Golf Central

A top quality field assembled at the Hyatt Regency Coolum Course to compete for the Australian PGA Championship and I TIPPED YOU THE WINNER! I correctly advised you to back…

Peter Lonard @ 14/1: A brilliant final round of 65 meant Lonard claimed a three stroke victory with a score of 20 under par. Lonard continued his excellent record on the Coolum Course with four sub-70 rounds to capture the Joe Kirkwood trophy for a third time.

I incorrectly advised you to back:

Rory Sabbatini @ 12/1: Sabbatini led the event going into the final day but five bogeys on the back nine of his final round meant he eventually finished in a tie for tenth place, eight strokes behind.
John Senden @ 16/1: A disappointing event for Senden who finished in a tie for 39th place on four under par.

If tipping the winner was insufficient, then I should also have advised you to back:
 
David Smail @ 50/1: The New Zealander shot a final round of 68 to secure second place outright on 17 under par, and at a good price.
Greg Chalmers @ 80/1, Scott Laycock @ 125/1, and Michael Sim @ 80/1: Three Australians shared third place on 16 under par and would each have made a healthy profit if backed each-way.

The European Tour headed to the Leopard Creek Golf Club in Mpumalanga in South Africa for the Alfred Dunhill Championship. I backed three natives to shine on home soil but, astonishingly, they didn’t and I incorrectly advised you to back…

Ernie Els @ 10/3: Els was aiming to become only the fourth player to win a European Tour event on four separate occasions and after a third round of 64 it seemed that he had the tournament in the bag. But after staring the 18th hole with a two shot lead, he found the water twice for a triple-bogey eight and gifted the title to John Bickerton by one stroke.
Charl Schwartzel @ 12/1: Schwartzel couldn’t reproduce the course form that has seen him finish in the top two of this event for the last three years. He missed the cut after scoring four over par for his opening two rounds.
Louis Oosthuizen @ 28/1: Oosthuizen currently tops the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit but his excellent recent form deserted here and he also missed the cut after posting three over for two rounds.

I should have advised you to get on:

John Bickerton @ 125/1: Els’ collapse gave the amazed Bickerton his third European Tour event success. But, Bickerton deserves full credit for a great performance; he closed with back-to-back rounds of 68 to finish on 13 under par and make a massive profit for his supporters.
Lee Slattery @ 80/1: Slattery did very well to shoot a second round of 65 and a third round of 67 and finish tied with Els for second place on 12 under par.
Joost Luiten @ 80/1: Luiten almost missed the cut but recovered brilliantly to post a third round of 64 and 67 in the final round to finish in fourth place on 11under par.

So, on to today's award with the help of our lovely assistant, Natalie Gulbis. Now, what with the Ryder Cup and the President's Cup and the World Cup, there's a whole lot of flag waving these days in golf. And you girls can't resist painting up your faces with flags at the Solheim Cup can you, Nats? But who was the absolute most rugged patriotic figure in golf in 2007? ... (drumroll) ... envelope, please, Natalie ...
Mike Weir!
Hooray! That's right Natalie. No, it's not Stephen Ames ... Just because he has a Canadian passport and a Trinidanian one, we reckon he's actually from Transylvania. What does the Transylvanian flag look like, Nats?
I don't know. I think it's like ... a big castle, some bats, and some fangs!
Nice guess. Nope our Patriot of the Year is none other than Mike Weir, who was having such an absolutely lousy season that even the notoriously nice Canadian press ganged up on Gary Player for selecting Mike for the Presidents Cup. How'd that turn out? Well, all Weir did was go 3-0-1 in a losing cause and was the International Team's best player, and he beat Tiger Woods 1-up in the singles ... as they say in ice hockey, that's "coming up big."
(singing) Ô Canada! Terre de nos aïeux, ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux! ... by the way, Canada's national anthem was written by Robert Stanley Weir (no relation).
You surprise us all the time, Nats ... Mike's acceptance speech was typically low key: "If I can raise more money for charities, or get more Canadian kids to play golf, it's all worth it." What a guy, 'eh?
You bet. He's hot.

2007 Rusty Award Winners so far:
Worst Putter: Davis Love III
Best Clutch Shot: Boo Weekley
Silliest Name in Golf: Ben Bunny
Best Career Change: Rick Rhoden
Most Pretentious Broadcaster: Gary Lineker
Best Sand Player: Tim Clark
Coolest Shoes: Hunter Mahan
Marlboro Man Award: Angel Cabrera
Coolest Headwear: Jesper Parnevik
Best Second-Best: Ernie Els
Most Daft Quote: Woody Austin
Worst Dresser (Male): Sergio Garcia
Best Golfing Oddball: Camilo Villegas
Best YouTube Moment: Woody Austin
Best Dresser (Female): Paula Creamer
Best Mullet Hairdo: Charley Hoffman
Best Patriot: Mike Weir

* We would invite all of our winners to our gala Awards Dinner in December, but we fear they might trip on the red carpet or a loose paving stone, or something ...  Our yearly awards are called the "Rusty Awards", instead of "Trusty Awards", because Natalie Gulbis thinks the name of our website is "In Golf Wet Rust". Gulbis is good at golf and glamour, but not so good at grammar.

On this day, in 1949, the great Ben Hogan played his first round of golf since narrowly escaping death in a car crash on February 1, 1949.

Already one of the world's finest players - if not the best - Hogan was left with a double fracture of the pelvis, a fractured collar bone and near-fatal blood clots when the car he was driving with his wife Valerie was nearly destroyed by a Greyhound bus in a head-on crash in Texas. Valerie was unhurt, but doctors said Hogan might not walk again, let alone play golf.

On April 1, 1949, 59 days after the crash, Hogan left the hospital and continued to rehabilitate at home. But his restless spirit wouldn't let him rest.

He broke out the clubs and it was on December 10, 1949, that Hogan teed it up at his home course of Colonial Country Club for his first round. He decided to transport himself around the course that day on a motorcycle-driven cart ... a fore-runner of today's golf buggies.

He shot 71 ...

When a good guy like Ernie Els stumbles in such stupefying fashion, as happened at the Dunhill Championship in South Africa, and gives it up to a good guy like John Bickerton, you sort of shrug your shoulders and say "that's golf, poor guy."

But when Rory Sabbatini goes into the final round with a lead, staggers to a 74, and ends up tied for 10th, eight shots back of good-guy Peter Lonard ... then claims he had to "force the aggression", you sort of say ... "cool!" ...