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The Rose Ladies Series will increase its number of events by three in 2021, with 11 tournaments confirmed for the season that begins 29 April.
Additionally, first-place money has doubled to £10,000 for each of the first 10 winners. A £20,000 prize will go to the Grand Final champion.
The 2021 Series begins at West Lancashire Golf Club, which hosted last year’s Women’s Amateur Championship won by Germany’s Aline Krauter. It then shifts to Woburn Golf Club, the host venue for 11 editions of the Women’s British Open since 1984.
Competitors also will return to Brokenhurst Manor, which hosted the inaugural tournament when Justin and Kate Rose launched the circuit last year, as well as North Hants, the home club for the 2013 US Open champion and 2016 Olympic gold medallist. Other notable venues include Royal Birkdale, a six-time site for the Women’s Open Championship, and Scotscraig Golf Club for the only series visit to Scotland.
Bearwood Lakes near Wokingham will play host to the Grand Final on 25 September.
Longtime Scottish golf journalist Jock MacVicar died on Saturday at age 83.
When the news of his passing emerged, MacVicar was hailed on social media by a highlight list of golfers for his integrity and for his support of Scottish players.
In 2016, MacVicar received a Life Membership of the Association of Golf Writers. A year later, he was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Scottish Golf Awards.
For more than a half-century MacVicar covered the most noteworthy events in the game, including his first Open Championship in 1962.
He continued to work at the Scottish Daily Express and was president of the AGW until the time of his death.
Bernard Gallacher began a new chapter of his life last week when he was installed as captain of the British Professional Golfers’ Association.
The 72-year-old Scot joins PGA founder J H Taylor, Ted Ray, George Duncan, Sir Henry Cotton, Eric Brown, Bernard Hunt and Dai Rees in an illustrious group who have captained the association and Ryder Cup teams.
“I am a proud PGA member and am honoured and humbled to captain the association,” said Gallacher, who won 22 professional tournaments and played on eight Ryder Cup teams before captaining the side in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
“When I turned pro my mission was to become a fully qualified PGA member. It’s the pinnacle of the profession. The PGA is a strong brand, represents excellence, service and lots more besides. That’s what it means to me.
“I’m really looking forward to representing the PGA members and doing my best to promote the Association at all times.”
Gallacher spent a quarter of a century as Wentworth head professional, combining his duties with forging a successful European Tour career.
“There’s no chance that could happen now,” he said. “The demands on tour players make that an impossibility.
Great things were expected from Bryden Macpherson when he beat Scotland’s Michael Stewart in the 2011 Amateur Championship final at Hillside.
That victory earned the Australian a place in the Open Championship and the Masters. But instead of building on those opportunities, and despite three victories in minor events in China, Macpherson struggled to make his mark in the pro game. He has spent much of the past decade battling to make ends meet on the Web.com (now Korn Ferry) Tour, in Asia, and on his home tour in Australia.
That may be about to change.
Macpherson’s career took a turn for the better in February when he fired a closing 64 to claim a single-shot victory in the Moonah Links PGA Classic on the Australasian Tour in Fingal, Victoria.
“My game right now is the best it has ever been,” he said after recording his maiden professional win in his homeland. “If I can tidy things up a bit, because it’s still a bit untidy, I think there will be some more solid results in the pipeline.”
How right he was. Following that win, the 30-year-old shared 16th place in the TPC Sydney and tied second in the Isuzu Queensland Open before carding rounds of 66, 67, 65 and 68 to claim his second title of the season in the New South Wales Open at Concord Golf Club.
“I think all of us pros are trying to get to a position in which we’re comfortable in our own skin,” he told Golf Australia’s Inside the Ropes podcast. “I’m definitely getting closer to that, which is why the results are improving.”
Ryder Cup captain Pádraig Harrington has given an unqualified thumbs-up to Rory McIlroy for his decision to work with top coach Pete Cowen.
The 49-year-old Dubliner is coached by Cowen and sees the veteran Englishman as the right man to help McIlroy end a winless run stretching to 2019.
“I still work with Pete Cowen and I choose to work with him because he’s the best coach out there,” the former Open and PGA champion told GGP’s Brian Keogh.
“It could be timely for me because, selfishly, I want him to be in form in five months’ time. … It’s not that I wouldn’t recommend anybody else because there are excellent coaches out there, but I’d recommend Pete because his track record is obviously excellent.”
Harrington was speaking after the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, where he was delighted by the form of Victor Perez and Ian Poulter.
“I was interested to see the results and it was nice to see Victor Perez seems to be good at match play,” he said. “The Europeans did well and clearly the standout ones were Ian Poulter and Victor Perez.”
U.S. Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci beat Englishman Joe Long by two holes in the Georgia Cup, the annual exhibition match which pits the reigning U.S. Amateur champion against the holder of the British title.
Strafaci’s victory at The Golf Club of Georgia brings to an end a run of four successive wins for Amateur Championship winners, a sequence which started when Frenchman Romain Langasque beat Bryson DeChambeau in 2015 and included victories for Englishmen Scott Gregory and Harry Ellis and South Africa’s Jovan Rebula. Last year’s contest was cancelled because of COVID-19.
U.S. Amateur champions now trail 13-10 in a series that dates to 1998 when Matt Kuchar beat 2019 GB&I Walker Cup captain Craig Watson.
Jaco Prinsloo has built a commanding Sunshine Tour Order of Merit lead after claiming his second victory in three starts.
Prinsloo nailed his first win in the Players Championship at Dainfern Golf Estate, and added a second in the Serengeti Pro-Am with a closing 68 to finish two shots ahead of compatriot Jaco Ahlers.
That took his earnings for the season to R422,610, opening a lead of more than R200,000 on second-placed Neil Schietekat.
“It’s kind of hard to grasp, really,” Prinsloo said. “I mean, you always hope something like this will happen. This is what we all hope for and practise for. That’s why you hit golf balls every day of your life, and I feel like I’m reaching my true potential at the moment.”
The Sunshine Tour resumes 22 April with three successive events co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour.
The European Tour has announced its 14 Qualifying School venues. They include Rosebud Country Club in Victoria, Australia, the first Australian venue to host a European Tour Q-School event.
The Q-School was cancelled last year because of COVID-19 but its full steam ahead again this year with Rosebud joining Montado Hotel & Golf Resort (Portugal), Lyngbygaard Golf (Denmark), the Players Club (England), Arlandastad Golf (Sweden), Golfclub Schloss Ebreichsdorf (Austria), Bogogno Golf (Italy), Frilford Heath (England) and Golf d’Hardelot (France) as First Stage venues.
First Stage will be played between 31 August and 8 October, with qualifiers travelling to Spain for one of four Second Stage tournaments at Alenda Golf, Empordà Golf, Desert Springs and Las Colinas on 4-7 November. The Final Stage returns to another Spanish venue, Lumine Golf Club, on 12-17 November.
“As a global tour, we are delighted to be able to host a First Stage event in Australia at Rosebud Country Club,” said Mike Stewart, the European Tour’s Qualifying School tournament director.
“The European Tour Qualifying School gives an opportunity to professionals and amateurs alike to achieve their dream of earning a European Tour card and to extend the opportunity to players in the Asia-Pacific region is an exciting development.”
Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray wants to try his hand as a caddie once he retires from competitive tennis.
“I really love golf, so being a caddie on the golf tour would be something I would find exciting,” he told Gentlemen’s Journal. “To be up close and personal to top golfers, and learn about another sport like that, appeals to me.
“And, maybe, there’s some crossover between the two sports from the mental side of things, so I might be able to help a golfer.”
Colin Callander and Alistair Tait