HK Golfer Feb 2013

Clubhouse: SIHH 2013, Mercedes CLA, Edradour, Wine Auctions

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE HONG KONG GOLF ASSOCIATION ISSUE 73

HKGOLFER.COM FEBRUARY 2013

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TRAVEL: SINGAPORE SWINGS

GEOFF OGILVY

The Thinking Man's Golfer DISPLAY UNTIL 15 MAR

AGEAS HKPGA CHAMPIONSHIP IN REVIEW

| CONTENTS

HK Golfer Issue 73

February 2013

49 On the Cover:

Geoff Ogilvy, winner of the 2006 US Open and one of the most articulate professionals on Tour, talks to Paul Prendergast.

Photo by AFP

Features

Plus…

34 | The Long and the Short of It

12 | In Focus

South African legend Ernie Els tells us why he turned to the controversial belly-putter – and why he understands the governing bodies’ desire to ban its use.

By Lewine Mair

40 | Much Ado ...

... about nothing. There’s more than nature at hand in the evolution of the Old Course at St Andrews, which makes the recent furore over the R&A’s changes hard to fathom.

By Roger McStravick

49 | Park Reigns Supreme

Australia’s Unho Park enters the record books with his victory at the 30th playing of the Ageas HKPGA Championship last month.

By Alex Jenkins

Daniel Wong (HKPGA); AFP (Ernie Els)

54 | Taking Aim

34 6

HK Golfer・FEB 2013

A pictorial review of the past 30 days – both locally and regionally.

By The Editors

23 | Tee Time

Our watch editor reports on the timepieces that caught his eye at last month’s Salon de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH).

By Evan Rast

26 | Driving Range

The Mercedes-Benz CLA, an innovative four-door coupe which is set to go on sale later this year, has the potential to attract a new, younger demographic to the German auto maker.

By Ben Oliver

We talk to seven-time PGA Tour winner, astute course design critic and father of three Geoff Ogilvy about the state of his game, his off-course architecture business, the renovation of St Andrews and the long putter debate.

By Paul Prendergast

28 | Liquid Assets

60 | Where Are They Now?

30 | Single Malts

Hong Kong-based wine auctions are flourishing, but they’re not necessarily the place to find bargains.

By Robin Lynam

Our equipment editor takes a look at some of the clubmakers that are no longer with us – and some who now exist in a completely different state.

By Charlie Schroeder

Our whisky editor raises his glass to Edradour, Scotland’s smallest distillery.

By John Bruce

62 | 1-Up to the Lion City

Overlooking the Old Course at St Andrews, historic Hamilton Grand could set the benchmark for golfrelated properties the world over.

By Alex Jenkins

With three times as many courses as Hong Kong, Singaporeans are rather better served when it comes to choosing where to play. We check out the best of what the city-state has to offer.

By Duncan Forgan

32 | Property

HKGOLFER.COM

HK Golfer

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE HONG KONG GOLF ASSOCIATION JANUARY 2013 • Issue 72

Editor: Alex Jenkins email: alex.jenkins@hkgolfer.com Editorial Assistant: Cindy Kwok Playing Editor: Jean Van de Velde Senior Editor: Roy Kinnear Photo Editor: Daniel Wong Contributing Editors: Lewine Mair Robert Lynam, Evan Rast, Ben Oliver Published by:

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69 D E PA R T M E N T S 10 Mailbag 12

Local Focus

14

Asia Focus

16

Global Focus

18 Divots 20

Tour Talk

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23 Clubhouse 44

Around the HKGA

46

Inside the Industry

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Tournament Results

69

Travel News

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HK Golfer・FEB 2013

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HK Golfer Mailbag How would a bifurcated approach to the rules governing equipment sit with amateurs?

Level Playing Field With all the recent talk and debate surrounding the use of the long-putter, and the USGA and R&A’s decision to apply the proposed ban of it to both professionals and amateurs alike, it got me thinking about bifurcation – ie. having one rule governing the pros’ equipment and one rule governing the equipment that the rest of us use.

Peerless Watson I really enjoyed Paul Prendergast’s piece on Tom Watson [“Man For All Seasons”, January 2013], which nicely captured the essence of the man. It is better to read about someone who has indeed stood the test of time and is widely respected, than to read about a young pro who plays well now but may not be heard from again. Watson’s pure love of the game and stubborn pride are qualities that have kept him going. While new courses are built everywhere, he still makes it a point to play the old links courses. Despite his putting troubles, he never submitted to the long putter or the really unusual putting grips. He is indeed one of a kind.

Perhaps in appointing Watson as the next captain of the US Ryder Cup team, the PGA of America realizes that it is a team which is inspired that will win, even if that looks unlikely after day two. Examples are the US team in 1999 at Brookline and the Europeans at Medinah last year. What is needed is an indomitable spirit. Who else can provide that other than Watson?

The next edition should make for very compelling viewing.

Gordon Lee Kowloon Tong

Many have advocated that splitting the equipment issue as such would be fairer on those amateurs who only use a belly- or long-putter because they simply can’t use, for whatever reason, the traditional short putter. While I tend to agree with this – I wouldn’t wish the “yips” upon anyone – I would hate to see bifurcation take hold over other equipment – drivers, irons and balls.

Although I would never compare my game or my scores with that of a PGA or European Tour professional, I take great satisfaction on the – extremely rare! – occasions where I do hit great shots, shots that can be compared to those of the professionals.

For instance, if I – miracle of miracles – make a birdie on a par3 after hitting a 7-iron to within a couple of feet of the hole, I love the fact there is nobody – not even Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods – who could do any better than that. If I had a different set of clubs, or a more favourable ball that the very best players in the world were not allowed to use, then that would invalidate any comparison I would be able to make.

Furthermore, one of the great joys of golf is being able to, through the handicap system, play against players of a higher or lower skill level on equal terms. We don’t need to start adding equipment caveats into the equation.

We Want to Hear from You! Have something to say about an article in HK Golfer or a topic affecting golf in our area? Send your thoughts and comments to letters@hkgolfer.com. Please also include your address, contact number, email and HKGA #. The winner of the best letter will receive a bottle of Champagne Louis Roederer courtesy of Links Concept.

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HK Golfer・FEB 2013

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Local Focus Shining on the South Shinichi Mizuno ended 2012 in winning fashion by capturing the HKGA Winter Junior Championship at Kau Sai Chau in late December. The Hong Kong international fired rounds of 68 and 70 over the Gary Playerdesigned South Course for a level-par total and a three-shot victory over Linus Lo in second.

Benjamin Wong placed third, a further four strokes back. The 18-year-old has been in fine form in recent months. In October, Mizuno shot a brilliant 62 at Discovery Bay Golf Club, where he is a member, for a new amateur course record.

Photo by Daniel Wong

Asia Focus Rory’s Rocky Start World number one Rory McIlroy began his week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in midJanuary by confirming his multi-million-dollar contract with Nike. But he ended it on the Friday, having failed to make the halfway cut at a tournament in which he has prospered in recent years.

Playing alongside the man closest to him in the rankings, fellow Nike professional Tiger Woods, who also failed to make the weekend after incurring a two-shot penalty on the second day, McIlroy said: “I’m not here to talk about my contract. I’m here to talk about my golf, and today it wasn’t so good.”

Photo by AFP

Global Focus Rookie Off to a Flier Russell Henley became the first player in 12 years to win on his PGA Tour debut with a breathtaking performance at the Sony Open in Hawaii last month.

The 23-year-old rookie, who had opened the tournament with back-to-back 63s, closed with a back-nine 29 to finish at a tournament-record 24-under.

Henley, seen here celebrating yet another holed putt at the 18th, said: “I don’t really know what just happened. This is the most nervous I’ve ever been and that’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

I’m kind of speechless right now.”

He wasn’t the only one.

Photo by AFP

| DIVOTS

Courtesy of Mission Hills Group

Mission Hills Offers Free Golf to Juniors In a move that seeks to foster junior golf as the sport prepares for its return to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Mission Hills Group have announced that all junior golfers under the age of 16 will benefit from free access to three of the resort operator’s golf courses in 2013. Green fees for junior golfers from all over the world will be waived for the Zhang Lian Weidesigned Zhang Course in Shenzhen and the Stepping Stone and Double Pin Courses at Mission Hills Haikou. All three courses are considered among the best par-3 layouts in Asia.

But it’s not just local golfers that stand to benefit as Vice Chairman of Mission Hills Group and Secretary General of One Asia, Tenniel Chu pointed out: “We very much hope that this will benefit junior golf development right across the region as people increasingly see China as a top golfing destination for junior development tournaments and golf leisure. Junior golf development has always been a central pillar of our strategy.

With golf now set to return to the next Olympics, these exciting developments will provide a clear pathway for junior golfers to play their way to Brazil in the next four years.”

Mission Hills has long been an active promoter of the junior game in China and has been involved with a number of initiatives to bring the world’s leading players, instructors and events to the region. The club was the venue for the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in 2009 and has hosted numerous other junior tournaments, including the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final and the Mission Hills Nike Golf Junior Championship.

The 16th hole on the Zhang Course at Mission Hills, Shenzhen, one of the most highly rated par-3 layouts in Asia The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Golf Association, Iain Valentine, commented: "This is a very welcome boost for junior golf in the region and Mission Hills must be applauded for this initiative. I'm sure that it will be of great benefit to Hong Kong junior golfers and hope that it will lead to many more youngsters taking up the game."

Visit the Mission Hills website – missionhillschina.com – for more information.

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| TOUR TALK

McGinley to Skipper Europeans at Gleneagles

Kim Tops Asian Tour Q-School

Asian Tour (Kim); AFP (McGinley)

Korean-American Chan Kim (pictured above) made up for the disappointment of missing out on his Tour card last year by topping the class at the Asian Tour Qualifying School in late January.

After four days of gruelling battle, Kim finally emerged tops with a closing six-under-par 65 to lead 41 players on 13-under-par 272 into the new 2013 Asian Tour season at Springfield Royal Country Club in Hua Hin, Thailand.Canada’s Richard Lee signed for a 74 to take second place on 273 while Australia’s Tim Stewart regained his full status by posting a 66 to take third place. France’s Lionel Weber and Spain’s Carlos Pigem were the two amateurs to earn their Tour cards after they closed with a 68 and 72 to take tied-sixth and 12th place respectively.

After finishing in tied-61st place at Qualifying School last year, Kim was determined not to let history repeat itself.

“I was staring at the cut line last year at the final round but ended up shooting four-over and missed it. I knew I needed to play well today, regardless of how many it was and I’m just glad I made it,” said Kim, who was raised in Hawaii where he won the Hawaii State Amateur Stroke Play in 2007.

Kim said he was looking forward to returning to the birthplace of his parents now that he has earned his well-deserved Tour card.

“I live in the States but even in the States, a lot of people are talking about the Asian Tour. It’s a growing Tour and I’ve heard of its good reputation,” said Kim. “I’ll be based in Korea for this entire season as I’ve got a couple of relatives over there. Hopefully I can get something going!”

Meanwhile Lee said he was delighted to revive his golfing career on the Asian Tour after losing his card on the Web.com Tour in the United States.

“I had status on Web.com for the last four years. Unfortunately I lost my Tour card this year. I wanted to try something new so I came out here and it has been going well,” said Lee. “I’m Asian and I want to play out here as the competition and money is a lot better on the Asian Tour.”

Notable names who finished in the top-40 and ties to earn their Asian Tour card for 2013 include Australia’s Adam Groom, Japan’s Kodai Ichihara, Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung, India’s Rahil Gangjee and Singapore’s Choo Tze Huang. Talented Filipino Miguel Tabuena, China’s Hu Mu and South African James Kamte were among those who narrowly missed out on full playing privileges for the season.

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HK Golfer・FEB 2013

Paul McGinley (pictured below) has been selected as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain for 2014, ending a messy campaign that included a late challenge from former captain Colin Montgomerie.

The European Tour’s tournament committee in Abu Dhabi in mid-January made the unanimous decision in favor of McGinley after a nearly three-hour meeting. The smiling 46-year-old Irishman, who has played on three winning Ryder Cup teams, was then presented at a news conference as the successor to Jose Maria Olazabal, who led Europe to a stunning comeback victory in October.

“To lead the cream of the crop in the Ryder Cup is going to be a huge honor,” McGinley said. “To be quite honest it is a very humbling experience to be sitting in this seat. It is a week I’m looking forward to. It’s a whole new experience for me, the chance to be a captain.”

The decision ended a hectic few days in which Darren Clarke pulled out of the running for the position, preferring to concentrate on his own game. His decision prompted Montgomerie to launch his late campaign for the job which, in turn, sparked a show of support for McGinley from some of Europe’s leading players, including Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Justin Rose.

HKGOLFER.COM

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CLUB

Away from the Fairways | TEE TIME

Stylish Seconds The Rotonde de Cartier Double Mystery Tourbillon from Cartier HKGOLFER.COM

Evan Rast reports on the timepieces that caught hIS eye at last month’s Salon de la Haute Horlogerie CONTINUED OVERLEAF HK Golfer・FEB 2013

23

A

new year, a new set of watches to moon over. It seems that the exhausted Mayan calendar didn’t actually signal the end of time, but instead the beginning of a refreshing year for watchmaking, with a lot of engaging pieces from the Richemont stable. The 2013 SIHH, which was held at the end of January, was a stellar showing of new technologies, timekeeping innovations and very saleable, handsome aesthetics.

There was a noticeable focus on women as well, with usually male-centric Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet and Piaget dedicating entire new collections to the ladies, and more brands presenting high jewellery models.

For this report I organise the men’s novelties in four top categories: mechanical achievements and innovations, traditional complications with a modern twist, stylish chronographs and tech materials. Let’s start with new and innovative movements first.

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WONDER MECHANICS

Timekeeping accuracy has always been a point of improvement for fine mechanical watches, and the sprung balance is the key element in this because it regulates the speed at which the hands and other timekeeping parts turn.

Having particular fun with the sprung balance is Roger Dubuis with its Excalibur Quatuor Silicium.

It’s a watch with four of them, matched with five differentials, practically telling gravity to take a hike.

