gets elected as long as it's more than 50 percent.
The induction ceremony will be May 6 in St. Augustine, Fla.
Golf: Phil Mickelson won't be part owner of San Diego Padres - San Jose Mercury News
Lanier Golf Club’s neighbors have dropped a lawsuit against its owners that has spanned more than five years in court.
The case originated in 2007 when Michael Peck, who lives adjacent to the 172-acre course, filed suit against Lanier after the owners announced plans to sell the site for development.
Peck’s suit was based on the grounds of an implied covenant when he purchased his property. Had the court agreed, it could have stopped development of the course on Buford Dam Road.
The Georgia Appeals Court ruled in March that Peck did not have implied easement rights. That followed a May 2011 court decision granting summary judgment to the course owners, Jack Manton and George Bagley Jr.
The 25 other plaintiffs in the case filed notices of dismissal shortly after the Georgia Supreme Court denied a petition to hear the appeal in October.
The attorney for the residents, Bob McFarland Sr., withdrew from the case as those he represented left, and he hired Rafe Banks to represent him in the aftermath.
Though the case for an implied easement has been dismissed, arguments continued Wednesday in Forsyth County Superior Court as the course owners’ motion for attorney’s fees was heard by visiting Judge Frank C. Mills of Cherokee County.
The owners filed the motion based on the grounds of a frivolous lawsuit. Mills announced Wednesday that he will grant partial payment of attorney’s fees.
“It’s not a totally frivolous case,” he said. “I don’t think this case was brought for harassment or delay … I think it was brought because the plaintiff felt like he was losing something he was entitled to.”
However, Mills said there was a point in the case when Peck and McFarland should’ve corrected some facts in the complaint that had been shown during trial to not be entirely truthful.
He added that the first judge, though he was supposed to rule only on whether to grant class action status, should have given the residents “a clue” when he ruled Peck didn’t have a case to represent the class.
Mills estimated that from that point in August 2008 on, he will be likely to grant the recovery of attorney fees for the owners.
He then asked the two sides to come to an agreement on how they would like to handle determining those amounts.
Attorney Andrea Cantrell Jones, representing Lanier Golf, said the owners made an offer, but received no counter.
Banks sought an opportunity to “lay out the evidence and let the court rule.”
To that effect, Mills ordered Lanier Golf Club to submit a brief with dates and bills by Jan. 4, after which the residents’ side will have 10 days to file a brief.
He will then either issue a ruling or hold a hearing, possibly in January.
Jones called the case “a poster child for abusive litigation,” and sought payment of more than $100,000 in the owners’ fees on those grounds.
“These 25 plaintiffs never produced one piece of evidence that would validate their claims,” she said.
Banks contended that McFarland had been using a process new to Georgia but accepted in other states to prove an implied easement.
“Mr. McFarland had a good-faith intention of trying to expand the evidentiary method,” he said.
The 172-acre site remains a golf course, though the property was rezoned by the county commission in July 2011 on the order of a judge.
The rezoning closed out a lawsuit the golf course owners filed against the county after the commission denied their request in 2007 to rezone the site from agricultural to a master planned district.
The front 93.8 acres were rezoned from agricultural to a master planned district, with a conditional use permit for a continuing care retirement center.
The 78.6 acres in the rear of the site were rezoned from agricultural to Res 2, or residential with 1.5 to 2 units per acre.
That rezoning spurred two suits in August 2011 against Forsyth County and the golf club.
Resident group Save Lanier Golf Club dropped its suit in January.
The only other pending suit is one filed by Pedro Pedro Techologias, a corporation run by William Pulford out of his home on Fairway Lane.
Golf in China is beginning to rise, with an increased number of golf courses, amateurs and professionals winning major golf tournaments and several tour companies offering trips to China along with packages to play at Chinese Golf Clubs.
Brief History of Chinese Golf
Golf in China began as a game known as Chuiwan, according to a YouTube cartoon made from a mural in the monastery in Shanxi Province.
Pu Yi, China's last Emperor learned to play golf from his tutor in the 1920s according to Golf Today.
