I'm going to the World Cup honey! How? Errr, have some more champagne...

November's World Cup, to be held in China, has received yet another knock back as America have had to go to their sixth choice in Arron Oberholser to find someone prepared to play. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson all turned down the opportunity and so Oberholser and Sean O'Hair will represent the Stars and Stripes.

It's been a similar tale all over as one-by-one the world's top players have given their excuses...

Australia - Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley and Richard Green are having a marathon Neighbours session.
Sweden - Henrik Stenson and Niclas Fasth are sauna-ing.
England – Luke Donald is washing his hair.
Fiji – Vijay Singh will be on the beach.
Colombia -Camilo Villegas is having an early night.
Spain -Sergio Garcia is running with the bulls that weekend.
South Africa - Ernie Els and Rory Sabbatini are running with the springbok.
Germany – Bernhard Langer said nein danke.
Argentina – Angel Cabrera will be enjoying some quality beef.
South Korea – KJ Choi will be theorising on the relative merits of communism and democracy.
Ireland - Padraig Harrington is cream crackered.

It's not all doom and gloom however, as Ian Poulter and Justin Rose will represent England, Monty and Marc Warren will try to go one better than their second last year for Scotland and among others; Andres Romero, Retief Goosen, Miguel Angel Jimenez, and Jose Maria Olazabal will be competing. 

Flag size was awarded on a performance related scheme...

Were the Stars and Stripes flying high this weekend or was it whatever that European one is with the blue and then the circle of stars round it?: Stars and Stripes I'm afraid, despite leading by a point after the delayed fourballs, Europe were beaten 16-12 after the USA won six of the singles matches.
Heroine?:  No thanks, I'm trying to cut down...
Who was the heroine for USA?: Oh. Ignore what I just said. Anyway, Paula Creamer sank a tap-in on the 15th to beat Maria Hjorth and seal the 14 points needed for the USA to retain the cup. Nicole Castrale dropped an eight-footer moments later to clinch the outright win.
And who was the villain?:  It would be extremely harsh to call her a villain, but when Becky Brewerton failed to take relief when in trouble on the 18th  and she then lost out to Sherri Steinhauer, it was definitely a pivotal moment. Perhaps the most villainous thing over the weekend were Dottie Pepper's remarks about the American team.
Go on...:  In a truly Big Ron-esque moment, believing her mic to be off, the ex Solheim competitor and now commentator described Diaz and Steinhauer as “choking, freaking, dogs.”
Ooh catty.: No, dogs.
I meant...oh nevermind.: I never do...

A triumph for fans of red phone-boxes, kilts, leeks and shamrocks

Tee-ing off in Ireland later this month, the fifth Seve Trophy will pit the cream of Europe's golfing talent against each other in a fight to the death... metaphorically speaking. So what's it all about?

1. Played in alternate years to the Ryder Cup, The Seve Trophy pits Great Britain and Ireland against the rest of Europe in a battle to decide which is better, a full English breakfast or a continental.

2. The trophy takes its name from Seve Ballesteros as one of the main advocates of the tournament and for his heroics for Europe in the Ryder Cups of the 80's and 90's.

3. A three day tournament, days one and two are pairs matches with a concluding set of singles matches on the third day. A fourth day with drinking games, belly flop competitions and a three-legged race is being considered for the 2009 event.

4. Unlike the Ryder Cup, the teams are made up of 10 men apiece rather than 12 and in order to attract the biggest names to what is a relatively new tournament, the competitors are paid for their involvement .

5. The leading four players from the World Rankings, the leading four from the European Order of Merit and two captain's picks are selected for each side. This criteria ensures that a mix of Europe's top stars are involved, even if they play the majority of their golf on the PGA Tour.

6. Since the first tournament, in 2000, GB&I have won three times to Europe's one. Stick that up your stripy jumpers you wrong side of the road driving, liberal attitude having, continentals.

7. The Heritage Golf and Spa Resort in the Republic of Ireland, which was jointly designed by Seve himself, will provide the venue for this year's clash.

8. This year Nick Faldo will take the reins from Monty who had captained GB&I in all the previous tournaments. For Europe, Seve, will re-take control from Jose Maria Olazabal who stood in for him last year. 

9. The upturn in results for Europe in the Ryder Cup since 2000 has partly been attributed to the advent of the Seve Trophy, as players get a chance to hone their team matchplay skills in a competitive environment. So everyone's a winner, except, more accurately, whoever loses.

10. The trophy will be contested between the 27th and the 30th of September, almost exactly a year before the 2008 Ryder Cup tees off in Kentucky and on exactly the same dates as it's American counterpart, The President's Cup.

"Elin was only saying the other day how we needed a new punch bowl"

Any surprises?: That depends, can you continue to be surprised by Wood's record breaking antics?
Try me...: Woods' closing round of 66 gave him a 72 hole total of a 23-under-par 257, smashing the Tour Championship record by six shots and giving Woods a new personal best. A personal best that left his closest competitors, Zach Johnson and Mark Calcavecchia trailing eight shots in his wake and earning him two trophies at the same time.
Pfff. Is that all? I did that last week: Yes but in Tiger's case this actually happened and wasn't merely a figment of the fevered imagination of an imbecile.
Steady on... So who else did what?: After Johnson and Calcavecchia, Sergio shot an even par 70 to finish fourth. Of the FedEx hopefuls, Steve Stricker did the best with a three-under-par 67 which was enough to give him a second place FedEx finish and a $3million pension plan.
Now what?: Now what – what?
Now what for the rest of the season?:Now we enter the Fall Series which is being subtitled  “The Quest for The Card” seven events to determine the rest of the top 125 players eligible for next year's FedEx Cup.
Anything else I should know?: I could regale you with more of Tiger's records, for example he has played his last five tournaments at 75-under-par and has earned $10,876,052 this season, only $29,114 short of the record set by Vijay in 2004. Vijay played 29 times that year however and Tiger achieved that in only 16.
Is there anything he can't do?: Breathe underwater and speak French. Apart from that. No.

A young Faldo discusses the merits of the bowl cut

On this day, in 1977, the U.S.A retained the Ryder Cup with a 12 ½ to 7 ½ victory at Royal Lytham and St. Annes Golf Club. This would turn out to be the final Ryder Cup contested between just GB and Ireland and the States after Jack Nicklaus' suggestion to include the whole of Europe in the interests of competition. The 1977 Ryder Cup is probably best remembered for the emergence of a 20 year old Nick Faldo who won all of his matches, including a one hole victory over Tom Watson.

Also on this day, in 1908, The Wright Flyer captained by Orville Wright crashes, killing the passenger Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, who becomes the first aeroplane fatality.

Meanwhile, in 1956, television was first broadcast in Australia.  Originally, programmes were shipped over from the BBC but they all appeared upside down on Australian TV sets, leading to the development of their own top-quality shows such as Neighbours and Prisoner Cell Block H.

And it's Ndumbu Nsungu! As they say in the Gillingham and Bradford areas, to; Manchester born Italian footballer Simone Perrotta (30),  Prodigy dancer turned frontman Keith Flint (38) and housewive's favourite, Des Lynam (65). Today was also the day, that in 2000, Paula Yates was found dead following an accidental heroin overdose.