Just like Justin Timberlake and George Lopez, Wayne Gretzky, aka THE GREAT ONE, will now host a golf tournament, The Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. It will be played June 26 - 29 at the Georgian Bay Club and the Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay (near Toronto).
The event is part of the Nationwide Tour.
Gretzky and his wife, Janet, (whom he admits is the better golfer) recently sold their Lake Sherwood, CA home for $18.5 million. The couple and their five children had lived in the seven bedroom home with nearly seven acres. It featured a swimming pool, tennis court and two guest houses. They have a home in Arizona where he co-owns and coaches the Phoenix Coyotes.
Gretzky has also ventured into wine making with Creekside Estate Winery in Niagra Falls, Canada.
Hoping that the world's elite players follow the mantra, "Show me the money!" Dubai has announced that it will host the world's richest golf tournament beginning in 2009.
Held at the Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 19 - 22, 2009, it will be played on either the Fire or Earth course. Both were designed by Greg Norman. The Jumeirah Golf Estates also features a third course, Water, designed by Vijay Singh and a fourth course, Wind, a collaborative effort of Norman, Sergio Garcia and Pete Dye.
The Dubai World Championship will pay out ten million US dollars, including $1.66 million to the event's winner. In addition, The Race to Dubai, will be held. It is similar to the PGA Tour's FedEx Challenge. It would require a player to play in a minimum of 11 events to qualify for the ultimate prize of $2 million. The European Tour chief executive, George O'Grady, claims the Race is not to entice Tiger Woods to play. Rather, the Dubai World Championship will offer an alternative to European players who do not want to "take up residence" in the United States.
Donald Trump has to hold his breath until Tuesday to find out if Councillors in Aberdeenshire (a city planning board) will give him permission to build Trump International Golf Links Scotland.
Trump has been quoted as saying it will be "the greatest golf course in the world." That, of course, remains to be seen. He has pledged one billion pounds (equal to be about 2.03 billion American dollars) to build the resort.
Trump has taken out ads touting the support of several high profile businessmen. The support is featured on the corporate website as well. However, 150 people plan to march in protest prior to the vote. They are unhappy because part of the planned resort at Mill of Menie near Balmedie will be built on specially protected land.
One local salmon farmer, Michael Forbes, has refused to sell his 23 acres of land to Trump despite an offer of $900,000. Trump, of course, downplayed the importance of the land. He said, "We want him to be a good neighbor and maintain his property properly," Trump continued. He described Forbes' land as "not a farm, really, but a compound with rusting tractors that look like they haven't been started for years, rusting cans, and it's something that should be taken care of by him.
"It's disgusting," Trump said.
The resort, if approved, would feature two 18 hole golf courses, a 450 room, 5-story hotel, 950 vacation homes , 36 golf villas and 500 upscale homes. Trump's organization has estimated that the resort would create at least 1,000 permanent jobs and inject $47 million into the local economy every year. Locals question what type of jobs would be created, assuming that some are minimal wage positions providing various services to wealthy tourists.
Trump's late mother was from the Scottish island of Lewis.
Tiger Woods, who this season equaled his lowest season scoring average with a 67.79 after 63 rounds, has won his seventh Vardon Trophy awarded by the PGA.
He had the same average in 2000 and won that year as well. He also won the trophy in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005.
Ernie Els took second in the running for the trophy this year with an average score of 69.29. Justin Rose averaged 69.30 and took third.
Woods has announced his final event of this season will be the Target World Challenge Presented by Countrywide. It will be held December 13 - 16 at Sherwood Country Club, California. Woods has won the event three times, including in 2006. He serves as the tournament host. Proceeds benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation.
Justin Timberlake will host a Las Vegas PGA Tour Event. It will be renamed Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
It is a five year agreement that will begin in 2008. Timberlake becomes the 14th celebrity to host a golf event. The event is played in October after the FedEx Cup Challenge.
Cheyenne Woods does not have the name recognition or the bank account as her uncle, Tiger Woods, but she does have something in never can accomplish. She took the individual title at the Class 5A Division I girls golf state tournament in Arizona. Her win helped her team, Xavier, take their tenth straight title.