The China Golf Association was founded in 1985 in Beijing.
Swiss Watchmaker Omega sponsored the China Tour in 2005. The China Golf Association replaced that tour in 2010 with the Chinese Pro Golf Championships, according to Reuters.
Who are the Hottest Male Golfers in China? (ranking listed by the China Golf Association)
1. Liang Wen-Chong won the 2012 China Masters and recorded two wins in the 2010 One Asia tour according to the Associated Press. A member of the Guangdong Zhongshan Hot Spring Golf Club, he turned professional in 1999 after winning the 1996-1998 Amateur Golf Open.
2. A Shun Wu
3. Zhang Lian-Wei, a member of the Shenzhen Golf Club Limited turned professional in 1994, won the 1989, 1991, 1994 Amateur China Championship, won the 1995, 1996 Malaysia and Thailand Masters Championship, 1995 China Open and China Tour Championships, 2000 Ontario Open, 2001 Macau Open along with others according to the Official China Olympic webpage.
4. Wuwei Huang
5. Wei Wei
6. Yuan Haio
Male Rising Golf Stars from China
Professional golfer Zhou Xunshu is an up and comer from the pro circuit in China.
After winning the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in 2012, Guan Tianlang will become the youngest golfer to play at the Masters in 2013, according to Pakistan Today and Golf Digest, following the route set by Andy Zhang in 2012 as described by the BBC.
Who are the Hottest Women Golfer's in China?
Shanshan Feng, 22, is currently ranked sixth worldwide by LPGA-com won the Omega Dubai Ladies Championship in 2012, Rolex First Time Winner and a Wegman's LPGA Championship and is the appointed Omega Ambassador for China according to Bettor-com and China Daily after winning the Ladies National China Championship. She was invited to play a women's professional Helong Cup in 2004 after winning the National Youth Championship Group A in 2003.
China Women Rising Stars
At 13 years old in 2011, Shi Yuting, member at Huangshan Pine Golf and Country Club in Anhui, came in second in the China Ladies Golf Open, setting a new record, according to a CCTV-com YouTube video.
Feng Simin, a 17-year-old amateur won the Wuhan Challenge in 2012 and Liu Yu, a 17-year-old amateur, won Chengtou Ancheng Cup Chongqing Challenge in 2012, a China LPGA event, according to China Daily.
Where to Play Golf in China
GolfToday has a terrific directory of all the golf courses in China, with one or more golf courses in each of 29 provinces. Beijing province has 60 golf courses, followed by 33 in Guangdong Province and Shanghai with 21 for a total of 395, with 100,000 members but ready to support 300,000 according to the USC US-China Institute. Mission Hills Golf Club in China showcases world famous golf designed golf courses.
A new course is planned for Inner Mongolia, according to Cybergolf-com.
Lanier Golf Club’s neighbors have dropped a lawsuit against its owners that has spanned more than five years in court.
The case originated in 2007 when Michael Peck, who lives adjacent to the 172-acre course, filed suit against Lanier after the owners announced plans to sell the site for development.
Peck’s suit was based on the grounds of an implied covenant when he purchased his property. Had the court agreed, it could have stopped development of the course on Buford Dam Road.
The Georgia Appeals Court ruled in March that Peck did not have implied easement rights. That followed a May 2011 court decision granting summary judgment to the course owners, Jack Manton and George Bagley Jr.
The 25 other plaintiffs in the case filed notices of dismissal shortly after the Georgia Supreme Court denied a petition to hear the appeal in October.
The 172-acre site remains a golf course, though the property was rezoned by the county commission in July 2011 on the order of a judge.
The rezoning closed out a lawsuit the golf course owners filed against the county after the commission denied their request in 2007 to rezone the site from agricultural to a master planned district.
The front 93.8 acres were rezoned from agricultural to a master planned district, with a conditional use permit for a continuing care retirement center. The 78.6 acres in the rear of the site were rezoned from agricultural to Res 2, or residential with 1.5 to 2 units per acre.
That rezoning spurred two suits in August 2011 against Forsyth County and the golf club.
Resident group Save Lanier Golf Club dropped its suit in January.
