The Open Championship
Well, what a weekend that was. The weather did its best to try to ruin the Open Championship, but the Monday finish (second ever in Open Championship history) turned out be one of the most exciting climaxes of recent times. American Zach Johnson claimed his second major title with victory in a three-man play-off on a thrilling final day. The 2007 Masters winner finished a shot ahead of South African Louis Oosthuizen and three ahead of Australian Marc Leishman over four extra holes.
Earlier, the three ended on 15 under to lead a competitive field at St Andrews. Jordan Spieth's hopes of a Grand Slam were ended as he finished on 14 under along with Australia's Jason Day. Johnson struck just 15 putts over the first 12 holes of his final round on Monday to record seven birdies and his skill on the green again came to the fore in the play-off. The 39-year-old holed challenging putts on the first and second to claim two birdies and go one shot clear of Oosthuizen and two ahead of Leishman. Leishman, who had followed his stunning third-round 64 with a six-under 66 on Monday to head the leaderboard after making the cut by a shot, fell out of contention with two pars. This left 2010 Open winner Oosthuizen, whose birdie on the last gave him a 69 and a shot at the Claret Jug, to challenge Johnson but after a bogey on the third extra hole he pushed his putt on the last just wide to give the American the win.
Just like every Open Weekend we had our sweepstake, where some money will be put on your account to spend in the pro shop if you were amongst the lucky winners. The winners were as follows:
1. Simon Moorehouse (Zach Johnson) - £175
2. Donald Campbell (Louis Oosthuizen) - £125
3. Austin McBride (Jordan Spieth) - £75
4. Pam Johnson (Jason Day) - £50
5. Ken Jee (Justin Rose) - £25
As we only take the top 50 in the world Marc Leishman was not included in the list, so in our sweepstake Spieth came 3rd instead of Leishman.
We also had a £10 prize for the lowest score on each round
1st Round - Tricia Hunt (Dustin Johnson)
2nd Round - Edward Hunt (Russel Henley)
3rd Round - Alan Perry (Ricky Fowler)
4th Round - Simon Baker (Brendon Todd)
Last Tuesday 14th July, the ladies took part in the Mr Captain's Prize in the form of a Stableford competition. 54 ladies took part in the main comp with a handful of others just doing the 9-holes. Jo Harrison was the runner-up with 37 points but out ahead with a great score of 39 points was Niki Markland. The following Saturday came the turn of the men. They played in The Open Champion Competition which was a best 2 of 3 Stableford scores. Some good scores came in, Steven Smith, Doug Piggot and Neil Sheppard came 4th with 68, Carl Phelan, Paul Allen and George Phelan came in 3rd with 69. But way out ahead of the pack were two teams who both scored a fantastic 77 points. Neil Bridge, Mike Davis and James Marner were just beaten to 1st place by Ken Williamson, Simon Pooler and Tim Morris. Some great scoring by those two pairs, and well done to all our winners in last week's competitions.
New Mack Daddy Wedge
Roger Cleveland is renowned for his work with wedges having founded the Cleveland Golf company. After selling the business in 1990, he began creating wedges for Callaway in 1996. Arguably his best creation so far was one of his first, called the X-Forged. So when one of the leading wedge gurus says the Callaway Mack Daddy 2 wedge he designed is based on the X-Forged shape, then you know you have something special going on. Like its predecessor, the Mack Daddy 2 is also forged from soft 1020 carbon steel to get the best feel and control and you can almost take it for granted that I found the feel was great on the new version too.
Grooves and grinds are what wedges are all about and the Mack Daddy 2 grooves are 39% bigger and have sharper side walls than the previous Mack Daddy wedge. A change in production from pressing to machining the grooves has enabled Callaway to get closer to the limits allowed in the rules and the result is a more aggressive groove. Also on the face is a laser etched Micro Groove pattern that Callaway says adds 25% more surface roughness and will fade over time. This does give it a very aggressive look and you can just imagine all the spin this will put on the ball. The back of the head also features some nice graphics and a band of etched markings that adds to the overall feel of a quality wedge. We are very excited about this wedge and we expect it to be the club to have in the bag this summer.
Golf Insurance
I am pleased to share with you this exclusive offer for golf insurance from Golf Care! You can get annual cover from only £22.99 and as part of the deal get 3 Srixon AD333 golf balls absolutely FREE when you take out golf insurance today!
Click and Collect
In case you didn't know already you are now able to shop in the pro-shop online and even buy things we don't stock in the shop. All you have to do is visit my website www.nicksummerfield.co.uk and go on the 'click and collect' icon on the home page. You can then browse and find what you need. When you've bought the item it will then be dispatched to the pro-shop and you can come and collect it.
