Wales’ Jamie Donaldson has finally found form and fitness in the build-up to the new Celtic Championship – the UK Swing’s fourth event – at Celtic Manor. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

WELSHMAN Jamie Donaldson is relishing the opportunity to tee it up on home soil as Celtic Manor hosts the European Tour for the next two weeks, starting with the Celtic Classic.

Taking place on the Twenty Ten Course, where Europe won back the Ryder Cup in dramatic fashion ten years ago, the Celtic Classic is the fourth event of the six-tournament UK Swing.

The 44-year-old – who was born in Pontypridd, 25 miles from Newport’s Celtic Manor  – was the hero of the 2014 Ryder Cup, holeing the winning putt at Gleneagles.

Donaldson said: “I love coming back down here. It’s a great venue and the course is looking really good, and the sun is shining.

“I do love playing here. Normally you get great crowds, which is a shame, given the current circumstances that won’t be happening.

“It’s a special place, beautiful setting and beautiful weather,” Jamie said of the old Wentwood Hills Course which was redesigned to create the Twenty Ten course, which runs through the picturesque Usk valley.

Donaldson added: “I’ve been playing nicely. After the wrist operation things take time and I’ve been working hard to get that right.

“I’m fit as a fiddle. Sometimes things take longer than you think they would.

“I came back last year but never really felt 100 per cent. But now I feel fit, ready to go and look forward to playing this week.

Jamie, who briefly challenged the leaders at Hanbury Manor last weekend, added: “This is more of a ball-strikers golf course. It’ll help the longer hitter.

“It’s good that I can shoot low scores like that still. I’ve been playing well in practice, things are starting to come together.”

Celtic Manor hosted the Wales Open on the Twenty Ten Ryder Cup course from 2008 until 2014. Next week’s Wales Open will be played on the Roman Road course.

Ryder Cup heroes return to Newport

DONALDSON is one of a number of players, who have represented Europe in the biennial contest who will tee it up this week.

Ross Fisher and Edoardo Molinari, teammates in South Wales in 2010 are returning to the site of that famous victory.

Colin Montgomerie’s team’s victory was sealed by Graeme McDowell on the 16^th hole in the anchor match. The event had run into a fourth day because of torrential rain.

Italian Molinari said: “It’s a golf course that I love. I have great memories from the Ryder Cup and the Wales Open – I played here a couple of times.

“It brings back a lot of fantastic memories, playing with Francesco and the whole team, and managing to win that cup by half a point.

“It was a fantastic week. The weather, so far, looks good. Let’s see what the next few days bring us. It’s always a very enjoyable week here.

“I have two memories – the first tee with Francesco on the first day, which still gives me goosebumps 10 years on.

“Then the last few holes in the singles against Rickie Fowler. I remember how busy it was – how many people were watching. I’ve never seen that many people be so loud on a golf course.”

Next week the Wales Open will be played on Celtic Manor’s Roman Road Course, which also hosted the European Tour event from 2005-7 while the old Wentwood Hills was transformed into the new Ryder Cup course.

Nuneaton’s Andy Sullivan notched his first win in nearly five years in the English Championship at Hanbury Manor last week.

Sullivan seeks more success after ending run

LAST week’s English Championship winner Andy Sullivan, who played in Darren Clarke’s team beaten at Hazeltine in 2016, will hope to consolidate his place at the summit of the UK Swing Order of Merit.

Sullivan, who won for the first time in nearly five years in Hertfordshire on Sunday, said: “It’s a long time waiting for that fourth win. I couldn’t be happier.

“Nice to do it in my own country and get back home with the family and celebrate. I’m still on cloud nine, it’s not quite sunk in yet.

“Florence was elated, bless her, it was my first win with her,” Andy said about his fiancé. “She was over the moon and it was good to see a proper smile on her face.

“Before lockdown I felt I was playing really, really well. I just felt that my attitude wasn’t there. My head wasn’t in the space to win a golf tournament, or compete in a tournament.

“There was a lot of self-reflection over lockdown. I opened up to my team about a lot of hings personally and golf-wise.

“Talked through it and came out with a plan to get my way to being happy and smiley on the golf course – and being competitive.

“I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. To come out and be competitive at the British Masters and then win the third event. It’s amazing and reinforces what we’re doing as a team.”

The top 10 not already exempt after next week’s ISPS Handa Wales Open will earn a place at the US Open, at Winged Foot.

Those finishing inside the top 10 after the sixth and final event – the ISPS Handa UK Championship – will also earn a share of £250,000 to donate to charities of their choice.

•To follow live scoring in the first round of the Celtic Championship click here.

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Last year’s Reid Trophy winner French teenager Joseph Linel – the 2020 English U14s Championship has been cancelled. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

THE Reid and McGregor Trophy will not take place in 2020 – because of the continuing COVID-19 crisis, England Golf has announced.

England Golf believes the English U14 and U16 championships – due to be held in the last week of July and early August – pose to many obstacles to overcome for them to go ahead.

