In the Rough

The European Tour has unveiled today the 53 Events for the 2009 European Golf Tour. The Tour dubbed “the road to Dubai” because the final event is a very lucrative Dubai World Championship with a prize fund of £11.3 million / $20 million. The Dubai World Championship is to be held at the Jumeirah in November 2009.

The 2009 European tour starts in November in Shanghai with the HSBC Championship and UBS Hong Kong Open. Both of these events will also be played again at the end of the 2009 season.

The European Tour has also announced that from 2009 players will have to take part in 12 events not the current 10 to maintain their tours cards.

The new tour certainly gives a more global feel to it with a total of 26 events ranging from Wales/Scotland to Shanghai/Dubai and Hong Kong. The more lucrative events, which are now on The European Tour calendar are aimed at getting big name American players playing more events and moving away from the highly paid USPGA Tour.

American golfer John Daly is considering playing on the European Tour more regularly next year after admitting he his hungry for more tournament golf.

The big hitting American who won the USPGA in 1991 and The British Open in 1995 has plummeted down the world rankings and now sits in a very lowly 737 in the world. Daly has struggled with gambling addictions, alcohol addictions and several failed marriages over the last few years which on top of a serious yet bizarre Rib Injury have seen the downfall of a legend.

The rib injury picked up by John Daly forced him into a swing change and he is now seeing guys who five years ago were 50 + Yards behind him hitting the ball exactly the same distance.

Daly who won the USPGA after not even completing a practise round in 1991 due to being a late replacement for Nick Price is looking to increase his ranking over the next year and become a major player in tournaments at the age of 42.

After day one of the DUnhill Links Championship it is Englands Ross Fisher and Denmark’s Soren Hansen with the lead on eight under par. Both golfers shot a brilliant 64 at the Kingsbarns course on day one to claim the lead overnight.

Hansen who was part of the losing European Ryder Cup Team in Valhalla recently looked completly relaxed and was well challenged by Ross Fisher who narrowly missed out in an automatic spot for the European Ryder Cup Team.

The order of merit could also be become a lot closer over the weekend with Padraig Harrington and Lee Westwood battling it out for the top spot at the end of the season. Both playing on the Kingsbarns course in good conditions seemed ideal for the top players with Harrington shoting a 5 under 67 and Westwood staying close with a 4 under 68.

Today sees stars of sport and entertainment combining on the golf courses of St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns in the Dunhill Links Championship.

Stars such as Actor Samuel L Jackson, Former Crickter Ian Botham, Former Tennis Player Tim Henman, Olympic Legend Sir Steve Redgrave, Actor Hugh Grant and billionaire Dermot Desmond are just some of the names playing in the next couple of days.

The golf players competing are some of the biggest names as well with the majority of the European Ryder Cup Team competing at the Alfred Dunhill Championship this week. Only Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter are missing from the European Ryder Cup team which lost in Valhalla two weeks ago.

After a storming start Jarno Sandelin is the leader on five under after 10 holes at Kingsbarn.

World Number three Vijay Singh has said he will be taking a couple months off golf to recover from tendinitis in his left forearm. The 45 Year Old Fijian  will be missing the  Iskandar  Johor  Open in Malaysia and the Champions Tournament in Singapore.

Vijay Singh has already won 3 tour titles on the PGA tour this year and would of been hoping to add to it in the next few months but the tendinitis injury looks set to rule him out.

Vijay’s not appearance at the events will be a big blow to organisers as he was one of the big names attending and was due to be the highest rank player at the events due to world number one Tiger Woods been out injured and Phil Mickelson currently ranked number two in the world not attending.