The famous Turnberry lighthouse which was lit up in red to mark Remembrance Day

THE famous lighthouse at Turnberry was lit up to remember the fallen, adding extra poignance to the famous Scottish club’s Remembrance ceremony at the weekend.

The nearby Turnberry Airfield originally opened in 1917 – and Turnberry Hotel used as its headquarters.

It was a vital cog in the wheel of the war effort with several units dedicated to teaching the art of aerial gunnery and fighting.

The double Celtic Cross was erected in 1923 to honour those airmen stationed at Turnberry Airfield, who died during the First World War.

And in 1990, four sections were added to the base of the memorial bearing the names of those who died at Turnberry during World War Two.

Another 89 names were added earlier this year to the memorial – which is sited close to the 12th hole on the Ailsa Course.

Local historian and author Margaret Morrell discovered additional crewmen stationed at Turnberry – who were killed during training at the airfield – had not been listed individually.

After finding out the information during research for her book ,The, Mrs Morrell helped organise for the names to be added to the memorial.

A rededication ceremony will also take place in the future when COVID-19 restrictions allow.

Mrs Morrell said: “My initial aim was to find out a bit more about the names on the memorial.

“But when looking at the crash cards, I found that usually only the pilot was named, and the other airmen were just listed as ‘crew killed’. I wanted to give those men a name.

“This involved many enquiries of the Air Historical Branch, RAF, and finally I managed to identify a further 89 who were not commemorated.

“It was my quest to have the missing added to the roll of honour.”

The special Remembrance Day flag on the 12th green on the Ailsa Course close to the RAF Memorial at Turnberry, which now has an extra 89 names listed.

Ailsa flags fly to honour RAF dead

TURNBERRY, which has hosted The Open Championship four times has also played its part in the moving tribute.

As well as the iconic lighthouse being lit up red in honour, commemorative flags have been used on both the Ailsa and King Robert The Bruce courses.

They have given golfers the chance to pay their respects during their round this month.

Turnberry members also attended a socially-distanced gathering to observe the two-minutes’ silence on Remembrance Sunday.

Turnberry, which was bought by Donald Trump in 2014 – two years before he became US President – holds its place in Open history largely thanks to the infamous Duel in the Sun between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, in 1977.

Greg Norman’s first Claret Jug came on the Ayrshire coast in 1986, with Nick Price, becoming the first Zimbabwean to win the world’s oldest Major at Turnberry in 1994.

Stewart Cink denied Tom Watson a historic sixth Claret Jug when winning The Open at Turnberry in 2009, beating the 59-year-old in a play-off.

The Open has been played on the McKenzie Ross designed Ailsa Course.

The Trump Turnberry resort also boasts Donald Steel’s Kintyre Course, which opened in 2001, and the nine-hole Arran Course.

The Kintyre was renamed the King Robert the Bruce Course after LeisureCorp sold the resort to Trump for $60million.

The resort has undergone a multi-million revamp including changes to the Ailsa course by Martin Ebert from 2015-16.

The post Turnberry lighthouse joins Remembrance tribute while club updates RAF memorial appeared first on Golf North.

‘Iron Golfer’ Luke Willett (right) on the tee at Royal Birkdale with the club’s junior captain Josh Fallows, Golf Foundation development officer Andy Leigh

‘IRON Golfer’ Luke Willett is asking for support to complete The Great British Open Challenge having played 10 Open Championship courses and cycling 500 miles in just over six days.

As Luke holed out on the 18th at Royal Birkdale today (Thursday) he was making steady progress towards playing all 14 Open Championship venues as part of a gruelling 10-day trek, totalling more than 800 miles on two wheels with his golf clubs on his back.

Luke is raising funds for the Golf Foundation – putting his body on the line to support the charity that changes young people’s lives by introducing them to golf.

And he is appealing for the UK’s golf community to help him meet his financial target by sponsoring his efforts this month – from Fife to Sandwich, in Kent, where he will end his latest marathon.

So far Willett, a PGA professional at Hampstead Golf Club, has endured mammoth sections of cycling in sometimes “nightmarish” weather conditions on often dark and unfamiliar roads.

Luke has been soaked to the skin by passing lorries and cars and gone through periods of exhaustion and severe muscular and mental fatigue.

The 35-year-old now needs the financial backing of golf-lovers everywhere who understand the benefits of supporting the next generation of young players and helping national charity the Golf Foundation.

After striking his opening tee shot just after dawn at Carnoustie Golf Links last Friday (October 18), Luke cycled to St Andrews.