The only other pending suit is one filed by Pedro Pedro Techologias, a corporation run by William Pulford out of his home on Fairway Lane.
Though the case for an implied easement has been dismissed, arguments continued Wednesday in Forsyth County Superior Court as the course owners’ motion for attorney’s fees was heard by visiting Judge Frank C. Mills of Cherokee County.
The owners filed the motion based on the grounds of a frivolous lawsuit. Mills announced Wednesday that he will grant partial payment of attorney’s fees.
“It’s not a totally frivolous case,” he said. “I don’t think this case was brought for harassment or delay … I think it was brought because the plaintiff felt like he was losing something he was entitled to.”
Singapore: Rapid growth has made Asia the big new destination for world golf, but there’s an unmistakable sense of gloom as long-standing events face an uncertain future and local talent stalls.
While rich tournaments and even richer stars continue to flood east, grabbing widespread attention and making large sums for the game’s elite, for the homegrown scene it’s a different story entirely.
A bitter turf war between two rival circuits, which has spooked sponsors and divided players, shows little sign of easing and Asian golfers are making slow progress on the world stage, with just nine listed in the top 100.
China, the great new market, with an ever-increasing number of courses and recreational players, is developing at a glacial rate in competitive terms, with only three men ranked among the world’s best 800. Asia’s inter-circuit rivalry even ended up before the courts, with four struggling players, who were fined and suspended by the Asian Tour for taking part in OneAsia events, winning a restraint of trade case in Singapore.
Meanwhile, traditional cornerstone events are facing trouble. Prize money at the venerable Hong Kong Open was slashed to just $2 million (Dh7.35 million) and organisers went cap-in-hand for government funds to pay appearance fees for top players.
The Singapore Open, touted as ‘Asia’s Major’ and its oldest national open, dating back to 1961, lost title sponsor Barclays and is missing from next year’s European schedule, with its future date and backers unclear.
While those events hit hard times, the European and American tours remain in a powerful position, with a series of big, multi-million dollar tournaments that remain the season’s highlights.
The CIMB Classic in Malaysia, headlined this year by Tiger Woods, will become a full-status PGA Tour event next season — and with just 10 Asian Tour players in the field, according to current plans.
The WGC-HSBC Champions, which featured just nine winners of Asian Tour events and four Chinese players at its last edition in November, has signed on for a five-year stint in Shanghai with Major-level prize money of $8.5 million.
The European Tour also bypassed both the Asian Tour and OneAsia by co-sanctioning the $7.1 million BMW Masters, a much-criticised exhibition tournament when it emerged last year, with China’s domestic circuit.
But the year’s most talked-about event, China’s ‘Duel at Jinsha Lake’, was unsanctioned, featured only Woods and Rory McIlroy and was over in just one day of spectator mayhem and gratuitous displays of wealth by the organisers.
Perhaps not surprisingly, local players barely figured at the top tournaments and out of five European and PGA-backed events since late October, only three Asians, in total, finished in the top 10 and none in the top five.
And among Asia’s top performers this year, several, including Asian Tour merit winner Thaworn Wiratchant, and Thongchai Jaidee and Jeev Milkha Singh, who won the Wales and Scottish Opens respectively, are in their forties.
However, those victories also show it’s not all bleak for Asian golf and there are other signs to cheer the optimist.
In June, Beijing-born Florida resident Andy Zhang played the US Open at just 14 and China’s Guang Tianlang, who is the same age and also trains frequently in the United States, is set to break the US Masters age record next year.
Asians continue to dominate the women’s game with four of the top five players, including world No 1 Yani Tseng and Park In-Bee, the highest earner on this year’s US LPGA tour.
And just this month, Naomichi ‘Joe’ Ozaki’s Asia team won the Royal Trophy in a playoff against a European side led by Jose Maria Olazabal, who masterminded September’s famous Ryder Cup victory.
The men in charge of Asia’s rival tours both insist that the future is bright and that the trajectory, despite admitted problems, remains upward.
Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said his organisation provides the “right balance” of tournaments to nurture players, adding in an email: “We are confident the future of professional golf in the region is secure.”