What’s more, it’s the first watch to have a case entirely made in silicon. We’re not talking Bakelite here, but the element’s natural crystalline form, known for its low weight and hardness. According to Roger Dubuis, silicon is half the weight of titanium but is four times harder. The watch’s unique movement, the RD101, with four sprung balances that work in pairs to compensate for changes in position of the watch, was created in-house and carries the distinguished Geneva seal.

Mystery watches are quite intriguing to look at – two hands just floating in the middle of a transparent dial, seemingly suspended in air, with no visible connections to gears. You almost believe it’s magic, but it is in fact an illusion. The hands are attached to sapphire discs that are rotated by the movement on the periphery of the dial. Knowing the magician’s secret doesn’t make the watch easier to make though. And this year Cartier is pushing it up a notch with its Rotonde de Cartier Double Mystery Tourbillon. Instead of hands floating in a transparent area of the dial, a tourbillon seems to be suspended in space.

The double mystery is how the flying tourbillon rotates on its own axis every 60 seconds, and the carriage once SIHH every five minutes without was a stellar a visible connection to the movement, and with a pretty showing of slim case to boot. Equipped innovation with the handwound inand house calibre 9454MC, the watch offers a 52-hour power handsome reserve and comes in a 45mm aesthetics platinum case.

While the watch itself isn’t new, I think it’s worth mentioning Parmigiani’s Bugatti Super Sport, which now comes in rose gold. It’s one of those timepieces with a unique movement and aesthetic that will always look cool. The watch’s sleek curves really echo those of a Bugatti’s, with the train wheels cut in the form of car’s wheels, the profile meant to resemble the fuselage, and the case reminiscent of the Bugatti Veyron’s wings. The Parmigiani Calibre 372 with a power reserve of 10 days is a movement designed on two planes, which allows the wearer HKGOLFER.COM

to read the time when driving without having to move the wrist; a function that proves extremely useful – and discreet – at business meetings too.

TRADITIONAL WATCHMAKING WITH A TWIST

Clockwise from top: the Bugatti Super Sport from Parmigiani; A. Lange & Sohne's Grand Complication; Audemars Piguet showed the Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication; the Excalibur Quatuor Silicium from Roger Dubuis HKGOLFER.COM

In the quest to be recognised as a true ‘manufacture,’ there are certain horological creations that must be part of your in-house repertoire. You must have the base movements first, then the chronographs and dual time zones. Then come the calendars (astronomical complications) then the striking complications (minute repeaters, alarms) and finally, a combination of at least three of these, the grand complications. This year, brands like A. Lange & Söhne celebrate the release of their first grand complication, and others like Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget and Audemars Piguet show off their traditional watchmaking knowhow with models that aren’t quite so traditional.

The ever-perfectionist watchmakers at A. Lange & Söhne present the new L1902 movement for their first ever Grand Complication. The watch features a chiming mechanism with grand and small strike, minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph with minute counter and jumping seconds, as well as a perpetual calendar with moonphase display. Limited to six pieces, the watch comes in a 50mm pink gold case and enamel dial.

Audemars Piguet offers an unusual take on the traditional grand complication this year as it takes CONTINUED ON PAGE 70 HK Golfer・FEB 2013

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CLUBHOUSE | DRIVING RANGE

Brave New World

The Mercedes-Benz CLA, an innovative four-door coupe which is set to go on sale later this year, has the potential to attract a new, younger demographic to the German auto maker, writes Ben Oliver.

T

his year’s Detroit auto show saw the launch of the latest versions of two genuinely iconic American vehicles: the new Chevy Corvette, and a concept version of the new Ford F-series pick-up truck, comfortably America’s biggest-selling vehicle and as important to the modern American male as his horse once was to a cowboy. But neither will have a major impact outside America: their fuel consumption alone will see to that. Instead, the Detroit debutante that will have the greatest impact in the rest of the world is the new Mercedes-Benz CLA. It wasn’t actually at the show: not wishing to distract attention from its important, revised E-class model, Mercedes showed the CLA only to a select group at an event the night before the auto show opened. Needless to say, HK Golfer was on the invite list.

So what’s so special about the CLA? As the name suggests, it shares its concept with the elegant, critically well-received and much bigger CLS. It’s a four-door coupe, with the low, tapered profile of the CLS, and a sports car’s frameless doors. But there are four of them, rather than two, and with space in the rear seats for two adults.

The four-door coupe idea simply hasn’t been tried before at this size and pricepoint, but has proven popular in luxury cars like the CLS and Audi’s A5 and A7. The CLA a fraction longer than Mercedes’ standard C-class compact saloon. The idea was first mooted by Mercedes with the Concept Style Coupe it revealed at the Auto China show in Beijing last year, indicating that Mercedes expects China to be an important market for the CLA. 26

HK Golfer・FEB 2013

It’s based on the firm’s entry-level front-wheel drive A-class hatchback, and these underpinnings make it cheaper to build and to run. Prices haven’t been confirmed, but expect this stunning-looking Mercedes saloon to cost only around 15 per cent more than the equivalent A-class. A few Mercedes traditionalists will splutter at the thought of a Mercedes saloon without rear-wheel drive: fourwheel drive will be an option in some markets. But most buyers won’t care: as well as being cheaper to build, front-drive makes a car lighter and thus more economical, and creates more space in the cabin. Engine options are likely to run from a 122hp, 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol CLA180 to a fire-breathing, 350hp turbocharged CLA45 version developed by Mercedes’ performance wing AMG and featuring the four-wheel drive system as standard.

But the real significance lies in who might buy this car. Older, downsizing ‘empty nesters’ whose kids have moved on and who no longer need HKGOLFER.COM

SCORECARD Mercedes-Benz CLA180 How much?

TBA

Engine:

1595cc 122hp @ 5000rpm

Transmission: 6-speed manual

or 7-speed automated

twin-clutch manual Performance: 126g/km CO2 Dimensions: 4,630 (L) x 1,777 (W) x 1,437 (H) mm

a big E-class, for example, are a key target. But more importantly, the CLA opens a new, younger demographic for Mercedes: young couples, for instance, who don’t need the practicality of the A- and B-class, and like the idea of a desirable look and badge for a price close to what you’d pay for something standard from one of the mainstream brands. We predict the CLA will sell like hot dogs at a Detroit Red Wings game.

HKGOLFER.COM

As its name suggests, the CLA shares its concept with the elegant and critically well-received CLS

HK Golfer・FEB 2013

27

CLUBHOUSE | LIQUID ASSETS

Sign of the Times

Hong Kong-based wine auctions are flourishing, but they’re not the place to find bargains, writes Robin Lynam.

W

hen Hong Kong’s wine import tax was reduced to zero in 2008, the theoretical justification was that it would establish the city as “Asia’s wine hub”.

AFP

It was never clearly stated what exactly the Government imagined a “wine hub” to be, nor any evidence presented that Asia had any need of one. Five years on though the role that we have assumed in the global wine trade is clear. In revenue terms Hong Kong is the wine auction centre not just of Asia, but of the world.

That has not been the only consequence of the tax policy of course. The wholesale and retail wine trade have each expanded exponentially, although that has been a mixed The auction houses blessing. The wine storage and logistics business have cashed in since Hong Kong’s wine has also mushroomed.

Low-end wines are cheaper in supermarkets, import tax was reduced to zero although savings made from the removal of the tax have generally not been passed on to customers by fine wine retailers, or by the bar and restaurant trade.

Without any doubt though the principal beneficiaries have been the auction houses – most notably British auctioneers Bonhams, Christie’s, and Sotheby’s, and US wine auction specialists Zachy’s and Acker, Merrall and Condit (AMC).

It was Bonhams that held the first auction after the removal of tax, but like Christies’s and Sotheby’s, while is has a strong fine wines department its business is auctions in general rather than wine in particular.

Those three auction houses have realized significant multiples of millions of dollars from sales of fine wines and spirits in Hong Kong over the past five years, but they have auctions of art, antiques and other collectibles to present as well.

Acker Merrall and Condit however does sales of fine wines, spirits and cigars exclusively, and in terms of revenue has been the most successful wine auction firm in the world for six of the last seven years. More than half of its profits are now made in Hong Kong and its auctions here have set world records for prices paid for fine wines with almost monotonous regularity.

In November last year auctioneer and AMC CEO John Kapon brought the hammer down on sales of HK$46.8 million in a two-day auction, dominated, interestingly, not by first growth Bordeaux as would have been the case until recently, but by rare highend Burgundy.

One 12-bottle case of the 1988 Romanée-Conti sold for HK$1,033,200, and three bottles of 2005 Romanée-Conti fetched HK$541,200, establishing new world auction records per bottle for both vintages of the wine.

Although Bordeaux dominated the more spectacular auction results until quite recently, some disillusionment with Lafite, Latour et al seems to have set in among Mainland buyers, partly because of the proliferation of fake bottles in circulation in China and elsewhere.

Interest has shifted not just to Burgundy, but also to the wines of the Rhone Valley, Piedmont and Tuscany.

We can expect many more wine auctions this year from AMC and its competitors – but is all the attention being paid to second-hand wine changing hands for preposterous sums of money necessarily a good thing?

Fine wine retailers on the whole tend to think not, arguing that auction rooms are emotional places, and that extravagant bids inflate the notional value of wines that would not sell at equivalent prices through other channels. They also argue that wines sold at auction are not always of impeccable provenance. Certainly some have been the subject of law suits.

Some may be fakes. Others may have been less than impeccably stored – although increasingly wines sold at auction are exchateau, or come from the cellars of serious collectors known to have looked after them properly.

Auction results probably also encourage the owners of top chateaux to inflate the prices they ask for their wines en primeur.

Are the prices currently being paid a bubble waiting, if not to burst, at least to somewhat deflate?

One of the reasons for the intensity of auction activity in Hong Kong may be a suspicion on the part of the auction houses that the business they are currently enjoying is too good to last.

Certainly the Mainland money is showing signs of getting smarter. Record prices are still being paid, but “white glove” auctions at which every lot sells are now the exception rather than the rule. Prices being paid for top Bordeaux on average are down by about 10 per cent from their peak.

Bargains at auction, however, are few and far between. Some rare wines are available through no other channel, but generally speaking auctions are an expensive way to fill a cellar. It is, however, worth tracking which wines are becoming fashionable at auction, with a view to acquiring them from merchants before the auctioneers inflate the price.

It’s too late for Bordeaux and Burgundy. Time to look carefully at Italy and the Rhone. Spain will probably be next.

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CLUBHOUSE | single malts

The Pride of Pitlochry Whisky editor John Bruce raises his glass to Edradour, Scotland's smallest distillery.

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AFP

hen I was back in Scotland over the festivities, I had to book a hotel to stay in for the wedding of two young friends, Dave and Lisa-Jayne, who had fixed the location for this Presbyterian party at Dunkeld.

This small, picturesque town also happens to be near to Pitlochry, home of Scotland’s smallest distillery, Edradour, the source of my tastings for this month's column.

A quick piece of Scottish myth and folklore before I begin my tale: also close to Dunkeld is the village of Birnham – famously known for the part played by Birnham Wood in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Perhaps with the impending nuptials it is not entirely appropriate to mention the famously unlucky "Scottish Play", where the ambition of a woman leads a previously upstanding man to his doom, but a cautionary tale never did anyone any harm. Dave would be well advised not to allow Lisa-Jayne to have a dagger and should avoid taking advice from groups of three women, particularly ones with broomsticks and pointy hats, at his stag do.

Anyway, being familiar with the area from summers in the late 1970s working on the estate of the Duke of Atholl, I thought that Edradour would be an appropriate choice to lead us into the Lunar New Year with the featured bottling being the 12-yearold Caledonia, a wee taste of the 10-year old eponymous Edradour alongside a doubtful dalliance with “batch four” of the distillery’s peated Ballechin.

Three is indeed a crowd, but with only three employees and three minimal sized copper stills, Edradour has flourished in recent years with the growing demand for single malt whisky. I obtained examples of three bottlings from The Whisky Shop in Glasgow upon my arrival in December and over the course of the Christmas and New Year, I sampled and shared them all.

In reverse order of preference, the Ballechin was not unpleasant but it did not inspire me. This is untypical of heavily peated Highland malt and perhaps it was its relative youth – first distilled in 2003 – but despite a switch to Sherry casks from the Burgundy previously used, the peat was altogether too dominant. Water, quite liberally applied, definitely improved the experience but despite quite a long sweet finish, it samples as a malt that requires either some tweaking of the distillation process or perhaps a few more years in the cask.

Next in preference was the 10-year-old Edradour, and for a young malt this was very pleasant. This is the most easy to obtain of the small distillery production, and with water from the Ben Vrackie springs, transformed with loving care into a fine shade of gold. This is much more what one would expect from a Highland distillery: light, 30

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Despite only three employees and three minimal sized copper stills, Edradour has flourished in recent years

with a hint of citrus to begin, the whisky sweetens in the middle and has a honeyed, slightly smoky finish. Taken neat was my preference although a smidgeon of water would not do it any harm.

However, as with many whisky experiences, a delight was not far away and The Caledonia 12-yearold expression was made for delightful sipping and very limited sharing. It would be understandable, when one hears that it was initially released from one cask selected by our third bard of the evening, Scottish singer and songwriter Dougie Maclean, to exclaim: “Is this a lager I see before me?” But only if you saw the famous Tennent’s adverts of the 1980s.

The song describes the longing for home of a Scot too long abroad, and if one was guaranteed a regular supply of such nectar as this single malt, one would perhaps be keener to swap Pacific Place for Pitlochry. Fruity, with a hint of Birnham oak, spicy and quite dry, this is a whisky for warm nights, Scottish songs and cuddling up to that sulky, sullen dame.

HKGOLFER.COM

At the end of a great day... ... a sublime experience

As Jim Murray said in his Whisky Bible, “…A whisky that gives you the will to live !” We chose this as our first release because we had never tasted a distilled spirit at once so old – and so young. Only a taste can tell you how splendid it really is. And when it’s finished (which is very soon, now) there may not be anything like it for a while; it took us many years to find these 1,348 bottles, and it will be a long search for its successor. Meanwhile, we suggest you have a look at our cognac 1950, 478 bottles of which have just been released.

lastdrop@hkgolfer.com; (852) 3590 4153 lastdropdistillers.com

PROPERTY

Rooms With a View

Overlooking the Old Course at St Andrews, historic Hamilton Grand could set the benchmark for golf-related properties the world over, writes Alex Jenkins.