And with just four golf clubs – three-wood, six-iron, wedge and putter – Luke shot 73 on the Old Course before cycling 60 miles in torrential rain, flooded roads and heavy traffic to Edinburgh.

Luke said: “Each time a car flew past me it was like having a bathtub of ice cold water thrown over me!”

Arriving at midnight, Luke poured water out of his shoes before getting up again at 5.30am to ride to play Muirfield and Royal Musselburgh on Saturday.

Finally, better weather reached him on Sunday as he played Royal Troon and Prestwick on Scotland’s West Coast, before completing his Scottish odyssey on Monday in sunshine at Trump Turnberry.

After a ferry to Northern Ireland from Stranraer so he could play Royal Portrush, in Northern Ireland, on Tuesday, it was back over the Irish Sea to England on the ferry to play the six English Open venues, starting in the North West at Royal Lytham & St Annes yesterday.

He then made the journey down the Lancashire coast to Royal Birkdale and Royal Liverpool today.

Willett will finish at Royal St George’s on Sunday, after playing Deal’s Royal Cinque Ports, and Prince’s after the long ride to Kent this weekend.

You can support Luke’s incredible marathon by going to Luke’s JustGiving page.

Golf Foundation head of fundraising Vanessa Bell said: “The whole Golf Foundation team has been hugely impressed with Luke’s spirit and energy.

“We hope people are starting to realise just how mentally and physically exhausting the challenge has been.

“We are a charity and hope Luke’s adventure can now inspire golf-lovers up and down the UK to put something back into the game for the next generation.

“We will be hugely grateful for any donations large or small in the days ahead – donating the equivalent of the price of a golf ball would be a brilliant gesture in itself.”

Luke, who hails from Buckinghamshire, said: “I have never experienced anything like the conditions I did on the Fridaynight. It was a bit of a nightmare and certainly a huge mental challenge after two full rounds of golf in the cold and wet.

“The cycling has been very tough but the pleasure of playing these wonderful Open Championship courses has been immense.

“This is the golf of dreams for any player. The reception from the golf clubs, their staff, the golfers and non-golfers, has been really staggering and humbling.

“Golf isn’t all about the number on the scorecard and that’s why I wanted to team up with the Golf Foundation and raise funds for them in this way.”

All funds raised by The Great British Open Challenge will go directly to helping more young people from all backgrounds to Start, Learn and Stay in the sport.

The Hertfordshire-based Golf Foundation reaches 500,000 boys and girls each year, creating a player pathway from school sport to the golf club environment and regular coaching with PGA professionals.

The charity wants to encourage young people to keep playing and keep developing the skills for life that the game teaches them.

•You can support Luke’s incredible marathon by going to Luke’s JustGiving page.

The post Can you spare price of a golf ball to support Iron Golfer on his GB Open Challenge? appeared first on Golf North.

BERNHARD Langer continued his historic dominance of over-50s golf by winning The Senior Open for a record fourth time.

The German set a new benchmark for Senior Major Championship victories – with 10 – when he last won The Senior Open in 2017 at Royal Porthcawl,

And with his win at Royal Lytham & St Annes he became the oldest Senior Open champion as he collected his 11th Senior Major – and his 41st professional title since turning 50.

A delighted Langer, who also led Europe to victory in the 2004 Ryder Cup, said: “It’s always special to walk down 18 in a Major, but especially over here.

“The people are so knowledgeable about golf, and it’s tremendous how they even came out in these conditions and cheered us on in the rain.

“It feels very special, whether it’s The Open or The Senior Open, to walk down 18 is always a wonderful feeling.

“Now having won 11 Senior Majors, it means a great deal. Nobody has won more than nine if I’m correct – not even the great Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player or Tom Watson, who retired from this championship today.

“There’s a lot of great players who have played this game and have played Majors, and I’ve been blessed to have won more than any of them.”

Despite heavy rainfall, which suspended play for over five-and-a-half-hours on the final day – and then returned for the final nine holes of the championship – Langer remained unphased.

He put on a masterclass as he took control of the tournament with back-to-back birdies on the inward nine, ultimately carding a four-under par 66 to turn a three-shot deficit into a two-shot victory from 2016 champion Paul Broadhurst, who is attached to Northamptonshire County.

The final round of The Senior Open will also be remembered as Tom Watson’s farewell to competitive links golf.

The five-time Champion Golfer of the Year and three-time Senior Open winner announced after his third round that he would be bowing out at the conclusion of his 18^th Senior Open appearance.

The American never missed a cut in The Senior Open and remains one of only three men—along with Gary Player and Bob Charles—to win both The Open and The Senior Open.

