Gary Player visits Brazil in support of Brasil Classic tournament

The man who put South Africa on the golfing map landed in São Paulo on a mission to do the same for the sport in Brazil.

As part of its sponsorship of this week's Brasil Classic tournament (April 4-7), global golf sponsor HSBC has flown in international golf legend Gary Player to help the country's best young amateur prepare for the event with a 48 hour masterclass in golfing excellence.

As the countdown continues to golf's return to the Olympic Games at Rio 2016, the nine time Major winner gave São Paulo-born Rafael Becker a putting lesson on the roof of the city's tallest building, Centenario Plaza - a perfect birthday present for the former Brazilian No 1 junior who turns 22 today.

Player, a finalist for the 2016 Rio Olympic golf course design bid, hopes to lend the young Brazilian advice from his storied career that includes a record setting 59 en route to his 1974 Brazil Open victory.

Becker - the only local amateur taking part in the US $675,000 Brasil Classic presented by HSBC - will spend two days under the wing of the golf icon as part of a comprehensive masterclass covering everything from mental preparation to diet and fitness plus all aspects of the game from tee to green. The pair will also play a full round together at the tournament's Pro-Am event.

Brasil Classic presented by HSBC is a new event on the Web.com Tour, the developmental tour which represents the main opportunity to earn a place on the PGA Tour.

South African Player, who is renowned as the world's most travelled sportsman having clocked up an incredible 25 million km, said: "When I first started to travel the world in the 1950s it was a genuine breakthrough moment for golf in South Africa - now could be the moment for Brazil and if my visit can inspire the next generation of talent that really would be fantastic.

"When HSBC contacted me I was more than happy to answer the call - Rio 2016 is fast approaching and this Brasil Classic event is a great shop window for golf in this part of the world.

"I'm absolutely thrilled that golf will be included in the Olympics once again. The exposure will be a great catalyst for growth and development around the world, especially in new, emerging markets and the growth in Brazil and Latin America will be tremendous.

"The global game of golf is developing at a rapid pace and there's one thing I've learnt in my career - change is the price of survival."

Giles Morgan, HSBC Global Head of Sponsorship & Events, added: "This year marks HSBC's tenth anniversary as a major international sponsor of golf - in that time we have been involved in 30 tournaments and 1,000 golf days and helped thousands of children worldwide get involved in the game of golf.

"As a global banking and financial services organisation, we pride ourselves on opening up a world of opportunities for people and we want to help Brazil maximize the Olympic opportunity - this is why we have sponsored this groundbreaking new event on the Web.com Tour and why we have flown one of the best golfer's in history to São Paulo this week.

"We hope Rafael can go on to great things for Brasil and it would be incredible to see him making an impact at Rio 2016 - with a nine time major winner on his side he's got a great chance."

For further information, please contact:
HSBC Golf Press Office
Steve Bradley 07771 776568 steve.bradley@hkstrategies.com

About HBSC:
HSBC provides a comprehensive range of financial services to around 89 million customers through four global businesses; Global Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Global Commercial Banking, Global Banking and Markets and Global Private Banking.

The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from around 6,900 offices in over 80 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, North and Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. With assets of US$2,721bn at 30 September 2012, the HSBC Group is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations.

HSBC Golf Sponsorships
HSBC's global commitment to golf encompasses all levels of the game, from grassroots to elite. HSBC is a Patron of The Open Championship and this partnership with The Royal & Ancient creates a centre of gravity in a global golf portfolio that spans HSBC's key markets. In Asia, HSBC has spearheaded the arrival of world-class golf events, with its flagship WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai and HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore. The WGC-HSBC Champions is renowned as 'Asia's Major' and was once described by 14-time Major winner and former World Number 1 Tiger Woods as "The crowning jewel of all of Asian golf."

HSBC has been co-title sponsor of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship since 2010 and the event has quickly become one of the biggest events on the European PGA Tour calendar. As golf returns to the Olympic Games for Rio 2016, HSBC is sponsoring the Brasil Classic event on the Web.com Tour in April 2013.

