Lahiri sizzles to win PGTI year-ending by four shots

KOLKATA: Bangalore-based Anirban Lahiri registered an impressive four-shot victory over his good friend and 'host' Rahul Gangjee to take top honours at the Rs 1.35 crore McLeod Russel Tour Championship at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club here today.

Bengal lad Lahiri came up with a three-under-69 in the final round of the PGTI's year-ending championship to end the week with a total of 17-under 271 to clinch his maiden professional title at the RCGC and 13th overall.

Gangjee, who is playing host to Lahiri at his Alipore residence during the tournament, finished runner-up at 13-under-275.

Overnight leader by three strokes, the three-time Asian Tour winnerhad an early hiccup in the final round as he double-bogeyed the second after his second shot ricocheted off a water sprinkler.

The 26-year-old then got into his stride with birdies on the fourth, fifth, ninth, 12th, 16th and 17th to wrap up his fourth title in the year that includes one on the Asian Tour.

In fact, the birdie on the ninth hole, where Gangjee bogeyed was the turning point of the game as Lahiri increased the lead.

Lahiri's putter was on fire as he sank birdie putts from 15 to 20 feet on the fifth, ninth, 16th and 17th. He also landed his approach within two feet for a tap-in birdie on the 12th.

Lahiri's only error on the back-nine was the bogey on the closing 18th as he missed on to finish with a five stroke win.

Gangjee (70-68-68-69) had an eventful front-nine where he made five birdies and three bogeys.

He had a relatively quieter back-nine with two birdies and a bogey.

Gangjee was a threat to Lahiri in the initial stages of the round as he made some long putts on the first, second and fifth.

However, bogeys on the eighth, ninth and 12th pulled him back and he ended up with a three-under-69 for the day.

Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad and Delhi's Chiragh Kumar finished tied third at 10-under-278 while Jyoti Randhawa was a further shot behind in fifth place.

Gaganjeet Bhullar and Chikkarangappa of Bangalore were in tied eighth at six-under-282.

Defending champion SSP Chowrasia finished in 17th place with a total score of two-under-286.

My Year in Golf: Bradley S. Klein

Traveling around as much as I do – 150 days a year on the road – and seeing so many golf courses, I’m constantly exposed to a wide range of how the game is actually played. Too much conversation about the game focuses on the elite level of tournament play – most of that derived from the PGA Tour and from the four major championships.

Majors

Sure, those events are exciting and memorable. Nothing in recent history came close to the drama of Phil Mickelson’s win at the Open Championship at Muirfield. Great theatre there, which I watched from the comfort of a sofa at home, seemingly glued to the action for 5-6 hours. All the more powerful when you know how hard that course is. Back in April, during a press day there, my 12-index game had all it could handle and more from tees that, at 6,300 yards, were about 800 yards shorter than the ones they played in July.

Every year I’m reminded of the gap between those players and the rest of us. It’s something I relive four times a year when walking those courses prepping for my tournament previews or about to write something the week of an event from the site. Each year, my favorite day is Tuesday of practice week at The Masters. That’s when I get to give a guided tour of Augusta National to a group of Golfweek course raters, most of who are gawking at the place for the first time. This year, as usual, we just tried to get through the back nine, and you’d be surprised how easy it is to take up three hours over nine holes, strolling along those massive landforms, explaining the features, recalling famous shots or simply standing there in awe of the elevation changes and the vast sweep of the contours.

suppose it’s fair criticism to say that I generally find the golf courses more interesting to watch than the golf that’s played on them. OK, guilty as charged. Of course it helped that all the time I spent in the run-up to the 2013 U.S. Open it never rained during my early visits to the club like it did the week of the championship. But I will always cherish the hours of conversation I had with the club’s mad scientist of a superintendent, Matt Shaffer, as we walked around the grounds or as I sat and listened to him in his office or when he addressed his assembled team, like a football coach on the eve of a big-game kickoff. He’s the kind of guy who thinks “you have to lose turfgrass in order to find out how far you can push it.” And instead of worrying about having different patches of turf types believes such diversity to be a healthy virtue.

For all the fine golf that winner Justin Rose played that week, it has to be said it was done on a golf courses that was deliberately set up by club with some of the fairways running the wrong way – on lower ground than they were intended, or too close to out-of-bounds. But Shaffer’s not the culprit there. And he held up so well and with tireless dignity throughout the torrential downpours all week. The highlight of my whole year was sitting in his office for hours those wet mornings while friends and colleagues came by to offer their condolences at the miserable conditions. Shaffer never lost his optimism or sense of humor.

Having always been intrigued by the design work of William Langford and Theodore J. Moreau, I finally got to see two of their outstanding layouts this year, Lawsonia–Links Course in Green Lake, Wi. and Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Ia. No other designers from the 1920s have been treated with more neglect than these two Midwesterners. Very little remains in the country of their bold bunkering and exaggerated scale of things. Think of them as doing a curved version of Seth Raynor’s vertical extremes. Lawsonia–Links is the purest version of their work while Wakonda still conveys it, even if at times it’s obscured. But it’s all there in the ground; a bracing reminder of how imaginative golf design can light up the land.

Unlike a lot of journalists, I am less concerned with what today’s players say and do and more interested in what I can learn from history and the land. So on a somewhat eerie and lengthy golf trip along the Tex-Mex border that took me from El Paso through Lajitas and on down to Laredo this April, I managed to ride over the exact spot on a lone highway between the towns of Van Horn and Marfa where Ben and Valerie Hogan suffered their horrible car crash in Feb. 1949. I’m not much for “aura” and “spirit.” But it was hard not to stop there and wonder about and relive for a moment a sad piece of golf history.

Any year of golf involves the sublime and the ridiculous. And nothing compares to my experience in the company of the one-and-only Donald Trump during his whirlwind visit to the Doral Resort and Spa in mid-February. I’ve seen Trump before close hand and always marvel at his ability to work a crowd – in this case a mob of adoring members and guests who were thrilled that he’s saving their long-ngelected resort. It helps that he has money to invest and the good sense to hire highly qualified people to do it – including architect Gil Hanse for a total reconstruction of the Blue Monster.

The plans were ambitious, but also quite doable, so long as you have enough money and nerve. Trump has plenty of both. And he also has the “chutzpah” to declare it along the way as certain to result in “the best, the greatest, No. 1 resort course in America.” I learned long ago from watching George Costanza in “Seinfeld” that technically, it’s not lying if you believe it. Trump believes every word he says.

One of the thrills of any year is final getting to courses I have never seen. Among the ones I saw for the first time that struck me was Sankaty Head on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. It’s old-fashioned, from 1922, windswept, and stunning in its simplicity. Think of it as a stripped-down version of Shinnecock Hills.