Watson bows out being considered by many to be the greatest links golfer of all time.

Watson, whose five Open wins all came in Scotland, said: “The crowds on 18 were very warm and appreciative. The crowd that ended at the ninth hole, which was the farthest point on the golf course, that went all the way out there to watch my final hole, that was very, very special.

“There will be other people who will take the reins and they will do what I did. Life is full of passages, and I’ve passed through my career here, starting in 1975 to here in 2019. It’s amazing.

“I’ll always respect the way the game is played over here. The game of golf is played here with a passion, unequalled, and it’s part of the fabric of life that people have when they play golf here in the UK

“That’s what I’ve always appreciated,” added an emotional Watson who famously beat Nicklaus in the Duel in the Sun at Turnberry, in 1977, and almost won a sixth Claret Jug in 2009, aged 59 – but lost to Stewart Cink in a play-off, also over Ayrshire’s Ailsa course.

Europe’s only Senior Major will head to Sunningdale Golf Club, on the Berkshire-Surrey border, when The Senior Open returns in 2020.

For full results in the 2019 Senior Open click here

The post Langer legend goes from strength to strength with record fourth Senior Open appeared first on Golf North.

TOM Watson, five-time winner of The Open and three-time Senior Open Champion, has announced that the final round of The Senior Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes will be the last competitive round in the UK.

The 69-year-old, who has competed in The Open an astonishing 38 times and has made the cut in all 18 of his appearances at The Senior Open, will bid farewell to his beloved fans in the United Kingdom at Royal Lytham & St Annes during Sunday’s final round of Europe’s only Senior Major.

In a press conference after his third round, Watson confirmed it will be his last appearance at The Senior Open and that he has also played his final US Senior Open – but will continue to play professional golf in a limited capacity.

“I’ve thought quite long and hard about the decision I’ve made,” Watson said. “It has to do with really a pretty sensible assessment of how I play the game now.

“I don’t have the tools in the toolbox. I’ve mentioned that before, that sometimes you lose the tools in the toolbox. I just don’t have enough tools in the toolbox to really compete successfully.

“So, therefore, I’m basically declaring now that this is my last Open Championship, Senior Open Championship. And I’m also going to hang up the spikes in the US Senior Open.

“I’ve had a good career playing professional golf all these years. I’ve run across so many fine people who have helped me and supported me.

“First of all, my wife who is battling cancer now. It’s going to give me some time to go out and compete with her.”

The Kansas City, Missouri native first competed in The Open in 1975 and claimed his first Major Championship victory in thrilling fashion as he became only the third golfer in the modern era to win The Open on his first attempt when he defeated Jack Newton in an 18-hole play-off at Carnoustie.

Watson would go on to be named the Champion Golfer of the Year again in 1977 at Turnberry, 1980 at Muirfield, 1982 at Royal Troon and 1983 at Royal Birkdale.

Upon turning 50 years old, the American continued his dominance as he lifted the Senior Open Trophy first in 2003 at Turnberry – becoming only the third player in history to win The Open and The Senior Open – again in 2005 at Royal Aberdeen and a third time in 2007 at Muirfield.

As well as the unparalleled list of links triumphs, Watson will also be forever remembered for the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry when, as a 59-year-old he was unbeaten over 72 holes, eventually losing to Stewart Cink – 23 years his junior – in a four-hole play-off.

“It’s not to say that I don’t love the competition,” added Watson. “I love the competition. But I’m going to focus my competition on something a little bit different, on the back of a horse now.

“And over the years we’ve been around each other. I’ve seen a lot of people from the press over the years over here. Really enjoyed the times I’ve spent.

“It’s not to say I won’t be over here again. I’ll be back at The Open next year as an ambassador for the R&A.

“But my competitive days in The Open Championship are finally over. And as I said, I’m good with it. It’s a decision that I am very happy with.”

Martin Slumbers, chief executive of The R&A, said, “Tom is one of golf’s greatest ever champions and his extraordinary career has seen him win The Open five times and the Senior Open three times, a record that stands him apart from every other golfer.

“He has made a huge contribution to the growth and success of the Senior Open and I know he was thrilled when we made the decision to bring the championship to the Old Course in St Andrews for the very first time last year.

“Tom has brought great joy to the tens of thousands of fans who have watched him play in the Senior Open over the years and they will fondly remember him for his brilliant golf, sportsmanship and warm personality.”

The post Tom Watson confirms he will bow out of Senior Open and The Open at Royal Lytham appeared first on Golf North.