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For the rest of you please remember to sign-up at http://www.worldgolftour.com/join.asp
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For me the golf season really kicks off when The Masters starts. The West Coast and Florida tournaments are fun to watch but they just don’t compare to watching the pros battle their way around Augusta National. The course is so beautiful and there is so much golf history there that it makes watching the telecast something special every year. There are not many things on television that I look forward to watching, but The Masters is probably at the top of the list.
Watching the tournament on TV is nice, but actually being at the tournament must be awesome. I have never been to Augusta but hopefully someday I’ll make it out there. I have an agreement with my wife that if I’m ever asked to play golf at Augusta that I can forget whatever responsibilities I have, catch the next flight to Georgia and play the famed course. I hope that someday it happens! Does anyone out there need someone to fill out their foursome?? I’ll be on the next plane.
I read that there are 18 first-timers playing in The Masters this year. The first timers include Bradley Dredge, Johan Edfors, Kenneth Ferrie, British Amateur champ Julien Guerrier, J.J. Henry, Robert Karlsson, U.S. Amateur runner-up John Kelly, Troy Matteson, Brett Quigley, U.S. Amateur winner Richie Ramsay, Jeev Milkha Singh, Tanihara, Camilo Villegas, U.S. Amateur Public Links champ Casey Watabu, Brett Wetterich, Dean Wilson, U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Dave Womack and Yong-Eun Yang. It must be such an awesome feeling to walk on to the first tee and see the course unfold in front of you. Once again, it should be a great tournament to watch this year.
Check out this story running at PGA.com. Apparently the Caddies get new Benz’s for the week and players get Maybachs. If only we could all be so lucky. This is great news however since the Wachovia benefits WGT’s good friends at www.teachforamerica.com .
“The Wachovia Championship is known for taking care of the players. That extends to the caddies, too… They already get valet parking at Quail Hollow. But imagine Johnny Buchna’s surprise when he got a letter from Tournament Director Kym Hougham a few years ago informing him the defending champion’s caddie gets a courtesy Mercedes-Benz for the week.The player does OK, too, getting a Mercedes Maybach for the week. But it’s hard to find another tournament that provides a luxury courtesy car for a caddie.”
I was lucky enough to play in a test tournament for the World Series of Golf a couple days ago. It is a new tournament format that is based on the poker game Texas Hold ‘Em. Each player was given $10,000 in chips (all “play” money though) to bet with throughout the match. Once you run out of money or can’t make the ante you are out of the tourney. Each player in the foursome must ante before the hole (antes double every 3 holes) and then they get to check, fold, bet or raise after each shot they hit on the hole. The winner of the hole wins the entire pot and if there is a tie on the hole the pot is split among those who tied. It was a really fun format and one I would definitely like to play again in the future. We had to go to extra holes to come up with a winner of our group. The first playoff hole had an ante of $6400 and both I and the remaining player in my group (Russ from Chicago) were in the fairway about 165 yards away with a stiff wind in our face. Russ went “all-in” since he was trying to overtake my chip lead. I hit first and got the ball to about 10 feet away. Russ hit a little short, chipped over the green and almost sunk his par putt. I two putted for par and won the pot. It was a great ending to a very fun day.
The World Series of Golf is putting on a tournament for amateur golfers in April at Primm Valley Golf Course near Primm, Nevada. It will be televised by NBC in June. The buy-in for the tournament is $10,000…so if you have an extra $10K burning a hole in your pocket and you think you can handle the pressure of big money golf you should check out www.worldseriesofgolf.com to learn more about the tournament.
My name is Rich and I’m the Director of Product Management for the World Golf Tour. We are building the most realistic golf game on the internet. Look for us to be live soon!
Take a look at some of the behind-the-scenes action that happens during the building of our game!