As the nights begin to draw in, and Autumn is fast giving way to winter, it is time to reflect on recent happenings on both the men’s and women’s Tours.

In women’s golf, although Annika is still number one in the world by some margin, she failed to achieve her dream goal of winning all four majors in a single season, being thwarted by two Koreans. At the end of

June Birdie Kim had her first tournament and major win when she holed a bunker shot on the 72nd hole to win the U.S.Women’s Open. At the end of July. Jeong Jang led from start to finish to convincingly win the fourth and final major of the year – The Weetabix British Women’s Open played at Royal Birkdale.

Despite Annika’s dominance at the top of the U.S.money list, the future is bright for America’s women golfers, with nineteen year old rookie, Paula Creamer winning twice and demonstrating all the qualities that tell us she is on course for super stardom. That said, 17 year old Morgan Pressel who narrowly missed winning the U.S. Women’s Open this year looks set to turn professional in 2006, and could well emulate Paula in her achievements as a rookie on the LPGA Tour. Then there is Michelle Wie, who turns 16 later this month, and although not yet eligible for LPGA membership yet, looks set to turn professional and accept invitations from all over the world to play in both men’s and women’s events and receive huge amounts of appearance money in the process. Next year promises to be a very exciting one for women’s golf indeed!

With America once again winning The Solheim Cup at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana, home advantage once again proved decisive. Europe played some exceptional golf on the first two days to go into the final days singles tied at eight all. As has so often proved to be the case, America once again had too much strength in depth, with their three rookies, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis and Christina Kim all winning their singles matches to give America a decisive winning margin. In my opinion, the European selection process needs to be looked at, so that we can field our strongest team. With a third of the European team having had no or little recent experience of playing on American courses, our narrow defeat was to be applauded.

In men’s golf, Tiger seems to have once again made the world number one spot his own. It does seem that with Phil Mickelson winning his second major of the year – The U.S.P.G.A. Championship, that he is Tiger’s closest rival. To me, Vijay Singh is the most consistent performer in men’s golf, but his putter lets him down. Only time will tell whether or not Tiger’s reign at the top is permanent.

In the four transatlantic matches played between either GB&I or Europe and America, American now hold The Curtis Cup, Walker Cup and Solheim Cup, with only Europe’s men currently holding The Ryder Cup. It would seem that the balance of power – temporarily at least, is with the Americans.

With lots of end of season special events taking place between now and the end of the year, there is much to look forward to if you have Sky TV. Personally there’s nothing I like better on a winter’s evening than switching on my TV and watching golf from some sunny place. There will be lots of that over the coming months!

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