Ten-time US PGA Tour winner Steve Elkington will be playing in his first senior major

FOUR Aussie golfers will be teeing it up when the US Champions Tour kicks off its major championship season this week with the Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis.

Major winner Steve Elkington will be competing in his first senior major with fellow countrymen Peter Senior, Peter Fowler and recent European Senior Tour winner Terry Price.

The defending champion this week is England’s Roger Chapman who rose from relative obscurity to take the this title last year and then compounded the effort seven weeks later when he captured the US Senior Open.

“The year 2012 was a special year for my family and for me,” Chapman said this week. “I went to Benton Harbor with no thoughts about winning the event. It was just a wonderful experience. Then to come back and win the US Senior Open at another wonderful course – Indianwood – a few weeks later was very special to me as well. It proved I wasn’t a one-time wonder.”

Golfers from 17 countries will take part in the event this week with the featured player list including Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson, 2012 runner-up John Cook, the in-form Esteban Toledo, Tom Pernice Jr, Kenny Perry, Fred Funk, Sandy Lyle and Mark Calcavecchia.

2013 Senior PGA Championship Australian TV Times

Live Coverage on Fox Sports with some later highlights: 1st Round, Friday, 2am – 5am, (Replay, 11am- 1pm); 2nd Round, Saturday 3am – 5am. (Replay, 2pm – 4pm); 3rd Round, Sunday, 5am – 8am; Final Round, Monday, 5am – 8am.

2013 Senior PGA Championship Leaderboard

MARC LEISHMAN is hoping to continue his purple patch of form when the US PGA Tour rolls into Fort Worth in Texas this week for the 2013 Crowne Plaza Invitational.

Leishman’s worst finish in his last four tournaments is 12th and any repeat of that sort of performance will see him back on centre stage in a golf Major in just a couple of weeks at the US Open.

The 29 year old Victorian is at a career high 58th in the world golfing rankings and he just needs to stay inside the top 60 after this weekend to get a spot at the US Open at Merion Golf Club on June 13 -16.

Around a top five finish would get him into the top 50 and a  start at the British Open at Murfield Golf Club in July.

“I feel like this is a course I can go really low on, my form is good and I know I need to play well to get in the Opens so I’m really looking forward to another big week,” Leishman said this week.

“I’m just extremely confident with my game. I’m striking the ball well and I’m hitting the shots I want to hit. When you execute and the results end up on the board after it, it certainly helps the confidence.”

Leishman is enjoying his added notoriety since his stunning performance at Augusta National last month, when he finished fourth in the Masters.

“Normally I’d be walking down the fairway and one person every nine holes might yell out ‘go Marc’ but in the last few weeks I’m getting quite a few people every hole giving me the ‘go Leish’ cheers and it’s a really good feeling to know you’ve earned a bit of support,” he confided to AAP in Texas.

Leishman will be aided this week by the fact that the top ranked golfer in the field is Matt Kuchar (world number 15) with Charl Schwartzel (17th) next. There’s still plenty of golfing talent competing of course, including the likes of Henrik Stenson, Kevin Streelman, Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk, Angel Cabrera and last week’s debut winner Sang-Moon Bae.

Other Aussies in the field include John Senden, Greg Chalmers, Aaron Baddeley, Matt Jones, Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, Scott Gardiner and Steve Bowditch.

2013 Crowne Plaza Invitational Australian TV Times

Live Coverage on Fox Sports with the usual replays: 1st Round, Friday,

5am – 8am, 2nd Round, Saturday 5am – 8am; 3rd Round, Sunday 3am – 4.30am, 5am – 8am; Final Round, Monday, 3am – 4.30am, 5am – 8am

2013 Crowne Plaza Invitational Leaderboard

Luke Donald will be looking to make it three in a row in Surrey this weekend

MOST of the stars of the “Miracle at Medinah” will reunite this week when the European Tour plays one of its flagship events at the iconic Wentworth Golf Club.

Eleven of the twelve 2012 Ryder Cup winning players, plus the captain, will contest the 2013 BMW PGA Championship.

Leading the way will be now world number six Luke Donald, who is looking for a hat-trick of victories at a tournament he can’t seem to do badly at.

Donald has not only won the last two events in 2011 and 2012 but was runner-up in 2010 and third in 2008.

