 David Howell |
Three cheers for the 15 International
Sports Management clients who travelled to Qatar when they could
have been forgiven for wanting to return home from the troubled
Middle East. They all showed a great maturity in their decisions and actions. They all felt that although they were not at risk themselves there could be a problem in getting out. To that end we sent our own 'evacuation officer' to Qatar. Mark Bell, our man in South Africa, had plans B, C and D all in place should there be a |
The vast number of our guys who did go were very pleased that they did because we had one of our best weeks of the year. There were several top 10 finishes and plenty of others inside the top 30.
It was very pleasing to see David Howell and Paul McGinley high up the list because for various reasons they have been out of the limelight recently while David Park cruised in just behind them to win plenty of money towards his European Tour card retention programme.
And former amateur hero David Dixon also finished with a handy cheque on a course and in windy conditions that we always felt would suit him. He had a bit of a nervous last round, but his performance bodes well for the future, starting in Madeira this week.
Apart from David there were solid performances from Charl Schwartzel and Richard Sterne, who are doing so well on the Tour School graduates list that they will almost certainly be re-ranked higher after Italy, increasing the number of starts they will have for the season.
While most of our boys were in the Middle East, two of our Ryder Cup stars were heading west. Darren Clarke accepted a lift from Ernie Els in his private jet and flew from Luton to Orlando where he has been working with Dr Bob Rotella, the sports psychologist.
I think we will be witnessing some interesting changes in Darren's pre-shot routine. He will not be spending as much time preparing while away from tournament play he will also spend fewer hours on his game and more re-charging. That aspect has already kicked in with a visit to Universal Studious along with his caddie and fitness guru.
Lee Westwood also travelled to America on Saturday and spent the following day and Monday with his new coach David Leadbetter. Lead was happy with his pupil's progress as some of the changes they have been working on are settling in nicely. They will also be working together at Bay Hill.
Darren and Lee will be teeing up alongside the likes of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus although the main attraction is undoubtedly the meeting of Tiger Woods and Ernie Els in their first tournament together this season.
I am also heading west, but not directly to America. I am stopping off in Jamaica for the first time to have a look at the Seniors Tour event we are promoting there.
Plenty of interesting and successful times are ahead I feel.
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