In the Rough

Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson have booked the last 3 automatic places for the european ryder cup for 2008 at valhalla.

After the Johnnie Walker Championship it was Nick Dougherty who narrowly missed out and Rose, Hansen and Wilson gaining the automatic places.

Nick Dougherty could still make the ryder cup team but would need a wildcard pick, as he needed a second place finish at gleneagles.

The automatic ryder cup places for the European team have been filled by Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Soren Hanson and Oliver Wilson.

Nick Faldo’s wildcard picks will be annouced at 6pm during a press conference.

Northern Ireland golfer Darren Clarke won the KLM Open in Holland by four shots to put himself in a very strong position for one of Nick Faldos wild card picks for the Ryder Cup.

Darren Clarke produced some of his best golf for a number of years to see off Paul Mcginley and Henrik Stenson who finished four shots behind.

40 Year old Darren Clarke has now almost certainly guaranteed himself a wild card pick with the other probably now a straight fight between Colin Montgomerie and Paul Casey. Ian Poulter has withdrawn from the Johnnie Walker Classic next week to play in America which may have ended his chances of a wild card pick.

The absence of Tiger Woods since his wrist injury has shown a drop in TV listings for the British Open at Royal Birkdale, WGC Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship (USPGA) at Oakland Hills.

Since woods has been missing through injury there has been 3 big golf tournaments (2 majors and the World Golf Championship). During 2007 Tiger Woods won the World Golf Championship and USPGA tournaments.

The World Golf Championships in 2008 attracted 34% less viewers than in 2007 when Woods shot a brilliant final round 65 to win the tournament by 8 shots. For the USPGA viewers were down 50% on the 2007 year. For the British Open in 2007 it was Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia battling it out on the final day with Harrington eventually winning. The British Open stats again show a sharp decline with a third of people switching off compared to the 2007 results.

Over the last couple of years golf audiences have been dropping but could Tiger Woods be really affecting the viewing numbers out there?

Northern Ireland Golfer Darren Clarke has admitted he will need to play some of his best ever golf over the next two weeks if he is going to get a wild card pick of European Ryder Cup Captain Nick Faldo.

Darren Clarke who can no longer qualify automatically for the Ryder Cup Team faces a massive challenge to be in the team come September at Valhalla.

Clarke will be competing for two wildcards with Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Carl Pettersson when Nick Faldo makes his picks on the 31st August.

in 2006 at the K Club Darren Clarke was an inspiration and ehlped to inspire the team to victory.

South African Ernie Els has come out in support for the having golf an Olympic sport in 2016.

For the 2012 Olympics in London golf unfortunately missed out and will not feature. However for the 2016 Olympics Golf is competing against baseball, roller sports, karate, softball, squash and rugby sevens for two places.

Golf previously was at the Olympics in 1904 where only 2 Canadians and over 70 Americans competed for the Olympic Golf Gold Medal.

By October in 2009 Golf will know whether it has gained Olympic status as the International Olympic Commitee meet in Denamark in October 2009.

After another important point scoring weekend in golf the european and US teams have taken a little more shape.

The current european team is looking like this -

1. (1) Padraig Harrington - Ireland
2. (2) Lee Westwood - England
3. (3) Sergio Garcia - Spain
4. (4) Henrik Stenson - Sweden
5. (5) Robert Karlsson - Sweden
6. (6) Miguel Angel Jimenez - Spain
7. (7) Graeme McDowell - Northern Ireland
8. (8) Justin Rose - England
9. (9) Oliver Wilson - England
10. (10) Soren Hansen - Denmark

The european team is a good mix of experience and first timers who have had a good team.

Englands Lee Westwood has 5 caps previously, Ireland’s in form golfer Padraig Harrington has 4 caps as does Spains Sergio Garcia. Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain has 2 previous caps with Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson both having one previous cap. All other current european players have never previously played in the Ryder Cup.

World Number One Tiger Woods has said that he won’t be picking up another golf club until at least 2009.

Woods is out after having another knee operation to try and stop the problem once and for all. This time around though Tiger said he will be resting properly and not even thinking of picking up a golf club until he is 100% fit to play.

Tiger Woods has come back from this knee injury before to early and is determined not to make the same mistake again.

Englands Luke Donald is definitely out of the ryder cup for 2008 after having surgery on his injured left wrist.

Donald injured his wrist in the final round of the US Open and has not played since due to the injury. The news that Luke is out of the Ryder Cup has made Captain Nick Faldo’s picks that little bit easier as you would feel hiw two wild cards picks would now be out of Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer.

The ryder cup will be taking place at Valhall between the 19th - 21st September 2008.

Is the golf course the best place to close a deal or can the 19th be a better place?

Whether it is a new partnership or a future partnership the golf course could be the best place to go as you can guarantee for a few hours there will be no mobile phones constantly ringing, emails that need replying to or other people’s influences involved in the potential deal.

Many of times during a round of golf with friends work has come up in conversation and covered more than a few holes so with potential clients work can be a subject of conversation for a good nine holes. By being on the course as well you always find out more about each other if it is needed.

Personally the 19th hole is the best place and is mentioned as a meeting room by most businessmen who play golf.

THe third round of the USPGA has finally been completed and leaves the USPGA firmly in the balance for the final round.

Oakland Hills has had good weather today and all remaining golfers finished off there rounds after the heavy storms and wash out yesterday.

For the final round the last group will be JB Holmes, Henrik Stenson and Ben Curtis who is one shot in the lead. With Open champion Padraig Harrington, Spains Sergio Garcia and Charlie Wi in the second last group to go out at 19:00 hours GMT.