“It’s very nice to be back,” the Englishman said this week. “A lot of great memories. Obviously to have won here the last two years, going back to 2011, that was a special win for me, got me to World Number One.

“This tournament has always been very special, having grown up very close to here. I’ve always had a lot of support of family and friends to enjoy my victories with me, and it would be great to be back here and great to have an opportunity to win three in a row, which would be a lot of fun.”

Rory McIlroy was among those delighted to be reunited with his victorious teammates saying “…. I’m very proud of my individual achievements in golf, but by far the best experiences I’ve had on a golf course have been at Ryder Cup.”

He later added: “It’s always great to be back at Wentworth. I think it’s an event that all of the Europeans and people on The European Tour look forward to coming back to every year – it sort of kicks off the golf season in Europe leading up to The Open Championship.

Australia’s Brett Rumford will be looking for his own hat-trick of sorts, having won the last two European Tour stroke events (he bombed out in the round of 16 at the World Match Play Champions in Bulgaria on the weekend).

Rumford, who is in second place on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai, will be joined by fellow Aussies Marcus Fraser, Richard Green and Andrew Dodt.

2013 BMW PGA Championship Australian TV Times

Live Coverage on Fox Sports: 1st Round, Thursday 10pm – 3am; 2nd Round, Friday 7pm – 3am; 3rd Round, Saturday, 10.30pm – 2.30am (I’d check earlier multi-view availability); Final Round, Sunday, 9.30pm – 2.30am.

2013 BMW PGA Championship Leaderboard

It’s back to the practice putting greens for Adam Scott and other users of broomstick and belly putters. The equipment isn’t banned, just using any part of the body to anchor strokes

GOLF’S governing bodies have officially adopted a new rule that will prohibit anchored putting strokes.

The United States Golf Association (USGA) and The R&A released a statement Tuesday night Australian time saying the adoption of Rule 14-1b of the Rules of Golf would prohibit anchoring the club in making a stroke. The new Rule will take effect on January 1, 2016, in accordance with the regular four-year cycle for changes to the Rules of Golf.

The announcement stated:

“Rule 14-1b, which was proposed on November 28, 2012, has now been given final approval by the USGA and The R&A following an extensive review by both organizations. The decision to adopt the new Rule came after a comprehensive process in which comments and suggestions from across the golf community were collected and thoroughly considered.

The USGA and The R&A have prepared a detailed report to explain the reasons for the decision to adopt Rule 14-1b. The report explains the principles on which the Rules of Golf are founded, why freely swinging the entire club is the essence of the traditional method of stroke, and why anchoring is a substantially different form of stroke that may alter and diminish the fundamental challenges of the game. It points out that the Rule will still allow the use of belly-length and long putters and that a wide variety of types of strokes remain for players to use. The report concludes that the new Rule should not adversely affect participation in the game, that it is not too late or unfair to require players to comply with it and that it will remove concerns about any potential advantage that anchoring provides. It also makes clear that one set of Rules is essential to the future health of the game.

A full explanation of the decision and new rule is here

Or there is a very informative poster here, or the YouTube video below

GRAEME MCDOWELL has come from behind to beat Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee 2 and 1 and win the Volvo World Match Play Championship on a very spectacular golf course in Bulgaria.

Last year’s runner-up got off to a slow start and found himself two down after four to the resilient Jaidee and took seven holes to register his first winning hole.

Still one down at the turn, a run of three wins in four holes from the 12th gave the Northern Irishman the €800,000 winner’s cheque and one of the most prestigious titles on The European Tour.

“Obviously a nice day and a great trophy,” said McDowell. “I talked about it all week about the prestige of this event and how many great champions, and nice to add my name to that list of legends.”

“…. Els, Montgomerie, Westwood, Ballesteros, Norman, Lyle, Faldo, Player, Palmer, it’s just crazy stuff really. To thrust yourself into that – to have your name on a trophy this cool is pretty special.”

McDowell commented on the “brave” move by the tour in bringing the event to Bulgaria for the first time, but like everyone was more than impressed by the venue.

The Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort course is just two years old but perched on a slim shelf of land on cliffs high above the (beautifully blue) Black Sea the Gary Player design had everybody talking.

The win catapulted McDowell over Australia’s Brett Rumford into top spot on the tour’s season long Race to Dubai.

