There is an old sporting adage that goes, “If your good enough, your old enough." It’s usually applied to youth taking their chosen field by storm. Well every now and then there is a story that reminds all these protégés that they did not invent being good, sporting excellence has been around longer than 1985. In response to yesterdays blog about how ankle biters are taking over the golfing world. Here is a tale from Shaun McGuckian showing that the kids aren’t getting it all their own way.

Go on Shaun, drop some science (for our older readers that means please educate them).

"Press coverage of the ladies’ game is forever saturated by stories of talented youth: Kiran Matharu, Michelle Wie, Morgan Pressell and more recently, and ridiculously, the 12-year-old Maguire sisters.

But for all the column inches devoted to these talented young trailblazers, none could recall many stories of success.

But one lady who certainly can is senior citizen Arlene McKitrick. A Florida native and now well over 70 years of age, she has a whopping 136 amateur tournament victories to her name.


At least I get to choose when I go to bed.

Despite only taking up golf at the age of 30, Arlene won her first tournament in three years, and in a career which is still going strong 40 years later, has amassed 90 club and event championships, and a spectacular 46 consecutive senior wins.

Bookmakers wouldn’t be crazy enough to give you odds on an Arlene McKitrick victory.

Even chronic diabetes hasn’t stopped Arlene’s journey towards amateur immortality.
So when next you read of ‘the next big thing’ in the ladies’ game, spare a thought for the ladies of the game who go unsung. And for now join us in singing the praises of the incredible Arlene McKitrick.

For up to date information on what’s going on at the GOLFPUNK Ladies English Open click here…
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7/7/2007 3:50:15 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Ron Sirak posted an article highlighting the sheer number and undoubted talent of a new wave of dustbin lids in ladies golf. It is hard to ignore the shift in age from the competitors on the LPGA and LET. You know what they say, “If you don’t tidy your room there will be no driving range for a week young lady.” Well they should anyway.

“SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. -- Perhaps the oddest thing about Cristie Kerr's victory Sunday at the U.S. Women's Open was that at the age of 29 she was the second-oldest player to finish in the top-15 at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club. And she earned that honor only by a year over 30-year-old Mi Hyun Kim. Clearly, women's golf is becoming like men's college basketball. All the best school-aged players are in the pros.


The final singles match putts out at the 2007 Solheim Cup

There were 11 college-aged players (22 or younger) among the top 21 on the final leaderboard, including 18-year-old Angela Park, who tied with Lorena Ochoa for second place, two strokes behind Kerr. In fact, half of the top six -- Angela Park, In-Bee Park and Jiyai Shin -- are 18, the age at which most incoming freshmen find themselves. But these three are professionals and have won a combined $505,152 at Pine Needles. Not a bad allowance.

And these were not flash-in-the-pan performances. Three of the top 12 on the Rolex Rankings -- No. 6 Morgan Pressel (19), No. 7 Paula Creamer (20) and No. 12 Brittany Lincicome (21) would each be in college if they were not good enough to play professional golf right now. Shin, 18, currently leads the Korean LPGA money list.

The youth wave in women's golf is clearly an international phenomenon.”

For more on this story click here…
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Take advantage of our cracking 2 for 1 ticket offer by clicking here…

7/6/2007 3:38:15 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

After angry young man Joel Tadman’s critique of Michelle Wie we have come across someone who is taking the opposite stance. We like to provide a balanced view at GP so have a read of Gene Wojciechowski views on our ‘Shell and make your own mind up. Again we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Stick it to them Gene….

”There's a reader who e-mails me every time Michelle Wie shoots 80-something, withdraws from a tournament, angers Dottie Pepper and her dog, or doesn't make the cut. He's not a complete nut job, but if I had to choose between his brain mass or the size of a Pro-V1, I'm taking the Titleist. This guy revels in Wie's failures and mocks anyone (hello) who thinks Wie has the talent to do a Tiger Woods on the LPGA Tour and one day qualify for a PGA Tour event.

I'm on the Wie golf cart. I've been there since the first time I saw her hit a tee shot during a pro-am at the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua's Plantation Course. She was 13, I think. You could hear the ball beg for an ice pack as it left the clubhead.