A Courtesy of the Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa

s anyone who has ever played the Old Course at St Andrews will tell and served as a halls of residence – under the you, the walk up the 18th hole is a spiritual experience. Following the name Hamilton Hall – until as recently as 2005. great champions’ footsteps as you cross the ancient Swilcan Bridge Now, following Kohler’s purchase three years ago, and traverse Granny Clark’s Wynd – the narrow gravel road that Hamilton Grand has a new purpose. bisects the fairway – the scene that unfolds is without question the Kohler, who also owns the nearby Old Course most famous in golf. It comes as no surprise to learn Hotel, a five-star establishment that even dyed-in-the-wool professionals admit to feeling a quiver of that overlooks the fiendishly Hamilton exhilaration every time they see they set foot in this most charming Grand comprises difficult and renowned Road of towns. St Andrews is the Home of Golf, and from Tom Morris’ Hole, and the highly-rated 26 luxurious old golf shop tucked just yards from the 18th green to the Royal & Whistling Straits course in Ancient Clubhouse that stands proudly behind the 1st tee, the history apartments with Wisconsin, is in the process of of the game confronts you at nearly every turn. Now, thanks to the sensational vistas refurbishing the Victorian-era vision of American entrepreneur Herb Kohler, there is an opportunity building into what can only of the Old Course be described as the ultimate to invest in a unique piece of it.

Among the most eye-catching landmarks in this “Auld Grey Toon”– residence for golfers. and West Sands and one of the most photographed buildings in golf – is Hamilton When it is completed in the beach ... owners Grand, the large sandstone edifice that towers majestically over the summer, Hamilton Grand will will be able to 18th green. Opened in 1895 as the Grand Hotel, the property was comprise 26 luxurious apartments, commissioned by architect and avid golfer Thomas Hamilton, who, say they have the ranging from two-bedroom units legend has it, had been rejected R&A membership. His riposte: build best view in golf to an expansive four-bedroom the most extravagant hotel in Scotland (replete with the country’s penthouse, offering sensational first pneumatic lift and hot and cold running water in every bathroom) and site vistas of the Old Course and West Sands beach, it just yards from the R&A Clubhouse. If the story is true, Hamilton certainly made which film buffs will recognize as the location of the his point. High-profile guests that stayed at Hamilton Grand during its heyday opening scenes from Chariots of Fire. Apartment of the Roaring Twenties included stylish Open champion Walter Hagen and the owners will rightfully be able to say they have the Prince of Wales. best view in the world of sports.

The building’s life as a luxury hotel was short-lived however. Taken over by the As you might expect from an AmericanAir Ministry during the Second World War for use as the Royal Air Force’s training led project, the list of amenities and associated headquarters, Hamilton Grand was then bought by the University of St Andrews benefits is extensive. There will be a golf

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concierge, daily maid service and a personal assistant to handle residents’ travel and domestic arrangements, while an upscale restaurant and bar will occupy space on the ground floor. Residents will earn automatic membership to the Kohlerowned Dukes Course, a splendid heathlandstyle layout on the outskirts of St Andrews, and have full use of the Old Course Hotel’s awardwinning spa and assorted leisure facilities. A shared rooftop garden (penthouse owners will have their own private terrace) with yet more of those stunning views will make an impressive venue in which to entertain guests, while owners who are permanent residents for more than six months a year are also eligible to apply for a coveted Links Ticket, giving them access to the Old Course and the other six courses run by the St Andrews Links Trust for a nominal sum.

Needless to say, golf’s ultimate residence comes at a price. A two-bedroom unit starts at £1.26 million (HK$15.4 million) with the penthouse priced at offers of more than £7.5 million, making it Scotland’s most expensive apartment.

However, come 2015, when the Open Championship next visits St Andrews and you’re stood watching the action from your terrace with a glass of champagne in hand, this will seem like money very well spent.

Clockwise from top: the pool at the nearby Kohler Waters Spa, which is housed within the Old Course Hotel; the famous facade of Hamilton Grand; the main bedroom in one of the furnished two-bedroom apartments; an amazing vista overlooking the first and 18th fairways of the Old Course awaits

SCORECARD How much? From HK$15.4 million Size:

1,133-2,780 sq ft

No of bedrooms: 2-4 Property type: Apartment Tenure: Freehold Address:

St Andrews, Fife, Scotland

A Hamilton Grand exhibition will take place in Hong Kong on 26 February and in Tokyo on 28 February. To register for either exhibition or to learn more about the property contact Mark Gardner: mark.gardner@oldcoursehotel.co.uk / +44 (0)1334 468144 HKGOLFER.COM

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| inside the ropes

AFP

“For as long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating with the rest of them,” declared Els of his belly-putter

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The

Long and the Short of It

South African legend Ernie Els talks to Lewine Mair about the reasons why he turned to the controversial belly-putter – and why he understands the governing bodies’ desire to ban its use.

W

hen the R&A and the USGA announced before Christmas that they were planning to ban the anchoring of putters from January 2016, not too many of the longputter men were as philosophical as Ernie Els. Long before he wielded his belly-putter to such telling effect at last year’s Open Championship, the South African knew that he and his club were never going to be partners for life.

Instead, he saw the union as little more than a brief fling. As he declared last year, “For as long as it’s legal, I’ll keep cheating with the best of them.”

Els, after he had read the Christmas announcement, took officialdom up on their somewhat late-in-the-day offer to listen to the views of anyone who cared to voice them. He made a call to St Andrews and afterwards issued a statement of his own: “I have now discussed things with Peter Dawson [the CEO of the R&A] and while I am not altogether in favour of the proposed ruling, I fully respect the R&A’s decision.”

It was at last November’s HSBC Championship across the border at Mission Hills that the long-putter brigade were advised of what the game’s governing bodies had in mind. Keegan Bradley, for one, spoke in terms of legal action. “I’m going to do whatever I have to do to protect myself and other players on tour,” he warned. “I hear the USGA and R&A have talked to a lot of players already. Well, they’ve never talked to me. They should ask for our side of the story before they make any drastic decision which I think they already have.”

Els did not want to align himself with Bradley and such other angry souls as Adam Scott and Carl Pettersson. In sticking his heels in, he would only have made it tougher for himself to re-establish a relationship with his old short putter.

Also, he could not complain that he had not had any kind of an input to the debate. He had been asked for his opinion early on, only no one had come back to

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Els did not want to align himself with Keegan Bradley. In sticking his heels in, he would only have made it tougher for himself to re-establish a relationship with his old short putter.

AFP

Clockwise from top: Els rolls in this 12-foot putt on the final green at Lytham to post a target that Adam Scott couldn’t match; to the victor go the spoils: Els commiserates with Scott, one of his best friends on Tour; the South African took umbrage to David Feherty’s comments about his putting during the 2012 Tavistock Cup 36

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him after he claimed his fourth Major title at Lytham. That was when he would like to have explained that his long putter had far less to do with his success than officialdom seemed to think.

At Mission Hills, he took time to talk through his putting experiences over the years, whilst simultaneously coming up with a full explanation as to why he had putted as well as he did at The Open.

The first thing he wanted to get across was that while his belly-putter had had a hand in his golfing revival, it had never served as the magic wand which the media had made it out to be: “People have been led to believe that if you pick up a longer putter and anchor it to your chin, chest, belly or wherever, all your troubles are over. That, though, is so much nonsense. ” He cheerfully admitted that he had once been guilty of seeing the long-putter as pretty foolproof himself. Back in 2004, when Vijay Singh

switched to a long putter and soared from outside the top 100 on the putting statistics to inside the top 10, he led the way in calling for a ban on the implement. “I believe nerves and the skill of putting are all part of the game,” were the words he used at the time.

His change of heart occurred in 2010 as he slipped from 59th to 159th in the putting averages – and dropped out of the all-important top 50 in the World Rankings.

This great champion returned to his putting background to hazard a guess as to why things had gone so badly wrong.

“As a kid,” he began, “I was a great putter but, after nearly 30 years of pressure putting – from the time I was 12 to 41 – I lost the knack. It could have been the gathering pressure of all those competitive years or it could simply have been ‘an age thing’. I’ll never know.”

He started experimenting with the long putter around the time of the 2011 Masters and, initially, it was an out-and-out embarrassment.

Time after time, he had to explain himself to fellow-players who would repeat his comments of seven years before.

The embarrassment factor apart, there were technical problems. “It [the belly putter] is so HKGOLFER.COM

much heavier than any other in the club that it throws off my feel,” he complained. “I get off the green with this heavy putter and then I get on the next tee and the driver feels too light.”

By the time he finished fourth in the Frys.com Open in October 2011 (for his first top 10 in 12 months) he felt he was finally getting everything to blend. However, whatever the putter he had in hand, he was still having trouble “trying not to miss putts instead of trying to make them.” As a result, he was woefully tentative.

So tentative in fact that David Feherty seized the chance to poke fun at him at the 2012 Tavistock Cup. “He’ll soon be putting with a live rattlesnake,” announced the Irishman to a giggling gallery on the first tee.

Feherty’s comment served as the worst of setbacks. “I suppose,” mused Els, “that David’s got to try and be funny in his position but it’s all too easy to poke fun at people in distress, which I was.”

Els digressed to talk of good players who had escaped any significant spell in the putting doldrums, with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player at the top of his list. Ben Crenshaw and Brad Faxon were the next to come to mind before he thought again. He had seen Crenshaw, once the greatest putter of them all, going through a ‘putting low’, with the same applying to Faxon. “But they were not where I was,” he claimed. “At one stage, I was as low as low can go.”

HKGOLFER.COM

He started experimenting with the long putter around the time of the 2011 Masters and, initially, it was an out-and-out embarrassment. Time after time, he had to explain himself to fellow-players.

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“It’s entirely fair for the R&A and the USGA to say that it is easier to groove your stroke with a long putter. But it definitely doesn’t, as they appear to think, take nerves out of the equation.”

AFP

Els with his son Ben, who is autistic. “[Ben] likes the flight of the ball and the sound.

He would have been getting very excited [during The Open] and I wanted to make him really excited.”

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It was after he failed to qualify for the 2012 Masters that Els looked for something beyond the long putter and hit on the idea of sharpening his hand-eye coordination.

He had started to think long and hard about the part played by this combination in rugby and cricket – and very quickly came to the conclusion that it could work for him. Especially since he had noticed from studying old videos that he had lost the art of focusing on the ball.

It was Johann Rupert, the South African golfing philanthropist and founder of Richemont, the luxury goods group, who introduced him to Sherylle Calder, an expert in the field of “visual performance skills”. Calder, who believes that negative thinking is rooted in visual skills, was soon introducing Els to her famous “Eye Gym” system, which she has used to great effect with the New Zealand All Blacks and Australia’s cricketers and their umpires.

Calder is rightly protective of what she teaches but the kind of exercises which feature in any hand-eye co-ordination work-out are apt to

include racquet sports, table tennis, visualising what piece needs to go where in a jigsaw – and even a regular stint of embroidery.

Els began to see results with his ninth place finish at the US Open, while he was back to his confident best down the stretch at Lytham.

Away from feeling the benefits of Calder’s work, he was inspired beyond belief by thoughts of his autistic son, Ben. Ben, whose condition has prompted Els and his wife, Liezl, to raise funds for an all-purpose, US$20 million autism centre in Florida, kept thinking of how thrilled the boy would have been as he holed one putt after another on what would be a homeward half of just 32 strokes.

“Ben,” he explained that evening, “likes the flight of the ball and the sound. He would have been getting very excited and I wanted to make him really excited.”

He suspected that most successful long-putter users had similar stories up their sleeves, all of which could have contributed to a better-rounded debate on the long-putter.

“It’s entirely fair,” continued the Champion Golfer of 2012, “for the R&A and the USGA to say that it is easier to groove your stroke with a long putter. But it definitely doesn’t, as they appear to think, take nerves out of the equation.

“I can assure you that there isn’t a long putter person alive who sees a three-footer as a done deal.”

HKGOLFER.COM

Six of the Best: Players Who Will be Affected BY THE BAN Keegan Bradley

Vijay Singh

Els aside, the world number 13 is the most recognisable belly putter user – and arguably its biggest defender.

This comes as no surprise when you consider he's racked up more than US$7.5 million in earnings in a little over two years on Tour.

Bradley, who won the 2011 US PGA Championship in a play-off over Jason Dufner, averages 28.88 putts per round, good enough for 54th place in the putting statistics.

Although the big Fijian used a short putter for his three Major wins, he has relied on his belly putter in recent times. Looking at the statistics, however, Singh may want to think again. He averaged 29.41 putts per round in 2012, placing him in 121st place on the PGA Tour in this particular category.

Carl Pettersson Thongchai Jaidee The Thai legend made the switch to the belly putter a couple of years ago and, while it took a while for him to become fully adjusted, managed to win the ISPS Handa Wales Open last summer for his first victory outside Asia. Jaidee, who has five European Tour titles to his credit, averaged 29.80 putts per round last season and told HK Golfer he'll be able to make the switch back to the short blade with ease.

Webb Simpson The reigning US Open champion, like Bradley, has accumulated vast riches over the past two seasons thanks to a supremely consistent long game and an everimproving performance on the greens with his belly putter. Simpson, who had seven top 10 finishes in 2012, wields his controversial club 28.79 times on average per round.

The burly Swede has used his long putter for the past 16 years and describes the proposed ban as a "witch hunt". Pettersson is thought to be among several players who might consider legal action if the rule is adopted, and he is also among the most successful: averaging just 28.46 putts per round, Petterson is ranked 12th in putting on the PGA Tour.

Adam Scott Last year's Open Championship runner-up has transformed his game since turning to the long putter.

His second place at Lytham aside, Scott came close to his maiden Major title at the 2011 Masters before winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the same year. Although he still only ranks 116th in the number of putts he takes per round, with 29.39, the Australian averaged over 30 putts prior to making the switch, which made him, statistically at least, one of the worst putters on Tour.

AFP

–Alex Jenkins

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| OPINION

Much Ado ...

