Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Did You Ever Think About Playing Golf For A Living?

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April 9th, 2012

Advance Loan Blog

This is a real case of the greener grass

When I was younger, the thought of playing a sport in order to make a living seemed to be utterly ridiculous. It was something reserved for the very few. At the start of my engineering career I was apprenticed at a firm of engineers and the apprentice under whom I served had a brother-in-law who had turned himself into a professional golf player. At lunch time all the young apprentices would gather around and listen to the golfing stories of the brother-in-law. It was fascinating stuff. Here were we, setting out on a dull featureless path of engineering while this young fellow, about our own age, was out on the green fairways everyday, slamming the little white ball all over the golf course and having a great time. How many times I wanted to walk into the house and tell my parents that I was dropping out of my studies and taking up golf.

Not as it seemed

Slowly but surely we heard further details. “He spent 8 hours in a bunker practicing bunker shots, yesterday.” “He was out on the road running and walking all day.” “He practiced 20 foot putts for 5 hours and then 18 footers for 5 hours.” All of a sudden engineering became quite exciting! The penny really dropped when one story was: “he walked into the house, hurled his golf-bag and clubs into his room and announced that the next morning he was going downtown to fine a decent job.” I became an engineer but never stopped dreaming about the time I nearly became a great golfer.

The Masters

We all watched the ups and downs of the Masters over the past few days. The course is simply breathtaking, the players recognizable from the TV and newspapers, the atmosphere friendly and warm; what else can one ask for… And of course overlying everything is the prize money.

The money

The total purse is $8 million and the winner will collect a check for $1.44 million. The second player will get $864,000 and the third $544,000. These are huge amounts of money and it takes nerves of steel and countless hours of practice and training to earn them. The names of all the winners are famous and their earnings are many-times magnified by the hype and advertising that follows such a win.

The winner

The winner was the charismatic Bubba Watson, who burst into tears upon sinking the decisive putt at the second sudden-death hole. He watched his playing partner Louis Oosthuizen make the rarest of albatrosses at the par-five second but performed a spectacular play-off flourish of his own to break the South African’s resistance and claim his first major title. "I never got this far in my dreams," Watson, a native of Bagdad, Florida, said amid the sobs.

Great shots
Watson’s escape shot off pine straw at the 10th, after fanning his drive way to the right, was a masterstroke. Apparently blocked by the pine trees, he engineered a fabulous escape shot to within 12 feet of the flag, before sinking the putt and sealing his first green jacket. Oosthuizen’s albatross at the par-five second already belongs to Master’s legend.

Tags: Golf, Prize money, Professional golfer, Sports, US Open Golf
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Dubai Is Rich But the Big Golf Bucks Are Still In the US

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December 7th, 2011

Golf’s top two players go head-to-head in an attempt to finish top of the money list for 2011

Luke Donald, World No. 1 and fellow British star Rory McIlroy will do battle at the Dubai World Championship, the $7.5 million season-ending climax to the Race to Dubai. Donald is bidding to become the first player to finish a season top of both the European and United States PGA Tour money lists, while McIlroy still wants to add gloss to a year which saw him clinch his first major at the U.S. Open, a feat that still eludes Donald.

Who will finish top?

Donald looked a certainty to secure a historic double until recently. The Englishman remains in the driving seat but McIlroy’s superb end-of-season form, culminating in Sunday’s Hong Kong Open win, means the Northern Irishman can still overtake his Ryder Cup teammate. For McIlroy to finish top, he must win on Sunday. Even then the odds are stacked in Donald’s favor as he needs only to finish ninth, should McIlroy win, to end 2011 top of the pile.

How much is it worth?

As well as a $7.5 million tournament prize fund, there is another $7.5 million bonus fund that will be shared out between the top 15 players in the Race to Dubai, with the winner receiving a $1.5 million cut. Donald has won a whopping $5.2 million in European Tour events this season, while McIlroy has $4.1 million to his name.

However, clinching the first prize will lift McIlroy up to $5.3 million, meaning anything up to ninth place, which would take Donald onto $5.4 million, is good enough for the current leader. Remarkably, should Donald share ninth place with one other player, he will finish ahead of McIlroy by just $7!

Richer than America?

No! The big money is still to be won across the Atlantic. Luke Donald has piled up $6.7 million from 19 PGA Tour events this season. Even if he was to win the Dubai showpiece, the 34-year-old’s European prize fund would still be less than his earnings from the United States.

Likely outcome?

The sheer consistency of Donald’s form this season indicates he is likely to get the top-nine placing he needs, regardless of what McIlroy achieves in Dubai. In just 12 European Tour events, six fewer than McIlroy, Donald has had three wins, two seconds, a fourth, a sixth, an eighth, a ninth, an 11th, a 45th at the U.S. Open and a missed cut at the British Open. And McIlroy, who was overhauled by Lee Westwood in 2009 after leading the inaugural Race to Dubai going into the final event, has admitted that he is feeling fatigued this week. A virus has sent his white blood cell count "very low" and McIlroy told reporters he is awaiting the results of tests, after visiting a doctor on his arrival from Hong Kong.

My golfing days

They were not exactly a disaster, but then I never worked at the game and never practiced. Who knows what may have been? Could I have made it to Dubai?

Tags: Dubai, gold, Luke Donald, Prize money, Rory McIlroy, the Race to Dubai
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