The England Girls U16 and U14 Championships – which were due to be held at Brentwood’s Thorndon Park Golf Club, in Esssex – have also been called off.

An England Golf spokesman said: “The safety and wellbeing of our junior competitors and their accompanying parents/guardians remains of paramount importance.

“While we are confident the golf element of a championship can be managed successfully, there are additional practical difficulties associated with running junior events.

“With parents and guardians necessarily joining competitors, staff and volunteers on site within the confines of a smaller club environment, it becomes more difficult to adhere to social distancing regulations.”

A spokesman said: “England Golf is most appreciative of the understanding and acceptance shown by the host clubs in making this tough decision.

“We look forward to working with them again in the future.”

England Golf is confident the Men’s and Women’s national championship can still go ahead at its national headquarters at Woodhall Spa, in Lincolnshire, at the end of July.

The spokesman added: “It should be noted that due to the size and layout of the Woodhall Spa facility at the home of England Golf, the English Men’s and English Women’s Amateur Championships – scheduled to be played from July 28-August 2 – remain in the diary.

“England Golf is confident it can celebrate the best of English amateur golf at this joint event.”

French teenager Joseph Linel – the 2019 winner – will have to wait a year longer to stand a chance of joining the elite group to have won the Reid and McGregor Trophy.

Justin Rose won the McGregor and Carris trophies in 1995

Carris and other events ‘unaffected’ at the moment says England Golf

ALL other England Golf championships remain provisionally scheduled as before – but are subject to regular review in accordance with updated government advice and regulations, England Golf has confirmed.

The biggest junior event is the Carris Trophy, which was moved to the end of August, from the third week in July, becasue of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The venue was switched from St George’s Hill, at Weybridge, in Surrey, to Broadstone, in Dorset, back in April.

The English Seniors Men’s and Women Amateur Championships have also been rescheduled to the middle of August.

The McGregor has been won by the likes of Justin Rose, back in 1995, and Edoardo Molinari, a year later.

The Italian denied a back-to-back victory for the North Hants GC teenager – a feat only achieved by Lincolnshire’s Jim Payne, in 1987.

It was one of three national victories in one stunning season for Rose, who only turned 15 after he had completed the double by adding the Carris Trophy at the English Boys Amateur Championship, at Burnham & Berrow.

The winners from 1995 and 1996 at Radcliffe-on-Trent GC. The Nottinghamshire’ club ran the comptetion before it became the English U16 Championship in 1982 – both went on to play in the Ryder Cup for Europe.

Graeme Storm, the winner in 1994, played in the 1999 Walker Cup and won twice on the European Tour.

Essex’s Oliver Fisher, the McGregor winner in 2004, broke Rose’s record as the youngest ever player in the Walker Cup in 2005, at just 16.

•The 2020 McGregor Trophy was due to be played at Gateshead’s Heworth GC (July 28-30). It is still played at its spiritual home at Ratcliffe-on-Trent every five years.

Conor Gough – one of just three winners of both the Reid and McGregor Trophy. Picture by Leaderboard Photography

Gough one of three to win men’s and U16s

ONLY three McGregor champions have gone on to win the English Amateur – James Heath (1999 and 2004), Paul Waring (2001 and 2006) and Stoke Park’s Conor Gough (2018 and 2019).

Just two years ago, Gough won the McGregor before adding the British Boys title at the age of 15.

He also became the second-youngest English Amateur Champion by beating Northamptonshire County’s Callum Farr, in the final at Surrey’s Hankley Common last summer.

The Walker Cup player was four days older than when Harry Ellis broke Sir Nick Faldo’s 1975 record in the 2012 English Amateur final.

Only three juniors have won the Reid and McGregor Trophy.

And unsurprisingly Gough became the latest player to have achieved the feat in 2018 after winning the Reid in 2016.

Worthing’s Oscar Sharpe became the first in 2006, followed by his Sussex clubmate Toby Tree, when he won the McGregor in 2010 – two years after claiming the U14s title.

Eddie Pepperell won the Reid in 2005 at Bristol & Clifton and is the only winner so far, to have earned a European Tour card.

Kent’s Jonathan Bell ended up on the bag when Tyrrell Hatton claimed two European Tour wins back-to-back in 2017.

The Reid Trophy was created back in 1995, with Porters Park in Hertfordshire staging what became the English U14 Championship for the first five years.

The English U14s was due to be played at Prestbury Golf Club, in Cheshire, for the first time, from August 4-6.

Quartet of Carris winners played Ryder Cup

NOTABLE Carris Trophy winners include Sandy Lyle (1975), Peter Baker (1983), David Gilford (1981) plus Hertfordshire’s Ken Brown (1974) and Peter Townsend (1965) – who all went on to play in the Ryder Cup.

Ken Brown – Picture: WOJCIECH MIGDA

Another Hertfordshire junior destined for the European Tour was Welwyn Garden City’s Tom Lewis, who won the Carris just along the M25 at Moor Park – the event’s spriritual home since it was first played in 1935.