However, underpinning those blue-riband events is a longer-term goal to create a legacy from HSBC's global tournaments through its sponsorship of youth development and grassroots programmes. As well as committing to the professional game, HSBC has a longer-term goal to create the legacy through sponsorship of youth development and grassroots programmes around the world. In China, HSBC supports the HSBC China Junior Golf Program - a sustainable long-term structure and framework upon which the future of Chinese golf is being built. This includes the HSBC-sponsored China National Junior Team, the HSBC China Junior Open and the HSBC National Junior Golf Championship: a year-long series of tournaments designed to give China's elite junior golfers the competitive platform they need to develop their game. In the UK HSBC is sponsor of HSBC Golf Roots - The Golf Foundation's national development programme which promotes the sport in schools, helps youngsters into clubs, and uses golf to promote important life skills such as honesty and respect. 

Source  http://www.worldgolf.com/newswire/browse/74957-GOLF-LEGEND-GARY-PLAYER-OLYMPIC-MISSION-BRAZIL

Stacy Lewis on top of the golf world

Dale Lewis never thought his daughter, Stacy, could be the No. 1 golfer in the world. His dream for her was much more modest.

“I just wanted her to play in one college golf tournament. That was it,” Dale said.

On Sunday, after Stacy had received a celebratory beer bath from LPGA Tour pros Gerina Piller and Kristy McPherson, father and daughter met on the 18th green at Wildfire Golf Club. Dale, his eyes moist, lifted Stacy in the air and spoke the words he once thought impossible.

“You’re the Number 1 player in the world,” he said.

So she is.

Lewis’ final-round 8-under 64 gave her a 3-shot victory over Ai Miyazato in the RR Donnelley Founders Cup and, more significantly, vaulted her past Na Yeon Choi and Yani Tseng to the top of the Rolex rankings.

For a woman who wore a back brace 18 hours a day for 7½ years starting at the age of 11 because of scoliosis, the ascent defies reason or explanation.

“Almost 10 years ago I was going into surgery to put a (titanium) rod and five screws in my back,” said Lewis, who ended Tseng’s 109-week stranglehold on No. 1 and is the first American to top the rankings since Cristie Kerr in 2010.

“That’s not normal. … I mean, I’m really not supposed to be here. People with metal in their back, how do you play golf? I don’t know. I don’t know how.”

Lewis started thinking about the No. 1 ranking midway through the 2012 season but figured it would take much of this year to get there — if she did at all. But two victories in four starts — she won the HSBC Women’s Champions earlier this month — made up the ground rather quickly.

“It’s just crazy,” Lewis said. … “To be Number 1 in the world — it’s what everybody out here on tour is working for, and to be that person, is, I mean, I really don’t even know what to say.”

For much of Sunday, victory seemed beyond Lewis’ grasp. Every time she made a birdie, Miyazato responded and maintained a 3-stroke lead with six holes left.

But then everyone found out that there’s more than one infamous 16th hole in the Valley.

On Saturday, Lewis incurred a 2-stroke penalty at the short (307 yards) and supposedly benign par 4 when her caddie, Travis Wilson, was ruled to have tested the sand in the left fairway bunker.

Sunday, No. 16 cost Miyazato the tournament.

Standing in the fairway with a 1-stroke lead and a pitching wedge in her hand, Miyazato hit her approach shot far left — “I was shocked. That’s not Ai at all,” Lewis said — and it rolled down a hill and into an unplayable lie in the desert. After inexplicably taking a drop in the desert rather than walking back to her original lie and hitting her fourth shot from the fairway, Miyazato wound up with a double-bogey.

Lewis then drained her birdie putt, pointed to Wilson and walked to the 17th tee with a 2-shot lead.

The tournament — and the No. 1 ranking — were hers.

“We were so motivated today,” said Lewis, 28. “I really wanted to birdie 16. That was kind of in the back of my mind all day, and as soon as I made that putt, I pointed to Travis, and I said, ‘That one’s for you.’

“He would have felt horrible if we lost by 2, so that’s why I just put the dagger in and made some more putts there coming in.”

Lewis, who donated $50,000 of her purse to the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf foundation, won’t be burdened by the pressure of being No. 1.

She knows there will be additional demands on her time and that she’ll be under the microscope every time she tees it up.

But she has a back held together by a rod and five screws, and all dad wanted was that one college tournament.

What’s not to enjoy?

“I watched Yani struggle with (the expectations) for too long,” Lewis said. “I’m going to go have fun.”