OneAsia chairman and commissioner Sang Y. Chun called Asia’s development “alarmingly strong” and even held out the possibility of working with the Asian Tour to bring the region on to a more equal footing with Europe and the PGA.
However, for some observers, the current situation is very different from the high hopes of nearly 20 years ago, when the Asian Tour first came into being.
“Some people on all sides are claiming they’re working for the betterment of golf and in fact they’re doing no such thing,” Spencer Robinson, managing editor of Asian Golf Monthly, said last month.
“You just want to shake these guys, pick them up by the ears and bash their heads together and say, ‘There’s a big enough pie, let’s all sit down and work together’.”
By ELIZABETH CHATUVELA
PATRICK Mwendapole on Sunday won the Zambezi Professional Golf Tour end-of-year tournament staged at Lusaka Golf Club.
Mwendapole garnered 150 gross points, runner-up Mohammed Zulu managed 153 gross while Kelvin Phiri and Steven Mbewe finished in the third and fourth positions respectively.
Phiri got 155 gross and Mbewe 162 gross.
In the junior category, Timothy Sondashi emerged winner with 156 gross beating Michael Nkhoma after a sudden death play-off.
Sondashi won with an eagle on par five, with Sydine Wemba commanding the second position with 157 gross.
And Mwendapole thanked Lusaka Golf Club for staging the event.
He said the organising committee raised K4.5 million through donations.
Chibuluma Golf Club president Alusha Phiri donated K2 million, Allan Nyirenda and Chainama Golf Club president Criticles Mwansa pumped in K1 million each and Bruce Chanda K500,000.
Air travel, it is well documented, has been difficult during this holiday season.
Just not for everybody.
During the Doral Publix Junior Classic this week on Doral’s famed Blue Monster course, startled players and spectators gaped and then started pointing out toward the course as a helicopter landed on the ninth fairway.
Once people got a glimpse of the helicopter, they quickly became aware what was happening.
The Donald had landed.
Donald Trump, who recently purchased the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, was visiting one of his acquisitons, which included the golf courses on the property. So, if he wants to make the course his own private landing strip, he certainly can.
It should be noted that the players in the tournament had long played past the ninth hole and the area was completely clear when the chopper landed. People watching the ongoings realized quickly who was arriving. It was difficult not to, as the helicopter had TRUMP in huge letters painted on its side.
Since Trump’s purchase of the property, the official name of the golf courses and spa is no longer Doral Golf Resort & Spa. It is now Trump National Doral.
In the future, Trump, who now owns 13 golf courses, plans to revamp the courses at Doral, including toughening up the Blue Monster (once feared but in recent years playing much tamer). In recent years and into the foreseeable future, Doral has been the host to a World Golf Championship event in March, one of golf’s top tournaments behind the four majors.
Trump bought the Doral Golf Resort & Spa (buildings, land, four golf courses, etc.) for approximately $150 million and is expected to sink $200 million into revamping the courses and property.
• The Doral Junior Classic, run by Charlie DeLucca, is the biggest of all the amateur tournaments that dominate the South Florida golf scene during the holiday season. The tournament, which has more than 700 entrants, is dedicated to emphasizing academics and ethical values in addition to golf shots being hit by some of the best juniors in the world.
Here are the younger and smaller players who won their divisions during the tournament: Boys — Adrien Pendaries, France (12-13); Rasmus Bofill, Denmark (10-11); Nicklas Staub, Boynton Beach (8-9); Alejandro Fierro, France (7-under). Girls — Sara Garcia Real, Spain (12-13); Brittany Shin, Boynton Beach (10-11); Elle Nachmann, Boca Raton (8-9); Chloe Kovelesky, Boca Raton (7-under).
Jr. ORANGE BOWL
The 2012 international junior amateur season closes out Thursday through Sunday with the four-round Junior Orange Bowl Championship at Biltmore Golf Course. The field for the event will include 63 boys and 33 girls, according to tournament director J.R. Steinbauer.