Lewis went on to beat Frilford Heath’s Eddie Pepperell in the British Boys final at Royal St George the following month.

He became just the third player to win the UK’s top two junior events in the same season, matching Townsend, who won the British title for a second time in 1964, the year he claimed the Carris.

Nine Carris winners have gone on to add the English Amateur Championship to their silverware collection.

The first was Ronnie White, who added the men’s title 12 years after he became the third-ever winner of the Carris at Moor Park, in Hertfordshire.

The other double winners are (Carris Trophy first): –
John Langley (1936 and 1950)
Ian Caldwell (1947/8 and 1961)
David Gilford (1981 and 1984)
Ian Garbutt (1989 and 1990)
Mark Foster (1992 and 1994)
Scott Godfrey (1998 and 2001)
Gary Lockerbie (2000 and 2003)
Callum Shinkwin (2010 and 2013)

Lyle rewrote the record books for the Brabazon Trophy – the English Men’s Amateur Strokeplay – by winning it as a 17-year-old in 1975.

The future Masters winner broke the record set in October 1949 by Hampshire’s Paddy Hine, who had won the Carris Trophy at Moor Park earlier that summer, also aged 17.

Ben Schmidt the youngest to complete the Carris and Brabazon Trophy double at just 16. Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

Schmidt became youngest winner of Carris and Brabazon

YORKSHIRE’S Ben Schmidt smashed Sandy Lyle’s record by claiming the Carris at the age of just 16 last summer.

His win came just six weeks after claiming the Brabazon at Alwoodley, in Leeds.

The Reid and McGregor Trophy may not bear Schmidt’s name. But he became just the ninth player – and just the second in the 21st Century – to claim the Carris and Brabazon double.

Hampshire’s Darren Wright was the first. Rowlands Castle’s England international added the Men’s title at Hoylake in 2010 – four years after his Boys’ victory at Sherwood Forest.

Lyle became just the second player to land that double in the same season after Hine. Peter Baker became the third 10 years later,

Sussex’s Gary Evans – who won the Carris in 1986 – shared the Brabazon Trophy two years in a row in 1990 and 1991 – before earning his card on the European Tour.

Nottinghamshire’s Mark Foster was the only player to complete the double in the 1990s.

Kent’s Paul Page became the first Carris winner away from Moor Park, in 1988, at Durham’s Brancepth Castle.

That was the year the English Golf Union adopted the tournament as its official England U18 Boys Open Strokeplay Championship.

The tournament now returns to its original home at Moor Park every five years.

In three of the seven Carris Trophies held at Moor Park since 1989, Hertfordshire players have triumped on three occasions.

David Griffiths, from nearby West Herts won in 1997, was followed by The Hertfordshire GC’s Thomas Haylock in 2005, and Welwyn Garden City’s Tom Lewis in 2009.

•A full list of winners of the Reid and McGregor Trophy can be found on the England Golf website.

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Edoardo Molinari has been using the staff at his Turin golf academy to entertain golf fans affected by the lockdown in Italy and to raise money for the city’s hospitals. Picture: Edoardo Molinari Golf Academy

ITALY’S Edoardo Molinari has admitted that golf is the last thing on his mind with hundreds of people dying every day from COVID-19 in his country.

Edoardo, who made his Ryder Cup debut with brother Francesco 10 years ago at Celtic Manor, has written the current European Tour Player Blog explaining how he feels about the coronavirus pandemic which has killed thousands in Italy.

“I’m really not thinking about golf right now,” he wrote. “Even if I knew that my next event for sure would be in two months, six months or a year, at the moment there’s far more important things on my mind.

“I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to stay home, because there are a lot of people that have lost their jobs and will struggle for a long time in Italy, and around the world.”

Molinari has already had one close shave with the virus – he and Lorenzo Gagli were initially removed from the tournament in Oman, after his fellow Italian and room-mate was taken ill on the eve of the tournament with flu symptoms.

Both were tested overnight and cleared to play in the first round, starting at the back of the field after their places were given to two replacements.

Molinari had shown no symptoms but was tested because he was sharing a hotel room with Gagli.

Edoardo then played in Qatar but missed the cut on the Friday – when the European Tour announced the following week’s Magical Kenya Open was being postponed.

Molinari switched his flight and caught a plane home on the Saturday – and within 48 hours Italy had been put into lockdown.

He wrote: “We’ve been at home for just over two weeks and haven’t left the house for any reason in 10 days.

“It can be quite difficult to get a grasp of the situation because if you don’t leave home, it’s not like it’s any different from any other day.

“But as soon as you turn on the TV or go online to read the news, it’s everywhere.

“We are trying to avoid contact with people as much as we possibly can.”

Edoardo Molinari won the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond in 2010

The younger Molinari brother won twice on the European Tour in the year he made Colin Montgomerie’s team at Celtic Manor, after claiming the Johnny Walker Championship, at Gleneagles, to earn a wild card from Monty in 2010.