Reach Bordow at scott.bordow!@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-7996. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/sBordow.

Source  http://www.azcentral.com/sports/golf/articles/20130317stacy-lewis-top-golf-world.html

Ted Nugent: ‘I Will Remain Respectful’ at Obama Speech

Rock star and gun-rights supporter Ted Nugent arrived on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, promising to “remain respectful.”

Mr. Nugent, who said last year that Mr. Obama’s re-election would “destroy America,” was invited to the annual address to Congress by Rep. Steve Stockman (R., Texas), who said Mr. Nugent would have a lot to say after the speech. Mr. Nugent will be sharing the gallery with hundreds of other guests, including some two dozen people who have been shot or lost relatives to gun violence and are rooting for Mr. Obama to follow through on a gun-control agenda.

“I will remain respectful in the decorum department, but I know what self-evident truths are and I know what the right to keep bear arms means,” Mr. Nugent told a pair of reporters.  “I represent working hard, playing hard, logical, productive Americans who own lots of guns, lots of ammo and we’re an asset to our neighborhoods and our family and this country and for our rights to be infringed is real counterproductive.”

Mr. Nugent told a National Rifle Association convention last year that  “if Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” Mr. Nugent’s comments drew scrutiny from the Secret Service, which saw the comments as a threat. But Mr. Nugent said he had never threatened anyone’s life.

After the election, Mr. Nugent took to Twitter to complain about “pimps,” “whores,” and “welfare brats” who voted for a president who will “destroy America.”

Mr. Nugent said Tuesday wasn’t carrying any weapons. “I’m butt-naked,” he told the reporters. “If something happens, you’re going to have to call somebody else because I can’t do squat to help you right now. I don’t even have a pocketknife on me,” he said. “I did retain my flashlight though,” he announced, pulling a small flashlight out of his pocket.   “This is so weird and this is so un-American,” he said of the security check at the Capitol.

Earlier on Tuesday, gun-control advocates and their congressional hosts gathered at a Capitol Hill news conference to press Congress to act. The December mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., has focused congressional attention on advancing gun legislation.

“More guns is not the answer,” said Rep. Jim Langevin (D., R.I.), who was paralyzed at the age of 16 after a gun being handled by a weapons expert accidentally discharged during a Boy Scout training event.

Source  http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/02/12/ted-nugent-i-will-remain-respectful-at-obama-speech/?mod=google_news_blog

PHIL Mickelson is back in the world’s top ten

PHIL Mickelson is back in the world’s top ten for the first time since last May after his wire-to-wire victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Mickelson, who just missed out on a 59 in the opening round, finished four clear of Brandt Snedeker and improves from 22nd to 10th on the rankings, while Snedeker, also runner-up to Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines a week earlier, is up to a career-high sixth.

Already a three-times champion at the Masters, the resurgent Mickelson served notice he will again be among the front-runners for the year’s opening major by completing his victory at the Phoenix Open.

The American left-hander, who has made a career habit of winning in the first four months of the PGA Tour season, triumphed by four shots after closing with a four-under-par 67 at the TPC Scottsdale.

It was the 28th time Mickelson had triumphed on the PGA Tour before the end of April, while the title was his 41st overall on the US circuit.

He has now won at least once in 20 different seasons on American soil, with only Sam Snead (24 seasons) and Jack Nicklaus (21) ahead of him.

Source  http://www.scotsman.com/sport/golf/phil-mickelson-back-in-world-top-ten-1-2775417

Is this the new Tiger Woods? Toddler golfer stuns world

THIS cheeky toddler, who is making almost as many hits as his YouTube video, could be the next big thing in the golf world.

Jennifer Dhanjal said her son Rushton had been obsessed with golf "since before he could walk".

In this two-and-half-minute video Ms Dhanjal posted today, her son is seen running around an empty room as his parents roll an endless supply of toy golf balls his way.

Rushton, whose nickname is Peanut, squeals with delight as he connects with every ball, hitting them hard into walls and occasionally hitting his parents.

The 17-month-old, from Saskatchewan in Canada, is already being compared to Tiger Woods at the age of two.

It is unclear why there is no furniture in the room, but Rushton’s parents seem so entertained by their talented son that they can probably live without a television.

