We are Down Under this week at Huntingdale Golf Club, Melbourne for the Australian Masters.
Players have travelled from all around the globe to attend this event, with players from the USPGA Tour, European Tour, Asian Tour and Australasian Tours coming together to make up the field.
FootJoy shoe wearers Brett Rumford, Peter O’Malley, Rod Pampling & Scot Strange will head the Aussie charge for the title, whilst recent additions to the European Tour David Horsey (Challenge Tour winner), Carlos Del Moral and Antti Ahokas look to get their seasons off to a strong start..
Colourful Swede, Joel Sjoholm arrived late on Tuesday afternoon after receiving a call whilst practising in America to say he had a place in the field. Unfortunately he only had a pair of White and Orange Classics (50658) with him which clashed a little with his bright red trousers!! The FootJoy Tour staff were on hand to help him out with an additional pair of shoes. Joel walked away with a big smile on his face, along with a new pair of White and black ReelFit (53867) on his feet.
European Tour players continue to place their FootJoy shoe orders for 2009. Jamie Donaldson has ordered some Custom Classics, whilst Australian, Matthew Millar has taken the opportunity to place orders for MyJoys with his native flag embroidered on the side.
With Brett Rumford heading back to Europe for 2009, he ordered a few new pairs of Classic’s including styles 50603, 50945 and the ever dependable all white 50672.
Carlos Del Moral followed in fellow Spanish players foot-steps, Pablo Larrazabal, by ordering a white with green saddle (50713) pair of Classics. Both players tell me that green is a lucky and powerful colour in Spain. Watch out for these guys walking the fairways wearing them through-out the year.
Lorena Ochoa was honored with the Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy Awards at the LPGA’s season-ending awards ceremony last week. Ochoa received her third Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy Award titles, which recognizes the player with the lowest scoring average.
The Rolex Player of the Year Award is the pinnacle of excellence on the LPGA Tour, rewarding players for their consistent top finishes. Ochoa, the Rolex Rankings’ number one since April 2007, won seven times this season and recorded 10 additional top-10 finishes in 21 starts on the LPGA Tour. She also earned a 68.5802 scoring average to capture the Vare Trophy. Ochoa was the only player in 2008 to maintain a sub-70 scoring average, which is one-tenth of a stroke lower than 2007.
“Lorena has had yet another incredible season,” LPGA Commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens said. “Her work off the course has been equally impressive. Once only a national hero, Lorena is now a global hero. The world is grateful to have her, and we are more than proud to call her our own.”
In this video from the Tour, we asked several players what they are most thankful for this year and we want to hear from you, too! Click on COMMENTS to tell us what you are grateful for this holiday season…whether it’s breaking 80 or something off the course.
The 2009 European Tour season is underway and the Race to Dubai is on! This week we are in Hong Kong, for the UBS Hong Kong Open which is a co-sanctioned event with the Asian Tour.
Singapore Open winner and Team DryJoys member, Jeev Milkha Singh, is looking to continue his good form this week, whilst it is also great to see long-time FootJoy wearer and past winner of the Hong Kong Open, Jose Maria Olazabal back in the fold.
This is a busy period for the European FootJoy Tour staff as they look to take orders from FootJoy wearers ready for the start of 2009… [Read more →]
We are clearly dealing with some golf/shoe experts out there! Of all the guesses we saw, both on the blog and GolfWRX, everyone got at least eight correct. That’s very impressive considering the limited information you received. The ones that caused the most trouble were #1, #10, #11 and, of course, #6 which Tim just guessed correctly to be our winner…12 minutes before the deadline! Well, click on the slideshow below for the answers and thanks for playing. We hope to hear from all of you again soon!
Despite battling cerebral palsy, DJ Gregory recently finished walking every hole of every round at every PGA Tour tournament in 2008. Watch his absolutely incredible story in this ESPN feature. One of the most heartwarming and inspirational stories you’ll see this year.
Can you identify the 11 players in the image below based solely on their footwear? They are just some of the many players who, once again, made FootJoy the #1 shoe in golf in 2008. Click on COMMENTS and give us your best shot. You probably saw all of them on the blog at some point this season…
We’ll let you know how many you got correct and might even provide some hints…
Angela Stanford claimed her second win of the year, firing a final round 3-under 69 Sunday to win the inaugural $1 million Lorena Ochoa Invitational by one shot. The 30-year-old earned her third-career victory and second of the 2008 campaign with a four-day total of 13-under-par (68-66-72-69=275).
As you can see in the photos, Stanford wore Women’s Contour Series MyJoys all three days of the tournament.
Click here to see Angela’s early round shoes on MyJoys.com.
Click here to see her weekend shoes on MyJoys.com.