But right now that seems a million miles away, and in the past few years it is Francesco, who has captured all the headlines.

The younger brother claimed The Open at Carnoustie in 2018, and formed his famous Mollywood partnership with Tommy Fleetwood, in the Ryder Cup victory over the USA at Paris’ Le Golf National three months later.

Edoardo, who lives in Turin, said: “I consider myself very lucky because we can at least go out for a walk in the garden with the girls and the dog and spend time outdoors.

He has not seen his parents Micaela and Paolo for more than a month.

Contact is restricted to 10-minute phone calls every day – with videos and pictures exchanged so they can keep in touch with their grandchildren.

“Luckily we can use technology to communicate,” said the 39-year-old.

“Even if we could visit, we wouldn’t, because it’s just too dangerous to go around.

“I’ve also spoken with Francesco in London and we just spend time letting the kids talk on Facetime to each other.”

Molinari revealed he has a number of friends who work in the emergency services in Italy.

He paid tribute to the health service workers for going to work every day and putting their own lives at risk from infection to treat the sick and dying.

“It’s very scary to hear their stories when they tell you they have spent 18 hours in the hospital, and have seen so many people dying. It’s madness,” he said.

The 39-year-old, who lost 7&6 in the final of the 2006 Spanish Amateur Championship to Hampshire’s future Walker Cup player Sam Hutsby, considers himself “very lucky” to be leading a comparatively normal life – other than being locked up at home.

Some European Tour players have taken to Instagram and Twitter to post videos of how they are trying to keep in shape at home over the past week.

Molinari – who became the first Continental European to win the US Amateur in 2005 – has a small gym and a small indoor putting green.

“I spend an hour every day in the gym and half an hour putting – but at the minute golf is not a priority,” he stressed.

“The most important thing right now is to make sure we all behave in a way that can help this situation get under control.”

Molinari admitted he was surprised that other European countries did not go to lockdown at the same time as Italy.

“It just felt like common sense – after seeing what has happened in Italy – to stop it before it hits a high percentage of the population.

“I’ve been speaking a lot with Alvaro Quirós and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, who were relieved when lockdowns were announced in Spain.”

Molinari academy’s hospital cash

Staff at the Edoardo Molinari Golf Academy in Turin including Craig Williams (right) who have been setting a daily golf quiz to entertain people during the lockdown

LAST year Molinari created a golf academy, which has ground to a halt over the last month – with his four teaching staff left with no one to teach because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The four teaching staff – including Welshman Craig Williams, who lost to Sergio Garcia in the final of the 1998 Amateur Championship – have created an online quiz on the academy’s Instagram page with daily prizes for the winners.

Entrants are asked to make a donation on the academy’s gofundme page, which helps hospitals in Turin. The academy is based at Turin’s Royal Park Golf Club.

Looking to the future, Molinari believes in positive thinking as you might expect from a player used to competing against 150 players every week – when there can only be one winner.

Edoardo, who won the Trophée Hassan in 2018 to end an eight-year winless streak on the European Tour, stressed: “We can still be positive. We just have to be very careful and very patient.

“I think it will take a lot of time – much longer than people think – and it will be a difficult situation even once we are through it because of the impact on the economy.

“But I’m still very positive in the long term that we will get through this.

“If I said anything to you, it would be stay at home. Please don’t think you are immune to this virus, or that you won’t catch it.

“It’s better to be careful, to make a mistake on the safe side if anything, and just be patient and be positive.”

•You can read the blog in full here.

Quick Quiz on Edoardo Molinari – sorry no prizes

1. Who played with Edoardo in the final round when he won the Barclays Scottish Open, at Loch Lomond, in 2010, and again when he won the Johnnie Walker Championship that summer?
2.  What was the highest position Molinari has achieved in the Official World Golf Ranking?
3. How many brothers have won on the European Tour?
4. Molinari’s best finish in a PGA Tour event was second – in which famous Florida event?
5. How many times has Edoardo won on the Challenge Tour and the European Tour?

ANSWERS: 1) Brother Francisco – Darren Clarke was the third player in the group; 2) 14th in 2010; 3) Three – the Molinaris, Seve and Manuel Ballesteros and Antonio and German Garrido. 4) Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill; 5) Eight – five Challenge Tour and three European Tour wins.

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Rasmus Højgaard – who won his first European Tour event in Mauritius in December – is tied for the lead with Stephen Gallagher in Oman. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

RASMUS Højgaard and Stephen Gallacher both proved that age is just a number as they shared a one-shot lead heading into the weekend at the Oman Open.

The duo may be 27 years apart in age, but there was nothing to separate them at Al Mouj Golf.

They both reached nine-under after 36 holes, one shot ahead of Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Finland’s Kalle Samooja.

Danish 18-year-old Højgaard became the third youngest winner in European Tour history when he won his debut event at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open before Christmas.

And the teenager carded a 68 with an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys to move to the top of the leaderboard in the Middle East.

