WESTWOOD AND DONALD

Illustration by Ralph Cosentino

So Lukozade is World No 1. Some tourists at Wentworth thought a section of the crowd were booing Donald. But they were just shouting ‘Luuuuuuuuuke, Luuuuuuke, after each shot, which sounded a little bit like ‘booooooo booooooooo’.

Record crowds of 93,000 over four days attended the flagship European tour event.

Despite all of the money spent on the West course, I’m not sure if it’s any better than the old Wentworth. At least golfers then had a chance of an eagle, eagle finish. With the new re-constructed 18th, the playoff between Westwood & Donald was all down to a pitching wedge shoot-out.

For you and I it now costs a cool £275 to play a round of golf at Wentworth, situated in leafy Surrey, also known as the Stockbroker belt. That equates to £2.75 per shot for me.

At that price, I’d rather have a week’s holiday in Torremolinos.

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STEROIDS

At first I couldn’t decide if this was Poulter on steroids or the fabulous John Daly.

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WENTWORTH

Is this weeks PGA Championship at Wentworth a bigger event than the Players Championship in Florida? And the new unofficial fifth major. With seven of the World’s top nine golfers in action on Thursday.

We did wonder whether this was the real reason for President Obama’s UK visit.

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IJP

Pastel lovin Poulter wins the World Match Play by whipping both Westwood and then Donald.After writing and posting this little ditty we’re hoping his PR Company will stop sending us numerous pieces of junk mail.
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GIRLS AND BOYS

The Ryder Cup in 2018 will be played in France at Le Golf National near Paris.
Hard cheese to Spain, Portugal, Germany and The Netherlands.

The successful French bid was part funded by a three euro levy by 400,000 registered golfers in France payable until 2022. This cordial arrangement got our little brains at Golf Refugees a wondering.

Do you think English golfers would be willing to pay a three pound levy to help fund the building of 100 urban golf courses consisting of between 6 – 9 holes?

Being golf fans we love the Ryder Cup. However, for us, there is one crucial element missing; girls. We’ve said this before; we’d like a Ryder Cup style golf event to include the best male and female golfers. Imagine Tiger Woods and Morgan Pressel playing together verses Rory McIlroy and Melissa Reid?

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R&A

The R&A have acknowledged receiving our submission for the inclusion of ‘eco golf rules’ in future publications of The Rules of Golf. Break out the Vimto.

Dear Golf Refugees,
Thank you for your correspondence. I am aware that you have also been in touch with our Directors, with regard to this issue; we will consider your input in due course, alongside that of many other letters we have received on such matters.
Yours sincerely,The R&A

At our latest board meeting, Golf Refugees have decided to run naked, apart from appropriately placed fig leaf(s), down the 18th hole at our local golf course and through the clubhouse if the R&A introduce any ‘eco golf rules’ within our life time.

We feel this may be an incentive as our bodies will be deteriorating the longer the R&A leave such proposals in the long grass.

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SOUR GRAPES

Is there any point watching the Players Championship this week at the TPC Sawgrass course, pronounced ‘sour-grapes’?
With World no. 1 Lee Westwood and star European player Rory McIlroy skipping the event, their no show has brought stinging criticism from American sports commentators.

"It's an affront to the championship. It's a statement," rants NBC Sports leading analyst Johnny Miller

Isn’t this just another sign of the US losing its grip on World golf?

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NIKE SHIMMER

Tiger pulled out of the Players Championship at 'Sour-grapes' golf course, after shooting six over par in the opening nine holes, citing a recurrence of his knee and Achilles injury. We all wish Tiger a speedy recovery.
However, those ever so clever people at Nike R&D have come up with a new piece of golf equipment called the ‘Shimmer‘ to help get Tiger back to winning ways.
Apparently initial sales of the Shimmer have been slow through the doors at Nike World.

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CAMPAIGN T-SHIRT

Campaign t-shirt for ‘eco golf rules’

Available in various sizes and colours including hot pink for Luke Donald.

Organic cotton carbon neutral for men & women.

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VISION GOLF BALL

You may have seen Srixon’s yellow golf ball in numerous golf magazines, but the most visible golf ball in town is from down-under and appropriately called Vision.Their golf ball and packaging graphics remind us of the ‘PlayStation’ generation. Vision has a range of golf balls to suit every golfer and their designer Wayne Bosley has a wealth of knowledge. Golf Refugees are always asking Wayne about the latest trends in golf ball designs.

So if you fancy a change from your usual mainstream ball, check out Vision’s patented ‘UV Staybright’ technology. It’s the brightest ball in golf.
http://www.visiongolfball.com/
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SEVERIANO BALLESTEROS

An inspiration to everyone who loves sport.
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GOLF IN MUMBAI

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WHERE IS THE LOVE?

Adidas are the official apparel sponsors for the London Olympic 2012 Games and with golf becoming an Olympic sport for 2016, no doubt some of you will love Adidas golf wear.

Below is a list of golf wear brands that were named and shamed by the Textile Garment Workers Federation whose research examined the working conditions for 100,000 workers in 83 factories across Indonesia, Sri Lanka and The Philippines in order to assess how the workers who supply western retail chains are treated.

The report found that massive brands like Adidas are “routinely breaking every rule in the book when it comes to labour rights”. A huge number of high street chains and sporting goods retailers are named in the report including; Dunlop, Fila, Greg Norman, Ralph Lauren, Slazenger, Mizuno, Nike, Puma, Reebok, Tommy Hilfiger..... there are 60 brands named in all.

There appears to be no commercial penalty for major sport brands to treat their textile workers with disdain. With so many brands

involved this reports indicates that industry wide solutions are required.

Should these sport brands garments come with a warning label ‘made by workers denied labour rights’ and/or ‘made in sweatshops’ to inform the consumers about how their garments are made?

Such brands want you the consumer to feel good about wearing their apparel. But how does it make you feel now that you know the young women making your golf polo shirts have been treated so poorly? Where is the love?

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