David Cannon/Getty Images (Road Hole); Courtesy of the St Andrews Links Trust (Second Hole)

... about nothing. There’s more than nature at hand in the evolution of the Old Course, which makes the recent furore over the R&A’s changes hard to fathom, writes St Andrews resident Roger McStravick.

W

hen the R&A announced that architect Mar t in Hawtree would be making some modifications to the Old Course in preparation for the 2015 Open Championship it was as if the Queen herself was receiving a face lift. Newspapers, websites and bloggers have raged about the desecration of the holy ground. But the truth of the matter is this: change to the Old is nothing new.

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From the very earliest of days, the Old Course was funded, maintained and managed by the Society of St Andrews Golfers, which would, in 1854, become the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. The course we know today would not be so venerated if it were not for the support of the R&A at the very outset. This might seem controversial but it’s accurate.

The St Andrews links originally comprised 22 holes but, by 1764, the first four holes were deemed too short and inadequate. As a result the layout was cut down to 18 holes, setting a much-copied precedent for future golf courses.

It was one of the R&A stalwarts, Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair, who really did more for St Andrews than anyone before or since. The first clubhouse, the railway line and the town’s beautiful architecture were all the fruits of Playfair’s labour. He HKGOLFER.COM

From the very earliest of days, the Old Course was funded, maintained and managed by the Society of St Andrews Golfers, which would, in 1854, become the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. also turned his eye to the course. The first and second holes were in danger of being lost to the sea altogether. Crashing storms would edge away the fairway and leave debris across the links.

According to Tom Jarrett and Peter Mason in their book, St Andrews Links: Six Centuries of Golf, Playfair in 1847 or thereabouts, built three breakwaters to stop the sea from coming onto the links. He filled the space in between with the town’s rubbish, sand and soil. This increased the fairway from 80 yards to around 135 yards and the reclamation also explains why the 18th is naturally undulating and the first hole flat like a billiard table.

The first step towards the course that we know today is when David “Old Da” Anderson took on the role of keeper of the links in 1851.

Da was one of the town’s great characters and used to sell ginger beer from a small stall on the fourth hole. He would later open his own shop on the links with his son – Jamie, a three-time Open Champion winner – next door to Old Tom Morris from 1873 – 82.

Da could not stand the constant interfering and commenting on his work and only lasted four years in the job. However, before he left, and following an R&A directive in May 1855, he placed a second pin on the seventh, “High Hole”.

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Double greens had been muted from 1832 according to historian JB Salmond and most writers refer to the putting surface that is shared by the fifth and 13th holes as being the first.

When Playfair became captain of the R&A in 1856, the club employed the great champion of the era, Allan Robertson, to create more double greens. They paid Robertson for this work right up until March of 1859 when he died. Given that the Eden Estuary acted as a boundary at the foremost end of the course and that they therefore had little ground to expand into, the greens were developed at the sides to give them their lozenge shape. The march stones on the second and fourth fairways mark out the boundary of the original course in the early 1800s. The G on one side of the stone denotes the golfing ground and the C on the other denotes the owner of the land, the Cheape family.

Old Tom Morris had done a superb job creating the 12-hole Prestwick course and was the reigning Open champion. He was also a fine, if sometimes lucky, greenkeeper. Old Tom had learned the merits of top-dressing the course with sand by accident. One day he had spilt sand on a bare piece of Prestwick turf. A few months later he noticed how healthy and strong the grass had grown.

The famous 17th green (opposite) and the putting surface on the second hole (above) at St Andrews will undergo modification in time for the 2015 Open Championship. The latter will become more undulating in order to place a premium on hitting the green in regulation HK Golfer・FEB 2013

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David Cannon/Getty Images

No one took more pride in the course than Old Tom Morris. He, more than anyone, knew that more than nature was at hand in St Andrews.

The glorious par-5 14th hole and its distinctive “Hell” bunker (above) was deemed challenging enough to not warrant any changes; the Road Hole bunker (opposite) receives so much play and damage that it needs to be rebuilt every year 42

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From that point on, he was forever top-dressing the greens, much to the annoyance of members.

In 1864, Tom was asked to come back to St Andrews and was employed as its keeper. He was paid £50. His terms of employment with the R&A were that he was to have full charge of the links, although later for major changes, the Green Committee’s approval was required.

By 1866 Tom was filling in divots with sand and top-dressing the links. Initially the locals complained about the sand on the surfaces, but when the condition of the course started to improve they soon changed their tune.

In 1869 Tom started work on the new 18th green. According to David Malcolm and Peter E Crabtree in their book, Tom Morris of St Andrews, “The Home, or 18th green, was situated some 30–40 yards in front of where the green is today and was reported to be ‘on broken ground in a hollow, with the ground sloping down both sides’.” Behind this a gully ran right across the links from Old Tom’s shop to the R&A clubhouse. The remnant of this gully today is the Valley of Sin. During construction, they found a burial pit of human bones, which probably dates from the plagues. Given that the labourers were a superstitious lot (witchcraft trials were still coming to courts as late as 1835 in nearby Strathkinness), they were afraid but Old Tom

told them that if they wanted to be paid, they would have to finish the job. They duly did. The green was much lauded and Tom often said that it was the best work he had done.

In the same year Tom raised and re-turfed the area by the Swilcan Burn and in 1872 created a new green, which we know today as the green on the first hole. According to Jarrett and Mason, however, this was originally intended to be for the now-famous 17th, which would have created a straight hole, with no need to drive over the railway sheds. As a side note regarding the Swilcan Bridge, it shouldn’t actually be referred to as such. It is the “Golfers’ Bridge” and has been for hundreds of years. The Swilcan Bridge is the slightly less attractive larger road bridge about 80 yards to the left as you walk up the 18th fairway.

With the raising of the burn and the new green, the course could now be played in reverse for the very first time. Tom set about a massive clearing of the whins to expand the fairways and increased the green sizes. James Balfour, in his 1887 book Reminiscences of Golf on St Andrews, laments the whin clearing and expansion. He preferred the course when the golfers played nine holes out and played back to the same, smaller greens. Balfour adds that the whin clearing on the second beside the green had made the hole much easier and the green flatter.

When Tom expanded the seventh green, he noticed that the hole kept getting bigger and bigger due to the soft sandy soil, so he got a local blacksmith to create an iron rim. It is thought that from this idea of Tom’s we have the mental cups we still see today.

HKGOLFER.COM

Changing Times So what changes are the R&A, in harness with the St Andrews Links Trust, actually making in preparation for the 2015 Open Championship? R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson reveals all:

A curious side note about the double greens on the Old Course is that they all add up to the number 18, examples being the seventh and 11th, and the second and 16th.

Tom regularly changed the direction of play to spread the wear and tear of the course. As Jarrett and Mason point out, by playing the anti-clockwise route, there was no crossing of golfers on the first and 18th holes. In 1876, the first Open was played in the anti-clockwise fashion that is how the course is routed today.

The bunkering on the back nine is largely as it has been for centuries. There is one exception, of course – the famous “Road Hole Bunker”, which sees almost annual work because of its sheer number of visitors.

Between 1879 and 1898, Old Tom added only two bunkers, on the second and sixth. In 1899, following complaints that the front nine was too easy, the R&A created an elite panel made up of the greats of the day, including Freddie Tait and JL Low, to decide where new bunkering should go. They added 17 pits, according to golf historian Peter Lewis, and a further sixteen in 1905. Old Tom added yet more on the ninth hole a few years later and named them after Paul Kruger, who was the then face of Boer resistance against the British.

Over the next century more bunkers would be added, filled in, expanded and changed. The St Andrews Links Trust has managed the course since 1974 and notifications of changes to the course are circulated to all the town’s clubs.

So are the recent changes worth all this hullabaloo? Not if you look at the evolution of the course historically. Old Tom was a custodian of the links in every way. No one took more pride in the course or was more protective of it. He, more than anyone, knew that more than nature was at hand in St Andrews, and he certainly did not believe that the work of Da Anderson or Allan Robertson should remain untouched.

For St Andrews, making changes to the Old Course really is nothing new.

HKGOLFER.COM

Phase 1 The 2nd: Right of the green is so flat there is no premium for hitting the green. We’ll make this area more undulating. There are two bunkers short and right, 25 yards away from that green. No one is ever in them so they are being moved closer to the green.

The 7th: There is a collection area in the fairway where balls go into and it’s full of divots. That dip has been filled in and it has been turned into a very slight mound.

The 11th: We have eased off the slope on the left-hand side. The left side of that green has been unusable – not just for The Open, but normal play, except in winter when the greens are slower.

The 17th: The Road Hole bunker is rebuilt every year as it gets so much play and damage. We will finalise a design and map it digitally so that every time it is rebuilt it remains faithful to what it was.

Phase 2 The 3rd: The bunkering on the 3rd doesn’t extend far enough for it to be a risk to drive up the right. The proposal is to create another bunker further up in line with the others, and take out the first fairway bunker.

The 4th: We are going to put some gentle undulations right of the green. There is also a bunker right of the 4th green that we are going to move closer.

The 6th: We are going to undulate the flat area right of the 6th green, merging with the 7th tee.

The 9th: The proposal is for a new bunker 25 yards short of the green on the left. This is to increase the risk/reward ratio of having a go at the green.

The 15th: We are going to undulate the area over the green to the right of the back bunker.

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HKGA | TOURNAMENTS

Michelle Flies the Flag Michelle Lee flew the flag for Hong Kong at the HSBC China Junior Open, which was played at Nansha Golf Club in Guangzhou from 8-10 January.

Lee finished the Girls’ 13-14 Age Division in second place following a solid showing. Consecutive rounds of 71 were followed by a final-day 72 for a two-under total of 214, three shots behind division champion Chen Min Jou from Chinese Taipei. Vivian Lee (seventh) and Carrie Ann Lee (ninth) In the Girls’ 15-17 Age Division, Mimi Ho placed ninth, while Bibendum Leung earned a share of 14th in the Boys’ equivalent category. Leon D’Souza, playing in the Boys’ 13-14 bracket, finished with a fine 73 to finish in a tie for 10th. The results gave Hong Kong fourth place in the overall team standings.

Winter Titles for Junior Duo Shinichi Mizuno finished 2012 in some style by winning the HKGA Winter Junior Championship, which was held at The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course in late December.

Mizuno, a regular Hong Kong international over the past three years, fired rounds of 68 and 70 over the Gary Playerdesigned South Course for a level-par total of 138. Linus Lo, with 141, finished in second place, with Benjamin Wong a further four shots back in third.

In the Girls’ Division, Isabella Leung continued her recent run of form with a one-shot win. Leung, who has earned a golf scholarship to the University of Hawaii where she’ll study Marine Biology, carded a two-day total of 142, which was enough to pip fellow international teammate Michelle Cheung in second place. Former Hong Kong Junior Close Championship winner Mimi Ho finished in third spot on 142.

Au and Kwan Pair for Success

EFG Bank - HKGA Junior Tour Grand Final Hong Kong Golf Club, Deep Water Bay - 2 January

Winners: Boys’ 13-14: Girls’ 13-14: Boys’ 11-12: Girls’ 11-12: Boys’ 9-10: Girls’ 9-10: Boys’ 8 and under: Girls’ 8 and under:

Yannick Nathan Artigolle Cheryl Man Nathan Han Charlotte Kwong Cyrus Lee Yu-Fung Stephanie Wong Maurice Leung Jolie Wong Jing Hin

Daniel Wong

Au Chi Wai and Fung Kwan (pictured right) teamed up to win the popular HKGA Pairs Tournament, which was held at Discovery Bay Golf Club in mid-December. The duo recorded 39 gross stableford points – the equivalent of three-under-par – to hold off the defending champions, the Fanling pair of Tim Orgill and Donald Nimmo, by the slimmest of margins.

Richard Phoebus and Rungnapa Winchester, victors in this event in 2008, took third spot on count back from Sherman Leung and Daniel Wan. Donald Chan and Bonnie Sin emerged victorious in the nett division, the pair’s 47-point haul besting Mac Leung and Ruby Yim by a point.

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| INSIDE THE INDUSTRY

Career Opportunities in Golf An exciting new degree has been launched offering opportunities for graduates to work in the golf industry. HK Golfer finds out more about the programme and looks at where it can take you.

A

new honours degree aimed at international students eager for a career in the golf industry has been launched by The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) and the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

The degree has been designed for the overseas market, particularly in China and other developing golf nations in the

Far East and Asia.

Graduates will learn business and management aspects of the golf industry and harness wider expertise and knowledge to support the promotion of the game in developing golf nations.

The BSc (Hons) programme, entitled Applied Golf Management Studies International, will begin in September 2013 and has been created to meet the need of the global golf industry for high calibre graduates who can help grow the game in their respective countries.

The three-year full-time course, taught by specialist world-leading academics and researchers, covers subjects including approaches to management and organisation, enterprise and employability, strategic marketing for golf business, golf operations management, and event management.

The new degree is expressly designed to allow overseas students the opportunity to study with the University of Birmingham and The PGA (at The Belfry) for a degree in the management and development of the game.

PGA chief executive Sandy Jones said: “The PGA is keen to help grow the game across the world and well qualified people are essential to the growth of golf which is why the PGA has invested heavily in developing its own programmes and members.”

Degree programme manager Dr Martin Toms added: “We are very proud of the relationship we have with the PGA, and the AGMSI programme further highlights the strength of this partnership.

Over the past 10 years our graduates have begun to make a real difference within the game of golf around the world.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the course should email Dr Martin Toms, programme manager from the University of Birmingham at m.r.toms@bham.ac.uk

AFP

Overseas students will have the opportunity to study with the University of Birmingham and The PGA at The Belfry, which has hosted numerous professional tournaments through the years, including three Ryder Cups 46

HK Golfer・FEB 2013

HKGOLFER.COM

Unique global partnership degree programme in the management of golf

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Unique three-year undergraduate degree programme based in the UK

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Collaboration between The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) and the University of Birmingham

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Course developed specifically for students from developing golf nations interested in studying the business, management and development of the game of golf

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Modules taught by specialist world-leading academics and researchers, including PGA golf specialists

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Excellent global employment opportunities for graduates

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Lectures take place at the PGA National Training Academy, European Centre of Excellence, The Belfry, and at the University of Birmingham

www.birmingham.ac.uk/agmsi

Learn more Dr Martin Toms, Programme Leader, BSc Applied Golf Management Studies International Email: m.r.toms@bham.ac.uk Telephone: +44 (0)121 415 8392

® PGA

is a registered trademark of The Professional Golfers’ Association Limited.

| AGEAS HKPGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Park Reigns Supreme Australian enters the record books by winning the 30th edition of the Ageas HKPGA Championship Photography by Daniel Wong HKGOLFER.COM

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U Clockwise from top: James Stewart in action during the final round at Kau Sai Chau; amateur Shinichi Mizuno put in a tremendous performance to finish in a tie for third, 1990 US PGA Championship winner Wayne Grady, who placed 19th, has been a regular visitor to the event in recent times; Asian Tour regular Scott Barr 50

HK Golfer・FEB 2013

nho Park won his second successive Ageas HKPGA Championship in dramatic fashion in mid-January after capitalizing on a late error by local favourite James Stewart at Kau Sai Chau.