Gallacher – whose son and caddie Jack was born nine days before Højgaard – has four European Tour wins in his 45 years.

And the Ryder Cup winner, from Linlithgow, went one better with a bogey free 67 – his first blemish free round since the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Gallacher, who was part of Paul McGinley’s winning European team at Gleneagles, in 2014, said: “I’m delighted because it was tough from the get-go this morning.

“It was windy and it never really dropped so it was a tough morning with the first four holes straight into the wind.

“This is a great golf course and one of the best we play all year, but it’s very demanding and you’ve got to play good golf.

“If you don’t, you’ll get found out and fortunately I’m playing pretty well at the moment.

“We were all feeding off each other, certainly Kalle was on fire. He posted seven-under with a bogey and a triple.

“And Richard McEvoy is a good friend of mine. So we had a good laugh together and just enjoyed the round.

“I had been struggling a bit recently, so I changed some things up and I’ve worked hard on my game.

“Things started to turn around at the Saudi International where I started to hit some good shots and it’s amazing how it can snowball after that,” added Stephen Gallacher.

“You start to chip and putt a bit better and start to compete, and hopefully by Sunday you just want to be in with a chance coming down the stretch to win.

“It’s a good spot to be in but there’s still a lot of golf to be played over the weekend,” said the Scotsman, who helps support junior golf in the Lothians and Border regions through his Stephen Gallacher Foundation.

Gallacher’s last win came in last year’s Hero Indian Open when he survived making a snowman to clinch his first win in first years on the European Tour.

Dutchman Joost Luiten – the 2018 champion – Essex’s McEvoy and fellow Englishman Robert Rock, Italy’s Guido Migliozzi and South African Brandon Stone were three shots off the lead.

Højgaard is looking to repeat the successs of last year’s Oman winner Kurt Katiyama, who claimed the second win of his rookie season at Al Mouj – while Migliozzi also recorded two wins in 2019.

Rasmus said: “You can’t avoid bogeys out here, so I knew at some point I would drop a shot because in this wind it’s tricky to keep the ball on the greens and fairways. But I managed to bounce back with a few birdies.

“I’m putting well at the moment and I holed some long putts today which always helps.

“It’s always a bit of a bonus when you make a few of them. And that’s been the key so far.

“I don’t do much away from the course, I hang out with my fellow Danes, do some gym work. Otherwise I watch some stuff online – anything on Netflix.”

Gagli beats Coronavirus scare to chase Gallacher and Højgaard

LORENZO Gagli overcame his coronavirus scare to move into contention at five-under after the 34-year-old Italian followed an opening round of 69 with a second round of 70.

The Italian had only been cleared to tee it up on Thursday morning after his test results for coronavirus (COVID-19) came back negative.

The Omani Ministry of Health subsequently cleared both players to leave self-isolation and participate in the tournament at 12.15pm after the negative result.

Due to the exceptional circumstances, they were reinstated as an addition to the field in Muscat and teed off as a two-ball at 1.30pm.

Gagli posted four birdies in his opening round and bogeyed the 17th hole before fading light stopped play.

He resumed with a closing par on Friday morning for a round of 69 and then carded five birdies and two bogeys in second round of 70 to move to five-under par, four shots adrift of the lead.

Gagli said: “It was a strange situation but I would like to thank all the European Tour staff, including Keith Pelley, tournament director Miguel Vidaor and my friend Paolo de le Feld from player relations, as well as the Ministry of Health in Oman, who have done an unbelievable job because I’m playing the tournament now.

“It was a strange situation but I’m really happy to be out on the course and playing golf.

“After the test came back negative and I found out I could play, when I was on the course I felt really relaxed, which helped me a lot.

“Playing with Edoardo helped too because we are really good friends. Our game is very similar, so it has been easier to play over the last two days.”

Molinari also made the cut after adding a 72 to his first round 70.

Germany’s Martin Kaymer recorded the first hole-in-one in tournament history and the fifth of the 2020 Race to Dubai season when he holed a pitching wedge from 162 yards at the 13th.

•Follow the progress of Stephen Gallacher and Rasmus Højgaard in the third round through live scoring by clicking here.

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Chief executive Keith Pelley says the European Tour has been leading the fight on slow play in the game of golf over the past four years – and intends to toughen its stance for 2020. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

EUROPEAN Tour chief executive Keith Pelley writes about the controversy over slow play on the European Tour and explains why the Tournament Committee and the board have decided to take firm action for the 2020 season.

MANY issues have affected the game of golf since I became chief executive of the European Tour – but none have been as recurrent as the topic of slow play.

It is the discussion that dominates dinner tables at tournaments and it is one of the main sources of frustration at all levels of the game. Rightly so, I might add.

While the intensity of these conversations occasionally diminishes, it is never long before it reignites, and I watched with interest the recent social media debate which flared up in the United States.

For us, the issue came to a head earlier this year when one of our senior players, Edoardo Molinari, posted on Twitter a list of players, who had received bad times and fines up to that point during the 2019 season – in a bid to “speed things up.”

