Gainsborough, UK (24th August, 2020): PING Pro, Andy Sullivan, is paying tribute to the NHS heroes who have worked tirelessly during the Covid-19 pandemic by putting a one-of-a-kind PING tour bag up for auction.

The bag, which features a panel designed by UK-based business CMYK – Design, Copy & Print, has been used by Sullivan during each event that he has played in the European Tour’s UK Swing, part of the reworked schedule for 2020. This included his seven-shot victory in the English Championship at Hanbury Manor.

Featuring a rainbow design, which has become synonymous with public support for the NHS during the Covid-19 crisis, the bag will go up for auction today to coincide with this week’s UK Championship at The Belfry; the final leg of the UK swing. The auction finishes next Monday, August 31^st at noon.

“It’s impossible to put into words how thankful and proud we as a nation are of our amazing NHS staff,” commented Sullivan. “The work that they carry out every day is an example to us all, and what they have done over the past few months has been nothing short of superhuman.

“Auctioning off this bag is my way of saying a small thank you to each and every one of our NHS heroes, so I hope that we can raise as much money as possible for such a great cause.”

All proceeds raised from the auction will go towards NHS Charities Together, a membership organisation representing, supporting, and championing NHS Charities. In particular, the Covid-19 Urgent Appeal is helping NHS staff, volunteers and patients tackle the Covid crisis, and has so far raised over £130m.

To find out more, or to place a bid in the auction, visit https://givergy.uk/golfbagauction.

For further information on NHS Charities together, visit www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/.

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Lee Westwood is confident about his game after winning a Rolex Series event in Abu Dhabi in January. Can he win his first Major at 47? Picture by GETTY IMAGES

BRITISH Masters host Lee Westwood still believes he can win a Major.

And the former world No. 1 encouraged England’s top amateurs to replicate his work ethic and self-confidence as they strive to achieve their own career goals.

The seven-times Ryder Cup winner took time out from his preparations for the European Tour’s return at Close House next month, by taking part in the latest England Golf online Q&A session with players and coaches from its national squads.

Westwood – who represented England with distinction as an amateur before turning pro in 1993 – shared tales from life on tour.

The “Worksop Wonder,” who is now based in the North East, also gave tips on coaching, practice and course management – as well as offering sound advice for the next generation of England’s elite amateurs.

The 47-year-old’s CV means that he commands instant respect from golfers everywhere.

And his online audience during the hour-long session was no exception.

In the course of his 27 years on Tour Westwood has:

• Achieved 44 tournament victories
• Won pro events in five continents – North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia
• Enjoyed 19 top 10 finishes in Major championships
• Finished inside the top three in all four Majors
• Replaced Tiger Woods as World No. 1 in 2010 and spent 22 weeks at the top
• Played in 10 and won seven Ryder Cups as well as winning one as a vice-captain in 2018

And with the Open heading to Royal St George’s in 2021 after the R&A were forced to cancel the 149th contest for the Claret Jug, it is worth remembering that his great friend Darren Clarke was a shock winner at Sandwich in 2011.

Westwood can also take inspiration that he already has a victory at Royal St George’s to his name.

He won the St George’s Grand Challenge – reputedly the oldest club open in the world – as an amateur back in 1992.

And a certain Jack Nicklaus also has name on that trophy… having won the event in 1959.

Lee Westwood speaking to members of the England national squads and their coaches online

‘Believe in yourself, no one else will’

WHEN asked to pass on one piece of advice to players making the transition from amateur to pro ranks, Westwood said: “Have confidence in yourself.

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world and no-one will put an arm round you. You need to grow up quickly, have faith and confidence in yourself. Convince yourself that you belong out there.

“If you don’t believe in yourself, then no-one else will.”

Westwood demonstrated he still has total belief in his own ability to compete.

Asked if – after so many near misses – he still felt in his heart of hearts that a Major win was still achievable at the age of 47, he said: “Yes – that’s why I do the hard work still – why I’ve lost weight during lockdown so that I’m fit for Majors at the end of the year.

“It’s why I practice,” added Westwood, who credits his work ethic for his career longevity.

“I maybe don’t practice as much as used to, but my practice is more meaningful.

“I turned up to Bethpage for the PGA – where Brooks Koepka won – and looked at the course and thought I wasn’t long enough.

“There were too many advantages for the lads who carry it 310-315 yards through the air. I can’t carry it that far.

“The rough was brutally thick and I was in the rough playing rescue clubs and they played seven-iron. Eventually that wears you down.

“But for the Masters, Harding Park for the PGA this year – I feel as if I have good a chance as anyone if I play my game.

“It’s only a few months since I won a Rolex event with the World No. 1 (Brooks Koepka) playing that week in Abu Dhabi.

“If you can get your game in shape for a course that suits you, then why not?

“It’s all about having the right mentality.”