Singapore-based Park, 39, finished on a three-round total of 207, six-under-par, to win by two shots from Stewart, who let things slip with a triple bogey at the penultimate hole of the championship.

In-form amateur Shinichi Mizuno and Australia’s Scott Barr tied for third on three-under.

“I feel for James as I know he, coming from Hong Kong, really wanted to win this event,” said Park, who finished 59th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit last year. “But I was happy with the way I played, and to come out on top for the second year in a row is very pleasing. It’s the first time I’ve successfully defended a title, so it’s a very positive start to the season for me.”

Park, who earned a cheque for HK$72,000 to go alongside the Joe Hardwick Trophy, became the first player to win back-to-back championships since Kyi Hla Han, the current executive director of the Asian Tour, achieved the feat in 1993 and 1994.

Stewart, 37, entered the final round of the HK$400,000 event with a slender one-shot advantage over Park after enjoying a brilliant 64 at the Hong Kong Golf Club on day two. But despite getting off to a shaky start with three bogeys on the front nine, the long-time Hong Kong resident bounced back superbly to regain the lead from Park with a fine birdie at the 16th.

But then disaster struck. A pushed drive at the long par-5 17th found a fairway bunker, from which he required two shots to escape.

After missing the green with his approach, the unfortunate Stewart took four more shots to record a miserable “snowman” eight.

Park, by contrast, made a solid five, and with a two-shot lead held on with another regulation par at the closing hole.

“It’s obviously a disappointing way to finish,” admitted Stewart, who won leg four of the HKPGA Order of Merit in Dongguan in December. “I caught that first bunker shot a little thin and then it unravelled a bit from there.

But overall it was still a good week, and it made me realize I can still compete with some of the guys from the Asian Tour.”

This year’s edition of the tournament, which marked the 30th playing of the championship and Ageas’ fourth consecutive year as title HKGOLFER.COM

sponsor, featured one of the strongest fields in its history thanks to a strong overseas contingent. One of those, tournament drawcard Wayne Grady, who won the 1990 US PGA Championship, finished in a share of 19th spot alongside 2010 Ageas HKPGA Championship winner CJ Gatto.

No amateur has ever won the event but Mizuno gave the pros a run for their money with a fine two-under 70 in the final round.

The Hong Kong international, who heads to university in Kyoto after the Lunar New Year to continue his education, drew within two shots off the lead on the closing stretch but an untimely bogey at the 16th, a result of a three-putt, put an end to an otherwise terrific performance.

“I set myself a target of four-under, which I got to, but the three-putt on 16 was annoying,” said the long-hitting teenager, who opened the championship with a 69 over the Old Course at the Hong Kong Golf Club. “It was a great experience though and I’m happy with the way I played. I was partnered with Wayne [Grady] and Unho [Park] in the first round and watching them play told me a lot about what I have to work on. Their short games are amazing.”

Mizuno’s fellow amateur, Oliver Roberts, back in Hong Kong on holiday from his studies at the University of Stirling in Scotland, also enjoyed a strong week, his eight-over-total of 221 earning him ninth place.

Ageas HKPGA Championship Results 1 Unho Park Australia 2 James Stewart Hong Kong 3= Shinichi Mizuno - A Hong Kong

Scott Barr Australia 5 Lam Chih Bing Singapore 6= Tang Man Kee Hong Kong

Ross Bain Scotland 8 Jimmy Ko Hong Kong 9 Oliver Roberts - A Hong Kong 10 Jovick Lee Hong Kong 11= Wong Woon Man Hong Kong

Timothy Tang Hong Kong

Dominique Boulet Hong Kong 14 M Murugiah Singapore 15 Brad Schadewitz Hong Kong

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69 67 71 71 64 74 69 71 70 70 69 71 69 70 74 73 70 74 66 74 77 75 71 74 73 71 77 74 68 80 75 73 75 71 76 76 77 69 77 76 73 75 76 74 75

207 209 210 210 213 217 217 220 221 222 223 223 223 224 225

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| RESULTS

The Hong Kong Golf Club

Joe Pethes (below) claimed the Seniors Golfers Cup in December and the January Monthly Medal at the Hong Kong Golf Club; Jordan Yeung (opposite) battled the elements to win the Macau Amateur Open Championship before Christmas

Max Wong won the Lusitania Cup, which was played over the Eden and Old Courses on 6 January, with -6. Rodday Sage finished in second place with -13; Kelvin Inge and Henrik Karlberg tied for third with matching totals of -16, with the latter also winning the Nett section. In the 18-hole Nett Section, played over the Eden Course, Alistair Laband won on countback from John Halliday.

Joe Pethes won the Monthly Medal, which was played over the New Course on 5 January, with a three-over 73. Tim Orgill finished one shot back in second after his 74; Stuart Murray and Arnold Wong tied for third with respective 77s. Brandon Ma won the Nett section with a 70.

Joe Pethes won the Senior Golfers Cup, which was played over the Old Course on 9 December 2012, with 33 points. Roddy Sage bagged second place with 28 points, one more than third-placed Kenneth Anderson. The Nett Section was won

by Hugh de Lacy Staunton with 41 points.

Chris Robinson won the Macwhinnie Cup Qualifying Round, which was played over the Old Course on 1-2 December 2012 with -1.

Clement Kwok, who also qualified, finished second with -3.

Arnold Wong won the Monthly Medal, which was played over the New Course on 1 December 2012, with a one-over 71. Max Wong and Leonard Ho placed second with equal rounds of 73. Alex Jewkes, with 67, won the Nett Section.

Max Wong won the Eden Trophy, which was played over the Eden Course on 2 December 2012, with +2. Doug Williams was second with -3, with Alex Jewkes third on -8. Jewkes also claimed the Nett Section.

Discovery Bay Golf Club JD Lee won the Christmas 3-Club Stableford, which was played on 16 December 2012, with 40 points. WK Cheung, with 35 points, finished in second place on countback over John Adair in third. BW Park won the Gross Division with 30 points. Ms Julian Wong, with 30 points, won the Ladies Division. Mrs Rungnapa Winchester claimed the Gross Division with 24 points.

KC Cho and Ms TJ Nah won the Diamond/ Jade Section of the HY Paik Mixed Greensome Cup, which was played on 15 December 2012, with a nett score of 59. Tim Yu and Ms Siu Hing Chan placed second after a 64. The best gross score was achieved by Stuart and Rungnapa Winchester with 71.

David and Sally Kim won the Jade/Ruby Section of the HY Paik Mixed Greensome Cup, which was played on 15 December 2012, with a nett score of 66. Hyung Ill Oh and Ms RS Chung placed second after a 68. The best gross score was achieved by John and Yasue Killian with 81.

Clearwater Bay Golf Club

Daniel Wong

Giles Scott won the Captain’s Cup, which was played on 6 January, with a 77. Tony Melloy, with 86, placed second. The winner of the Nett Section was Andrew Lawson with a 73, three better than runner-up Patrick Tam. Raymond Chan won the Chairman’s Cup, which was played on 6 January, with 33 points.

Rick Lau was the runner-up with 27 points.

John Killian, Yasue Killian, Micky Yu and Mari Maeda were the winners of the New Year Scramble, held on 1 January, on countback with a 65. TY Chow, Edwin Lim, Jeremy Tang and Kelvin Yeung won the Nett Division with a 55.

Cheung Kim won the Founder’s Cup, which was held on 15-16 December 2012, with a tworound total of 156. Max Ting finished second, one shot behind on 157. Raymond Chan won the Nett Division with 147.

Lydia Mak was the winner of the December Stableford, which took place on 19 December 2012, with 35 points. Miki Motogui was the runner-up with 33 points.

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Yeung Prevails in Macau

Jordan Yeung battled through torrential conditions to earn his first Macau Amateur Open Championship title in the week before Christmas.

Yeung (pictured), a seven-handicapper, fired a final-round 76 – a brilliant score given the high winds that plagued the exposed course at the Macau Golf & Country Club – to hold off Dave Yan and Hong Kong international Steven Lam by two shots.

Hong Kong junior Bibendum Leung fought back from an opening 86 with a solid 78 to finish in solo eighth.

Mu Ching Lung, who plays off 16, was crowned the nett champion after his two-round total of 142.

Results 1 Jordan Yeung 2 Dave Yan 3 Steven Lam 4 Ao Pak Loi 5= Xiao Jieyu

81 76 83 76 79 80 78 83 85 77

157 159* 159 161 162

Stewart Blitzes HKPGA Field

A resurgent James Stewart claimed his first win of the 2012 season with a brilliant performance in leg four of the HKPGA Order of Merit, which was held at Yinli Foreign Investors’ Golf Club in Dongguan mid-December.

Stewart, who started the final round a shot behind the overnight leader, Jang Chel Hoo of Taiwan, fired a six-under 66

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to cruise to an impressive 10-shot win.

Tim Tang, who was the only local player to make the cut at November’s UBS Hong Kong Open, finished third, which earned him more than enough points to claim the HKPGA Order of Merit title.

Results 1 2 3 4 5

James Stewart Jang Chel Hoo Timothy Tang Cheng Ka Yiu Jason Kwok

73 66 72 77 75 75 77 74 79 74

139 149 150 151 153

| COVER STORY

AFP

The Australian’s immediate goal is to get back inside the world’s top 50-ranked players in order to secure his berth at The Masters 54

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HKGOLFER.COM

Taking Aim Paul Prendergast talks to seven-time PGA Tour winner, astute course design critic and father of three Geoff Ogilvy about the state of his game, his off-course architecture business, the renovation of St Andrews and the long putter debate.

G

eoff Ogilvy is a man on a mission. The 2006 US Open champion is without a win in over two years and has, at the time of press, yet to receive an invitation to the Masters Tournament in April.

Ranked outside the top 50 in the world (the magic number that would get him a berth at Augusta) for the first time since before that memorable afternoon at Winged Foot where he outlasted both Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie, Ogilvy and his young family have moved back to Arizona for the good of his game.

The tall Australian says he isn’t unduly worried about his recent form – he only missed two cuts in 2012 – but in leaving California for Scottsdale and Whisper Rock Golf Club, a favoured haunt for many PGA Tour pros, the outspoken Ogilvy, who started his own course design business with the respected architect Michael Clayton in 2010, is looking to scale the same kind heights that earned him not just a Major but also three World Golf Championship (WGC) titles.

I played well enough physically to do quite well. I only missed a couple of cuts, I played well at The Open [tied for 9th] and featured at the PGA Championship [tied 11th], but I was always just two or three shots away. It was always like that. I just think that maybe I’ve been practicing too much at home and not playing enough holes.

Every day I walked off, I thought I’d probably played better than the score I had that day. Not a lot, but it’s a pretty fine line between finishing 10th, 15th, 20th and winning tournaments.

It doesn’t really show up in the stats but when you’re playing your best, even when you hit a bad shot, you manage to hit it to where it’s an easy par. You might hit it 15 feet right of the pin as opposed to pulling it into a bunker and not getting it up and down.

That’s not going to show up in the stats.

You don’t fix that with more time on the range, you fix that playing more holes. Whether that’s at home with friends or tournament holes, I probably haven’t been doing enough of that. All I’ve been doing the past few weeks is play rounds of golf so hopefully it works. We’ll see.

Statistically, it’s difficult to assess why 2012 was not as successful for you in comparison to past years. Have you been able to pinpoint anything in particular?

If the stats tell us anything, it’s that there’s nothing glaringly wrong.

Professional golfers are always moaning about some part of their game – not holing enough putts, not doing this, not doing that.

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“Professional golfers are always moaning about some part of their game – not holing enough putts, not doing this, not doing that. I’ve actually been pretty happy with how it’s all going but I just haven’t had the scores. I guess that’s just one of the cycles you go through.’

AFP

I actually haven’t been moaning at all, I’ve actually been pretty happy with how it’s all going but I just haven’t had the scores. I guess that’s just one of the cycles you go through in professional golf.

I made more money than I spent last year, and as a professional golfer, that’s kind of the point of the exercise in one way. So I was obviously doing it better than a lot of other guys but maybe not quite as well as I have done [in the past].

Ogilvy says The Masters, thanks largely to Augusta’s course setup, sets the bar for tournaments around the world and has been the most entertaining Major for the past 50 years; driving down Augusta’s famous closing hole (opposite) 56

HK Golfer・FEB 2013

You played 20 events in 2012 and the only time you played less [19] was in an injury marred 2010.

Does playing more holes also mean playing more on Tour?

I probably do need to play more rounds of golf. I started having kids six years ago, just after I won the US Open – [Ogilvy’s wife] Juli was pregnant at Winged Foot. After that, I probably started slightly adjusting my practice.

Before, I used to go to the club, have breakfast, practice, play a round when a game turned up,

practice a bit afterwards and then go home. That was my day, like a normal 9-5 job, that’s what I did.

As soon as you start having kids, you try to manage your time and do the father thing. So now I’ve got three or four hours in the day. I’ll go up to the course and hit balls and have my putts but I guess I didn’t appreciate the value of spending time around good golfers like we have at Whisper Rock and playing lots of holes. To me that’s more important than anything on the range. It’s a subtle shift and gradually, as you get more stuff going on at home, I think I probably went to the range or the putting green before I went for a round of golf because I felt I could get more done in a shorter period of time.

