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It was wonderful to see so many young players taking part in the Royal Golf Club Junior Open last weekend; children aged from four years up to 18 took to the fairways to try out their newly learned skills and a lot of fun was had by all.
Junior golf is thriving here in Bahrain, as it is throughout the world; over 70 players took part in seven separate categories ranging from a 3-hole scramble to 18-holes of stroke play. It was also great to see a big mix of club members, Bahraini players and members of our Junior Academy all taking part.
A big thank you to all the children who competed and to all the parents who helped out; these dedicated volunteers helped marshal, score and generally keep order out on the course! We're already working to make the event bigger and better next time around.
A new young star for our juniors to look up to and someone who has come up through the Amateur ranks is Welshman Rhys Davies. He produced an inspired final round display to win his first European Tour title at the Hassan II Trophy in Morocco on Sunday.
Davies fired a closing seven-under-par 66 to emerge triumphant by two shots from overnight leader, Louis Oosthuizen. Davies trailed the South African by three with 15 holes to play, but birdied eight of the next 11 holes as he finished on a 25-under-par total of 266. It meant Oosthuizen had to settle for a fourth runner-up finish on the European Tour. But it was Davies who stole the show as he held his nerve in impressive style to close out victory.
Things had not started well for the 24-year-old former Walker Cup player as he lost early ground on playing partner Oosthuizen at the par-three second with a bogey. His win will now push him into contention for a possible Ryder Cup debut in his homeland later in the year; what a climax that would be to a dream year for him.
Finally, last week came the announcement that we have all been waiting for; now I believe Tiger Woods can produce miracles, but winning the Masters in his first tournament back might be a miracle too far. I was not surprised to hear that he will be playing at Augusta - he was never going to miss a major championship this year - but I am surprised that it will be his first tournament back.
Throughout his career, Woods has never gone to a major without being 100 per cent prepared and in order to do that I feel he needed at least one warm-up tournament. Even for a player of his talent, it's near impossible to ask him to play well enough to contend and win at Augusta. I might be wrong!
Everybody will be under strict instructions not to ask any personal questions and a lot of journalists would be very fearful of being kicked out of the Masters, never to return. Tiger's press conferences at the Masters are likely to be incredibly controlled, and if that's the case then also incredibly contrived. But while you can control the media to some extent, you can't control what goes on behind the ropes.
Elements of the crowd will be rooting for him and will be revved up by the chance to watch the world's greatest golfer, but there will be another element wanting to shout and take the Mickey. In his first interview this week since the revelations began, he talked about how nervous he feels about the reception he might receive. That's something Tiger will have to become accustomed to and it's another reason why playing at Bay Hill this week may have helped him.
Hardly anybody has shouted anything derogatory at Tiger throughout his career, he has always been a superhero to the fans, but people may start to have little digs at him now. Hopefully it won't be that way.
I'd like to think that the world of golf is a place where he can come back and be appreciated for being one of the greatest players in history. When he's on the golf course, people feel privileged to be able to witness the level of skill which he attains. Even as a professional golfer, I am always excited to turn the television on and watch Woods. That's borne out by the fact that audiences have dropped by up to 65 per cent in America when he hasn't been playing.
I think the Masters will be a step too soon, but what theatre it's going to be that weekend. Everybody will be glued to it.