I had been to Prairie Club in remote Valentine, Neb. before, but this time it was in late October, a day or too after the resort had technically shut down, and so the flags were pulled and there was hardly anyone around to join me on a brisk day, with temperatures in the 40s and the wind blowing steadily at 20 miles per hour. And so I simply manufactured a game for The Pines Course of picking out in advance where I thought the hole would be cut and playing to that part of the green and putting to old cup circles. I felt like a kid again. Borrowed clubs, carried my own, eyeballed most of my yardages, and played as well as I had all year. If only the game could be that much fun every day.

Also spent a week in China, bad air and all – though at least I didn’t have to wear a mask to play, as the LPGA players did when they were in Beijing in November. Saw a lot of mediocre, overpriced courses, but also some dramatic locations. And nothing prepared me for the sweep and beauty of Shanqin Bay, the newly opened course designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw on Hainan Island. Who knew that an old, abandoned coastal military base could make for such amazing golf ground? Let’s hope that every other course developer in the country makes the trek there to see what naturalistic design can look like.

Back to Earth

Down at the club level, with everyday courses that cost $30 to play and where people have to deal with skanky course conditions and they’re thrilled to be out playing at all and happy if they break 90, the game has a depth and breadth to it that makes it unique among all sports. It’s also struggling badly, with lots of course owners losing money, clubs having to borrow or slash budgets and members scrambling to pay their bills. I have a mantra about golf, that it’s a great game but a lousy business. As far as I can tell, 2013 proved it right (again).

This was the year that real golfers – I mean the ones who pay the daily green fees and their monthly dues – started moving up en masse. Maybe I just was more sensitive to it in 2013 since next year I turn 60 and I don’t hit it quite as far as I used to. And as my wife likes to say, we can’t think of any of our friends who are getting younger. But everywhere I went (outside of Tour events) it seemed folks were moving up and enjoying the game from 6,200 or 6,300 yards. And clubs were installing tees that measured 4,800 yards for forward tee players and 5,600 yards for the gray haired players.

On a Personal Note

I make it a practice not to write about my own game. After all, there’s nothing worse than being subjected to accounts of how others play, and that’s the last thing I want to afflict on Golfweekreaders. I’ll limit my comments to the fact that for the first time in my 45 years of trying to play golf, I have devoted myself to a systematic assessment and re-evaluation of my golf game. That’s meant a series of (paid) lessons with a certified PGA professional who has me on a swing monitors, hooked up in the Z-Vest and engaged in physical (re)training and a totally different approach to my stance, grip, take away and finish. We’ll see if it works. But so far it’s been exciting, challenging and scary. Also productive. Sometimes.

2014 Preview: Web.com Tour roundtable

What can we expect on the Web.com Tour in 2014? Our Adam Schupak and Brentley Romine take a look at the upcoming season and offer their thoughts on who will win the money title, which newcomers will have big impacts and more.

1. Of the players who lost their PGA Tour cards last season, which one has the best chance of having a strong bounce-back 2014 season on the Web.com Tour?

• Schupak: Ben Kohles lost his card as a Tour rookie, but showed early in the season that he can compete at the highest level. Shawn Stefani twice held the lead on the weekend of Tour events before fading on Sunday. With a little more seasoning, I think both will perform better next time.
• Romine: I agree with Adam. I'm picking Stefani to win the money title, but Ben Kohles also has a good shot to regain his PGA Tour status. He has two top 15s before April in 2013, but then struggled mightily after that. Also, Henrik Norlander made seven straight cuts in the middle of 2013, but he couldn't record enough high finishes, placing better than T-41 just three times in 22 starts. Expect better from the former Augusta State player this year on the Web.com Tour.

2. Of the top-10 finishers at Web.com Tour Q-School, who do you most plan to keep an eye on in 2014?

• Schupak: Tony Finau, who finished T-3, can hit the ball a country mile. Six years after he turned pro at age 17, Finau finally has earned Web.com Tour status. Whether the former Big Break contestant succeeds or not in making it to the Tour this year, he's going to be fun to watch.
• Romine: I'll go with medalist Zack Fischer. The Texas-Arlington product qualified for the U.S. Open last season, and he showed ability to bounce back after an opening-round 75 at Q-School to finish with rounds of 65-64-64. That's pretty impressive and it will be interesting to see how he performs this season.

3. Which 2013 U.S. Walker Cupper will have the better season, Justin Thomas or Max Homa?

• Schupak: I think both will earn their stripes in the "25." I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas takes advantage of PGA Tour sponsor invites and pulls a Jordan Spieth -- minus representing the U.S. in the Ryder Cup team. Thomas has had great success on the Tour as an amateur and I only expect that to continue. He's destined to be a short-timer on the Web.com Tour.
• Romine: I expect both to earn their PGA Tour cards after this season, but I'll go with Homa. He's already posted one top 10 on the PGA Tour in 2014, and a top-10 finish at Web.com Tour Q-School further proves he's capable of a strong season.

4. What other Web.com Tour newbies (graduates of Q-School, PGA Tour Latinoamerica, etc.) do you see having successful years in 2014?

• Schupak: Here are five up-and-coming players I'll be keeping my eye on: Canadian Albin Choi, Argentina's Jose Fernandez-Valdes, Korea's Si Woo Kim, and Americans Ryan Blaum and Harold Varner III.
• Romine: Harold Varner III is having quite the year on the U.S. mini-tours, and also watch out for former Florida State standout Daniel Berger. He can make birdies in bunches, evidenced by his third-round 63 at Q-School. Oh, and then there's Blayne Barber. The former Auburn standout finally has status after getting disqualified from Q-School a year ago, and you have to think he's ready to make the most of it.

5. Who will win the 2014 money title?

• Schupak: Andres Gonzalez, who lost out on a Tour card at the Web.com Tour Championship when Lee Williams holed a bomb on the final green, has a lot of incentive to get back to the PGA Tour. That would be a great story if he could follow his high school buddy Michael Putnam to the top of money list.
• Romine: Shawn Stefani shined at times last season on the PGA Tour, including holding the lead on the weekend twice in 2013. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep his card, which gives him that extra motivation to cash some paychecks this year on the Web.com Tour.

Number Crunching 2013: Russell Knox

Over the final two weeks of 2013, we will be breaking down players that rose and fell over the past 12 months. Check out the entire series here.

Russell Knox

Ranking/movement: +165 (No. 221 to No. 56)

Why the rise?: Knox split fairways while splitting time in 2013 between the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour, making eight of 11 cuts and finishing No. 166 in the FedEx Cup point standings, and 12 of 15 cuts on the Web.com Tour.

On the big tour, the 28-year-old from Inverness, Scotland, averaged 285 yards and led the league by hitting the fairway 73.68 percent of the time. He also ranked eighth in greens in regulation at 68.95 percent.