Joel stealing Michelle's chair just out of shot.

I'm on Wie's side of the ropes because I've seen her in social settings, surrounded by corporate types, media types, big-money types -- and she didn't WD there. Instead, she handled herself with grace, humor and a certain carefree, teenage goofiness.”

For more about this story click here…
To check out Joel’s original comments click here
For a profile of Michelle Wie click here…
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7/5/2007 3:34:19 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

It’s here! The GOLFPUNK Ladies English Open starts tomorrow at Chart Hills Golf Course in Kent. Keep an eye out for Sophie Stubbs GP’s representative playing in her first tour event. However we don’t like to make things easy for our Sophie so we have teamed her up with Features Editor Shaun McGuckian to carry her bag and give yardage advice.

Unlucky.



Come down and see us and more importantly support the tour.

For up to date information on what’s going on at the GOLFPUNK Ladies English Open click here…
Take advantage of our cracking 2 for 1 ticket offer by clicking here…

7/4/2007 3:26:06 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Kids huh, they are a right lairy lot. We asked Joel the new fresh faced, kettle shy (apparently he has a caffeine allergy) workie to write us a blog because we wanted to go home early and nip off to the post office.

He came back with a critique of occasional golfing phenom Michelle Wie.

Personally I think he's got some good points but it's a bit harsh, but I'll let you make your own minds up. We'd love to read your comments.

Take it away Vikki Pollard...

"In professional sport, if a player is injured they don’t play. Managers, particularly in football, would rather play it safe and ensure their players’ fitness for consequent games than risk making the injury worse.

Why should golf, or specifically Michelle Wie, be any different? Wie injured her wrist in early February whilst jogging (If that’s possible) and despite the healing process being relatively fast, her performances have suggested that her comeback was premature.

Wie’s results since her injury have not reflected the $10m investment made by Nike and Sony. Yet she still pulls in the crowds. Her participation in men’s PGA tour events has been widely criticised as she has failed to make the cut in any of them. She has not yet won a LPGA tour event either. The view amongst the golfing world is that she should prove herself amongst the women before trying her luck against the men. And rightly so.

Five weeks ago, Wie withdrew from the Ginn Tribute with two holes to play. The LPGA Tour has a rule that a player shall lose their playing privileges for the year should they shoot 88 or higher. For Wie, the required task of finishing one-over par for her last two holes to keep her LPGA Tour membership this year was apparently all too daunting and prompted her withdrawal.

Wie isolated her injured wrist as the culprit. But it begs the question: Why was she playing in the first place?

This week, Wie was playing in the second round of the US Women’s Open at Pine Needles. Once again her injury forced her to retire on 17-over par at her 10th hole in the second round. Twelve year-old amateur Alexis Thompson was already in the clubhouse on 16 over; an impressive score for one so young.

A slightly cynical but plausible reason for her withdrawal was that Wie may not have wanted to finish below the 12-year old and withdrew to save embarrassment. But Wie maintains that it was her wrist that was the deciding factor.


'Shell's seen better days'

"I definitely have to re-evaluate," said Wie. "I don't want this to happen again. Sometimes you just have to take a step back to make a step forward.''

But Wie’s problem is that people expect so much more from her. Whether that is her own doing or that of her sponsors is another matter, She has been constantly in the spotlight of women’s golf since her arrival on the scene two years ago and now people are beginning to wonder whether it is justified."

7/3/2007 5:12:01 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Picture the scene. You are playing an afternoon round when you have shanked one into a pond near the sixth. You can’t hit out from there but you may as well fish your ball out because Srixon Z-URS’ don’t grow on trees. So far sound reasonable right? OK, what if when you dipped in to retrieve your ball a one eyed alligator emerges from the pond and forcefully invites you to join it in the water hazard? Sound a bit far fetched? Seem reminiscent of a scene in a bad teen horror movie? Tell that to Bruce Burger!

