Just one week to go and Anna Foster – the 24-year-old Dubliner who earned a full Ladies European Tour card at Q-School – is looking forward to being part of what will be the largest ever contingent of Irish players on the circuit.
Foster, a graduate of Auburn University who played all her amateur golf out of Elm Park Golf Club, will kick-start her season (along with fellow Irish players Lauren Walsh, Sara Byrne, Anabel Wilson and Olivia Mehaffey) at next week’s Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, the first event of the LET calendar.
Talking about being part of the large Irish contingent that has emerged from the amateur ranks, Foster said it wascompared it to being “like another family” and remarked: “There’s been a solid group of us when we started playing for Ireland when we were like 13 or 14, and all of us are still there.
“A lot of us have now turned pro or are going to turn pro in the next year or two and there’s no doubt that the strength is there. It’s really nice to see and it’s great for Golf Ireland to have such a strong number of us now considering how small of a country we are. I think it’s super impressive what we’ve been able to do.”
Foster turned professional just before last year’s KPMG Irish Open at Carton House in Maynooth and will tee up there again later in the season, with the tournament last week honoured by the LET on two fronts, winning the awards for tournament of the year and for best course condition (following voting conducted among the tour players).
McIlroy searching for an upswing
Rory McIlroy will be aiming for improved performances on the famed seaside links of Pebble Beach when the world number three makes his seasonal debut on the PGA Tour at this week’s AT&T pro-am tournament.
McIlroy’s busy week’s work started with his Boston Commons team taking on Tiger Woods’s Jupiter Links in the latest edition of the TGL simulator golf league in Florida on Monday night before the world number three hightailed it across the US to California.
The $20 million signature event marks McIlroy’s first appearance of the season on the PGA Tour (he finished tied-fourth in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic earlier this month on the DP World Tour), but his previous outings – missed cut in 2018 and tied-66th last year – would suggest a need to up his game on the Pebble Beach links.
McIlroy also missed the cut in the 2010 US Open (won by Graeme McDowell) but did manage a top-10 in the 2019 US Open, when he finished tied-ninth.
Shane Lowry, who missed the cut in the Farmers Insurance Open, and Séamus Power, who has been receiving treatment for a back injury that forced him out of the Sony Open earlier this month, are also competing.
Word of Mouth
“I got to a point last year where I just felt like I wasn’t having that much fun on the golf course because for me, playing for 20th, 30th place wasn’t that meaningful at that point. I just worked really hard since then because I just didn’t want to be in that position much longer” – Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey on securing a breakthrough win in the Ras Al Khaimah Open on the DP World Tour.
By the Numbers: 3,460
That’s the giant leap that Liam Nolan made in the official world rankings following his third place finish in the SDC Open on the Hotel Planner Tour (formerly the Challenge Tour). The 24-year Galwayman moved from 4,557 in the world standings to 1,097 on making the most of his sponsor’s invitation: Nolan remains in South Africa for this week’s MyGolfLife Open, where Max Kennedy, Jonny Caldwell, Dermot McElroy and Robert Moran are also competing. Nolan’s strong start to the season saw him claim number one spot on the Race-to-Mallorca standings.
On this day: January 28th, 1979
Fuzzy Zoeller’s arrival to the PGA Tour came as a breath of fresh air, but it took him four years – and a swing change to focus on greater accuracy rather than distance – to gain his first win, which came in the Andy Williams-San Diego Open.
Zoeller’s third round 67 enabled him to surge from five shots off the midway pace set by Jerry McGee to claim the 54-holes lead. “Winning is just a happening. It hasn’t happened yet. Maybe this is the one,” said the flamboyant American.
Indeed, a final round of 72 at Torrey Pines Country Club for a total of six-under-par 282 ultimately gave Zoeller a five strokes winning margin over Billy Kratzert, Wayne Levi, Tom Watson and Artie McNickle and, significantly, earned him his ticket to the Masters where he would claim a second tour win and a cherished green jacket on his debut.
Of his on-course demeanour, Zoeller remarked: “I stay loose because I enjoy playing golf, whether I’m shooting 80 or 65. And I hope the people who pay their way through the gate get some fun out of it, too. Without them, we wouldn’t have tournaments.”
Social Game
A final round of 69 for T50th. The game is showing plenty of promise for the season ahead – Pádraig Harrington taking the positives from his Ras Al Khaimah finish. Harrington completes a three-week stint in the Middle East at the Bahrain Championship this week, before moving stateside for the Champions Tour.
Been a tough week weather wise, thankfully no damage to report and work continues on course with improvements that will be all set for the coming season – post from Tralee Golf Club’s official social media, which survived being in the path of Storm Éowyn.
When pitching around the greens, hitting down on the ball is so important. The biggest mistake that amateurs make is trying to “scoop” the ball in order to get into the air. It seems counterintuitive but hit down on it and let the loft do the work – Gary Player providing some words of wisdom.
In the Bag
Harris English – Farmers Insurance Open
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
3-wood: Ping G400 (14.5 degrees)
Irons: Ping G410 Crossover (3), Ping Blueprint T (4-9)
Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 (46, 52 and 56 degrees), Ping Glide Forged (60 degrees)
Putter: Ping Scottsdale Hohum
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Know the Rules
Q In stroke play, a player bends some long grass out of the way to get a clear view of their ball in the rough. They then play their next stroke. What is the ruling?
A Such a situation is covered in the Rules of Golf by Rule 8.1.a. By moving the grass, the player improved their lie and the area of intended swing and, as a consequence, would receive two penalty strokes for infringing the rule.