Fairways and greens always have been Knox’s bread and butter. He attributes the biggest improvement in his game to his mental approach. As a disciple of instructors Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson, Knox has been schooled in the Vision 54 philosophy of striving for a birdie on every hole. He came close, shooting the fifth 59 in Web.com Tour history, and missing a chance to break the tour record when he parred the final two holes in the second round of the Albertsons Boise Open.

“I think Vision 54 really helped when I shot 59,” he said. “It’s not easy to shoot 59 but when 54 is your goal it’s a little easier.”

Knox showed steady improvement all year, qualifying for the U.S. Open and tying for 45th in his first major. He saved his best for last, tying for seventh or better in three of his final six starts on the Web.com Tour. The former Jacksonville University standout secured his card with a tie for sixth in the Web.com Tour Championship in front of friends and family at Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass.

Knox is confident that his game is ready to take the next leap forward in his second tour of duty with full Tour status. He opened the 2013-2014 season by making his first four cuts.

“My first year I was kind of hoping to play well,” he said. “Now I come here and I don’t care about anyone else who is playing in the field and I’m focused on what I need to do to play well.”

Knox says: “I feel like I’ve started to earn respect from other players. That’s the biggest thing to be able to walk out on that practice green and feel in your gut like you belong.”

McGinley supports ClubGolf’s £20 Junior Membership Offer

European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley is backing ClubGolf’s bid to get more children across Grampian into golf by giving his support to the national junior programme’s £20 Junior Membership Offer.

Funded by the Scottish Government, the scheme – which returns for a second year - offers youngsters involved in ClubGolf coaching a terrific money-saving voucher. This can be redeemed at ClubGolf clubs against the cost of the child’s first membership to help boost junior numbers around the country.

McGinley, who played alongside a group of former ClubGolfers during the recent Ryder Cup ‘Year to Go’ celebrations at Gleneagles, is calling on young golfers to take advantage of this fantastic saving so they, like him, can benefit from the sport.

“Becoming a member of a golf club offers children so many things; not least the chance to play this great game and have fun out on the golf course, but also the opportunity to learn the etiquette and manners, which sets our sport apart from so many others,” said the Irishman.

“The £20 Junior Membership Offer, therefore, is a terrific incentive to make that all-important first membership even more affordable for families and it would be great to see as many youngsters as possible take advantage of it.”

In 2013, more than half of all first-time junior members joined a club after taking part in ClubGolf coaching, representing an important milestone for the programme.

Over 4500 children enjoyed coaching at Scottish clubs immediately following their introduction to ClubGolf in primary schools last year. ClubGolf Manager Jackie Davidson hopes assisting parents with a £20 saving, which could reduce junior fees by more than half, allows a great number of these young novices to join a club.

“I’m delighted that we have been able to bring such an incredible offer to children taking part in ClubGolf coaching in schools and clubs, and owe a great deal of thanks to the Scottish Government for their ongoing funding support,” she said.

“As well as introducing as many young people as possible to golf ahead of the Ryder Cup in 2014, it’s our mission to increase the number of junior club members in Scotland for the foreseeable future.

“Hopefully, over the coming months, we’ll see that our £20 discount has made a real impact for kids and clubs, and, ultimately, created more lifelong members, who will be so important to Scottish golf clubs in the years and decades to come.”

First Minister Alex Salmond, one of the strongest supporters of ClubGolf, is delighted the Scottish Government has been able to extend its backing of the £20 Junior Membership Offer, through its additional funding of the annual ClubGolf Festival.

The First Minister said: “Scotland is the home of golf – we want to ensure this sport has a bright future, which means generating and sustaining an interest in golf from an early age.

“Clubs help keep this great game alive and we therefore have a duty to offer access to as many youngsters as we possibly can. I am delighted to support this superb offer for children who are involved in ClubGolf, giving them the chance to take up a discount on their first junior golf club membership.

“Hopefully, with the help of the fantastic team at ClubGolf and offers such as these, more young people than ever before will decide to become club members for the first time in 2014”

Parents can download a voucher for their child by completing the application form on the ClubGolf website www.clubgolfscotland.com/20offer.

When taking out their child’s very first junior membership, parents should simply present the voucher to receive a £20 discount at the club where their child receives ClubGolf coaching.

Larry Bohannan: Desert lost golf figures

Every calendar year, the desert loses people who have been important to the desert golf scene, people who had a great impact on the game in this golf mecca. But 2013 was a year that seemed to hit the desert harder in that regard than other recent years. Some of the biggest and most important names in desert golf passed away, and one local club pro passed away showing more courage than most could have imagined.

Ken Venturi was a star in so many ways in golf that it was hard to keep track. He was a brilliant amateur player, maybe the last great hope for the gentleman amateur golfer in this country. He turned into a fine professional player with 15 tour wins, And his 1964 win in the U.S. Open while suffering from the impact of the 100-degree heat at Congressional Country Club outside of Washington D.C. goes down as one of the greatest performances in golf history. But Venturi, who died in Rancho Mirage on May 17 at 82, wasn’t finished when carpel tunnel syndrome robbed him of the use of his hands. He went on to one of the longest and most distinguished broadcasting careers, spending 35 years as an analyst for CBS. His influences included being a mentor to future PGA Tour star John Cook during Venturi’s time as head pro at Bermuda Dunes Country Club and being the captain of the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup team in 2000.

Ernie Dunlevie lived enough life for three or four people. Friends with people as diverse as Howard Hughes, Clark Gable and Arnold Palmer, Dunlevie was an important land developer in the desert. He also was a driving force in the founding of the Palm Springs Golf Classic in 1960, which became the Bob Hope Classic and is now the Humana Challenge. He was on that event’s board for 53 years. And he was a war hero, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II. He died in October at 96.

Gen. William “Bill” Yancey was the first true tournament director of the Bob Hope Classic, taking the job in 1966 and bringing military organization and efficiency to the event and helping the event give away more charity funds than before he arrived. It was only later people found out that Yancey, the man making decisions about day-to-day operations of the Hope, had been one of the men in charge of the covert CIA U2 spy plane program in the 1950s.

Tracy Lane might not be a familiar name outside of the Coachella Valley, but in turning her story of terminal cervical cancer at age 31 into a chance to educate others, Lane showed that local club pros can have a big impact on the lives of club members and can reach outside the walls of private clubs to help the world. Lane and her husband and fellow club pro Derek established the Tracy Lane Foundation to raise funds for cervical cancer research. Just over four months after Tracy’s death in August, Derek Lane announced the foundation had raised more than $260,000 with a major fund-raising tournament planned for February.

Venturi, Dunlevie, Yancey and Lane all left the desert and golf with lasting and important legacies.

Area Golf Notebook: Association says it's time to fold up the tent

An area golf tradition has ended with the final 1st coast Golf Association AmaTour event on Dec. 20 at the St. Johns Golf and Country Club.