Previous participants in the 49 years of the tournament include Tiger Woods, Nick Price, Mark Calcavecchia, Hal Sutton, Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim and Paula Creamer.
Among the top boys competing this year are Hayden Porteous, who won the amateur championship in his native South Africa, Adam Wood of Indiana and Alexander Matlari of Germany, who is coming off a victory in the Doral Publix Junior Classic. The girls’ entrants include Brooke Henderson, the Canadian junior champion at age 15, Nicole Morales of South Salem, N.Y., and Hadas Libman of Israel.
Players will tee off at 7:15 a.m.; admission is free.
Read more here: Donald Trump: Big plans for Doral golf course - Golf - MiamiHerald-com
Na Yeon Choi won her first major at the U.S. Women's Open, and she closed the season by winning the LPGA Titleholders.
But her most remarkable performance came when the season was over.
Players for whom English is their second (or third) language can get by in an interview with print reporters. They tend be a lot more uncomfortable when cameras are involved. Choi showed how much progress she has made the day after winning the Titleholders. She went into the studio for a live segment on the Golf Channel's "Morning Drive."
The LPGA staff helped her prepare for questions that might be asked, and when it didn't go according to script, Choi still handled it beautifully.
That wasn't an accident.
As hard as Choi has worked on her game, she might have worked even harder on her English. Last year, she hired a personal tutor and brought him with her on the road. She had a one-hour lesson every day and practiced her English with him in casual conversation.
"First year when I was here, I couldn't speak English well and then very hard to tell my feelings to people, even media or fans or even swing coach," Choi said. "When I learned English and when I tell my feelings to people, I feel way more comfortable than before. I think that made it good golfer, too. And on the golf course, I can relax and I can talk with the other players."
Choi's tutor couldn't travel with her this year, though they still practiced through Skype. She had another one-hour lesson during the Titleholders and planned to meet with him again while she was home during the offseason.
"We talk about not only golf, we talk about anything," Choi said. "Like, I said I'm going to look for a new house and he tried to help me with which house is better for me. He's more like, not just English tutor, he's more like manager or assistant to me."
Most of the world's best players are going to the Middle East in the winter and the Far East in the fall, both part of the European Tour.
But over the course of the year, the PGA Tour is where the biggest offering of world ranking points can be found.
Throw out the four majors and the four World Golf Championships, and the PGA Tour averaged 46.7 points for the winner of its tournaments, compared with 34.9 points for the winner of regular European Tour events.
Add the majors and the WGCs, and the winner received an average of 54.3 points on the PGA Tour and 44.6 points on the European Tour.
Tom Lehman was voted Champions Tour player of the year, even though Roger Chapman won two majors -- the Senior PGA Championship and the Senior U.S. Open.
Golf: Na Yeon Choi working hard on her English - San Jose Mercury News
Golf remains one of Ireland’s major attractions as the tourism industry looks to 2013 with a greater degree of optimism after a number of challenging years.
Research from Fáilte Ireland estimates that the typical overseas golf tourist is worth almost three times the value of the average tourist to Ireland, with 155,000 visitors playing the sport and yielding a total spend of €204m annually.
This level of expenditure supports over 7,300 jobs, with the bonus that golfing visitors are much more likely to be repeat customers.
Dan Flinter, chairman of the Fáilte Ireland Golf Forum, said: "In order to build on this, the Irish golf sector will not only have to continue to offer memorable experiences but also good value for money. Most encouragingly, the research shows that we are hitting the mark on both scores — with visitor satisfaction rates at 94% and value for money at 85%."
While the industry continues to reach for the levels achieved five years ago, golf has been one of the quicker sectors to turn the corner. "We had very satisfactory years in 2011 and 2012," says Jim O’Brien, general manager of the Old Head Golf Links in Kinsale.
"Historically most of our visitors came from the US and UK, but we now see traffic coming from mainland Europe and China. This year we had, for the first time, bookings from Turkey, and the Scandinavian market is also growing at a good pace."
