Golf | Chicago Addick

Sep 26

The Ryder Cup

During my time in Chicago I went a couple of times to the glorious Medinah Country Club (I wrote about one visit here), which is host to this week’s Ryder Cup.

Medinah was designed as a retreat for the Masons in the early 1920’s. The Mason’s were known as the Medinah Shriners and their goal was to have built the best country club in North America with a 54-hole golf complex and a variety of other recreational activities. They succeeded and today Medinah has 3 golf courses, a lake, swimming pool and I read 18,000 trees all set within 640 acres of stunning countryside. It also has a distinctive club house (photo) blending Byzantine, Oriental, Louis XIV, and Italian architecture characteristic of many Masonic structures.
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Jul 24

Sports Day

Back in Bermuda, but not back at work as I had designated today as my team’s first annual Sports Day. Seven of us met for breakfast at 8am at the Fairmont Southampton near to my home. We then went out and played 9 holes of golf at the hotel’s par 3 course.

We started out in the rain but came back to the club house in the sunshine. We then played tennis for an hour and a half. This was the first time I’ve played tennis since my knee operation almost 2-years ago. It felt good and not unexpectedly I enjoyed the tennis more than the golf.
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Oct 19

Keegan Bradley wins PGA Grand Slam

Just back from a very enjoyable day at the golf. Young American Keegan Bradley swept to the $600,000 first prize after Rory McIlroy went from three ahead to four behind in a nightmare spell halfway through his round to end with a second-round 75. Meanwhile Keegan kept his head to go round on par and was a popular winner.

The South African Charl Schwartzel was the day’s best player and ended up being the biggest challenger to Bradley. From 7 strokes adrift at the start of the day, the Masters champion drew level with a sparkling front-nine 31, but could not get back on terms after Bradley birdied the 10th.
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Oct 17

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Major event

If you follow golf then you will know what the following players have in common: Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Charl Schwartzel and Keegan Bradley.

Correct. They are the four golf major winners of the 2011. South African Schwartzel won the Masters in April, Mcllroy at just 21 years old won the US Open in June, Clarke was a very popular winner of the The Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in July and American Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship in August in his rookie year.
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Oct 21

Who Els

A blustery day at Port Royal for the final round of the PGA Grand Slam yesterday. The conditions and the dramatic topography not only tested the four golfers but also my knee. I most definitely haven’t done that much walking in a while, thus making the easy decision to give my calf raises a miss last night.

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Oct 20

On a course

I’m off shortly to watch the final round of the PGA Grand Slam at Port Royal, which is about a 15 minute walk from the house, although there are showers in the air at the moment as I look out of the window.

David Toms leads after the first day firing a four-under-par 67, giving him a one-shot lead over three-time major champion Ernie Els. Sadly this year’s two actual major winners Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer trail behind with one-over and three-over respectively.

McDowell who overcame a triple-bogey on the par-four 11th yesterday, has just Tweeted: “Getting ready for round two of the PGA Grandslam here in Bermuda. Low number required. We play a little earlier to avoid some weather later.” Better take my umbrella.

Oct 18

Four!

The PGA Grand Slam returns to Bermuda this week, once again at the Port Royal Golf Club, which is now handily situated just around the corner from our house.

The PGA Grand Slam of Golf is designed for the season’s four major winners (the Masters, the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship) but never have all four winners appeared for the season’s finale. This year sadly only two are here – Graham McDowell and Martin Kaymer, and they are joined by Ernie Els in for the otherwise engaged Phil Mickleson and David Toms, a late replacement for the injured South African Luis Oosthuizen.

Mickelson would have been a crowd puller and also I expect have attracted strong American interest but like Tiger before him he didn’t fancy it or the $1,350,000 of prize money for two rounds of golf.

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