Playing more rounds of golf, playing little money games with the Whisper Rock crowd, where there’s so many professionals to play games with. If I’ve got two hours now, I’ll go play nine holes as opposed to spending that time on the range.

Putting your architectural hat on for a moment, your firm, Ogilvy Clayton, appears to be going from strength to strength in Australia and overseas. How do you balance this bourgeoning interest with being in the US for most of the year?

I can’t go to as many golf courses and do the walking around which is the fun part, being out there and doing it. I can’t do that in Australia as much at this point. I’m in all the conversations HKGOLFER.COM

about everything but the stuff that’s overseas I might be more involved in.

I really, really like it. I’m very lucky to be associated with the people at Ogilvy Clayton, who are just incredible, very talented. I’m just along for the ride with the talent really, it’s amazing. I’m learning a lot and am really enjoying it.

It’s an interesting period in the industry. In the golf-developed countries like Australia and the United States, they probably have about the right amount of courses that they can sustain. I don’t think there’s any ‘boom’ period to come in these countries. I can’t see hundreds of courses needing to be built in the US, for example.

There’s a whole new frontier of full restorations and ‘re-dos’, putting in new holes or new courses on old ones, that’s probably the next frontier in Australia and America. Mike Clayton and the crew have done some great stuff on the restorations in Australia and are very, very good at that. So there will be two fronts to the industry for us. I’ve always loved the golf courses. To me, it’s the most un-talked about reason why golf is so loved.

There’s probably one redesign that’s currently underway that you probably wish wasn’t done – the Old Course at St Andrews ...

It’s disappointing in that the whole point of it is to make us shoot a slightly higher score every five years [at The Open], and it’s embarrassing – disgusting – that they’re doing it for that reason. I mean .. it’s hard to have the words to describe the arrogance of doing something like that, it’s incredible.

It’s like, ‘The Mona Lisa is fading a little so let’s put some colour into her face, people will enjoy it more.’ Or ‘The Sistine Chapel is a bit small now for the number of people who want to go through it, let’s make it bigger.’ That’s probably a better analogy really because that’s what it is.

The reason the sport is what it is, is because of St Andrews. It didn’t evolve to the point where it’s at because of people doing what they’re doing right now. It evolved, it didn’t get designed. It came because of nature, all the balls finishing in one place so there were lots of divots and that spot became a bunker. It’s the first place that anyone should ever study when they think about golf course architecture.

And the last place anyone should ever touch ...

And the last place they should touch! I think the thing that really affected most people that got emotional about it was the way they went about it. Making a sneaky little announcement the same weekend everyone was talking about the long putter ban. The bulldozers were out the next day. Surely the Old Course deserves a round table of the smartest people in golf with the best HKGOLFER.COM

“It doesn’t worry me who uses a long putter because I’ve always had the choice to use it if I wanted to. It hasn’t changed the way the game is played. For me, hybrids and the big drivers have changed it the most. The golf ball goes further and that’s another argument, but hybrids have made a bigger impact.” intentions and to discuss it for two years before you do anything?

I’m sure they’ll do it seamlessly and do a nice job. I’ve played St Andrews 25 times and the Road Hole bunker has been different every time I’ve been there, so it’s not like changes aren’t being made there all the time, changes that a lot of people don’t even know about. But, they’re doing a lot of fundamental changes ... it’s amazing.

They’ve done plenty of bunker work for maintenance reasons over time but changing contours that have evolved and adding to the 11th green to provide extra pin placements are pretty fundamental changes ...

It’s been fine for 400 years, in the form it’s in it’s been fine for a hundred years.

It’s fine!

I mean, if they get crazy wind and you can’t put a pin up the back left on 11 then, oh well. Or, you just have that green running two feet slower than the others. We’re the best golfers in the world, surely we can work out that the green is slower. We’re not that precious.

Peter Thomson told me changing the Old Course was “preposterous” and that he had no knowledge of the plan until it was announced. This was despite being a town resident, course architect and a pre-eminent figure in the game, especially when it comes to links golf.

It felt like they’d [the R&A] been sneaking around. They knew there would be a backlash so they made sure they had the bulldozers out there ready before anyone could stop it.

That’s what it felt like and I think that’s what annoyed everyone the most.

I think if the process was right and if the right people in the game sat down and went, ‘You know what? Those bunkers on the second could move five yards’, or whatever it is, maybe it would sit better with people. The way it happened was pretty frustrating.

They could have done that at any point in the next year but they chose to announce it at the same time as the long putter thing, when the whole world was HK Golfer・FEB 2013

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“The Masters for me, with the exception of a few years when they tried to make it too hard, has been the most entertaining tournament of the year for 50 years. There’ve been some great days at US Opens and Open Championships but purely as a spectacle, The Masters sets the bar every year for entertainment and for finding the best player.” focused on that. They snuck it in, out come the bulldozers and it’s like, ‘What are they doing?’

Surely they know they’re doing something wrong if they have to sneak it in under a bigger announcement? You’re not that confident about what you’re doing are you, surely? It was the process rather than the reality. The reality is not very nice but the process was horrible.

AFP

Ogilvy with the US Open trophy in 2006 after outlasting both Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie on an enthralling final day at Winged Foot 58

HK Golfer・FEB 2013

I’m certain you have firm views on some of the other issues that arose in the game just prior to the winter break – the anchoring ban, for instance. What’s your take?

I’m not passionate either way. The one thing is if the powers at be or golfers in general think that short putters are important then they had to make that call. At some point, every kid was going to pick a long putter up, every pro is going to use one. Within 20 years, like wooden clubs and steel spikes, the short putter would be extinct.

To me though, I don’t think it’s cheating. It doesn’t worry me who uses it because I’ve always

had the choice to use it if I wanted to. The long putter hasn’t changed the way the game is played.

For me, hybrids and the big drivers have changed it the most. The golf ball goes further and that’s another argument, but hybrids have made a bigger impact.

In 1986, Greg Norman could hit it 240 yards right up in the air and stop it on the green. The next best guy couldn’t do that. Nicklaus had that advantage and Weiskopf and Watson, even Tiger in the first few years, and Davis Love. The best of the best had a massive advantage outside 200 yards, but now everyone can hit it 240 yards and stop it next to the hole.

To me, that’s a massive change. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, I’m just saying it’s a way bigger change to how golf is played than the long putter.

You still need to roll the ball along the ground.

You can look at all the stats and say that maybe some people putt better, but with hybrids and the big drivers, everyone drives it great now.

I never played in the era with wooden clubs and balata balls but from what I understand, only the best could drive it properly. They had such an advantage. Maybe the big clubs and hybrids have made the game better but I’m saying, that’s a much bigger change than the long putter.

They changed a rule that doesn’t really impact that much, but, they changed the groove rule a few years ago. Maybe they’re putting the feelers out on rule changes to see what the tolerance levels are. Maybe they’re looking at some of the bigger issues, like the golf ball and big drivers, I don’t know. You’d like to think the powers that HKGOLFER.COM

be are smart people and are sitting around thinking about the betterment of golf and how to preserve this great game.

How impressed have you been with the way the USGA has setup the US Open, a tournament you have won, in recent years – and do you think their approach could be a catalyst for change in the way regular Tour venues are prepared?

There was obviously a period at US tournaments, with the exception of The Masters, where the longer and narrower the course and the longer the rough, the better. The more you get punished for a bad shot, the better the tournament’s going to be. There was definitely that attitude, but it’s changed a little bit because I think they understand that short grass can be just as scary as long grass, or even more scary, and way more interesting.

They’re starting to do some interesting stuff, maybe have a short par-4 in there, and starting to see that golf doesn’t have to be about making it as hard as you can. It’s about making it interesting.

The amazing thing for me is that the template has been there for years. The Masters for me, with the exception of a few years when they tried to make it too hard, has been the most entertaining tournament of the year for 50 years.

There’ve been some great days at US Opens and Open Championships but purely as a spectacle, The Masters sets the bar every year for entertainment and for finding the best player.

It ticks every box for professional golf yet they’ve almost been going out of their way to set up golf courses the exact opposite of The Masters.

Augusta has lots of short grass; you can basically hit it anywhere but you need to find the best angles to approach the greens, which are going to punish you subtly and not obviously. But [elsewhere else] the model is almost the exact opposite to that which is amazing to me.

But with [Chief Executive] Mike Davis at the USGA, there’s definitely been some progress at US Opens over the past four to five years. They’ve been moving some tees up on par 4s and 5s and not necessarily just covering the course in rough.

They now have some short grass.

The quality of the golf course and the quality of the setup almost directly dictates how good your tournament is to play and watch. It’s an underappreciated art but there seems to be a bunch of guys who get to do the setups that are going in the right direction, I think.

If the players themselves were allowed to setup the courses, which one would you like to get your hands on in that situation?

I’d probably be accused of setting it up too easy.

It depends on the course and if you’re allowed to get the greens as firm as you want. I think golf is more interesting when great shots get rewarded HKGOLFER.COM

and I think recovery shots are one of the biggest parts of golf. If you cover your course in rough and make it too narrow, you’re basically bringing everyone back to the same place. Everyone can hit a 50 yard hack out of thick rough, the worst player in the field and the best player in the field that week. So I don’t understand why that’s good.

You have short grass down the left side of the fairway on the ninth at Augusta and you can hit a 30 yard hook under the trees onto the green. The best player in the world is going to hit that shot, as Tiger has shown us a number of times, while the worst player in the field is going to hit it way right and make a six, and everything in between. To me, that’s more interesting but not every course is as fun to setup as Augusta.

I’d really like to set Oakmont up. I think it’s an amazing course, probably one of the best golf courses in the world. It’s so hard when we play it in the US Open but it could be so fun too.

The US Open will be played this year at Merion, which for someone like you with such an interest in golf course architecture must be something of a treat. Have you seen the East Course there before and are you concerned how the USGA will go about setting the course up in order to protect par?

Actually I haven’t. I’ve played Pine Valley down the road but not there, so I’m pretty excited about it actually. I’m a little bit scared at how they might set it up because it’s really lacking in length for how we play now, so the word is they might have to go crazy narrow in a few spots.

They’re so adamant that they don’t want us to go really low in a US Open but the great players have always won the US Open so, maybe there is something to be said for the setups. We’ll see. I’m really looking forward to it. Everyone who’s ever been there loves the place so I’m really excited.

Changing tack, your immediate goal must be to get into the Masters. The equation is pretty simple, isn’t it – win an event or be in the top 50 by the end of March?

Pretty much. I was 51st at the end of the year and I’m pretty sure I’ll drop a couple of spots before I start the year [at the time of press Ogilvy is ranked 58th]. So I’m playing four or five tournaments in a row on the west coast and I’ll play till I get in basically.

They have another world ranking cut off at the end of March and I’ll get in if I’m in the top 50, which is not a massive stretch obviously because it’s only a couple of spots. If I win a golf tournament, I can re-evaluate my schedule but the main goal for the year is to get to Augusta.

You haven’t missed the Masters in eight years so has this been a jolt to the system for you?

It has been a little bit. I could have played more in the last three months of last year but I really needed a break, and every time I’ve played extra tournaments when I felt like I needed a break, I’ve paid for it later on. So I took a bit of a risk and I just missed. It was basically a case where one shot better at any tournament last year and I would have made it. It was like a 200th of a point, it was ridiculous how close it was.

Not getting the [invitation] letter in the first week of FEBuary – it’s the first time I haven’t had it in a while, so it’s a little disappointing but hopefully I can get it soon.

The Ogilvy File Date of birth: 11 June 1977 Place of birth: Adelaide, Australia Turned pro: 1998 Major wins: 1 – US Open (2006) Other victories: 11 – including three World Golf Championship titles Team appearances: 3-time member of the Presidents Cup International Team (2007, 2009 and 2011)

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EQUIPMENT

Where Are

They Now? Equipment editor Charlie Schroeder takes a look at some of the clubmakers that are no longer with us – and some who now exist in a completely different state.

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he golf industry hasn’t been immune to the recent economic downturn. Numerous courses and resorts have been shuttered or filed for bankruptcy and prize money on the professional tours has stagnated.

And, of course, fewer people are playing the game.

The worst days (we hope) are behind us.

With the exception of industry juggernaut TaylorMade, golf club manufacturers have struggled as well. Too many product cycles and technology limits imposed by the game’s governing bodies have certainly hurt companies’ bottom lines, but more than anything clubmakers, like everyone else, got caught in the financial tsunami—and some drowned.

Nickent Golf Known for their easy-to-hit hybrids (not to mention a distinctive green colour scheme), Nickent Golf enjoyed success in the mid 2000s, in particular on the Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour. But its fortunes changed when the Global Financial Crisis struck in 2008.

In a bid to expand its footprint, the California-based company entered the market with irons, wedges and a pricey adjustable driver (pictured right).

Consumer reception was lukewarm to the big stick’s new and complicated technology, which included interchangeable shafts. Then the market tanked and the Southern California company filed for bankruptcy.

It had been a remarkably volatile few years for the company, who, at its peak employed 60 people. Sales tripled between 2005 and 2007, Jim Furyk stuck one of their hybrids in his bag and their logo was all over the Golf Channel.

After filing for bankruptcy in November 2009, Nickent laid off its remaining 22 employees. In the spring of 2011, the American big box store, Dick’s Sporting Goods, bought what remained and now distributes the clubs which bear little resemblance to the former brand. For starters, expert club designer John Hoeflich, who designed many of the brand’s popular early models, now has no affiliation with Nickent 2.0.

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Orlimar Orlimar was founded in 1960 by Lou Ortiz and partners, Pedro Liendo and Emilio Martinez.

(The name comes from the first letters of the men’s last names). From its humble beginnings in a San Francisco horse stable, Ortiz built fine quality persimmon woods for notable Northern California standouts Johnny Miller and Ken Venturi.

Things chugged along for the company until the mid-1990’s when Ortiz’s son, Jesse, a master clubmaker himself, invented a shallow-faced fairway wood. Built from a stainless steel body, maraging steel face and copper tungsten weights, the TriMetal, which was launched in 1998, proved to be a game-improvement marvel that HKGOLFER.COM

Sonartec

helped higher handicappers get the ball in the air.

