IN MY VIEW

What a fantastic summer of golf we've had! At the beginning of July, Annika Sorenstam silenced her doubters with her tenth major victory in the U.S.Women's Open, after defeating America's Pat Hurst in an eighteen hole sudden death play-off. In the middle of July during a scorching spell of weather in the UK, Tiger Woods emphatically won the Men's British Open

Championship played at Royal Liverpool for the first time since 1967. Many spectators felt that the manner of Tiger's victory - he hit irons from most tees, only using his driver once in each of the four rounds, made a mockery of the golf course, and that perhaps Hoylake, as royal Liverpool is known, wasn't a suitable venue for "The Open" Championship. Along with my fellow professionals, I thought that Tiger's play was one of the greatest performances that I've ever seen. The planning, execution and control with which he navigated his way round a fast-running links-

type course was a masterclass in how to avoid the pitfalls of an extremely difficult course. Tiger's nearest challengers gradually fell by the wayside, as one by one their more aggressive tactics cost them dearly. Tiger's display, was further evidence that he is in near total control of his swing, and a sign of things to come. At the time of writing, Tiger has won the following three tournaments which he's played in after The Open, including the final men's major of the year, The USPGA Championship! What price that he will overtake Jack Nicklaus's haul of 18 major championships before he reaches the age of 35?

At the beginning of August, Royal Lytham & St.Anne's played host to The Weetabix Women's British Open for the third time, and as in 1998, America's Sherri Steinhauer emerged victorious after a nearly flawless final eighteen holes, when almost Tiger like, Sherri kept hitting fairways and greens and two putting for pars, whilst her nearest challengers fell away after visiting one of Lytham's two hundred odd lethal bunkers, or struggling on the greens. It was a second well deserved major victory for the likeable American, who may well consider becoming a UK resident after her third Weetabix victory!

In team golf, Great Britain and Ireland's Curtis Cup Team struggled against the Americans at the stunningly beautiful Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Unusually GB&I lost all three of the opening day's foursomes, from which they never recovered. The Americans once again had greater strength in depth, which is normally going to be the case due to having something in the region of five times as many golfers than us to choose from! The result prompted people to question whether the match should be Europe versus America, and indeed, a change of format was announced for the next playing of the biannual match, which will be at St.Andrews in 2008.

The match will be increased from two to three days, with three foursomes and three fourball matches on the first two days, followed by all eight members of each team playing singles on the final day. There has been quite a reaction to the announcement of the new format, by a number of past players, including outrage that fourball matches are to be included to the fact that only the LGU and USGA were party to the discussions about change of format. One thing is for sure, and that is that there will be big crowds at St.Andrews for the Curtis Cup match, with most of the spectators rooting for a British victory.

The Ryder Cup which will be played at The K Club from 22nd - 24th September this year is the only one of the four transatlantic trophies that Europe or GB&I currently hold. That fact means that if possible, this year's match will take on even greater significance. With American Captain Tom Lehman having brought all twelve of his team over to practise and familiarise themselves with the venue, I think that the Americans mean business, and despite the relatively unknown nature of some of their team, I think that they will be a much tougher proposition than they were under Hal Sutton's almost comical captaincy last time. Europe have home advantage, and I expect them to retain the Cup, but the Americans won't be the pushover that a lot of people think. I make no apologies for crossing three days of the match off in my diary to be a couch potato for the duration of the match. Watch this space for reaction news and views after the match!