SPRING 2008

What an exciting start to 2008 we’ve had, and seemingly some of the questions hanging in the air at the end of 2007 have already been answered. Will Tiger win all four major Championships? Answer No! Will Tiger continue to dominate whenever he plays? Answer Yes! Will Lorena Ochoa continue as she left off last season? Answer an emphatic Yes! Will Lorena add to her major victories? Answer definitely. The first major of the year was The Kraft Nabisco from 3rd – 6th April 2008. In recent years, there has been drama right to the 72nd hole and beyond. Last year Amercan teenager Morgan Pressel became the youngest ever winner of a major Championship when as an eighteen year old she won the Kraft Nabisco when the Norwegian, Suzann Pettersen, who seemingly had the trophy in her grasp, fell apart over the closing holes and lost the chance to tie Morgan when her birdie putt on the eighteenth hole finished agonisingly deadon line short of the hole.

This year, there only ever looked like being one winner – the world’s number one from Mexico Lorena Ochoa. Apart from after round one when England’s Karen Stupples lead by one shot from Lorena after an opening 67, Lorena soon overtook Karen on day two, and never really looked threatened thereafter. If we thought that Lorena looked invincible in 2007, the 2008 version of Lorena looks even better! Lorena took a six week break at the beginning of 2008, when she practised for seven hours a day, as well as spending two hours in the gym. Because of the gym work, Lorena gained nearly 10 yards on her drives, and the work on her putting in particularly seems to have ironed out the idiosyncrasies that she used to have. Lorena went to the new HSBC Champions event in Singapore at the end of February not having played a competetive round since the middle of December. All her hard work payed off, with an emphatic eleven shot victory, which left 2008 LPGA Tour winners, Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer trailing in her wake! A blip occurred the following week in Mexico where Lorena only managed to finish tied eighth, however victories by seven shots at the Safeway Interantional, The Kraft Nabisco and the new Corona Championship put any doubts of Annika Sorenstam or anyone else for that matter catching the world’s number one! What is more, Lorena’s victory in the Corona Championship qualified her for the Hall of Fame, however she won’t be eligible for inclusion until 2012, which is when she will have been a member of the LPGA Tour for ten years – an eligibility requirement.

Since Tiger didn’t manage to capture the opening men’s major of the year – The Masters, and thus cannot win the grand slam this year, all eyes will be on Lorena to see if she can win the women’s equivalent. I for one wouldn’t put it past her!

Despite Tiger not winning The Masters, he has once again shown that he is almost unbeatable in the men’s game. I have always said that the real measure of how good you are, is how well you score when you’re not on you’re “A” game. At Augusta, Tiger quite clearly was some way below his best, but still managed to finish just three shots behing the winner, Trvor Immelman from South Africa. It seemed at various times throughout the week that we might have an Englishman win at Augusta for the first time since Nick Faldo was last victorious there in 1996. However, one by one, Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Ian poulter and Lee Westwood fell by the wayside. The Irishman Padraigh Harrington was the best of the home grown finishers and showed once again why he is likely to add to his British Open win of 2007.The hugely talented Trevor Immelman played wonderful golf throughout the week, gave a masterclass on the lightning fast undulating greens and is a very popular winner. His odds of 125 to 1 at the start of the week will never be on offer again!

So, with the LPGA Championship and US Men’s Open to look forward to in June, The Curtis Cup played at St.Andrews for the first time and under a new format at the end of May, a host of other tournaments to look forward to in the meantime, not to mention ever improving courses in Britain to play on, the 2008 season is truly underway!