Source  http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/world/is-this-the-new-tiger-woods-toddler-golfer-stuns-world/story-fnd14032-1226563573118

Golf: European Tour Returns This Week At The Volvo Championship

After a brief rest, the European Tour gets underway this week at the Volvo Championship in Durban South Africa at the Durban Country Club. The European Tour got it’s 2013 season started in December at the Nelson Mandela Championship and Alfred Dunhill before taking a holiday break. The Volvo Championship, like the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on the PGA Tour, is a kick off event for winners on the tour in 2012.

Although there are exemptions for special consideration, the field looks to be around 32 of Europe’s finest players. Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal are in the field. Last years winner, Branden Grace is also an automatic bid. Others who have committed, are Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, and Darren Clarke.

Other big names entered, are Louis Oosthuizen, Robert Rock, Matteo Manassero, and Mandela winner, Scott Jamieson. Jamieson and Alfred Dunhill winner, Charl Schwartzel are currently leading the Race To Dubai points, Schwartzel is not entered at the Volvo this year.

The Durban Country Club is a wonderful venue located on the Blue Lagoon overlooking the Indian Ocean, and has been the home of 17 South African Championships. One would hope the European Tour can get underway without the problems encountered in Hawaii trying to get the PGA season underway. We should get stateside coverage of this event starting Thursday morning on the Golf Channel.

The 2,000,000 Euro Volvo Championship is the warm up for next week’s tournament in Abu Dhabi that will feature most of Europe’s top golfers, and include the first 2013 appearance for world number one, Rory McIlroy, and Tiger Woods.

Source  http://www.rantsports.com/golf/2013/01/07/golf-european-tour-returns-this-week-at-the-volvo-championship/

Wreck-It-Ralph borne out of a man with game

I grew up when video games were a brand-new form of entertainment. I remember seeing Pong for the first time and thinking it was the cheapest animated show I had ever seen. Once I realized that it was an interactive game and that I could control what was happening on the screen, I was captivated. A love affair was born.

As a teenager, I spent untold hours at my local arcade – Golf n’ Stuff, in Ventura, Calif. – pumping quarters into the machines. I am pretty sure I personally financed the Japanese game company Namco with years of Pac-Man and Dig Dug play. And my favorite game from those earlier years was probably Dragon’s Lair. Being someone who loved hand-drawn animation (and would eventually make it a career), I was blown away by the idea that my two favorite things – animation and video games – had been combined into one. My parents loved telling me that I was wasting my days on these games, but I like to think that it was research for a project that would come later in my life.

In 2008, John Lasseter, the chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, asked if I would be interested in joining Disney as a director. I had spent an amazing 20 years directing on shows including The Simpsons and Futurama, but this was an opportunity to work with someone I had admired since my days as a student at CalArts. John was a pioneer of computer-graphics animation, and I jumped at the chance. But what happened next I could never have imagined.

He suggested that I think about developing a story set in the world of video games. The idea of a video game movie had been floating around Disney Animation for at least 10 years, though no one had been able to crack a story. So here I was being offered the opportunity to combine my loves at the greatest animation studio in the world. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

For four years I lived and breathed the world of video games. The team spent work hours playing games from Donkey Kong to Halo to Mario Kart, all of which would heavily influence what eventually became Wreck-It Ralph. And while I always believed in the film, I had days when I wondered if it would resonate with anyone outside the walls of Disney Animation.

Having spent the past eight weeks traveling the world – from Paris to Buenos Aires to Sydney, Australia – I can tell you that the amazing thing is how universal video games are. And while the movie has struck a chord with all ages, it has really hit home with people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, who reflect back on the untold hours they spent in arcades. I realize that I was not alone back then.

As for my favorite game of 2012, that’s a hard one – not because there are so many to choose from (there are), but because I had to give up video games to finish the film. The final year of production requires late nights and seven-day workweeks; I knew myself well enough to know that if I were to pick up a new game, I would be lost in it for hours, days and weeks.

The game I most wanted to play throughout the year (and it took unbelievable restraint not to purchase it) was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I look forward to disappearing into its clutches now that promoting Wreck-It Ralph is finished. See you in six months!

Source  http://www.therecord.com/whatson/artsentertainment/article/862672--wreck-it-ralph-borne-out-of-a-man-with-game