“I felt like I was the best version of myself today,” Stanford said. “I stuck to my game plan. I was patient. Any time I got over a putt, I felt like could I make it, and I believed in myself.”
The win is Stanford’s second in her last five starts dating back to her victory at the 2008 Bell Micro Classic. She sealed the victory with a par on the 72nd hole and narrowly missed a playoff after the runner-up missed a nine-foot birdie putt on the same hole. Stanford’s day was bogey-free with three birdies including back-to-back birdies on holes 10 and 11. The victory propelled her over the $1 million mark in season earnings for the first time eight-year career.
Davis Love III earned his 20th career victory wearing the new SYNR-G shoes from FootJoy. As we noted in an earlier post, he’s actually worn them every week since he received them back in September. However, with only a limited number of pairs available until January, he only wears them during tournament rounds so he can “save” them! A great endoresement for this new category from FootJoy. Click on the image below to hear a detailed review of the product form Davis which we captured the week before his victory at Disney.
Davis Love III secured the first win for SYNR-G, winning the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney on Sunday with a final round 8-under 64. It was the second consecutive 64 for Love, the best final 36-hole score in the tournament’s 38-year history, en route to his 20th career victory. He becomes one of only four active players to reach the 20 win plateau and with it, earns a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour.
Love, who finished at 25-under 263, saved the best for last, as his weekend 64s were both season-low rounds in the final PGA Tour event of 2008. The win was the first in more than two years for the 22-year PGA TOUR veteran who last won at the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro (now the Wyndham Championship).
“I always questioned, ‘Am I doing the right thing? Why am I still doing this?’” the 44-year-old Love said. “I didn’t doubt my desire, or that I could still compete; it was just the little things I had to do.”
With a two-shot lead, Love’s tee shot on the 17th was buried in deep rough, leaving him no shot at the green. He laid up 100 yards short, hit wedge to 7 feet and saved par. From the right rough on the 18th, his ball flew the green into a back bunker. Needing par to win, he blasted out to 3 feet and made the putt.
“I was in trouble (on 18), but I was still confident I could get the ball up and in,” Love said. “I didn’t worry about winning or losing or screwing up.”
The win was Love’s seventh top-five finish in the tournament and his 15th straight round in the tournament in the 60s, breaking the record held by the #1 player in the world.
With the arrival of short days and cold temperatures here in the Northeast, it’s just about time to hang up the FJ’s for the year. While the cold weather gear is certainly available, personally, my benchmark is 50 degrees. Anything at or above and I’m calling around for a foursome. We’ve been fortunate the past few winters to meet that threshold so the spikes are never really that far from reach. In fact, we’ve developed a bit of a tradition where we play CrossWinds golf course each January around my birthday. We’re up to three years in a row now which is pretty unlikely when you live in the frozen tundra of Massachusetts.
So when does your season end? Is there a minimum temperature? First snowfall? Are you a fortunate year-rounder?
Ryan Palmer (Classics Tour BOA style 51937, SciFlex glove) made a 10-foot birdie on the 18th hole Sunday to break out of a six-way all-FootJoy tie for the lead and win the Ginn sur Mer Classic. With the win, Palmer secured a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR. Entering this week, he was No. 143 on the money list with two tournaments remaining. The top 125 following next week’s event at Disney earn a PGA Tour card for 2009.
FootJoy reigned at the Volvo Masters Sunday as Robert Karlsson (Classics Dry Premiere style 50990, StaSof glove) became the first Swede to win the Order of Merit title and Soren Kjeldsen (Classics Dry Premiere style 50695, StaSof glove) earned his third career European Tour victory.
“It was a very special atmosphere and obviously nerve wracking for me but a very special day,” said Kjeldsen whose 708,000 euros ($899,000) winning cheque was nearly as much as he won in his first four years on tour.
Kjeldsen became the third wire-to-wire champion after an even par 71 gave him an 8-under 276 total for a two shot victory.
A new Order of Merit winner was crowned for the fifth straight year as Karlsson’s consistency through the season proved the difference. In 23 events, Karlsson finished outside of the top 20 only six times while winning twice.
“In the last three and a half years I have taken myself to a new level and this is fantastic. But this has been the hardest week I’ve ever experienced in golf. It’s one of those situations where you have it in your own hands, but not really, and your focus wanders quite a bit.”
“This is by far my greatest achievement in golf – I never thought I would be in this position so it’s just incredible,” said Karlsson.
Lorena Ochoa was honored with the Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy Awards at the LPGA’s season-ending awards ceremony last week. Ochoa received her third Rolex Player of the Year and Vare Trophy Award titles, which recognizes the player with the lowest scoring average.
Davis Love III secured the first win for 
