Golf Scene

In a week that saw American Jason Bohn celebrate his birthday by claiming a dramatic two-shot victory at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans and Australian Marcus Fraser claim his maiden professional victory at the prestigious Ballantines Championship in Korea, the main golfing headlines were captured by one of the game's greats announcing her retirement and an act of sportsmanship so rare these days in the highly-rewarding world of professional sport. After turning 37 the previous day, Bohn charged to his second PGA Tour title with a wire-to-wire win at TPC Louisiana and a final round of 69 proved enough for Marcus Fraser to complete a wire-to-wire victory as the weather shortened a 54-hole tournament at Pinx Golf Club. It is rare to get tournament winners leading from start to finish, a fantastic achievement at any time with the average field in a professional event comprising approximately 150 players, but this week we have two! It was women's world number one Lorena Ochoa's announcement that she is to quit her full-time playing career to focus on her family and charities that has surprised the golf world, in particular ladies golf. The 28-year-old Mexican, who won two majors, has dominated the sport for the last three years since usurping Annika Sorenstam as world number one. After establishing herself as the game's dominant player she helped to push women's golf into the spotlight in a country absorbed by men's football. "I wanted to retire as the world number one and this is the moment," she said tearfully at a press conference explaining her decision. She married father-of-three Andres Conesa, the chief executive of Mexican airline Aeromexico, in her home city of Guadalajara last year and obviously feels that she is ready for that next chapter in her life. We have to respect that decision but the LPGA Tour will certainly miss a great champion. The Verizon Heritage gave us a wonderful week of golf last week on what is one of the world's great golf courses. On a course that is tight and requires a great deal of thought to plot your way round, you'd always look to somebody like Jim Furyk as a potential winner, and indeed he came out on top. But we never could have expected the wonderful climax to the tournament, involving the Englishman Brian Davis. He's a consistent money-earner on the American Tour, having won somewhere in the region of $6million, and he's knocked on the door of victory many times. He's had a couple of runner-up finishes and some people would say he's in a comfort zone. The way he played he was clearly desperate to win the tournament, but he proved two things last week. Firstly, he showed that he has what it takes to stand on the last green and make a putt to win a golf tournament. He holed the putt he needed under pressure to tie with Furyk and take the event into a play-off. But, secondly, what he did in the play-off - which subsequently cost him the victory - made him an even greater hero in my eyes. As he played out of the bunker he caught a twig on his backswing, although the incident was so minor it was almost impossible to see on television. If it had been attached it wouldn't have been a penalty, but unfortunately for him it was dead and that makes it a loose impediment. Davis put his hand up and told the officials. It effectively cost him the victory, but it won him the plaudits of golf lovers everywhere. We talk about a golden era for golf, particularly in Europe, and we talk about the talent that there is in the world today. But it's always wonderful to reflect on somebody who plays the game in the spirit it was always meant to be played in. Golf is a gentleman's sport, one of the cleanest sports around and Davis provided a shining example of that. You think of other sports involving huge financial rewards such as football. How regularly do you see people falling over in the box to get a penalty when they haven't been touched? By the end of the year, that will be regarded as one of the moments of 2010. Brian Davis - gentleman golfer. Other sports should take note.