The international accomplishments of Irish golfers has helped in promoting Ireland as a premier destination, Mr O’Brien believes. "No doubt the success of all of our Major winners has helped raise the profile of Irish golf worldwide and not just the US. Our top courses compete with the best in the UK and EU for value and quality, and we continue to hear that a week’s golf in Ireland is considered the trip of a lifetime and the best experience of all."
An example of regional initiative aimed at garnering a slice of this lucrative market is Club Choice Ireland, a new marketing body focused on attracting British visitors to courses in the south and east of Ireland.
The organisation features golf clubs, resorts, and hotels as part of its plan to attract upwards of €2m in golf spending to the region. The 26 trade partners have embarked on a campaign which includes visits to British golf clubs, a series of Irish golf days in Britain, and travel trade trips aimed at attracting 1,500 additional visitors to the regions.
Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar said: "Golf generates more revenue than conventional holidays, and golfing visitors tend to play at more than one location, which creates a more dispersed pattern of spending."
Tiernan Byrne of Club Choice Ireland said this is the first group of its kind.
Stena Line has signed up to provide travel support to the scheme, with the first of the Irish golf days taking place in February.
Oleg Chereshnev of Silk Way Tours, a Russian tour operator based in Cork, is planning to develop a golf tourism link between the countries. He recently hosted a trip for four of Russia’s most influential golf tourism figures.
"Golf was once played only by wealthy Russian individuals," he said. "But it is a fast-developing game which is now being played by all levels of Russian society."
The visitors played a number of the region’s top courses, including Cork Golf Club, Fota, Castlemartyr, and Monkstown. "They returned to Russia hugely impressed by the golf courses and hotels in the south and south-west of Ireland, and are very anxious to let their readers know about the beauty and uniqueness of the links and parkland courses of Ireland," he said.
Golf still a major driver for tourism players | Irish Examiner
Despite the rolling over of the calendar and the promise of a new year, I know I’m going to keep eating chocolate and pizza. But I do have some golf resolutions.
For instance:
--I resolve to be nicer to John Daly. Oh, sure, Daly still pulls some bonehead moves, like walking off the golf course in Australia last year and taking way to many big I-lost-interest scores on holes when he’s out of contention. But in reality, for the most part, Daly’s been a pretty decent citizen the last few years, at least off the course. I still hate that he turned his back on Q-school the last several years, though.
--I resolve to figure out what happened to Yani Tseng last year. Tseng was on top of the world, having won three tournaments early in the year to cement her place as women’s golf’s top play. And she didn’t win from the end of March through the end of the year. Perhaps we’ve just become so accustomed to dominant players on the LPGA (Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa) that we naturally expected nothing would derails the next dominant player, Tseng.
--I resolve to be nice to people playing with long putters. They are not breaking the rules. Oh, in 2016 they will be breaking the rules, but for now, the anchored putting grip is legal under USGA rules. People have sometimes looked sideways at people using long putters, and I might be guilty of being one of those people. But for now, pushing the issues on the players who are doing nothing wrong by the book is wrong.
--I resolve to play a lot of attention to the Web-com Tour this year. I mean, gosh, the PGA Tour went out of its way to make the Web-com Tour more important with changes to how you can qualify for the PGA Tour. It would be rude not to accept the PGA Tour’s invitation to watch the Web-com Tour a little more closely.
--I resolve to watch the President Cup. Because frankly, the U.S. team seems to be able to win the Presidents Cup and not much else in team competition these days,
--I resolve to pay attention to what’s going on with golf and the Olympics. I am not a huge fan of golf in the Summer Olympics in 2016 in Brazil, but I understand what golf powers want golf in the Games. For now, there isn’t a course, though. And I still want to see what the format looks like and which players will be talking about playing in three and a half years.
--I resolve to play more golf. This is the same as a resolution from last year, and I barely succeeded in 2012. There always seems to be an excuse not to play. But on those rare spare afternoons, of when friends are in town, I’m going to play as often as I can. Maybe that will mean only a few more rounds in 2012, but a few rounds are better than no rounds at all.
Bubba Watson revealed in a news conference Wednesday that he has suffered from panic attacks in the past, including three hospital visits during which he underwent extensive tests.