Rumford, who was shooting for his third straight tour win, came back to earth with a 4 & 3 loss to Brandon Grace in the Round of 16.

Australia’s only other competitor in the event, Geoff Ogilvy, really can’t seem to take a trick scoring-wise, and was knocked out in the first round.

The spectacular Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort course in Bulgaria was the other star of the week

SOUTH KOREA’S Sang-Moon Bae has become the eighth first-time winner on the US PGA Tour this year after taking out the 2013 Byron Nelson Championship.

The 26 year old overtook the tear-away first round leader Keegan Bradley down the stretch at the TPC Four Seasons Resort in Texas to win by a stroke.

Bae, in his second year on the tour, shot a final-round 1-under 69 to finish at 13 under, with Bradley shooting a 2-over 72 for 12 under. Charl Schwartzel was third at 10 under, with America’s Justin Bolli, after a bogey-free 65, in solo fourth.

Bae is the third first-time Tour winner in the last four weeks, joining Americans Billy Horschel and Derek Ernst.

“The course was really tough,” Bae said. “The winds were very strong. I did very well this week.”

Bradley shot a 10-under 60 in the first round but only had a one stroke lead over Bae going into the final round.

“I’m pretty disappointed but Moon played very well,” Bradley said. “He played better than me today, so I’m happy for him.”

Leishman tied for 12th

Marc Leishman (70) continued his good form and was the best placed Aussie finishing on 5-under tied for 12th while former champion Jason Day (72) never really contended after opening with a 2-over round. His third round 66 certainly helped him to a 2-under finish tied for 27th.

AUSTRALIA’S Matthew Griffin has won his second OneAsia title, taking out the 2013 SK Telecom Open in South Korea.

Griffin was award the title, his second OneAsia victory in less than a year, after the final round at the Pinx Golf Club on Korea’s Jeju Island was called off because of thick fog.

Griffin can credit a spectacular 40 foot putt from off the back of the 18th green on Saturday, as it meant he held a one-shot lead over Korean veteran Kang Wook-soon at the end of three rounds.

The tournament ended in similar circumstances in 2011 when Kurt Barnes was declared the winner after fog prevented any play in the final round.

“It’s unfortunate to finish like this, but I’ll take it,” said Griffin, 29, who banked $200,000 for the win and leapt to the top of the OneAsia Order of Merit with earnings of over $233,000 for the season.

“I thought my final putt yesterday was big as it gave me the lead, but I didn’t think it would be the winning putt. It just goes to show you really must try and make everything.”

Griffin recorded rounds of 64, 67 and 72 for a 13-under par aggregate,  one better than Kang and four ahead of China’s Hu Mu and Koreans Lee Ki-sang and Park Do-kyu.

The Melbournite has developed a liking for Korea after winning OneAsia’s Charity High1 Resort Open in September,  his second professional title following victory at the South Pacific Open Golf Championship on the PGA Tour of Australasia a year earlier.

“High1 was fantastic but this feels even better,” said Griffin. “I never really played well in Korea in the past — which is surprising because I think the courses suit me — but it looks like I’ve found my way here now.”

OneAsia takes a break until August 29 when the tour returns to Korea and Griffin will defend his title at the Charity High1 Resort Open.

1964 US Open winner Ken Venturi poses with the 2011 winner

FORMER US Open winner and long-time golf broadcaster Ken Venturi has died aged 82.

Venturi won the 1964 United States Open while nearing collapse from heat exhaustion and went on to be the chief golf analyst for America’s CBS Sports for many years.

He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in May.

Media were told Venturi died in a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, where he had been hospitalized the last two months for a spinal infection, pneumonia and an intestinal infection.

Venturi had a five-way heart bypass surgery and valve repair in December 2006.

Venturi won 14 tournaments between 1957 and 1966 in a career cut short by circulatory problems in his hands.

He first gained notice in 1956 as an amateur when he led the Masters by four shots entering the final round, only to shoot an 80, losing to Jack Burke Jr. by a stroke. He was the runner-up at the Masters again in 1960, a shot behind Arnold Palmer, who birdied the final two holes.

His signature moment came at the Congressional Country Club in June 1964. With temperatures approaching 100 degrees and high humidity, players struggled to play 36 holes, the last time the Open staged its final two rounds on a single day.

