The Australian Masters

I was the Trainee professioanl at Huntingdale Golf Club in the late 1970's under the head professional Geoff Flanagan. Tournament promoters David Ingliss and Frank Williams created the Australian Masters at that time and right from the outset it was a fabulous Tournament made for the sports mad Melbourne crowds and marketed around the aura of Greg Norman. Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernard Langer and all the best Aussies made up the cast. It was common for the crowds to line every fairway 6 to 10 deep to get a peek at the Shark going head to head with the internationals or multple aussie winners like Craig Parry, Peter Senior and Ian Baker-Finch. Crowds for the week of 100,000 spectators were estimated. I was lucky enough to play in a few of these Masters and have a couple of top 10 finishes. In 1988 I actually had a 2 shot lead with 3 holes to play. I finished with 2 double bogeys and ended up running 7th behind eventual winner Ian Baker-Finch. I remember standing on the first tee on the last day and looking down the 1st fairway which was lined at least 10 deep both sides all the way to the green. Greg Norman was 2 groups behind me that day and spectators were jostling for a good view. I don't know what happened but this years Masters was flat, lacked energy and the crowd numbers were very poor. Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy didn't play and that probably contributed to the lacluster atmosphere, however Paul Casey and Michael Campbell did play as well as 50 players off the European Tour. So the argument that we need a strong International contingent for an event to be successful doesn't work. I think the current tournament organisers need to take a leaf out of Paul McNamee's and the new Golf Australia's fresh 'can do' approach to promoting our players and re-invent the Australian Masters. The Melbourne crowds are still here, they just need a new marketing strategy to get them enthusiastic again. Build it and they will come.

Australian Open

I think this was the best Australian Open I have seen or been a part of. Royal Sydney was setup perfectly as a tournament venue that gave all of our top players the opportunity to showcase their skills. A quality tournament venue in my opinion provides a mix of long driving and iron placement of the tee. As well as greens that demand precise positioning of approach shots and a variety of short shots around the fast and undulating, but not rediculous greens. Royal Sydney has all of these qualities and it is not suprising to hear that it is being considered as a future Presidents Cup venue.Thursday was just an awefull day with wind gusts up to 40 mph, rain and cold. The morning was very tough and the the afternoon wind was almost unplayable. Stuart Appleby has been practicing and setting himself for a few weeks for this years Open, and when he started with a double bogey and was 3 over after 3 holes with even harder holes to come into the wind, the tournament could have been over early for him. He hung tough and recovered for a 75. 68 and 71 left him 3 shots off the lead going into Sunday and playing with US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy. Many thought the winner would come from this pairing or world number 4 Adam Scott, who was 2 shots of the pace. Stuart and Geoff played magnificent golf, going head to head all day matching each other with birdies. Both got to 7 under and leading after 16 holes and we thought at worrst, it would be a all Victorian playoff. John Sendon who shot 67 on Saturday hit the shot of the day on the 235 yard par 3 17th to 1 foot to tie Apples and Geoff and then in the group in front hit a 6 iron to the tough 18th hole to 4 feet to finish birdie, birdie at 8 under and a 67, 65 (course record) weekend. Stuart needed a birdie at the last to force a playoff and hit a great looking approach that was half a club to far and went over the back, leaving him a almost unmakeable chip, which he had a go at but ran it past 15 feet and bogeyed. Geoff hit his second to 15 feet and ran his attempt past the edge. So in the end it was a great tournament and my congratulations go to John Sendon on his first Autralian Open win to go with his break through win in the USA this year. My congrats also go to John's coach Ian Triggs. Triggsy has had a great year this year with his successes getting Karrie Webb's career back on track and John Sendon's great year.

Carlie Butler

I am back home in Melbourne coaching at MGA for a few days before we head to Sydney next for the Australian Open at Royal Sydney. Carlie Butler has been down from Sydney for the past two days and we have been working on her strategy and plan for improvement next year on the European Tour. Carlie had a reasonable year this year, making a lot of cuts and securing her card for 2007. Carlie knows she has the ability to take a step up and be a tournament winner. The main areas we are working at are powering her swing up. Technically, Carlie swings the club as good as any player, but the fact is she needs to be more dynamic and hit the ball further. Carlie works hard in the gym and over the past couple of years has developed good core strength and stability. As a result she now has the base to generate more club head speed. We are working with the same power training program developed by Vern McMillan and myself. A combination of The Leaderboard exercises and resistance training using the Club-kite. Carlie's club-head speed at the momement is just under 100mph. She will get that to 105mph in the next few months, and that will equate to an extra 10 to 15 yards off the tee. The net result will be instead of needing to hit 2,4 and 5 irons for second shots, she will need a couple of clubs less and as a result her average distance from the pin will be closer and she will make more birdies. Par 5's will offer more birdie chances when she can comfortably get up around the green for two. Carlie is a hard worker and now with a few years experience of competitive golf behind her I think she is ready to go to the next level.

Adam Scott

I am fairly confident that the next number 1 player in the world will be Adam Scott. It might take another 10 years to catch Tiger, but of all the potential challengers I have seen in the past few years around the world, I have no doubt that Scotty has all the tools to get there. Adam and Stuart appleby were paired together on Friday of the Tour Championship, and I got a good look at Adam's new composure and maturity on the course. He was patient, he played away from a lot of pins and noticably, only swung at his driver at about 80% power. Adam's short putting seems to have improved and his chipping and bunker play are now World Class. We predicted about 5 years ago that he would break into the Top 10 in the World, based on his junior and amateur career achievements. Now at 26 years old and number 4 in the World, he is a Major or two away from being one of Australia's best ever.

The Tour Championship

Stuart Appleby is 1 shot back from the lead after the 1st round of the Tour Championship here at Eastlake in Atlanta. Apples bogeyed the first 2 holes in cold and windy conditions and then settled down and played very solid tee to green golf. A bogey on the 235 yard into the wind last cost him a tie for the first round lead, but he is in good position to set up a weekend challenge if he continues his good form. Stuart and I have been working on a swing drill that stops him from dropping the club inside on the downswing, causing blocks and hooks of the tee. I felt he drove the ball pretty straight today, so there were good signs. K.J Choi had a 2 over 72 and is still in good position as that was by no means a bad score in the conditions. K.J's new swing gets better and more comfortable for him at every session. I think he will chalk up another win before the end of the year with the confidence he has going. Nick Flanagan arrived tonight and is staying with us for the next 4 days and working on his game before he goes to Houston next week before the Nationwide Tour Championship. Nick probably needs a top 3 finish next week to finish top 20 and secure his card, that aside, he is straight in to the Tour School final in Palm Springs in late November for finishing in the top 35 on the money list.