I spoke to Edoardo shortly afterwards, and while I didn’t necessarily agree with his chosen method, he was entirely right to confront the problem and it prompted a discussion at the next tournament committee meeting, held at the Betfred British Masters, in May.

Thankfully, our Tournament Committee shared Edoardo’s belief that enough was enough, and they were prepared to make some hard decisions, accepting the need to be more punitive.

“We have the most aggressive monitoring policy in our sport, and we have issued shot penalties, but the past four months showed us finally that the time had arrived when players were willing to take a tough stance and we applauded that.”

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley – on the problems of slow play

At that meeting we also determined there is a key fundamental difference between slow play and slow players – this is a key point to remember.

While we would all like to reduce overall round times, it was recognised that this can be impacted by several factors such as weather conditions and course set up, while for full field events, the sheer number of players on the course at the same time will always limit the pace of play.

Slow players, on the other hand, have become increasingly prevalent and problematic in our game in recent years – to the extent that we risk fans, both core and casual, switching off if we don’t do something about it.

The European Tour has been at the forefront of the assault on slow play for the last four years.

We have the most aggressive monitoring policy in our sport, and we have issued shot penalties.

But the past four months showed us finally that the time had arrived when players were willing to take a tough stance and we applauded that.

Slow play became a critical issue because our players wanted it to be. That moment was the door opening and the mandate we were given at May’s tournament committee meeting empowered our operations and rules team to present stronger, more robust recommendations.

We took a formal proposal back to the next Tournament Committee meeting at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open last month.

And following some fine tuning over the past six weeks, we yesterday publicly announced a four-point plan focusing on regulation, education, innovation and field-size reduction where appropriate.

This concrete strategy is more targeted towards slow players and more penal, including an immediate one-shot penalty for two bad times in a round and increased fines for players consistently ‘on the clock’.

I’m confident it will have a meaningful impact on combating slow play AND slow players, which is a more complex task that you might think.

Although superficially solving the pace of play conundrum would seem like an easy fix, golf’s biggest challenge remains the size of our arena, as an 18-hole golf course is equivalent to almost 90 football fields, with 156 players dotted around it.

Timing every player, on every shot, every week is a monumental, and costly, challenge.

We must also consider the complexities of policing more robust timing rules.

European Tour chief referee John Paramor and senior referee Andy McFee (right) discussed the problems of timing players with Keith Pelley

I recall our senior referee, Andy McFee, saying to me that timing is an art not a science.

He rightly posed the questions: “When do you start the clock? Is it when a player gets to the ball? When do you start timing the first player in a group?

“And how do you let them know you’ve started timing as they can’t tell unless there’s a visual clock on every single hole?”

These are all interesting points, however, I stress we are not using the challenges of the sport as an excuse not to tackle what is now golf’s biggest issue.

Another thing we have learned from studying this whole issue, is that playing slowly is habitual.

Most players aren’t taught to play the game slowly, it’s a practice they acquire, and one we have to try to reverse.

Our Shot Clock hole during the recent innovative GolfSixes Cascais in Portugal showed that players were ready and already thinking about their shots before they got to the ball.

They didn’t have the chance to second guess themselves, or overload themselves with information, and their performance benefitted as a result.

Our players have shone a spotlight on this topic and this is now the lightbulb moment for our sport.

But it is incumbent on all of us involved in golf to act.

The main Tours and four Major Championships have begun dialogue, but as the most powerful entities in global golf, we have to be united and consistent in fighting this battle if it is one we are to win. 

I do believe that with technology advancements down the road, there will come a time in the very near future when we will be able to time every player, on every shot, on every hole.

Until we are all ready from a technology perspective, our four-point plan has decisive, concrete action on how we can combat this issue right now.

•Read more about the European Tour’s four-point plan on combatting slow play here.

In 2019, there have been outbursts by Brooks Koepka who singled out J B Holmes for taking too long to play his final round of the LA Open at Riviera, while Bryson DeChambeau has also been attacked on social media for taking too long to play his shots.

The list of players who were timed for slow play by the European Tour in the first four months of 2019 released in a tweet by Edoardo Molinari condemning the problem, which Keith Pelley has taken up with the players representatives and acted upon

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The European Tour is bringing in its own four-point plan to tackle slow play in 2020 after changes to the Rules of Golf earlier this year were aimed at speeding up play.
Graphic USGA/The R&A

THE European Tour has announced a concrete four-point plan aimed at tackling the issue of slow play in professional golf.

The plan, which will be implemented at the start of the 2020 season, was approved by the European Tour’s Tournament Committee in July and fine-tuned over the past month.

It will focus on four key areas: regulation, education, innovation and field sizes.

Key to the regulation changes will be a player only having to breach the time allowances twice in a round to incur a one-shot penalty.

In addition, there will be significantly increased fines for players who are regularly placed ‘on the clock’ throughout the season, alongside reduced times for players to play shots.

