Golf Central

It's alright Annika, come down, I won't say anything else

On this day, in 1994, Vijay Singh narrowly squeezed past Miguel Angel Jimenez by one stroke to win the Trophee Lancome.

Vijay Singh was born in 1963 in Lautoka, Fiji and turned pro in 1982. Unless you've been living in a dustbin for the last ten years, you'll know all about Vijay's 3 majors, 31 PGA victories, 32 week stretch at number one and record money winning season – here are five facts however that you probably didn't know about Fiji's finest. (And apologies to those of you that DO live in dustbins.)

1. Fittingly, Vijay's name means victorious lion.
2. He has a son, born in 1990,  named Qass Seth, which as much as it sounds like it, is not a Jedi name.
3. His dad Mohan Singh, who was an airplane technician and golf teacher used to tell a young Vijay that golf balls didn't grow on trees. Vijay proved him wrong though by practising with coconuts.
4. Since turning 40, Singh has won 19 times on the PGA Tour, beating Sam Snead's record by two and proving all those 'life begins at 40' birthday cards right.
5. Although he is right-handed, Singh reckons that he can play to about a six handicap left handed.

Also on this day, in 1066, The Battle of Stamford Bridge marked the end of the Viking era. The English army won a tense battle 7,000 to 2,000 with English manager King Godwinson remarking “The lads done fantastic out there today. We'll be taking it one battle at a time but we're definitely looking forward to Hastings now, which we all know is a difficult place to travel to.”

Meanwhile, in 1976, the band U2 formed at drummer Larry Mullen's home. The original line-up that day included Larry's mum on backing vocals and his dad on the tin whistle but they were later dropped when Larry met Bono and that.

And it's Lu Xun! As they say in Shaoxing, to; shamed celebrity polo-fan and clothes-horse, Jodie Kidd (29), Mrs Michael Douglas - Catherine Zeta Jones (38) and actor-cum-rapper Will Smith (39). It would also have been Ronnie Barker's 79th birthday had it not been "Goodnight from him" in 2005. 

Westwood gratefully accepts his trophy

We're pretty pleased with ourselves today after tipping you the winner in last week's British Masters. High-fives, back-slapping and Special Brew all round.

Lee Westwood @ 18/1: 1st

We told you that 18/1 seemed good odds that Lee Westwood would find some consistency and thats exactly what he did to prevail by five strokes. His return to form saw him become only the seventh  player to win £10 million in their European Tour careers and put him on top of the Ryder Cup points table. 
         

Colin Montgomerie @ 33/1: Tied 19th

A fair performance from Colin but he only threatened to make some money for his backers. Having been in contention, he failed to sustain his challenge and eventually finished on four-under.

Darren Clarke @100/1: Missed cut

We suggested that he might be worth a punt at 100/1, but we were completely wrong because he missed the cut, finishing the first two rounds on plus eight.

If Only...

Just to remind you that we tipped Lee Westwood to win the event and yep, he did. If only we had also told you to back…

Ian Poulter: Available before the tournament started at odds of 20/1, he would have returned a reasonable profit if backed each way (a quarter of the odds for finishing in the top four).

Mark Foster: Finished third and his supporters were rewarded with considerable winnings as he started the competition at a delectable 150/1.

Sam Walker: Likewise his fourth placed finish would have paid his backers a handsome return as his starting price was a huge 1251.

It could have all been ours... if only we'd got the selections right

We were unlucky not to have a placed selection at Turning Stone. Close but no cigar (or cash).

Carl Pettersson @ 25/1: 5th 

After starting the final round in second place he fell away and finished in an agonisingly-close-to-being-paid fifth place on minus 14, just one stroke away from a profitable return.

Sean O’Hair @ 33/1: 13th

Sean was the second of our selections to put in a solid performance. Unfortunately his final score of 11-under wasn’t quite low enough to have the bookies reaching in their pockets.

Brian Gay @ 80/1: missed cut

Our final selection never approached his best form and failed to make it to the weekend. Still, we can always have a chuckle at his name...

If Only...

It turned out that the Turning Stone Resort championship was a hard tournament to predict as the top three finishers started far from favouritism. What we should have told you was to get on…

Steve Flesch: Flesch won after starting the tournament at a lovely 40/1. He started the final day as short as 2/5 having built up a five shot lead.

Michael Allen: Finished second at a whopping 125/1 and would have delivered a tidy profit when backed each way.

John Senden/ John Mallinger: A less substantial, but still well worthwhile return could have been made from backing the two Johns who finished tied in third place.  Senden’s starting price was 50/1, while Mallinger’s was 40/1. 

'Have you ever seen a grown golfer naked?..'

So which of the Fall Series competitors managed to boost their bank roll?: Steve Flesch is the man with the fullest piggy-bank in Verona after his one-over final round was enough to secure his second win of the season and the $1.08 million purse.
The man with the fullest piggy-bank in Verona...sounds like a bad 'B'-movie: Well it wasn't the prettiest day of golf either really, Flesch carded a double-bogey at the first after finding a bunker from the tee and then chipped past the hole at the second and ended up with a bogey.
So no-one from the chasing pack stepped up?: Carl Pettersson and Charles Warren at four shots behind were the closest at the start of the day, but they failed to press the Flesch, shooting one-over and two over respectively.
Who did go close then?: Michael Allen finished two shots back after a final round of 68, he made up five shots on Flesch but it wasn't quite enough. John Senden had the best round of the day and his 67 was enough to grab him a share of third with John Mallinger at 15-under.
And the InGolfWeTrust picks?:  Jinxed, just like I thought. Pettersson finished tied fifth in the end, while Sean O'Hair's even-par round dropped him to tied 13th.

Quinn? I thought you said Quorn...

Come on then, don't leave me in suspense: OK, I won't because it was really exciting...
Well then?: Yes thanks.
Just tell me what happened can't you?: Yep I can.
Just do it now: Ooooh errr. OK. Lee Westwood came out on top after a thrilling final round in which three players all had a chance to win it.
But Westwood dropped the bomb on them?: Errrm, yeah if you like...Is that a Tim Westwood reference?
Yeah. Check yourself fool: Riiiight. Anyway, Ian Poulter and Mark Foster both threatened, but in the end a 35 foot birdie at the 16th and an eagle at the seventeenth held off the challenge and was enough to give Westwood a four shot, 15-under-par victory.
And what happened to Rory McIlroy?: He managed a final round of 73 to finish tied 42nd. He was pretty chuffed with the £10,000 prize money and plans to move out now, but making sure he stays close enough to mum so she can still do his washing.
I didn't ask for his life story, but good to see he has his priorities sorted out: Yep, and staying in the family theme, he'll be playing a father-son exhibition match against Darren Clarke and his pa next week and this Saturday, Ian Poulter's getting married.
Fascinating: Yeah, rumour has it that Poult's has been offered a five figure deal by InGolfWeTrust for exclusive rights to the pics...
Five figure?: Yeah. A fiver.