In two years Orlimar’s annual sales skyrocketed, from US$1 million to $105 million and its staff ballooned from just eight to 103. But as quickly as the company’s fortunes rose, they fell. To launch the TriMetal, Ortiz needed to raise cash. Two outside investors came on board and the family-owned business was divvied up into thirds. Father and son Ortiz literally lost control of Orlimar.

Misguided expansion plans followed, not to mention three patent infringement lawsuits from Callaway and TaylorMade and a number of bankrupt retail accounts that put pressure on the company’s books. The company slid and Ortiz left in 2003. Shortly thereafter, Michigan-based King Par Corporation swooped in and picked the company up for cheap. But Orlimar just isn’t the same Orlimar anymore. Consider what King Par’s Stephen Graham once said, “Orlimar is simply a brand name. There essentially is no Orlimar Golf Company.”

Ortiz (pictured above) landed at Bobby Jones Golf, where he remains to this day.

Sonartec’s fate was sealed the day cofounder Toru Kamatari met Canadian businessman Peter Pocklington. A crooked businessman who once owned the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers – he was loathed in that city for trading Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings, Pocklington ran little-known Golf Gear International. At the time Sonartec was cash-strapped and needed an injection of money. They’d miscalculated consumer demand, thinking people would want their fairway woods, not their hybrids (one of which gained notoriety when Todd Hamilton used it during his 2004 Open Championship victory).

In February, 2008, eight and a half months after Kamatari and Pocklington created a new entity called Sonartec International LLC, the Japanese entrepreneur and shareholders filed a lawsuit against him for breach of contract. Pocklington had failed to come up with the necessary cash he promised.

Later that year, Pocklington declared bankruptcy citing liabilities of US$19.7 million and assets of US$2,900, US$500 of which were his golf clubs. With the lawsuit stalled Kamatari mused, “I can’t believe there’s someone like him in this world.”

Kamatari now owns Colantotte International, the makers of TRION:Z, the negative ion jewellery worn by Ryu Ishikawa. Sonartec re-entered the US market at the 2011 PGA Merchandise Show as Royal Collection. As of press time, Peter Pocklington is serving a 90-day probation in California for failing to disclose assets from his personal bankruptcy.

Yes! Golf Things don’t always end so badly for club manufacturers. Consider Yes! Golf’s rollercoaster 2011-12 years. In January, 2011 the popular putter maker declared bankruptcy. Revenues had collapsed from US$10 million in 2007 to US$2.4 million in 2010. Shortly afterwards, Texas-based Adams Golf picked them up for a song – US$1.65 million inclusive of administrative fees. The move represented Adams’ first move into the putter market.

Things looked promising, until a little under a year later when Adams hired Morgan Stanley to “explore options.” They too were having trouble. In March 2012, TaylorMade picked up Adams (and Yes!) for US$70 million in cash. Today the three brands exist and so far have not been rolled into one.

The Big Box Graveyard It’s remarkable to wander through an American big box sporting goods store. Among the basketballs, running shoes and home gym equipment is a golf graveyard, where once prestigious brands eek out their humble second lives as discount merchandise.

Consider Pennsylvania-based Dick’s Sporting Goods. They not only own Nickent Golf [see main article], but also TopFlite, Walter Hagen and Maxfli. Those last three brands come courtesy of Callaway who unloaded them in the last five years.

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Then there’s Golfsmith. The “world’s largest superstore for… golf equipment” boasts over 70 outlets in the North America and owns both MacGregor and Lynx. Or Colorado-based Sports Authority who owns Tommy Armour and Ram. If you’re feeling nostalgic for clubs of old, visit one of these stores the next time you’re stateside. But remember the clubs you’re buying aren’t what they used to be. You’ll likely be able to tell from the discounted price and performance.

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GOLF ATRAVEL Player’s Guide

The fabulous Garden Course at Tanah Merah is consistently ranked alongside Sentosa's Serapong Course as Singapore's best course 62

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1-Up to the Lion City With three times as many courses as Hong Kong, Singaporeans are rather better served when it comes to choosing where to play. Duncan Forgan checks out the best of what the city-state has to offer.

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H Courtesy of Sentosa Golf Club

The Tampines Course at Tanah Merah (above) is no week sibling to the Garden; the splendidly located Serapong Course at Sentosa has hosted the Barclays Singapore Open in recent times 64

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ong Kong and Singapore are always compared, and the debate as to which of these former British colon ies – t he Ba r ren Rock or the Little Red Dot – holds the upper hand has been debated for decades. We compete for a great deal – tourist dollars, stockmarket listings, the right to host the regional headquarters of international corporations – so it’s easy to understand why this rivalry has come about.

Regardless of whatever topic is considered when sizing up the two cities – food, climate, nightlife, public transport, cost of living – there is, I’m afraid to admit, at least one thing that Singapore does better than us: golf.

Despite serious demands on space (like Hong Kong, you are never far from the g rou ndbrea k i ng of a not her rea l estate development in Singapore) there are 30 courses in the Lion City, which is three times as many as we have in Hong Kong. Layouts range from tracks such as the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club – well known to global television audiences as the host of the annual Singapore Open – to less vaunted, yet still worthy, courses such as Marina Bay and the Palm at Raffles Country Club.

Unsurprisingly there’s a good deal of variety to be found among all these beauties. While

some, like the Bukit course at Singapore Island and the Garden Course at Tanah Merah, offer supremely challenging golf in wonderfully bucolic tropical parkland surrounds, others are more open in style and offer a blend of undulating links-style mounding and American target golf.

If there’s a drawback to golf in Singapore it is its pricing (green fees of around S$200 – approximately HK$1,250 – are the norm for a midweek round and tariffs break the S$300-400 mark at weekends) and a slightly buttoned up atmosphere. Dress codes are strict – collars are de rigueur – while many clubs have restrictions on non-member play. Nevertheless it is well worth negotiating these obstacles to experience a golfing destination that lives up to the sobriquet of ‘small but perfectly formed’.

Where to Play

Tanah Merah Country Club Garden Course

The Garden at Tanah Merah is one of several in Singapore that is reserved for members and their guests. Yet the layout is so strong it’s worth utilizing networks or buying a few expensive libations for an influential local to secure a tee time.

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Generally ranked alongside the two layouts at Sentosa Golf Club as one of Singapore’s top-three courses, the Garden was initially laid out in 1984 to a design by Thomson, Wolveridge and Fream. A redesign by Max Wexler added extra sloping and improved drainage and irrigation while Phil Jacobs applied another freshening-up in 2004 under the guidance of then Captain Tan Puay Huat.

The result is an immaculately conditioned layout that winds its way around a number of lakes and through palms, bougainvilleas and tropical hardwoods.

While the course feels relatively open, accuracy from the tee is paramount. There are a number of exacting doglegs while crafty bunkering and water hazards also pile on the pressure. Pick of the holes include the short but tight par-4 16th and the closing 18th, a glorious two-shotter that makes a suitably grandstand finale to a course that has played host to big tournaments like the HSBC Women’s Champions.

Par: 72 Yardage: 7,350 Green fee: S$216-344.50 Architect: Thomson, Wolveridge, Fream

Fream (1984); Max Wexler (1994);

Phil Jacobs (2004) Contact: tmcc.org.sg HKGOLFER.COM

Sentosa Golf Club Serapong Course

A good few ding-dong battles have been fought out at Sentosa Golf Club, home of the Singapore Open since 2005. The tussles between the world’s top pros, however, are equaled by the ferocity of the arguments over which of the club’s two tremendous layouts stakes the most convincing claim for primacy.

It’s the tightest of scraps but by present reckoning, the Serapong course just edges its older rival, the Tanjong, on points.

Located on Sentosa Island – a tourist playground just off the main island – the courses here are as much of a draw as banner attractions such as Universal Studios and the long beaches on the south coast.

The Serapong Course is a testament to the ingenuity of its designer Ronald Fream. There was not much room to play with when Fream was tasked with crafting a second layout on Sentosa in the late 1970s, but the architect’s use of (as he puts it) “all the sand” from shipping channel dredging helped reclaim enough land for a significant part of the layout. In 2007, the course underwent an impressive S$12 million upgrade, which focused on re-contouring the playing surfaces and incorporating the much-lauded SubAir greens maintenance system.

The results are spectacular. The first nine snakes through the heavily wooded land that already existed while the second loop – the one routed on reclaimed land – is more open in character. Naturally, there are many memorable holes.

The signature 13th is a par-5 that sweeps around a lake while the 16th is another stunning long hole with an extremely narrow approach.

Par: 72 Yardage: 7,100 Greens fee: S$330-450 Architect: Ronald Fream (1982) Contact: sentosagolf.com HK Golfer・FEB 2013

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Singapore Island Country Club

Courtesy of Singapore Island Country Club; courtesy of Raffles Country Course; AFP

Bukit Course

The charming Bukit Course at Singapore Island Country Club (above); the Palm Course at Raffles Country Course; Matteo Manassero claimed last year's Barclays Singapore Open; the Marina Bay Golf Course, a public facility 66

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Singapore’s thirst for the new means that throwbacks are somewhat thin on the ground.

The Bukit Course, however, is a charming echo of the days when plummy-voiced British colonial types wielded influence and gin and tonics and man-eating Malayan tigers roamed the still extant jungle.

Befitting of its old time feel, the Bukit retains a bucolic and rarefied atmosphere that is not available at some of the island’s more modern layouts. Laid out beside the sprawling MacRitchie Reservoir it boasts more than 3,000 fully-grown trees of at least ten varieties and its beauty has been lauded by figures such as Nick Faldo.

That’s not to say that its beauty makes it some kind of a pussycat however. The course, which was ready for play as early as 1924, had already hosted several Singapore Opens by the time designer Frank Pennink gave it extra teeth in the late 1960s and it continues to host professional tournaments to this day.

Pennink’s upgrade has stood the test of time admirably. The back nine here is particularly strong. The 12th is a treacherous long par-3 with out of bounds all down the left exacerbating the issue of a tiny bunker-guarded green. Another highlight is the rollercoaster 16th where an undulating fairway doles out good and bad fortune in equal measures.

Par: 72 Green fee: Architect:

Yardage: 6,645 S$150-270 Unkown (1924), Frank Pennink (1968)

Contact: sicc.org.sg

Raffles Country Club Palm Course

Golfers of a nervous disposition should exert caution before deciding whether to take on the Palm Course. The other (also highly recommended) layout at Raffles Country Club may be known as the Lake course but the Palm has a good few torpedoes in its aquatic armory too.

Originally laid out by Robert Trent Jones II and remodelled by design company Nelson and Haworth in 2001, the course isn’t the longest, measuring just 6640 yards from the blue tees. If your game, however, is modelled on Ballesterosstyle powers of recovery rather than Donald-like precision you’ll likely find the course as much of a monster as any of Asia’s more lengthy behemoths.

Water doesn’t just come into the equation at a good percentage of the holes – its lurking presence can be felt at almost all of them.

Sometimes, it’s there just as a reminder of greater challenges yet to come, at other times it’s a fully-fledged barrier designed to strike fear HKGOLFER.COM

into all but the doughtiest of players.

Testers include the 14th, a par-4 that doglegs round a lake to a green sandwiched between the water and a marsh, the 12th, a short but treacherous par-3 over more aqua and the 18th, a testing closer that involves a marsh, a reservoir and, you guessed it, another lake.

Par: 72 Yardage: 6,640 Green fee: S$150-203 Architect: Robert Trent Jones II (1988),

Nelson & Haworth (2001) Contact: rcc.org.sg

Marina Bay Golf Course

Unique in that it is the only public golf course in a country where stuffed-shirt exclusivity tends to rule the roost, Marina Bay does a good job of upholding a more egalitarian ethic.

Not only does it afford visiting golfers the rare opportunity to turn up for a round completely absent of red-tape it offers enticing extras such as night golfing (Wednesday to Friday) and a four-tier driving range with 146 bays.

So what’s the catch? Well, none really. The course, which bills itself as links-style due to its undulating, dune-like, topography and heavy pot bunkering, is not as easy on the eye as some in Singapore but it is certainly not an unmemorable test.

Course highlights include the par-3, 13th which apes the rather more famous 17th at TPC Sawgrass with its island green and the fourth, a hefty par-5 with a fairway littered with potbunkers and a green guarded with water.

A real bonus of the golfing experience here is the course’s proximity to Singapore’s CBD and views of the skyline are spectacular both day and night.

Par: 72 Yardage: 7,154 Green fee: S$130-225 Architect: Phil Jacobs (2006) Contact: mbgc.com.sg

TRIP PLANNER GETTING THERE Numerous carriers, including Cathay Pacific (cathaypacific.com) and Singapore Airlines (singaporeair.com), operate frequent nonstop flights between Hong Kong and Singapore (journey time: three hours, 45 minutes).

WHEN TO GO As viewers of the Singapore Open will be well aware, it rains heavily in the city – the past few editions of the tournament, won in 2012 by Italian Matteo Manassero, have been affected by daily downpours and have been extended or curtailed as a result. Being close to the equator, the city is hot and humid year-round, although the driest months are February and March and May through July. Locals tend to play early, which places a premium on morning tee times.

NEED TO KNOW At the time of press, S$1 equates to HK$6.3. Hong Kong SAR passport holders are entitled to visa-free access for 30 days. Few courses have caddies, although Singapore Island Country Club is one notable exception. Proof of playing ability – a valid handicap – is a requisite at many clubs.

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TRAVEL | NEWS

The World's Most Beautiful Practice Range The Seychelles isn't really a golf destination – the islands are home to just one ninehole course – but the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles (fourseasons.com/seychelles) has launched a Sunset Golf experience that turns the surrounding Indian Ocean into a driving range.

With a 6pm tee-off time, the one-hour session takes place on stunning Petite Anse beach as the sun sets. During that time, resort guests – whether they're keen players hankering for a spot of practice, or indeed anyone who fancies smacking shots into the aquamarine depths – are invited to tee it up. In order to fully adhere to environmental concerns, the resort uses Ecobioballs, whose outer shell biodegrade after 48 hours, releasing fish food into the water.

Each session costs approximately €40 and includes 20 Ecobioballs, a cocktail, use of clubs and driving mats.

Danang Update: Direct Flight and Stay/Play Offer It is with no small amount of delight that we report that Dragonair (dragonair.com) will commence direct flights between Hong Kong and Danang in late March, thereby ending the bothersome requirement to transit in The number either Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi.