In response to a question about Charlie Beljan, who suffered from panic attacks while winning last year’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic, Watson said, “I’ve had a lot of panic attacks off the golf course … thinking I was having something wrong with my heart and my wife is like, ‘What is wrong with you?’ So I’ve had some issues.”
The most recent panic attack occurred during the 2011 Northern Trust Open, when he posted an opening-round 76 before withdrawing from the tournament and checking himself into a hospital.
Asked what doctors told him, he responded, “’There’s nothing wrong with you.’ I’ve done everything. I’ve done EKGs, we’ve done tests – all kinds of things. He told me basically I need medicine. I need medicine that helps me calm down, which I’m not going to do. I don’t take medicine, so I would never do that.”
Watson explained that the three circumstances which required hospitalization have occurred in two-year increments, with the last coming two years ago next month.
“So this year, get ready,” he joked. “I’ll tweet some photos from my room, I guess.”
Bubba Watson Goes to Hospital After Panic Attacks | Golf Channel
Charlie Beljan leans back in the wicker chair, a drink in his right hand serving as much for refreshment as a prop, something to keep him occupied while pouring his heart out. A gentle breeze blows through the air. Behind him, not far off in the distance are, in sequential order, a pool, palm trees, a beach and, finally, the Pacific Ocean. Wearing a white short-sleeve button-down, Bermuda shorts and sandals, he is the very picture of relaxation.
It is exactly 4,706 miles from Lake Buena Vista, Fla., to this idyllic spot on Maui, but for Beljan the journey has been so much longer. His victory at Disney World – of all places for such a story – wavered between improbable and impossible. Stricken by vicious panic attacks that Friday, his heart felt like it was going to jump through his skin. He thought he might die right there. He sat down in fairways, was whisked away by an ambulance and returned the next day, only to have the panic attacks return as well
Any other week, Beljan just would've quit. Would've gotten himself healthy and tried again later. But this was his last chance at keeping a PGA Tour card, at providing a better life for his wife and their 7-week-old son. And so between heart palpitations, he kept playing and kept hitting great shots and kept making putts and now here he is, seven weeks later, a champion sipping a drink on a wicker chair by the ocean.
If there is a clear line of demarcation that denotes making it as a professional golfer, it lies right here. This week Beljan will compete in a no-cut, guaranteed-money tournament, the proverbial dream come true after battling on the mini-tour circuit for so many years.
That doesn’t underlie the fact that he is still a work in progress. If Disney told the story of the golfer who overcame physical and mental anguish to win its tournament, the credits would roll as Beljan held the trophy aloft in one hand and cradled his young son in the other. Life doesn’t work that way, though.
After winning, he went home to Scottsdale, Ariz., and answered every phone call. His usual 37 minutes per month exploded to beyond his coverage plan, resulting in a $680 bill. He bought a car, but traded in two others to help offset the cost. He also bought a bus to travel between tournaments with his young family.
It was all the kind of stuff golfers do after their first victory. Then finally, after about a week, he played golf again. And the panic attacks returned.
“I was walking my home course and on the eighth hole, man, all of a sudden it just hit me,” he explains. “I freaked out a little bit. A hole later, I was talking to my buddies and it just disappeared. We finished the round and I haven’t had any since then. But it was scary. I was like, ‘This isn’t going away. What am I going to have to do?’”
What he did was seek help. Doctors at the hospital in Florida had assured him that there was nothing wrong physically, that despite feeling like his heart was racing way too fast, it was perfectly normal. So he explored other avenues to curb the attacks.
Eating is a big part of it. Not just nutritious eating, but any kind. Fuel for his system, he calls it. Something that could have prevented the initial issues long ago.
“I hate food. I hate to eat,” he says. “The day that happened to me, come my tee time at 1:00, it had been like 20 hours since I’d eaten anything. I just don’t like to eat. But then all of a sudden, you start to spasm and one thing leads to another.”
So he’s eating now, which may sound only logical, but never was before. It’s been like giving glasses to a man who could never properly see. “Now that I have the proper fuel for my body,” he maintains, “I feel great.”
