Golf Central

It was on this day in 1975, aged 51 years, 7 months, and 10 days old, that the late Art Wall Jr. beat Gary McCord by one stroke to win the Greater Milwaukee Open. Wall, who won the 1959 Masters, became the second-oldest player ever to win a PGA Tour event. This would be Wall's 14th and final PGA Tour victory.

Five years earlier in 1970, Donna Caponi struggled with a final-round 77, but still managed to win the Women's US Open at Muskogee CC, Oklahoma, seeing off Sandra Haynie and Sandra Spuzich by one stroke. Caponi actually held a 54 hole record score of 210, and became only the second player after Mickey Wright to defend the Championship successfully. 

On a good day for fishermen and people without tastebuds, today in 1937, Spam was launched. InGolfWeTrust still remembers Spam sandwiches in the back of a Ford Cortina on the way to Butlins in Minehead, and we're still angry.

Austin, Minnesota is known as Spam Town as it produces all US Spam (imagine the stench), and 2002 saw the six millionth can sold. Apparently, it is so popular that it is given as a gift more often than chocolate. Poppycock.

Had she not passed away in 1963, three-time US Women's Amateur champion, Beatrix Hoyt, would have been 118 years old. As it is, we cry Grattis pŒ fšdelsedagen as they do in Sweden to Edie 'Carmen Soprano' Falco (45), fat rapper Bizarre (32), over-priced, self-important fashion designer Paul Smith (65), and musical criminal Huey Lewis (58).

Believe it or not, there other sports in this world apart from golf and there is, for that matter, more to the weekend than simply hacking your way around 18 holes or plonking yourself in front of the box and watching the pros do it. This weekend, get yourselves over to Harrah's Casino in Las Vegas for the 2008 World Series Of Poker Main Event.

The highlight of every poker player's year, the WSOP Main Event is a $10,000 buy-in, no-limit hold 'em event. There will be 12,000 players calling, folding and bluffing their way to the coveted gold bracelet, not to forget a winner's cheque worth well over $8 million.

In such a massive field, it's unlikely that reigning champion Jerry Yang will win again, but stranger things have happened. The Main Event started on Thursday and goes on for seven days, with the final table being played, somewhat bizzarely, in November. A few players to look out for that are left in the field include Scotty Nguyen, Bill Gazes, Paul Wasicka and Harry Demetriou.

It's not often that something well and truly inspires us to hit the fairways here at IGWT, but when we learned about the likes of Jack Newton and the British Amputee Golf Association, it was almost impossible not to dust off the clubs and book a tee time.

Jack Newton is an Australian golfer, best known for his playoff performance against Tom Watson in the 1975 Open at Carnoustie. Eight years after losing to Watson, however, Newton was seriously injured after walking into the spinning propeller of a Cessna plane. Remarkably, he still shoots scores in the mid-80s despite losing his right arm.

Equally impressive is the tale of the British Amputee Golf Association, who convene at Bryn Meadows GC, South Wales, this weekend for the most prestigious tournament of the year. 50 golfers from across the world will play in the event, which was first hosted at Bryn Meadows in 1989 and is played at a different course every year. The tournament and association were both founded by golf enthusiast Brian Mayo, who lost both his legs after licking a golf ball contaminated by weed killer.

Mayo sadly passed away in 1999, and his wife, Fay, said, 'I would think he's looking down now with some of his golfing heroes and he would be pretty chuffed with the way it's turned out.' Never a truer word said.

Ross Fisher shot a record-breaking 63 at The London Club to take a two-stroke lead at The European Open. 27-year-old Fisher's nine-under round included a holed 187 yard bunker shot on the seventh and a massive 413 yard drive on the ninth hole.

Fisher beat Seve Ballesteros' previous record set in 1984... to think he nearly didn't play the event because he was too tired. Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell and David Frost are two strokes behind Fisher, with Rory Mcilroy, Peter Hedblom and Jeev Milkha Singh well in the mix.

Colin Montgomerie was the best of our picks at two-under, though Robert Karlsson and John Bickerton both dissapointed after rounds of 74 (two over).

Steve Marino carded a bogey-free, five under 65 to take a one-shot lead at the AT & T National. Marino birdied three of his first four holes and never had to make a par putt longer than five feet, finishing on the 18th hole with an eight-foot birdie.

After opening rounds of 66, Jeff Overton, Frank Licliter and Rod Pampling find themselves one behind. Germany's Alex Cejka, 375/1 long shot Notah Begay III and Anthony Kim are all in the mix, with rumours rife that Kim is set to unveil a new belt sometime over the weekend.

Kim kept pretty quiet about the new arrival, saying, 'I actually had to get insurance on this thing;that's how nice it is. So it will be here on the weekend.' Of our picks, Kevin Streelman is fairing the best at one-under, with Steve Stricker one-over and Rocco Mediate at three-over. Early stages and all that...