In near perfect weather conditions, the team of Dick Joyce and Tony Kennedy combined to shoot 13-under-par 59 in the AmaTour Better Ball Championship. They won by two shots over second flight winners Dave Pettengill and Paul Dossin. Two teams shot 62, first flight winners David Hodges and Gary Barber and second flight runners-up Ray Benson and Tom Luyster.

There were 23 two-man teams competing in the final event, capping 25 years and more than 1,200 tournaments. The association was run by John and Nancy Randall, with the goal of giving amateur players in the area monthly events in which they could remain competitive in a casual setting but still play by the strict Rules of Golf.

The Randalls also ran the tour to keep busy during their retirement years. The two will launch their “second retirement.” John Randall is 87 years old and Nancy Randall is 80.

“It was time to fold up the tent and put it away,” Randall said.

He admitted to some frustration about the decline in membership of the 1stcoast Golf Association that seemed to go hand-in-hand with the decline of the economy.

While the economy has come back, Randall said the golfers didn’t — especially those under 50. There currently are 69 members of the 1stcoast Golf Association and only three are younger than 50.

At its peak, Randall said his association had more than 200 members, and frequently had tournament fields of more than 100.

“Young people really don’t play competitive golf anymore, unless they’re trying to make a living at it,” he said. “They play golf, but it’s with their buddies and they make up their own rules. I don’t know what the answer is, but someone else is going to have to try to find it.”

Randall said only one person has inquired about taking over operation of the association.

“Golf is in a real void right now,” he said. “But we had a very good run for 25 years.”

In addition to the AmaTour, the Randalls operated the 1stcoast Seniors Tour. The final event in that division was Nov. 21 at Eagle Harbor.

Banquet tickets available

The Jacksonville Area Golf Association’s second annual banquet still has tickets remaining for the Jan. 15 event at the Timuquana Country Club. JAGA will present its top awards for 2013, with past U.S. Amateur and British Amateur champion Steve Melnyk serving as the guest speaker.

For information on purchasing tickets, call (904) 221-4111 or email rstr8iff@comcast.net.

Tight finish

David Palm, an assistant professional at the Champions Club at Julington Creek, opened with a 67 and eventually tied for second in a Florida Professional Golf Tour event at Pelican Bay in Daytona Beach.

Palm shot 70 in the final round to finish at 7-under-par 137, tying with Paul Wackerly of Malvern, Ohio. Both finished a shot behind Vaila Guillaume of Lillington, N.C., who had a 66 in the first round. Guillaume is a native of Tahiti.

Ty Capps of Palm Coast (143) finished alone in fourth.

Jeff Dennis of Jacksonville, a former University of North Florida player, is third on the tour’s money list with $2,275. Josh Spalding of Bunnell is 12th and Palm is 19th.

Deadline nearing

The deadline to enter the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour’s first event of 2014 on the First Coast is Jan. 1. The tournament will be Jan. 11-12. For information, visit www.hjgt.org.

Genworth Acknowledge Player Support of Putts4Charity

Genworth Financial, the European Tour Statistics Sponsor, has made a donation of $50,000 to the Tour Players Foundation – the Tour’s charitable arm – in recognition of the support they have received during the 2013 season from all the European Tour Members who participated in charitable activities.

Genworth, in partnership with the Tour Players Foundation (TPF), have operated the incredibly successful and popular Putts4Charity initiative since 2007 and the company’s donation acknowledges the fact that 18 different Tour professionals were involved in nine separate activities over five tournaments in 2013.

Putts4Charity was present at the Ballantine’s Championship, the BMW PGA Championship, the Italian Open, the BMW International Open and the Turkish Airlines Open with funds being raised for the initiative’s chosen charity, SOS Children’s Villages, via the on-course performance of the players and the participation of spectators and players alike in the activity on Genworth’s specially constructed stand at each event.

Since 2007, the Putts4Charity initiative has involved a total of 89 different professionals, who have made 180 appearances over 35 different tournaments, with the funds raised and other donations reaching a grand total of €1,126,327.

Mark Roe, Tour Players Foundation Chairman, said: “On behalf of the TPF we would like to thank Genworth for their donation, which will enable the TPF to continue to support charities at and away from our events, and furthermore for their commitment to charity through the Putts4Charity initiative. We are proud to have partnered Genworth in raising such an amazing seven figure sum since 2007.”

Friends Reunited

The 2013 season may not have been a Ryder Cup year, but it is likely to find a footnote in the annals chronicling the history of golf’s greatest team competition as the year that five of Europe’s captains, and most successful players, reunited on the European Senior Tour.

Colin Montgomerie’s ‘coming of age’ in June not only represented the next episode in the illustrious career of the victorious eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner, it also heralded an exciting new chapter in the 22 year history of the Senior Tour. 

In 2010, the Scot had followed Mark James, Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam in presiding over Europe’s Ryder Cup hopes, successfully leading his team to victory against the United States at the Celtic Manor Resort.

Three years on from that career-defining moment, Montgomerie retraced the spike-marks of the same quartet again when he joined the Senior Tour, aiming to follow their ground-breaking accomplishments once more as he entered his sixth decade.

Montgomerie played under the stewardship of all four in The Ryder Cup from 1999-2006, with the quintet having been central to Europe’s cause together as teammates for three consecutive matches from 1991-1995.

Those unforgettable shared memories irretrievably unify a quintet whose influence on the higher echelons of European golf spans more than five decades, and who continue to promote and support the game globally.

It took Montgomerie just three events to find his feet and join his esteemed peers in the Senior Tour winners’ club, when he dominated the Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters at Woburn Golf Club in early September.

Having eased himself into life on the Senior Tour with top 30 finishes in the US Senior Open and The Senior Open Championship, Montgomerie carded consecutive rounds of 68 followed by a closing 70 to finish six shots clear of Spaniard Miguel Angel Martin and Englishman Paul Wesselingh, claiming his first tournament victory for more than six years.

“Joining the Senior Tour has been a new chapter in my life,” said Montgomerie. “I feel very lucky. When I turned 50 I became a member of three tours; the Senior Tour, the Champions Tour in America, and The European Tour. How often does that happen in life? How often is it that when you get older, you have more opportunities available? It’s a fabulous time.

“It is like a new lease of life turning 50 in golf. I can’t think of any other sports where you take a new step on in your career at such an age and to have such a fine Tour, such an excellent brand, as the Senior Tour as part of that is brilliant.”

Rookie Montgomerie finished tied fourth in the Russian Open Golf Championship (Senior) and sixth in the MCB Tour Championship in Mauritius to end his debut campaign in 11th position on the Order of Merit.

His Senior Tour career may have started brightly, but he has some way to go in order to match the considerable achievements of James, Torrance, Langer and Woosnam on the over 50s circuit.

