Golf Central

On this day, in 1971, the golf world lost its only Grand Slam winner when the legendary amateur Bobby Jones died, aged 69, in his native Atlanta, Georgia, after a 20-year fight against the rare crippling spinal disease syringomyelia, which had left him bound to a wheelchair for the last years of his life.

When news of the death of golf's first global superstar and statesman arrived at St Andrews, the flag was lowered to half-staff at the HQ of the Royal & Ancient Golf Glub, and play was halted on the Old Course for a period of silence.

The reverence was not surprising. Although Jones' accomplishments are far to lengthy and his life too full to completely detail here, his record spoke for itself ...

So, on to today's award with the help of our lovely assistant, Natalie Gulbis. Now, there was no Ryder Cup this year, but there was still some high drama which could lead to the partaking of an alcoholic beverage or two. Without having Woosie around to blow champagne jets out his nostrils, who gave us the best excuse to party in 2007? ... (drumroll) ... envelope, please, Natalie ...
Padraig Harrington!
Hooray! That's right Natalie. You know, the enormously talented and dedicated Irishman was dangerously close to having the mantle of "best player not to win a major" passed to him until he passed it straight back to his rival for the 2007 Open Championship title, Sergio Garcia, down the stretch at Carnoustie. Afterwards, Padraig celebrated with something fortified straight out of the Claret Jug.
Way to go Padraig! I hope you had a Guinness for me ...
Yep, despite his wholesome, slightly bookish, chartered-accountant appearance, Padraig managed to knock back a few Guinesses after his win. Wait ... is it proper to say Guinnesses, or is the plural Guinni ...?
I think it's Guinni. Or "pints of Guinness", you idiot ... Anyway, are you trying to say that the Irish have a reputation for liking a drink or tree? ...
You said it, Nats ...
No, you said it ...
You said it.
You said it.
You said it, Nats ...
No, you said it ...
You said it ...
No, you said it ...
I think I'm falling in love with you, Nats ...
Knew that would shut her up ...

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
Best Verbal Sparring: Paul Azinger
Best Bible Thumper: Zach Johnson
Best Excuse To Drink: Padraig Harrington
Best Reason For Drug Tests: Bryan Saltus

* 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.

What the hell do Chris Evert, Greg Norman, mystery blondes and Rory Sabbatini's amazing vanishing act have to do with one another? And what do they have to do with golf (well apart from the obvious Chrissie and Greg bit ...)? Carry on here, and find out more in our weekly essential list of stuff that helps us be marginally smarter and more worldy wise than we were seven days ago...

Here's one - a punk rock version of the white J.Lindeberg belt, featuring some of the most famous icons of alt-golf. The belts cost $20 a pop from new US fairway fashion label Urban Swingers. For more information, check out: www.urban-swingers.com and if you're a particularly generous US InGolfWeTrust devotee you know where to send one...

Tiger Woods hosted the ninth annual Target World Challenge, where he competed against 15 of the world’s best golfers in a charity event to benefit his Tiger Woods Foundation. Sure enough, Tiger won his own tournament and donated his $1.35 million first prize to the Foundation. It was a no-brainer when I advised you to back…

Tiger Woods @ 6/4: Defending champion Woods shot a final round 68 to cruise to seven-shot victory and seal his fourth Target World Challenge title. He finished on 22 under par to equal the course record and prove once again, that he is even value at very short odds. World number three Jim Furyk (11/1) mounted a challenge to Tiger halfway through the final round but fell away on the back nine to finish third. U. S. Masters Champion Zach Johnson (25/1) finished second on 15 under par.
 
I highlighted two players who I suspected might challenge Tiger, sadly they didn’t:

Padraig Harrington @ 12/1: Harrington can boast an excellent record in this event but didn’t produce his best form on this occasion. He eventually finished with a total of 286, 20 shots behind Tiger.
Rory Sabbatini @ 20/1: Sabbatini started the event well but became the first player in the tournament’s nine-year history to withdraw. He didn’t start his final round because of ‘personal reasons’.