Out of towner Bruce Burger almost suffered the same fate as one of his beef patty namesakes when he was accosted by a ‘gator at Lake Venice Golf Course on Monday. I bet he wasn’t ‘loving it’. Bruce was reaching for his ball that had found it’s way into a pond when a 10ft 11inch alligator latched onto his right forearm and pulled him in. Luckily for Mr Burger he was able to wrestle free from the big lizard using his left arm with the worst of his injuries being a strained thigh suffered during the struggle.

This was the second such attack at Lake Venice GC in 18 years. Spookily, despite there being a family of alligators in a smaller pond on the other side of the course, both attacks took place in the same pond on golfers trying to retrieve their ball.


Before.

After

Highlighting how priceless local knowledge can be, Dennis Weaver who was also playing on Monday said, "If your ball goes down there, you let it go," "Most people have the common sense not to go by the water." Which is all well and good but I wouldn’t expect a boarder line dinosaur to start on me when I’ve popped out for a cheeky nine. But this just shows how easy most of us have it. Rod Parry Lake Venice GC General Manager concludes, "Unfortunately, that's part of Florida," "There's wildlife in these ponds." And people say links golf is a test.

For more on this story click here…

6/27/2007 3:07:57 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

When we were her age, most of us were still wetting the bed (really – you weren’t?) but Alexis Thompson has already achieved more than most of us can dream of. Aged just shy of twelve years and five months, on Thursday she will become the youngest qualifier to ever compete at the women’s US Open. Beating the record previously held by Morgan Pressel by more than six months, Alexis turned in scores of 72 and 71 in a sectional tournament in Heathrow, Florida to qualify for the major.

Despite knowing that she will be competing against the likes of defending champ Annika Sorenstam and in-form GP diarist Suzann Pettersen for a purse of $3.1m, the youngster remained calm and philosophical about her performance. “I wasn't really worrying about the record I was making. It's great that I made it and I'm having an awesome experience already so I'm just out here to play golf.”


Kids huh, who'd play them?

Alexis will compete as an amateur, with her father Scott there as both coach and caddy, while her mother Judy watches from the sidelines.

For more on this prodigious little talent click here…

6/26/2007 3:59:01 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Now we have all experienced a drought of some sort. We are not talking about the serious stuff that evaporates water supplies and devastates vegetation. No, we’re talking about the flippant ‘drought’ of not having snogged someone in three months, not scoring in 16 games or you haven’t nailed a birdie in four rounds, to some people the above examples are the same thing.

To all of you who have experienced a sporting drought of some sort take your story, multiply it by the amount of par threes you have played since notching a hole in one and double it because your tale of woe is about to be dwarfed.

Flemington Golf Club, from Central Hawke’s Bay District on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, put half a century of failure behind them to pick up the Coronation Cup for the first time yesterday. Now that is a drought.

This diddy little club boasting a full membership of only 30 males were the last GC standing when the final scores were posted at the Dannervirke Golf Club today. The tournament was held in “near blizzard conditions” according to executive officer Greig Herbert, playing in bitterly cold rain, hail and gale force winds. That’s average links weather to you and me.

Members at the club are said to be ‘tickled pink’. In an attempt to breakaway from New Zealand’s national stereotype of a country full of sheep farmers who say ‘mate’ a lot Greg Lee said: "It's the fairest sport in the world, mate. No matter what your ability you have to give strokes."
Unfortunately, the livestock farmer had to curtail his celebrations last night to feed his sheep and cattle.

It seems the size of their achievement has not sunk in yet. However the winning team have vowed to take the cup home for a little fun before it takes up residence in the clubhouse. Greg Lee summised, "We have a fantastic nine-hole course and sheep graze on it. The greens are as beautiful as the Waipuk club greens thanks to Anthony Little. He's involved with other clubs too and that's why we do so well when we play away because we're used to good greens," before adding "We're on cloud nine, mate."


The USPGA and Cambo have nothing to do with this blog.

GOLFPUNK would like to extend our hearty congratulations to our Kiwi brethren. Now pull your finger out, we don’t want to wait another 50 years…mate.

For more on this story click here…

6/25/2007 12:02:16 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0]