The International Golf Season Heats Up

Most people in the United States of America think of November as the time when the professional golf season winds down, but people that keep track of international golf events know that this is one of the best times of the year to watch golf. Last week marked the end of the PGA Tour season; what most people don’t know is that last week also kicked off a solid stretch of international events. This solid stretch started with the Volvo Masters on the European Tour, and the Barclay’s Singapore Open on the Asian Tour. At the Volvo Masters Justin Rose led throughout, and eventually won in a playoff after finishing regulation play at one under par. Then at the Singapore Open, which was played at the Sentosa Golf Club, Angel Cabrera of Argentina beat a star studded field with a score of eight under par. This star studded field included the number two player in the world Phil Mickelson, who unfortunately finished at eight over par while battling illness, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, and Adam Scott. The field also included top Asian players like Liang Wen-chong of China and Shiv Kapur of India. This week all of the top players from the Volvo Masters and the Barclay’s Singapore Open will be gathering in China for the HSBC Champions event along with a host of other great players. Also in future weeks we will be seeing many more great international golf tournaments including: the Casio World Open and the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, the UBS Hong Kong Open on the Asian Tour, the Michael Hill New Zealand Open, the MasterCard Masters, the Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship, and the MFS Australian Open Championship on the PGA Tour Australasia, and finally there are the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Airways Open on the Sunshine Tour. Also many of these events are co-sanctioned with the European Tour. All in all this is a great time of year for an international golf fan, especially if someone has The Golf Channel.