As most regular readers will know, Vietnam's of weekly third city has, over the past two years or so, flights established itself as something of a Mecca that Dragonair for travelling golfers thanks to the quality and diversity of its courses – the Greg Normanwill operate to designed Dunes Course at Danang Golf Club, Danang, a new Montgomerie Links and, newest of all, Laguna route that the Lang Co, which is the work of Nick Faldo Design.

So enamoured are we at HK Golfer by these Hong Kongcourses that we named Central Vietnam Coast as based carrier our Destination of the Year in 2012. will commence Dragonair will serve Danang three times a week, with flights on Tuesdays, Thursdas and in late March.

Sundays. Flights will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft with a travel time of approximately two hours. Fares have yet to be revealed.

Courtesy of Mission Hills Group

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Continuing with the Danang theme and Danang Golf Club (dananggolfclub.com), in harness with its adjacent sister property Ocean Villas (theoceanvillas.com.vn), is offering visiting golfers an all-inclusive package to play the acclaimed course and stay in a luxury two or threebedroom pool villa for the equivalent of less than US$200 per night per person.

The initiative offers a modern double-story two-bedroom pool villa for US$390 and a threebedroom pool villa for US$503, which includes weekday golf for two and three people respectively, breakfast, F&B and spa discounts as well as buggy transfers to and from the course. Weekend golf rates are an extra US$30 per person.

Year-Round Hainan Deal Mission Hills Haikou (missionhillschina.com), the world's largest spa resort which is also home to 10 courses in Hainan, is offering a year-round short-stay package of US$622 per person. Based on twin share, the offer includes three rounds of golf with caddie, cart and insurance, two nights' deluxe accommodation, breakfast, transfers and a Volcanic Mineral Springs experience. A surcharge is required to play the highly rated Lava Fields and Blackstone courses, the latter of which hosted the 2011 World Cup.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

Chronograph Racer. With its ability to record the form of the very sporty Royal Oak Offshore. periods of time up to 12 hours, time pit stops The Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication and calculate average speeds (over a reference features a minute repeater, split-second distance of 1,000 metres), this watch is a great chronograph and perpetual calendar, with stylish companion for the racetrack. I was quite taken counters on the sapphire dial. The watch comes with this collection, and I think IWC are going to in titanium, featuring a black ceramic bezel, or in be one of those brands with an extensive waiting list this year. pink gold.

Montblanc’s latest chronograph from its Continuing on its ultra-thin path, Piaget releases the Emperador Coussin Ultra-Thin TimeWalker collection features a time- zone Minute Repeater, the slimmest minute repeater function and a unique configuration where on record at 9.4mm and 4.8mm for the calibre. instead of the usual placements for the chronograph’s subdials, the This is the watchmaker’s first minute minutes and seconds are repeater, and fourth major in-house at the centre, overlapping complication. The Emperador Piaget's with a 24-hour scale for the Coussin rose gold case and a Emperador second time zone. This dial sapphire glass dial and caseback that design, which was popular Coussin show the movement and rotor make about 40 years ago, isn’t this timepiece a good combination of Ultra-Thin common now, but upon contrasts; a traditional complication Minute Repeater seeing the watch, you in a modern-looking watch. The notice that it does provide is the slimmest Manufacture Piaget 1290P automatic increased legibility, plus it movement offers a power reserve of on record at looks really smart on the 40 hours.

9.44mm wrist. The TimeWalker TwinFly Chronograph is CRAZY FOR equipped with the MB LL CHRONOGRAPHS This is a year for chronographs. Most of the brands 100 automatic movement with 72-hour power had one to present, and I’m quite certain you will reserve with flyback chrono function and comes in a 43mm stainless steel case. find a model that will suit your style and budget.

Officine Panerai has been the sponsor of the IWC announced its par tnership with Formula 1 Mercedes AMG Petronas team, a Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge, an international collaboration that has resulted in a new line of circuit for vintage and classic yachts, since 2005.

Ingenieur models, starting with the Ingenieur It has always produced a special edition for each 70

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race, but this year the watch has a function that is made specifically for the event, a Regatta countdown. An orange push-piece at 4 o’clock moves the orange chronograph minute hand back one minute at a time, until it is at the correct position to measure the length of the countdown – the standard is five minutes, as marked in orange on the flange, but you can set it as far back as 15 minutes. The chronograph stop/start button is at 10 o’clock, and the push-piece at 8 o’clock activates the flyback function. The Panerai Luminor 1950 Regatta is fitted with the P.9001/R calibre with a 3-day power reserve. It comes in a 47mm titanium case.

SMART MATERIALS

Now we come to watches that make use of special alloys and materials. IWC releases, for the first time, a carbon fibre watch, the Ingeniuer Automatic Carbon Performance, featuring a case made of epoxy-resin soaked carbon fibre matting, the same material used in the safety shell of a Formula One car. The dial too is covered with carbon fibre webbing, providing an extremely durable and scratch-resistant watch that looks great. The timepiece is fitted with the automatic 80110 calibre, with an integrated shockabsorption system, that can be viewed through the transparent caseback. A nice touch is the rotor design, which is inspired by the pistons in the engine of F1 cars.

A very popular piece inspired from JaegerLeCoultre’s archives, the Deep Sea Chronograph now comes in a special alloy called Cermet, a material used in race car engines and aeronautics, which is made of an aluminium matrix – hence its

light weight – reinforced by a ceramic coating of about 40 microns thick, for scratch resistance and durability. The material is also resistant to extreme pressure and temperatures, making it very useful in diving. The 44mm case of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet weighs 66 per cent less than one in titanium, making this a large yet extremely wearable watch.

One of the watches I’ll always remember from the show is Richard Mille’s RM59-01, which comes in very bright yellow and green. The second special edition for Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake, the watch features a manual winding tourbillon movement with hours and minutes, with a skeletonised titanium baseplate and anticorroding aluminium bridges for extremely low weight. But the movement is not the only thing that makes it stand out. The case is made from a translucent composite compose of injected carbon nanotubes that offer the perfect form of shock protection for the movement and the tourbillon. The carbon nanotubes are supposedly 200 times more durable than steel and very light.

These are more resistant to impacts than carbon fibre, too. The nanotubes are injected into a mould containing a yellow-green polymer to give the case its unique colour. If you’ve seen Blake in action, you’ll notice that he runs with his hands spread, fingers wide, resembling bridge detail on the dial of the watch.

And so starts another virtuous cycle of discoveries and acquisitions. Happy hunting, and may you find yet another perfect addition to your growing collection. Until BaselWorld!

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Clockwise from top: the Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet from JaegerLeCoultre; Richard Mille's memorable RM59-01; the Emperador Coussin UltraThin Minute Repeater from Piaget; IWC's Ingenieur Chronograph Racer; the Luminor 1950 Regatta from Panerai HK Golfer・FEB 2013

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CLUBHOUSE | TEE TIME SPECIAL

The Gouverneur Takes the Stage Balanced shapes meet Haute Horlogerie in a fascinating new expression from Piaget.

T

he new Gouverneur line is a concentrated blend of the skills and history of Piaget. Introduced within the Black Tie collection, it reveals an exceptional horological mechanism enhanced by powerful formal expression. It presents three mechanical variations through automatic, chronograph and tourbillon models, each available in diamond-set pink or white gold versions.

T h e G o u ver n eur w atch features a cleverly structured The Gouverneur aesthetic with round and oval line comes shapes cleverly arranged to achieve a unique sense of visual in a range of equilibrium. three models An oval shape nestled in a – an automatic round one and then a round shape nestled in the oval: calendar, a from the watch exterior chronograph and moving to the dial centre, the Gouverneur a tourbillon watch displays this sophisticated, gentle and harmonious formal stylistic approach. A round case with an oval dial opening, and then a round circle in the centre of the dial: these superimposed shapes endow the Gouverneur with a unique character and immerse it within a formal architectural composition offering a wealth of subtle details and symbols.

The Gouverneur line comes in a range of three models housing mechanical Manufacture Piaget movements, including two new ultra-thin calibres 72

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that are an integral part of the brand DNA. The Gouverneur Automatic Calendar watch beats to the rhythm of Manufacture Piaget Calibre 800P; the Gouverneur Chronograph is equipped with the new 882P movement; while the Gouverneur Tourbillon model houses the new 642P movement.

Gouverneur Automatic Calendar

Fitted with a large-size balance with screws as well as a balance-stop mechanism, the Gouverneur Automatic Calendar features two barrels ensuring a comfortable 85-hour power reserve. This movement reputed for its robustness powers the central hour, minute and seconds hands, as well as the date display at 6 o’clock.

The calibre bears Piaget’s signature finishes in harmony with the brand design codes: circular Côtes de Genève, a circular-grained mainplate, bevelled bridges, blued screws and an oscillating weight stamped with the Piaget crest.

Gouverneur Chronograph

The Gouverneur Chronograph houses the new Calibre 882P, an ultra-thin mechanical self-winding movement. This classic model is distinguished by its two-counter design reminiscent of vintage chronographs.

In addition to the flyback chronograph functions – featuring a sweep seconds hand and a minute counter at 3 o’clock – the movement also drives the hour and minute hands, a 24HKGOLFER.COM

hour dual time-zone display in a subdial at 9 o’clock, and a date indication at 6 o’clock.

This ultra-thin (5.6mm) mechanical self-winding movement is equipped with a large balance with screws as well as a balancestop device. It beats at a frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations per hour) and is equipped with two barrels ensuring around 50 hours of power reserve in activated chronograph mode. The 882P movement developed in keeping with classic Haute Horlogerie codes features a vertical coupling clutch and a column wheel.

Fitted into the back of this Gouverneur Chronograph, a transparent sapphire crystal pane reveals the movement with its traditional Piaget finishes: circular Côtes de Genève, circular-grained mainplate, bevelled bridges, blued screws, and the oscillating weight stamped with the Piaget crest.

Gouverneur Tourbillon

The Gouverneur Tourbillon model houses the new Calibre 642P, an extremely slender (4mm) and exceptional mechanical movement distinguished by its ultra-thin (2.8 mm) and ultralight (0.2 grams) flying tourbillon bearing the stylised “P” for Piaget – a particularly delicate horological feat given the naturally asymmetrical shape of this letter. In addition to the flying tourbillon visible at 12 o’clock on the openworked dial, Calibre 642P also features an astronomical pointer-type moon-phase display at 6 o’clock requiring a one-day correction only once every 122 years. Offering additional evidence of the determination to place technique in the service of design displayed by the Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Piaget, this moon-phase subdial further reinforces the presence of the circle on the dial.

Endowed with an approximately 40-hour power reserve, the Piaget 642P flying tourbillon calibre is distinguished by Piaget’s characteristic entirely hand-crafted Haute Horlogerie finishes: circular-grained mainplate, circular-grained, bevelled and handdrawn bridges, bevelled and hand-drawn tourbillon carriage, as well as blued screws.

Piaget Sculpts Gold

Available in diamond-set pink or white gold versions, the 43 mm-diameter cases of the Gouverneur line are all crafted in-house – as indeed are all Piaget creations. The impeccable alternation of satin-brushed and polished surfaces accentuates the subtle alchemy of the shapes, resulting in a highly complex case construction. Representing the signature of truly exceptional models, several nestled elements offer a delightful variety of finishes: the case and its sides are satin-brushed, while the applied bezel and the back are polished, as are the chronograph pushers which are oval shaped to reflect the spirit of the watch, along with the polished angles of the case.

The three white gold Gouverneur models feature a diamondset bezel. Performed in the Piaget workshops, this discreet tworow gemsetting is designed to accentuate the soft slender shape of the bezel revealing the double round and oval shape of the Gouverneur line.

From top: the Gouverneur Chronograph in pink gold; the diamond-set Gouverneur Automatic Calendar in white gold; the Gouverneur Tourbillon in pink gold HKGOLFER.COM

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| FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

Bruce Chan

The founder of Golf 007, a leading Hong Kong-based golf travel agency, talks us through a memorable two rounds at Xili, his fondness for John Daly and what he’d like to see happen to slow players.

When did you start playing?

I started playing seriously – sometimes four or five times a week – in 1996 after a friend took me to the now closed driving range in Pokfulam. He had lain down a challenge for me: hit the ball over 100 yards. I’ve been hooked ever since.

How often do you play?

I play a lot less now because of work, but I do try and get in five or six rounds per month.

What’s been your best ever round?

I have had two rounds of 76 at my home course, Xili Golf & Country Club in Shenzhen. Both rounds occurred within a couple of weeks of each other, but I haven’t got anywhere near that score since!

Do you have a favourite course?

Can I name a few? There are just too many beautiful courses all over the world, so it’s very hard to determine a favourite. The Mountain Course at Spring City Resort in Kunming is fantastic in every way, as is Black Mountain in Hua Hin, Thailand. But I have never seen a prettier course than Old Head Golf Links in Kinsale, Ireland (pictured above). The views there are just breathtaking. The North Course at The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau is my favourite in Hong Kong, and it would be even better if its condition were more consistent.

Who is your favourite player?

I have two – John Daly (pictured right) and Ian Poulter. I like their intensity and both are great fun to watch. Poulter was magnificent at last year’s Ryder Cup, just amazing.

What, if anything, drives you mad when playing?

Slow play. It’s a crime, really, and in an ideal world, the offenders should have to pay higher green fees! Some people moan about unraked bunkers but I’m fine with them – bunkers are hazards and you shouldn’t find yourself there in the first place.

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Who would be in your dream fourball?

Ideally, it would be Jiyai Shin, Christina Kim and John Daly – they’re all about my size around the mid-section but still manage to play excellent golf. But seriously, anyone who has a good sense of humour and is willing to have a good laugh at their own game would do.

What’s in your bag?

I have two entirely different sets of clubs – one for my club and one for when I travel. The set I use most comprises a TaylorMade R11 driver, XXIO fairway woods, TaylorMade Burner irons, Cleveland 588 wedges and a TaylorMade Ghost putter. I like TaylorMade Penta and Bridgestone B330 golf balls and house all of my equipment in a Porterline 905 golf bag. – As told to Alex Jenkins HKGOLFER.COM

Masters

The - Golf Tournament 2013 -

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