Both James, who led Europe at Brookline in 1999, and Torrance, the victorious captain at The Belfry three years later, celebrated their 60th birthdays in 2013, marking a decade on the Senior Tour in which they continued to enjoy success around the world.

After 18 victories on the European Tour, James has triumphed twice on the Senior Tour, but perhaps his most notable win after the age of 50 came on American soil in 2004, when he claimed the Ford Senior Players Championship, defeating Ryder Cup teammate José Maria Cañizares in a play-off.

Torrance’s proud Senior Tour legacy is undoubtedly his three John Jacobs Trophy victories, earned for topping the Order of Merit in 2005, 2006 and 2009, which is equal to Carl Mason’s tally and only bettered by Tommy Horton’s record haul of five.

The Scot’s enduring appeal, both as a captain and a player, was in evidence in 2013 when he was chosen by the current Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley to lead the Great Britain & Ireland team in the Seve Trophy by Golf+, just seven weeks after he just missed out on a sentimental victory in the SSE Scottish Senior Open.

Torrance finished one shot behind rookie Santiago Luna over the Torrance course at Fairmont St Andrews, coming up agonisingly short in his bid for 12th Senior Tour title.

There was frustration too for Woosnam and Langer in 2013, although like Torrance both can be immensely proud of their accomplishments thus far on the Senior Tour.

Woosnam, who led Europe to victory in The 2006 Ryder Cup in Ireland, became the first former European Tour Order of Merit winner to repeat the feat on the Senior Tour when he won the John Jacobs Trophy in his rookie campaign in 2008.

Having won 29 times on The European Tour, the former World Number One and Masters Champion has triumphed four times so far on the Senior Tour, and threatened to add to his collection on several occasions during the 2013 season.

The Welshman was unable to convert a final round lead into a popular victory on home soil in the Speedy Services Wales Senior Open, succumbing to a magnificent closing 66 by Philip Golding at Royal Porthcawl, the host venue for next year’s Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex.

He also had opportunities in Germany, first in the Berenberg Masters – the tournament where he secured his last win in 2011 – where Danish newcomer Steen Tinning, the 2013 Rookie of the Year, claimed his maiden title, and then, following a superb opening round of 65, in the same country at the WINSTONgolf Senior Open, where Gordon Brand Jnr ended three winless years.

Langer’s heartache was perhaps more dramatic still, the 2004 Ryder Cup winning captain taking a two shot lead down the final hole in The Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex at Royal Birkdale, before leaving his third shot in the greenside bunker and then carding a double bogey when he failed to get up and down second time round.

That slip meant a play-off with Mark Wiebe and after two attempts in the fading Southport light, the pair returned the following morning for three additional holes, with American Wiebe eventually prevailing following the longest play-off in the Championship’s 27 year history, and its first Monday finish.

Gracious as ever in defeat, two-time Masters Champion Langer has enjoyed more than his fair share of success as a senior golfer since turning 50, topping the Money List on the US Champions Tour for a fifth time in 2013. He also won back-to-back Majors three years ago when he captured The Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie followed by the US Senior Open a week later at Sahalee in Seattle.

In 2014 The Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex visits Wales for the first time, meaning Montgomerie will return to the country where he led Europe to Ryder Cup glory in 2010.

That will give him another chance to finally land the Major championship he craves, while the winner of a record eight European Tour Order of Merit crowns will undoubtedly hope to follow Woosnam’s example at some point by also lifting the John Jacobs Trophy.

It remains to be seen whether Montgomerie can emulate the success of his Ryder Cup predecessors on the Senior Tour, but for now it is a case of so far, so good, Monty.

Number Crunching 2013: David Howell

Ranking/movement: +91 (No. 173 to No. 82)

Why the rise? Howell gives credit to his work with a new coach, Jonathan Wallett, which began in 2011.

Howell, 38, had won four times on the European Tour from 1999 to 2006 and played on Ryder Cup teams in 2004 and ’06. Then things started to go south. Howell’s game deteriorated during the next six years, with no victories and three years of finishing outside of the top 100 in the Race to Dubai.

From 2006 to ’07, the Englishman’s scoring average ballooned from 70.84 to 73.47.

“It’s been a two-year process,” Howell said. “Last year, I was 62nd after three or four horrendous years, so that was the start of the journey, really, and I have to put a lot of it down to changing coaches two years ago, working with my new coach, Jonathan Wallett. He’s helped me look at my game from a very different angle, and this is the hard work and the change of approach paying off.”

Playing golf versus focusing on technique was Howell’s biggest issue and one that Wallett stressed. The changes were not immediate, but Howell has climbed in the Race to Dubai during the past three years: 103rd (2011) to 62nd (’12) to 21st (’13).

Of course, winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in September helped.

Howell says: “Obviously, it’s a very technical game, but all my efforts were on it, and I was just stifling what little talent I might have, paralysis by analysis, all that kind of stuff. Jon just got me playing golf again and bit by bit working out what my own swing is all about rather than trying to change my swing. I spent years trying to change my swing and improve it – forgot who I was. And I think what Jon has had me do is understand my own swing rather than actually try and change that.”

European roundtable: Rory, Ryder Cup, more

From Rory to the Ryder Cup, European golf has plenty of big storylines around the corner for 2014. Golfweek senior writers Adam Schupak and Alistair Tait take a look at five big questions that await some of the European Tour's best players, its businessmen and its fans.

1. What does 2014 hold in store for Rory McIlroy?

Schupak: I think Rory will be better than in 2013. How much will depend on whether he puts in the time and can improve his short game or if the distractions continue to prevent him from doing so. He ranked 147th on the PGA Tour in scrambling, 158th in sand-save percentage and 122nd in strokes gained putting. That’s a recipe for mediocrity.

Tait: Let’s hope it holds a lot more than 2013. Hopefully the win in Australia at the end of this year means Rory’s put his troubles behind him. As Adam pointed out previously, Rory’s game is a little more “fragile” than previously thought. That was obvious from his 2013 campaign. I’ve been watching Rory since he was 14. I’ve often thought of him as mercurial. He’s unstoppable when he’s firing on all cylinders. He’s middle of the pack when he’s off. He’s more Seve Ballesteros than Nick Faldo.

2. The European Tour has a new chairman. David Williams comes from a commercial background. How significant is that appointment?

Schupak: It’s about time. Professional golf is big business and a sophisticated one at that. In George O’Grady, you have leadership that understands the relationships with players and the value of the brand. The key for the European Tour is for the economy at home to improve; otherwise, the talk of the PGA Tour taking over the Euro Tour, which surfaced in 2013, will build.