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said: “We are already at the forefront of pace of play management in the professional game, but after being mandated by our Tournament Committee to be even firmer in dealing with this issue, the time was right to take these additional steps.

“I believe the plan we are implementing for the 2020 season will bring about meaningful change that will make golf even more enjoyable for the players and our fans, whether they are at the course in person or watching on television.”

In addition to the regulation changes, and in a bid to foster meaningful mindset change amongst players, education will also be key to the European Tour’s proactive plan.

All players will now be required to pass an interactive rules test as part of their conditions of membership, while new members will be allocated a dedicated referee to educate them on pace of play policies at the start of their European Tour career.

Technology will also be embraced with the trial of a new ‘Pace of Play’ timing system at next month’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

The system will provide referees with the precise times for every group through every hole to make sure that no gaps are missed.

In a ground-breaking development, on-tee displays linked to the system will also provide the players instantaneous information on their position in relation to the group in front.

Depending on the success of the trial of the system and future technological developments in this area, it is something that will looked to be rolled out across a significant number of tournaments on the European Tour, the Challenge Tour and the Staysure Tour in 2020 and beyond.

That will reaffirm the European Tour’s commitment to innovation, Mr Pelley added.

A European Tour spokesman added: “Finally, there will also be a commitment to reducing field sizes where possible, while remaining mindful of providing playing opportunities, as well as using larger starting intervals during the final two rounds of tournaments.”

“It’s time that professional golf does something serious for slow play…5h30min to play 18 holes on a golf course without rough is just too long…way too long! #stopslowplay”

European Tour player Edoardo Molinari on Twitter – April 26, 2019

Tournament Committee chairman David Howell said: “There is no doubt that pace of play is a hot topic in golf and as players we were keen to explore ways to address these issues in various areas.

“We have had some very interesting and robust debates in the process of agreeing the new initiatives,” added the five-time European Tour champion and two-time Ryder Cup player.

“But with a combination of education, deterrents, technology and modifications to the fields, we believe we have arrived at a set of fair and proportional measures to improve the experience for everyone involved in the game.”

The move follows Edoardo Molinari’s recent outburst naming and shaming players fined for slow play on social media.

He tweeted: “It’s time that professional golf does something serious for slow play…5h30min to play 18 holes on a golf course without rough is just too long…way too long! #stopslowplay”

The tweet by Edoardo Molinari in April which sparked the controversy of fines for slow play on the European Tour… he said he would name the worst culprits if his first post was retweeted 1,000 times…. which he did 24 hours later

1. New regulation
When players are out of position and either being monitored or timed, a one-shot penalty will be incurred after two bad times – currently a player would be “monitored” and if he breaches the time allowance (50 seconds for first to play, 40 seconds for second or third to play) he will then be “officially timed.” He would then have to infringe on two more timings before being given a one-shot penalty. Players will, however, have the option to request one time extension per round, giving an additional 40 seconds to hit a shot on such a request.

In-Position timing, introduced at the same time as monitoring, has been strengthened. The time allowed to play a shot when being monitored in position (currently double the out of position times above), will be reduced by 15 per cent, from 100 and 80 seconds down to 85 and 70 seconds respectively for first and second/third to play.  Referees are instructed to be proactive in targeting known slow players for in position timing.

Fines for consistently slow players who are regularly officially timed during the season will increase significantly. For example, a player who is timed 15 times in the 2020 season will have to pay £26,000 in fines as opposed to £9,000 this season.

2. Education
All new members will be assigned a dedicated referee to help educate them on pace of play at the start of their European Tour career

As part of retaining their membership, every member will be required to pass an interactive online rules test with this being implemented for existing members towards the end of the 2019 season and all new members early in the 2020 season. This will be repeated every three years for existing members.

Regular educational videos will be produced by the European Tour’s social media team on key rules and pace of play policies and shared with the players throughout the season in an effort to avoid unnecessary rulings and ensure they better understand the Pace of Play policy.

3. Innovation0
A trial pace-of-play system will be conducted at the BMW PGA Championship from September 19-22. It will provide referees with the times for every group through every hole to make sure that no gaps are missed.

As part of this system, and in a ground-breaking development, on-tee displays on a minimum of three holes will provide groups with their position in relation to the group in front.

4. Field sizes
Field sizes at fully sanctioned events will be reduced from 156 to a minimum of 144 so long as all entered players in Category 18 (the final 111-125 on the previous season’s Race to Dubai) and above make it into the tournament. That will create space for referees to push groups over the Thursday and Friday rounds.

Larger starting intervals will be built into play on Saturday and Sunday to create a better flow between groups.

The list of European Tour players who were guilty of repeatedly bad timings released by Edoardo Molinari on Twitter in April 2019 – only two were fined, including Louis Oosthuizen

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Stoke Park’s Conor Gough won the McGregor Tophy at the 2018 English Boys U16 Amateur Open Championship, beating off Rotherham’s Ben Schmidt, who bcame the the first 16 year-old to win the Brabazon Trophy at the English Men’s Amateur Strokeplay, in May.
Picture by LEADERBOARD PHOTOGRAPHY

KNOWN as The McGregor Trophy, the England Golf junior championship returns to its spiritual home at Radcliffe-on-Trent, in Nottinghamshire, next week.