Stephen Ames, 43, was winless this season until The Children's Miracle Network Classic made his dreams come true at Disney.
He finished the tournament with a 17-under 271. It was the highest winning score since Tiger Woods posted the same score in 1999. He chose the event as his season's final event because his swing coach lives in Orlando and figured they could work on his game.
You might remember Ames because he was tied for the lead on the final day at Oakmont, site of this year's US Open.
Ames grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to Calgary, Canada 13 years ago. He is now a Canadian citizen. In post round interviews, he said he was thinking of going to Maui for Christmas to escape the Candaian cold. "Now, I have a reason," he said. He was referring to Kapalua a winners-only tournament -- the Mercedes Benz Championship -- that starts the 2008 seasons.
Scott Verplank finished second in the event.
Kevin Stadler, tied for 15th, but moved into the top 125 golfers and gets to keep his card.
Despite final round pressure from Vijay Singh, Angel Cabrera held onto the lead and won the Singapore Open by one stroke.
Cabrera started the day with a four stroke lead, and a course-record 63 from Friday's round. Singh started the day 6 strokes back and shot a final round of 67.
Australian Adam Scott took third with American Jim Park rounding out the top four.
37 year old, Phil Mickelson, started the day in 11th place but had a poor showing on the final round. He had a quadruple bogey on the par-three 3rd hole. He finished the day with a 79 and 16 strokes behind Cabrera. But Mickelson had a great attitude. He said his family had thoroughly enjoyed the trip and he would definitely be back.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Monica House has collected more than 16,000 golf balls to send to her husband and his fellow soldiers in Iraq.
Sadly, House could not afford the $1,300 shipping bill to get the golf balls to the servicemen and women. However, Kellianne Nagy, the varsity girl's golf coach at
Livonia Ladywood High School has offered to raise the money.
Instead of wearing their uniforms to school, the school's students will pay to be allowed to wear blue jeans to school.
If you want to help:
Send a check or money order payable to Golf Balls for Soldiers to: National City Bank, 344 N. Main St., Milford 48381.
Or visit any local National City branch and make a cash donation to the fund. For more information, call the bank’s Milford branch at 248-684-1165.
Any amount that exceeds the cost of postage will be donated to the Fallen and Wounded Soldiers Fund, a nonprofit in Livonia staffed by volunteers that assists soldiers and their families.
Maybe Angel Cabrera is going to show us why he won the US Open. After Saturday's play at the Singapore Open, he is leading the field by four strokes.
The USA's Jim Park is in second place. Phil Mickelson had a rough day with four bogeys and now finds himself 11 strokes off the lead. However, one bright spot, on the par 3, 17th hole, he nearly had a hole-in-one with the ball bouncing off of the pole and landing three feet from the cup.
Ernie Els missed the cut.
Phil Mickelson is playing in this week's Singapore Open and by his own admission, was a little taken back by both the quality of the field and the quality of the course.
After the first day of play, three unknown players are tied for first place including Gavin Flint (Australia), Kane Webber (Australia) and Jim Park (USA). Angelo Que (Phillipines) is one stroke back. Mickelson is two strokes behind the leaders and tied with KJ Choi and Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Japan).
The event is being played at the par-71 Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club. The purse is $4 million and is Asia's biggest purse event.
Tiger Woods will be building a home at the private golf course, Al Ruwaya, that he is designing in Dubai. His home will be more than 16,000 square feet and will include a gym, theatre, library and swimming pool.
His new home will be small, though, compared to the 22 palaces planned which feature ten to twelve bedrooms and 33,000 square feet of living space. The exclusive community will feature 287 home sites.
Bloomberg reports that "the Al Ruwaya course is the first for Tiger Woods Design, a Windermere, Florida-based company headed by Woods, who has won 61 times on the U.S. PGA Tour. Woods, who lives in Florida with his wife, Elin, and their daughter, Sam, announced plans in August to design his first U.S. course near Asheville, North Carolina, as part of a new residential community."
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