Tait: It’s a significant appointment. Neil Coles was chairman for 38 before Williams was handed the role. No disrespect to Coles, but he was a golf man. Williams has vast experience of the commercial world, which should help enormously. The European Tour has done well to survive the European financial collapse thanks to its global reach. Hopefully Williams can build on the Tour’s ties with Continental Europe. Chief executive George O’Grady has given Williams a sound base from which to work, with recently renewed TV contracts with Sky Sports and the Golf Channel. The Race to Dubai has been extended until 2017, while Rolex has signed up for another 10 years. Williams will hopefully bring a commercial outlook to add to those successes.

3. What can we expect from the Europeans in the majors? Will this finally be Lee Westwood's year, or Sergio Garcia's?

Schupak: I think quite good. Justin Rose broke through in 2013 and has the game to build off that. Both Westwood and Garcia made strides with their putting woes. To win a major, I think they will have to come from behind on Sunday. The Euro I'd like to see in the hunt for a major is Matteo Manassero. He won't be 21 until after the Masters, so he has plenty of time ahead of him; but it would be something to see him have a shot at a major on Sunday.

Tait: It’s hard to look into the future and say who will win which major, but expect a continued run of success from European players in the tournaments that really matter. I’d love to see Westwood win one of the blue-chip events to get the “best player never to win a major” monkey off his back. He just needs one hot week and things to go his way for that to happen. I’m not so sure about Sergio. He’s always projected this “life isn’t fair” attitude that seems to hold him back. Seve Ballesteros believed it was his destiny to win majors. Sergio seems to think just the opposite. Aside from these two, this could be the year that Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and many others come into the frame. Pay particular attention to Paul Casey. He’s been close before, has the belief and is over the personal and physical obstructions that held him back.

4. Can Henrik Stenson build on an excellent 2013 and become the first Swedish male major winner?

Schupak: The short answer here is yes. The trickier questions are: Can Stenson sustain his brilliance? Will he continue to have the same level of drive after winning both money titles in 2013? I think his pursuit of a major will motivate him in 2014, and he has the game to win any of the four majors.

Tait: It’s time for a Swedish man to get his hands on a major trophy after years of watching Swedish women attain major glory. Stenson’s the man who could do just that. He’ll be hoping the end of 2013 is an indication of things to come. He has the game. He now has the belief. It’s going to be interesting to see how he performs in the four marquee events.

5. Is it a forgone conclusion that Europe will win the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles?

Schupak: Forgone conclusion? No way, says Tom Watson. The U.S. captain will choose his picks wisely and bring a team to Scotland that is tired of losing. I expect another tightly contested match that will hinge on a putt here, a putt there. The Ryder Cup will be the highlight of the golf season, and I can’t wait for late September.

Tait: No, but Europe will enter the tournament as favorites, despite what the respective rankings say when the teams are announced. It’ll be close, and a good putting week can see either team win, but if all things are equal then Europe will win. Why? Hunger. American golf fans, players and officials can argue all they want, but Europe just want to win Samuel Ryder’s trophy more than the United States. They can thank Seve for that. He instilled a desire to win that survives to this day. In Paul McGinley, Europe has a great man manager. I think he’ll out-captain Tom Watson and lead Europe to its sixth win in seven matches. I’m a huge Watson fan and I hope he does well, but the appointment smacks of desperation. I’m not sure he’s going to have the same bond with his team as McGinley will have with his. So the U.S. players will need a hot week with their putters.

Expect a Rory McIlroy rebound in '14

Which version of Rory McIlroy should golf fans believe in, the one who played the first 10 months of the season without a victory and often looked hopelessly lost on the golf course? Or the one who battled Adam Scott down the stretch in Australia to deny the reigning Masters champion the Aussie Triple Crown?

And what kind of season looms for the young, two-time major winner in 2014?

Our scribes dive into those topics and more in the latest edition of Four-Ball.

1. Over/under of 2 on McIlroy PGA Tour wins in 2014?

Michael Collins, ESPN.com senior golf analyst: Over. He'll have three wins, including a major, but will lose player of the year honors to Tiger Woods.

Farrell Evans, ESPN.com senior golf writer: McIlroy should win at least two times if he plays a full schedule.

Bob Harig, ESPN.com senior golf writer: Over. The 2013 season was the exception, not the norm. Rory looks to bounce back in 2014 and get back to his winning ways.

Kevin Maguire, ESPN.com senior golf editor: Over. With a strong finish to the 2013 season, I'd expect at least three wins, if not a major title, for McIlroy. He epitomizes the streaky player, so don't be shocked if he knocks out at least a couple of those wins prior to the Masters.

2. Fact or fiction: McIlroy will seriously contend for a major title in 2014.

Collins: Fact. See Question 1. Haha! He will have two other top-10s in majors as well.

Evans: Fact. McIlroy might have struggled in 2013, but he is still one of the two or three top players in the world, regardless of what the world rankings say.

Harig: Fact. If he is to get back to winning, it makes sense that he will contend in majors as well and perhaps even win one.

Maguire: Fact. Now that he's got that first victory out of the way with his new Nike clubs, he'll stop hearing questions about when he'll win again. It's time the Northern Irishman gets back to doing what he does best: showing up big in golf's biggest tournaments.

3. Are you buying or selling Rory stock in 2014?

Collins: Buying. Now that he has found a ball that he can trust, expect him to start the climb back to fight for world No. 1.

Evans: Buying. It's always a good idea to invest for the long term in smart, youthful companies that have a growing market. And Rory will pay dividends next year and for many years to come.

Harig: Buying. Rory is too good for his lackluster play to continue. He played better at the end of the year, won in Australia, and now has some momentum to take into the new year.

Maguire: What's that phrase ... buy low and sell high? Well, McIlroy's stock hasn't been much lower since before he turned pro, so now might be the time to jump on the bandwagon. Considering how he finished the season with a victory in Australia, expect that stock to rise and continue going up in the new year.

4. Fill in the blank: By the end of 2014, Rory McIlroy will _______.

Collins: ... be one win away from the career Grand Slam.

Evans: ... have three majors and a Players Championship.

Harig: ... have done a good bit to make 2013 seem like an aberration.

Maguire: ... have won his third major championship. Who knows if it will be by 8 shots like his first two, but a major triumph will be squarely in his sights for the entire season.

Rory McIlroy Returns To Australia With Books & Not Australian Open Winning Clubs.

Reigning Australian Open champion Rory McIlroy has returned to Australia without his golf clubs and in this occasion accompanying his girlfriend, Caroline.

The Danish tennis ace is competing in the Brisbane International and the first two tournaments ‘Down Under’ ahead of next month’s Australian Open in Melbourne.

And unlike the fuss created by her arrival in the Queensland capital a year ago, Wozniacki was not sporting any engagement ring.

As well, McIlroy arrived without his 14 golf clubs and instead packed three books to read during the long fight to Brisbane.

He also Tweeted: At the start of my journey to Australia today… Looking forward to reading these 3 books on my travels!

