NOVEMBER 2007
As the 2008 season of the men's European Tour starts this week in Shanghai, The Volvo Masters provided a wonderful finale to the men's year. With the winner of the money list yet to be decided and the current leader, South African Ernie Els, absent due to a commitment to play in Singapore, it was left to Padraigh Harrington and

Justin Rose to battle it out to see who would be crowned winner of the Order of Merit. It needed one of them to beat the other, and at the same time finish in the top three in the tournament to win enough money to overtake Ernie. Volvo could not have asked for more, with Justin and Padraigh vying for top spot literally until the final hole. Both Justin and Padraigh had one eye on their position in the tournament and the other eye on each other as they battled it out. Along the way, several players including Ireland's Graeme McDowel, Englishman Simon Dyson and Denmark's Soren Hansen threatened to spoil Justin's party. In the end, Justin triumphed after a

three way play-off with Hansen and Dyson, whilst Harrington finished two shots out of the play-off, and had to settle for finishing third in the Order of Merit, although Padraigh does have his british Open Championship victory to console him.

Justin's win at Valderamma and his Order of Merit victory moved him up to seventh in the world rankings, and will surely give him the confidence to go on and be the next player from this side of the Atlantic to win

major? Tiger Woods apart, no one had a better record in the four major Championships of 2007 than Justin, with him finishing no worse than twelfth in all four. Personally I think that Justin is swinging better than I have ever seen him swing, and given that he learns to be a bit more consistent on the putting green, I see him as the closest challenger to Tiger. It seems that Justin has crept up on the world rankings almost unnoticed. Having had a bad back for much of the year, his tournament appearances were restricted, but how well he has done since those 21 consecutive missed cuts immediately after turning professional ten years ago now. All that success, and he is still the most approachable of men, which is really refreshing in this day and age when the top sportsmen and women have little time for anyone but themselves.

In women's golf, Lorena Ochoa has continued to excel, but Suzann Pettersen's back to back victories in Korea and Thailand have given more evidence that she is the player most likely to challenge Lorena in the future. With this month's ADT Championship still to come, and a $1 million dollar first prize at stake, there is still time for some more fireworks ahead in the women's game.

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display of controlled golf. When many of Lorena’s nearest challengers were scoring in the 80’s, Lorena calmly went round in level par 73. When calm early conditions on the final day gave way to sheeting rain and miserable conditions, Lorena’s lead proved invincible. It seemed absolutely right that the world number one should create history in winning her first major at “The Home of Golf”. I’m sure that it will be the first of many majors by the friendly and popular Mexican.

In Europe, with a new event in India and for the second year running the Dubai Ladies Classic as the season's finale, much is still to be decided. Having recently announced a new Turkish Ladies Open to be added to the schedule next year, there seems to be further proof that things are constantly improving on the Ladies European Tour.

I can't finish writing this month without firstly saying congratulations to Laura Davies for her fantastic play in the last few months. Starting with her superb performance as a member of the Solheim Cup Team, Laura has gone on to narrowly lose out to Suzann Pettersen in Thailand closing with a final round 65 to lose by a shot, and then the following week in Japan, contending all the way until an ordinary last round put Laura in a tie for fifth.

Secondly, my warmest congratulations to Alison Nicholas on her appointment as Captain of the next European Solheim Cup team. I have no doubt that Ali will make an outstanding captain, and I wish her all the luck in the world in the difficult task of trying to wrest the cup back from the Americans - especially on American soil!

It just remains for me to wish everyone reading this a wonderful Christmas and a healthy, peaceful and happy golfing New Year!