Further to my post last May noting that Hilton were planning to open a hotel in Queenstown, they have thought better of this and decided to open not one hotel, but two in the Adrenaline sports hot spot. You can see further details by clicking here.
It should be noted that Queenstown is not just for the thrill seekers – there are some great courses including Jack’s Point and Millbrook, and just up the road in Arrowtown, you will find The Hills – which until recently was home to the New Zealand Open. It is also a great base from which to travel to the stunningly beautiful Milford Sound and has some excellent wineries on its doorstep.
By Alastair Niven. Alastair has been with PerryGolf for over10 years and is one of the agents responsible for our South Pacific programmes.
The Barclays Scottish Open, which takes place this week at Castle Stuart, has attracted arguably its strongest ever field; with 5 of the top 10 in the world competing. Moving the venue from Loch Lomond appears to have had a positive effect, not only on the players competing, but also on ticket sales, with advance sales reportedly reaching an all time high.
Notable entries for the event include world number’s 1 and 2, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, as well as three time major winner Padraig Harrington, who has opted not to play the event in recent years. Coming over from the PGA Tour are Martin Laird, Brandt Snedeker, Justin Rose and Gary Woodland, who all join tournament regular Phil Mickelson. A special mention has to go to Matt Kuchar, who is returning to the event having played in it as an Amateur in 1998. As a personal friend of PerryGolf (he stayed with the company when he played at Loch Lomond 13 years ago), we wish him well.
Edoardo Molinari certainly has his work cut out to successfully defend his title!
By Keith Baird. Keith has been with PerryGolf for over 10 years and is one of our Golf Travel Specialists.
Tiger Woods has pulled out the Open Championship at Royal St George’s as he continues to struggle to recover from the knee injury he sustained at this years US Masters. The news will come as a big blow to the event, the organisers and fans alike. In a statement, Woods said: “Unfortunately, I’ve been advised that I should not play in The Open Championship. As I stated at the AT&T National, I am only going to come back when I’m 100 per cent ready. I do not want to risk further injury. That’s different for me, but I’m being smarter this time. I’m very disappointed, and want to express my regrets to the fans at The Open Championship.”
Tiger’s replacement will be American, Jason Dufner, who will play in his second Open Championship, after making his debut at St. Andrews last year.
By Keith Baird. Keith has been with PerryGolf for over 10 years and is one of our Golf Travel Specialists.
The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster for Frenchman, Thomas Levet. Firstly, he was successful in the pressure-packed final qualifying event for the Open Championship at Sunningdale. He carried on his good run of form by winning his National Open, the Alstom Open de France. But now he has been forced out of the Scottish Open and – more than likely – the Open Championship. In recent years it has become the norm for French players to be drenched in champagne after a victory. On Sunday, this tradition continued and Levet’s fellow French pro’s covered him in champagne. After his champagne shower, Levet decided to jump into the greenside lake at the 18th hole where he subsequently fractured his shin. For more details, please click here.
By Gary Sheppard. Gary has been with PerryGolf for over 5 years is one of our Golf Travel Specialists.
Colin Dalgleish, Co Founding Director of PerryGolf with Rory McIlroy at 2007 Walker Cup Matches
What a great event and wonderful to see a new era evolve in competitive golf with a friendly, attractive personality. My brother as Captain of the 2007 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team at Royal County Down Golf Club had the privelege of working with him and has consistently said that Rory was both mature for his years and a extremely pleasant young man…the camera does not always allow the “nice” to show through on television, but in this instance it did. Congratulations Rory!
The Thursday pairings whereby the USGA grouped Spaniards and Italians together just seemed odd….the media did not seem to take issue with it but my sense is that it gave an slight advantage to players like Garcia who would have enjoyed 2 rounds with people they are comfortable with.
Disappointing the way that the commentators decided early in the week to criticize the formula for the World Golf Rankings…that discussion would have more credibility when the US was better represented at the top of the rankings. The formula may well need to be redrawn, given the international scope of players and their event schedules but why pick now to discuss?
An interesting statistic from the June 17 issue of Golfweek; “The British Amateur attracted only one player from USA in the world Top 100”. If that fact is correct, it would seem given the recent history of golfing achievements that younger US college players need to take a more global view than even those of their slightly older peers!
It is great to see this new excitement in golf, some tremendous rivalries shaping up that will be for years to come….next stop Royal St. George’s.
About the Author: Gordon Dalgleish is the Co-Founding Director of PerryGolf, the leading provider of international golf vacations. You can find him onGoogle+