He’s taking medication, too. Beljan is now on doctor-prescribed Xanax, which helps him “to chill out a little bit.” Once he cleared the drug with the PGA Tour and found that it was acceptable under the current policy, he started taking it regularly.
“I think it’s helped a little bit,” he says. “[Tuesday] I forgot to take it and the first four or five holes, I was like, I don’t want to be here. I want to get out of here. I was just moving a million miles an hour.”
There’s probably some advice his psychiatrist would offer in that situation. Yes, Beljan has started seeing a psychiatrist, just a couple of times so far. He is the rare athlete – hell, the rare human – who not only understands his flaws and seeks treatment, but isn’t afraid to let people know about it.
“I’m just as open with him as anybody,” he says of the two sessions. “He gave me a couple of different hints. Luckily I haven’t had to use any of that stuff yet, but it was nice to get it out there, talk about it and have somebody tell me that I’m not absolutely a lunatic. That’s what I’ve learned – a lot of people suffer from this. I couldn’t imagine going through this on a daily basis.”
After being rushed to the hospital after his Friday round at Disney, Beljan was worried that others would think he was exaggerating his issues. Or even worse, faking them. Like most people who suffer from panic attacks, he assumed that they weren’t normal, that he would be labeled as something of a freak for breaking down like that, especially in such a public spotlight.
Since then, he’s come to understand that it’s a common affliction. Not just from the psychiatrist or from reading up on it, but from those who have struggled with the same problems, albeit without the attention he received.
“The mail that I’ve gotten, people saying, ‘You were such an inspiration, I fight these every day,’ that’s what’s been really cool,” he explains. “To have all these people say they fight these on a daily basis and it was cool to see mine in the public eye, that’s an inspiration to me. It’s an inspiration to bring that to the surface and make other people aware of it.”
With that, Beljan sits back in the wicker chair and takes a measured sip from his drink. He casually looks over his shoulder an
He was following directions to a tee. There was no bellowing, no roaring, not even a golf clap from his tiny, useless arms. All he did was hypnotically wag his tail and wobble around in the strong winds buffeting the golf course at Palmer’s new resort.
Still, Jeff was getting plenty of attention. Even with a gag order in place, it’s difficult for an 8.5m Tyrannosaurus Rex to go incognito on a golf course hosting one of the biggest tournaments on the Australian calendar.
Australian PGA Championship fans did not seem to mind, and many posed for photographs with the apex predator, who busied himself during the upper cretaceous period devouring everything within bite. That was before being shipped to the Sunshine Coast via China by the mining magnate.
Jeff may not be alone for long. Palmer is intent on adding to his collection of enormous robotic dinosaurs and bringing them to the former Hyatt resort, which is now the Palmer Coolum Resort.
Instead of an elite golf destination, he hopes to turn it into a huge dinosaur park featuring 150 replicas. At least Palmer won’t have to worry about locking horns with golf organisers any more, with the tournament now heading elsewhere following a breakdown in discussions.
Jeff is holding court this week between the ninth green and 10th tee. One local councillor has already likened it to a scene from Happy Gilmore, where golfers have to bounce the ball off one of his legs before getting it in the hole.
Golf veteran Stuart Appleby was among those confounded by Jeff. He has played worldwide but can categorically say he has never flopped one out of the sand with a hulking bipedal carnivore in the background.
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“I had a chip out of the bunker yesterday with this thing in the background. I said to (caddy) Mike (Waite) ‘I’ve never seen a dinosaur in the background of one shot I’ve hit in my life’,” Appleby said.
“I’m watching it now. It wasn’t moving yesterday. It is strange. It is hard to comprehend that stuff. We won’t get around to religion and beliefs but it’s pretty weird.”
China’s Zhang Xin-Jun, one of the early leaders, said he was dumbfounded to see towering over him the giant T-Rex, which is reputed to be named after Queensland deputy premier Jeff Seeney.
“Ha, ha … I'm astonished. I never thought will see dinosaur on a golf course, and during the practice round its eyes were moving and his tongue looked, well, almost real. It certainly makes the course look different,” Zhang said.