So any spectators who attend over the three days from July 16-18 can expect to see players who will graduate to the European Tour – and most likely prove to be winners in waiting.

The likes of Jim Payne – one of only two players to have successfully defended the McGregor in 37 years – Steve Webster, Graeme Storm, Oliver Fisher and Paul Waring, who won the Nordea Masters in Sweden last summer, adorn the honours board at the club, which created the first national Under 16 event, and was adopted by the English Golf Union in 1993.

Two years later Rose, a member at North Hants, would claim The McGregor at Radcliffe-on-Trent – just days before the future US Open winner would become the only player to land the U16 and U18 titles in the same season by winning The Carris at Burnham & Berrow.

JUSTIN ROSE PLAYING IN THE 1993 McGREGOR TROPHY

As well as attracting the best young players from England many of the Continent’s top teenage talents head for these shores in July to test themselves in The McGregor, including the younger Molinari brother, who won in 1996.

Dutch golf had high hopes for Wouter de Vries when he won the trophy at Rotheram in 2003, while the likes of Middlesborough’s Michael Skelton, Ealing’s Yasin Ali and Combe Wood’s James Heath, all became leading English junior and men’s internationals after claiming the English U16 crown.

In more recent times, Goodwood’s Marco Penge claimed the title at Seacroft in the North East, in 2015, while Denmark’s Rasmus Hjogaard has graduated to the European Challenge Tour – along with his twin brother Nicolai – just three years after Rasmus’ win at Royal Ashdown Forest.

Denmark’s John Axelson won The McGregor in 2014 – one of seven of the 37 champions to come from Continental Europe

Denmark’s John Axelson who won in 2014 – the last time Radcliffe-on-Trent hosted The McGregor – was runner-up in the medal honours after the 36-hole strokeplay qualifier at The Amateur Championship, at Portmarnock, last month.

Last year’s champion – Stoke Park’s Conor Gough, who won at Kedleston Park, in Derbyshire – went on to become the 2018 Boys’ Amateur Champion, while runner-up Ben Schmidt, from Rotherham GC, became the youngest-ever Brabazon Trophy winner in 70 years, in May.

This year’s championship will feature players from 16 countries. Among those aiming to keep the trophy in English hands is Hagley’s Hugh Adams, from Worcestershire, who won the English U14s Reid Trophy last year.

Adams showed his strong nerves then, coming through a four-hole play-off to take the title at Reading GC.

Others likely to be in the mix are Dubai-based Josh Hill, who was in England’s winning team at the 2018 Boys’ Home Internationals and the U16 internationals Josh Berry, from Doncaster GC, Stoke Park’s Tom Gregory, and Welwyn Garden City’s Reis Suart – plus Royal Liverpool’s Matthew Dodd-Berry, who won the Midland U16 Championship earlier this year.

Among the international challengers will be players from the other home countries and many European nations, with Spain and Italy both sending large squads.

The championship returns every five years to Radcliffe-on-Trent, where it began in 1982, and was played for the first 17 years.

The McGregor Trophy is played over 72 holes. The full field plays 18 holes on each of the first two days with the leading 40 and ties qualifying for the final 36 holes on the last day.

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All the European Tour’s new innovations at this week’s GolfSixes point to another fun week as the event moves to Cascais in Portugal. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

THE European Tour’s drive for innovation in golf will continue apace this week when GolfSixes Cascais heralds a new era on continental European soil for the fast and fun six-hole knockout format, which proved such a success in its first two editions in England.

Team Ireland’s Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan will defend their title at Oitavos Dunes when the two-day event tees off on Friday, and the field also includes Ryder Cup winners Jamie Donaldson of Wales, Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Edoardo Molinari of Italy.

With 16 teams taking part – 12 qualifying teams of European Tour players and four wildcard teams, two of them all-female – the opening day will feature a round-robin format with four groups of four, before the top two teams in each group progress to Saturday’s knockout stages.

Matches will be played in a modified Greensomes format, with all four players teeing off on every hole.

Each duo will choose their team ball for the second shot and will play alternate shots thereafter.

Innovations include:

• Players are permitted to wear shorts in competitive play for the first time in European Tour history
• Players are permitted to use measuring devices for the first time in European Tour history
• To reduce plastic waste, players will be provided with water bottles which they can fill at various stops around the course
• Drone footage will be used during tournament play for the first time
• The fourth hole will utilise a Shot Clock, with all strokes to be played within 30 seconds
• The sixth and final hole will tee off from a platform located on top of a swimming pool, surrounded by fans and VIPs and a live DJ

•For more details about the competition click here.

The Draw:

Friday June 7

Saturday June 8

Quarter-finals

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