McIlroy had been in Sydney earlier this month where he came from behind with a birdie at the last hole to defeat overwhelming hometown favourite Adam Scott to capture the Australian Open at the Royal Sydney Golf Club.

Wozniacki did not travel to Sydney but instead caught up with her beau a week later at the Tiger Woods hosted World Challenge.

McIlroy will spend New Year’s Eve in Brisbane and is expected to then head to Dubai for practice at The Els Club ahead of his first event of 2014 – the 25th anniversary Omega Dubai Desert Classic commencing on January 30th at the Emirates Club.

Memorable moments of 2013: Justin Rose dedicates US Open win to his dad

Had Justin Rose been offered the opportunity to pick the day for his first major championship triumph, he would not have looked beyond 16 June at Merion. This was Father's Day. After holing the putt which won the US Open, ending a 43-year English wait for success at the tournament, Rose kissed his golf ball before looking and pointing skywards. It was the enduring image of the golfing year.

Rose's father Ken had succumbed to cancer 11 years earlier when the player was in the early stages of his professional career, and he was understandably devastated by the loss of his mentor. Unlike Rory McIlroy or Graeme McDowell, Rose could not hug his dad on the 72nd US Open green. Instead, he offered his poignant gesture.

"I phoned my mum after my round and we both were in floods of tears speaking to each other; she misses my dad immensely," Rose said. "I miss him immensely. And I thought it was just a fitting time in which I could honour him by looking up. I felt like I sort of put into practice a lot of the lessons that he taught me and I felt like I conducted myself in a way that he would be proud of, win or lose. And that's what it was about for me in a lot of ways, as well."

With Rose going into the final round two shots behind the overnight leader, Phil Mickelson, and tied for fifth, his coach, Sean Foley, had texted on the last morning, telling Rose to "go out there and be the man that your dad taught you to be and that your kids can look up to".

And so it proved. In the culmination of a major on a brutally tough course, which soon regressed into a war of attrition, Rose displayed magnificent nerve to hold off Jason Day and Mickelson by two shots. Mickelson, the home favourite, came up short in the US Open for the sixth time in his career. Rose hit a wonderful four-iron approach to the 18th on Sunday, played just four paces away from where Ben Hogan hit one of the game's most iconic shots en route to winning the 1950 US Open.

For Rose, who struggled after moving into the professional ranks, a journey of sorts was complete. "I think my dad always believed that I was capable of this," he said. "When he was close to passing away, he told my mum, 'don't worry, Justin will be OK. He'll know what to do'. He kind of believed in me to be my own man. And I think that I took a lot of confidence from that.

"It was a pretty traumatic start to my pro career. I've never really talked about it because you don't want to admit to that being the case, but I think when you've got past something you can talk openly about it.

"I guess everybody was emotional. I sensed people who had known me for a long time, they all felt for me as well, in a good way. I had been full circle, been through it all with my dad. My dad had seen me struggle but fortunately he has also seen me win on tour as a pro. What I'm most grateful for about winning the US Open is just how connected I felt to my dad."

2013 REVIEW: JUMPING SHIP FOR THE WOMEN'S MID-AM

The USGA added 13 players to its roster of national champions in 2013, but some of our favorite stories of the year weren’t necessarily about the winning putt or the turning point in a match. This is the last in a six-part series that reviews some of the compelling stories that you might have missed in our 2013 championship coverage.

Lin McMillan never was much for cruises, anyway.

So when she received an email less than a week before the championship that she had earned entry into the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, it didn’t matter to McMillan that she was on a cruise ship, far from a port of call.

“We left on Saturday and I got the email on Sunday,” said McMillan, of Palm Coast, Fla. “My boyfriend, (David Culver) said, ‘You’ve got to play in it.’ We were out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

2013 Review: In Case You Missed It

True Mate Watt Toils For Goss

Inspired Scheffler Wins U.S. Junior

Senior Open Fans Rally Around Peter Horrobin

Players Connect With Native American Heritage At WAPL

Zack Fischer Goes OT At U.S. Open Sectionals

It took a lot of doing, but McMillan got to the Women’s Mid-Amateur, and she made the most of the opportunity, reaching match play and winning one match before she fell in the second round to 2009 champion Martha Leach, 1 up.

If McMillan wasn’t so determined to play, she might have abandoned the odyssey from the ocean to Asheville, N.C.

She left the cruise ship two days after receiving the initial email, disembarking in Jamaica. She had already bought a plane ticket to Orlando so she could stop at home to pick up her clothes and clubs. Unfortunately, the ticket she purchased was for the wrong airport in Jamaica. She had to rebook and fly out of Kingston. She couldn’t fly directly to Asheville from Orlando, so she went into Greenville, S.C., and drove a van, the only rental option available, the rest of the way. She got a room – only one night was available – and figured she would sort out the rest of it later.

“I started wondering, can this be any harder?” said McMillan, who had been the first alternate out of the Orlando sectional. “I was just so happy to be able to come and play in the tournament, though. This is what golfers are about; you learn how to navigate through anything.”

McMillan has played in several USGA championships, including three in 2012 alone: the Senior Women’s Amateur, the Women’s Amateur Public Links and the Women’s Mid-Am.

“It was worth the trip to play in a USGA event,” she said. “I don’t care where it is; if I have an opportunity to play in it, I’m going to be there.”

McMillan qualified at Biltmore Forest Country Club as the No. 21 seed with rounds of 79-80, then captured her first-round match by a 4-and-3 margin. She faced a familiar second-round foe in Leach.

“We had played each other out at CordeValle in the Senior Women’s Amateur two weeks ago,” said McMillan afterward. “Neither one of us played our A game today, but our match was close, right to the very last putt. I parred No. 17 to get within one, and then I left my putt on the last hole straight in and short from 10 feet. She beat me on the 18th hole – and in the second round – just like two weeks ago. It felt like déjà vu.”

The Women’s Mid-Amateur extended McMillan’s golf schedule to a fourth consecutive week, since she was already planning to play the following week in the Eastern Senior Amateur in Aiken, S.C., followed by the Southeastern Women’s Amateur Team Championship and ending with the Southern Women’s Senior in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at the end of October.

“I’ve got to get home, get packed again and get back in the car,” McMillan said. “This gave me one more week that I wasn’t expecting.”

McElroy to remain amateur until the summer

Dermot McElroy will remain amateur until after next June's British Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush and Portstewart - at the very least.

The 20-year old Ballymena talent made it to the Final Stage of this year's European Tour Qualifying School in Girona but missed the 72-hole cut.

As a result, he failed to win a full Challenge Tour card and while he's determined to join the paid ranks, he's decided to remain amateur until the middle of the summer at least.

"I am going to start the season as an amateur and then decide after the British Amateur," said McElroy, who would get several Challenge Tour starts as well as additional invitations based on his category. "So I will start my season in South Africa at the end of January and then play the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy in India in March before heading to Sligo for the West."