Going into the final 18 holes, Venturi was two shots behind the leader, Tommy Jacobs. After a 45-minute break, Venturi virtually staggered through the final round, with an attendant doctor warning him against continuing out of fear he would die from heat prostration.

The doctor gave Venturi ice cubes, iced tea and salt pills as he played on, sinking a 10-foot putt on the final hole to close out a 70, besting Jacobs by four shots.

“I dropped my putter and I raised my arms up to the sky,” Venturi said at the time. “I said, ‘My God, I’ve won the Open.’ The applause was deafening. It was like thunder coming out there.”

He is survived by his third wife, Kathleen, and two sons, Matthew and Tim.

JASON DAY returns to the scene of his one and only US PGA Tour victory this week and has strong backing to repeat his golfing success.

Day won the Byron Nelson Championship in 2010 and has top 10 finishes in his other two starts in this event at the TPC Four Seasons in Irving, Texas.

This year he is back in top form, contending for so long at the Masters before some late bogeys saw him finish alone in third.

Day has had a very solid start in 2013, making the cut in each of his starts to push his consecutive cuts made to 14 – fifth best on TOUR. Day added a top-20 finish at THE PLAYERS last week to his four previous top-25 finishes.

Marc Leishman is another Aussie in good form this year and will be joined by a number of fellow countrymen including Stuart Appleby, Steven Bowditch, Greg Chalmers, Scott Gardiner, Nathan Green, Nick O’Hern, Rod Pampling, Cameron Percy, Alistair Presnell and John Senden.

Jason Dufner is the defending champion and other featured contenders include Louis Oosthuizen, Keegan Bradley and Matt Kuchar.

Byron Nelson Championship TV Times

Fox Sports Coverage

1st Round: Friday, 5am to 8am; 2nd Round: Saturday, 5am to 8am; 3rd Round: Sunday, 3am to 4.30am, 5am to 8am; 4th Round: Monday, 3am to 4.30am, 5am to 8am.

2013 Byron Nelson Championship Leaderboard

2013 Volvo World Match Play Championship Preview: Leaderboard, TV Times

BRETT RUMFORD probably doesn’t need the extra pressure but this week could emulate a couple of golfing greats in winning three straight European Tour events.

The 35 year old West Australian will take on a hot field at the 2013 Volvo World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria.

Not since Sir Nick Faldo in 1983, and Seve Ballesteros three years later has anyone captured three European Tour events back-to-back.

Rumford enjoyed the best fortnight of his career recently when he won the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea after a superb eagle three at the first extra hole of a sudden-death play-off and backed it up with a four stroke victory at the Volvo China Open the following week.

Rumford is realistic about his chances this week, especially since he hasn’t played professional match play in 15 years – and he’s up against some known match play specialists in the likes of Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

He says it has been somewhat of a whirlwind since his twin victories, including his twin girls’ second birthdays.

“I’m really looking forward to the week,” said Rumford. “I have just been trying to get my recovery back and my stamina to be able to take on 36 holes a day for obviously the duration of the event, hopefully, if I can make it that far.”

The now five-time European Tour winner credits the upturn in his fortunes that has seen him claim his first wins since 2007 to old-fashioned grit and grind.

“It’s just really hard work and a more holistic approach,” he said. “I changed caddies and I’ve been working very, very hard with obviously just with the preparation side with Ronnie [real name John Roberts].  I also changed coaches to Pete Cowen and have been working hard on the body, as well, with Kevin Duffy from Duffy Golf Fitness.

“So I’ve basically got my body and nutrition side right as well; it’s the whole lot.  Just preparation, everything, and as well as home the hours I’ve been putting in – it’s some long days.  More holistically, I’m just preparing a whole lot better.”

The only other Aussie in the field is known match play performer Geoff Ogilvy, who has obviously not had the best of years, missing seven of eleven cuts on the US PGA Tour.

Rumford will take on Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Welshman Jamie Donaldson in the round-robin group stages of the event while Ogilvy will face America’s Bo Van Pelt and South Africa’s Richard Sterne.

2013 Volvo World Match Play Championship TV Coverage

The championship, at the Gary Player designed Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort, is being televised live in Australia on Fox Sports.

Thursday: 10pm to 1am; Friday: 9pm to 1am; Saturday: 11pm to 1am; Sunday (Final Day): 7pm to 12.53am.

2013 Volvo World Match Play Championship Live Results