McElroy will be joined in South Africa for the Free State & Northern Cape Stroke Play Championship (31 January – 2 February) at Schoeman Park Golf Club by Irish Amateur Open champion Robbie Cannon (Balbriggan), Jack Hume (Naas), Gary Hurley (West Waterford), Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock), West of Ireland champion Rory McNamara (Headfort), North of Ireland winner Chris Selfridge (Moyola Park) and Reeve Whitson (Mourne).

They will then travel to Johannesburg and play in the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Benoni Country Club from 4–7 February, accompanied by National Coach Neil Manchip and Lucan's Tony Goode, the team manager.

McElroy will not be making the trip to Portugal for the Portuguese Amateur Open Championship as it comes just days after he returns from South Africa.

Harry Diamond (Belvoir Park), Robin Dawson (Faithlegg), Paul McBride (The Island) and Richard O’Donovan (Lucan) will tee it up at Montado Golf Resort from 12-15 February. 

However, he has been selected by the European Golf Association to represent Europe in the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy at Karnataka Golf Association Bengaluru in India from March 26-28 for the biannual match against Asia-Pacific.

McElroy will be joined by University of Alabama and Walker Cup star Gavin Moynihan from The Island with side completed by England's Ashley Chesters and Ryan Evans, Finn Albert Eckhardt, Germany's Dominic Foos and Maximilian Roehrig, Spain's Mario Galiano Aguilar, Scotland's Bradley Neil and James Ross, Italy's Renato Paratore and Denmark's Mads Soegaard.

Elgin golfer's desert date with Tiger and Rory

A FORMER Elgin golfer could be teeing off with sporting giants Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy after landed a dream date in the Dubai desert.

Derek McKenzie will play in January’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the luxurious Emirates Golf Club, which attracts some of the sport’s biggest names all vying for a share of the $2.5 million purse.

Originally from Elgin, where his family is still based, McKenzie (42) earned an invite to play in one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world through his friendship with Mohamed Juma Buamaim, the CEO of Golf In Dubai who is a major promoter of the sport in his region.

An ex-schoolboy international who honed his skills at Elgin and Forres golf clubs, his current job as general manager at the Santiburi Samui Country Club in Thailand means the Moray man represents his club on the Asian Development Tour.

But joining the entry list for the Dubai showpiece event – which is part of the European Tour – in its 25th year means McKenzie is set to enjoy the biggest high of his golfing career.

“This will be the highlight of mine, and most golfers’ careers,” he said. “It will be one of the best fields for any European Tour event.

“Also, because it is the 25th anniversary for the event they have invited all past champions to play.”

Previous winners include golfing greats Ernie Els, Mark O’Meara, Fred Couples, Colin Montgomerie and Jose-Maria Olazabal, while the late Seve Ballesteros is set to be represented by his son, Javier.

But World No 1 Woods and McIlroy, the young Northern Irish pretender to his throne, are by far the biggest names confirmed to take part.

The 10 best golf moments of 2013: No. 4, Inbee Park winning three straight majors

Over the next 10 days, until we get to the New Year, we will be rolling out the top-10 best golf moments of 2013. After much deliberation and debate, we picked what we thought were the 10 moments you will remember about this season a decade from now. We continue with No. 4 and Inbee Park's historic run at the majors.

One of the sad states of professional golf is just how little coverage the LPGA gets (and we aren't point fingers as we are just as guilty as others).

If you ever get a chance to go watch an LPGA event you will immediately be impressed at just how good these women are at the game and how fun it is to follow them around. They pound the ball down the middle of fairways, hit irons in the middle of the club and can chip and putt with incredible touch.

If a PGA Tour player would have even come close to accomplishing what Inbee Park did in 2013 it wouldn't have just been headline golf news or even headline sports news, but on the front page of national news all over the world.

Still, what Park pulled off in '13 is one of the greatest golf feats in the modern era, winning three consecutive major championships at the age of 25, becoming just the fourth LPGA player ever to win three majors in a season.

Park started her quest at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, shooting 15-under and winning by four shots. She added a second straight at the LPGA Championship, beating Catriona Matthew in a playoff, and her third in a row came at the U.S Women's Open, again winning by four shots even with a final round 74.

The LPGA added a fifth major in 2013, so Park was in the unique (And slightly awkward) position of winning five majors in a season, but her run stopped at St. Andrews where she finished T-42, following that with a T-67 at the Evian Championship.

How good has Park been in the majors so far in her career? The three wins in '13 takes her career total to four, and in a stretch of 15 majors ending at the U.S. Open in 2013, she finished in the top-10 in 12 of them.

A career-making season, Park can now set her sights on Patty Berg's record of 15 major wins, and it is definitely a possibility if she ever has another season like this one.

Editorial: Ko's new support team had better perform

Former professional golfer John Lister aptly summed up the conundrum posed by Lydia Ko's decision to break with Auckland coach Guy Wilson, who had overseen her rise from a 5-year-old to a golfing phenomenon. The break, he said, was inevitable. But why, he added, do it when nothing in her game obviously needed fixing? The latter view was shared by many who thought it boded ill for her career and was evidence that she was succumbing to the will of management group IMG, with whom she had just signed a big-money contract.

Wilson had every right to feel "incredibly disappointed". He had achieved amazing things with Ko. But the break was, indeed, probably inevitable because of what Ko believes she needs to perform at her best. As she explained, she wanted a coach at tournaments. Therefore, she had approached American-based David Leadbetter who, with his head of staff, Sean Hogan, has been associated with names such as Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo and Michelle Wie.

Reassurance for Ko would have come from the three days spent with the pair before she won her first professional tournament in Taiwan. Reassurance for her fans should have come from Leadbetter's statement that he did not envisage drastic changes. His job, he said, was "about guiding her, keeping her on track".

Both Leadbetter and IMG have the task of taking Ko to the top of women's golf. They know that, in a cut-throat world, there will also be an inevitable outcome if they fail.

Masters chance for Dubuisson

Victor Dubuisson is one of 12 European Tour players given an invite to the Masters as the Frenchman looks to build on his 2013 success.

The 23-year-old won his first professional event this year, when claiming the Turkish Airlines Open, and then went on to finish third in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. Following his impressive end-of-season burst, Dubuisson took sixth in the Race to Dubai standings, whilst also moving up to 32 in the world rankings. Now he has qualified for only his second Major tournament - having failed to make the cut as an amateur at the 2012 Open Championship - and will be part of the world class field heading to Augusta in April. Experienced duo Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez have also secured their berths at the Masters, whilst Ryder Cup star Francesco Molinari and Peter Hanson are also part of the select group of invitees. Wales' Jamie Donaldson, England's David Lynn, Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, young Italian Matteo Manassero, Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand, Dutchman Joost Luiten and South Africa's Branden Grace make up the European-based dozen.