The 1993 England Home Internationals team. Back row (L-R): Lee James, Lee Westwood, Iain Pyman, Gary Wolstenholme, Michael Welsh, Van Phillips, Colin Edwards. Front row: Paul Page, Warren Bennett, Peter McEvoy (manager), David Fisher and Matt Stanford

‘Seve game me cotton wool at Valderrama’

DURING the session, Westwood touched on the importance of coaches to his career. He has worked with celebrated names such as Pete Cowen, David Leadbetter and Robert Rock.

Crucially, he stressed the importance of taking responsibility for his own swing to avoid being caught up in a “hazy panic” of too many different thoughts.

He also explained his loyalty to club manufacturers having stayed with Titleist and Ping throughout his career.

And he joked about his Ryder Cup debut in 1997. Captain Seve Ballesteros gave him a gift before he hit his first tee shot – a giant ball of cotton wool to stuff in his ears to block out the noise of the Valderrama crowd.

Westwood’s tips were gratefully received by his audience, and he was happy to pass on advice having once been in their position as a teenage hopeful.

Westwood – winner of the McEvoy Trophy and British Youths’ Championship as an amateur – added: “I enjoyed the England days.

“They give you a footing in the game, learning to travel and becoming independent,” added the ex-Nottinghamshire junior, who was a member at Worksop GC.

“Going for England coaching sessions and playing Home Internationals, travelling to Iceland for the European Boys team champs – that’s not somewhere you’d go very often – and Norway too.

“They were good trips and it prepared me for travelling around on Tour.

“Nowadays, amateurs are like semi-pros and have travelled all over the world. The really good ones settle in far easier to pro life than when I started out.

“My first pro event was my debut event as a pro in the Madeira Open.

“Amateurs such as Rory McIlroy had played 15/16 pro events as an amateur by the time they stepped up – and that makes a huge difference.”

Westwood became the touring pro at Close House, near Newcastle, after it opened in 2011 – he will host the Betfred British Masters for a second time in July

Westwood: Fifty European Tour wins would be great

LEE WESTWOOD will be the British Masters host for a second time when the first post-lockdown European Tour event is held at Close House Golf Club, from July 22-25.

And he’s eager to get back and target more success at his adopted home in the North East, and beyond.

“I’m at 44 wins– let’s see if I can get to fifty!,” concluded Westwood with a smile.

Westwood’s willingness to examine the fallow periods in his career as well as the many highs helped provide great insight for the current squad players, who enjoyed the session chaired by England performance director Nigel Edwards.

Westwood was the British Masters host when Paul Dunne claimed his maiden European Tour win at Close House, in 2017, finishing three strokes ahead of Rory McIlroy.

Lee Westwood’s Amateur victories
1991 – Peter McEvoy Trophy – Copt Heath GC
English Boys County Champions (Nottinghamshire) – Prince’s GC
1992 – Lagonda Trophy – Gog Magog GC
St George’s Grand Challenge Cup – Royal St George’s
Prince of Wales Challenge Cup – Royal Cinques Port
1993 – Leven Gold Medal Leven Links
British Youths Championship – Glasgow Gailles GC

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Eddie Pepperell signed up as a Ping player before this week’s South African Open at Randpark Golf Club. Picture by WARREN LITTLE / GETTY IMAGES

EQUIPMENT giant Ping has announced the signing of European Tour player Eddie Pepperell on a multi-year agreement.

As part of the deal, the 28-year-old from Frilford Heath GC will compete wearing a Ping hat and carry a staff bag bearing its logo, joining the likes of Tony Finau, Louis Oosthuizen, Bubba Watson and big-hitting Cameron Champ in the Ping stable.

The former Drayton Park junior, who lives near Abingdon, currently plays with 14 Ping clubs, including a G410 Plus driver (nine degrees), G410 5-wood (17.5 at 16 degree), i210 irons (3-PW), Glide Forged wedges (52, 56, and 60 degree) and a Custom PLD PrimeTyne putter.

Pepperell is a two-time European Tour winner, having claimed victories at the Qatar Masters and British Masters in 2018.

The former England amateur international also finished tied sixth at the Open Championship at Carnoustie two years ago.

Last season, he recorded his best result in America with a tied third at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

Eddie made his debut as a Ping staff player at the South African Open at Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg today (Thursday).

Ping president John K Solheim said: “Eddie is one of the most popular players on the European Tour and we are very pleased that he has chosen to represent PING.

“With two European Tour victories already to his name, we look forward to supporting him going forward and wish him continued success. I enjoy his humour on social media.

“He’s fun to follow and always keeps things interesting.”

Eddie revealed to his followers on Twitter that he had gone out the night before the final round of the 2018 Open Championship, and enjoyed “a few glasses of red wine.”

Frilford Heath’s Eddie Pepperell will be playing Ping equipment for the foreseeable future after signing a multi-year agreement. Picture by WARREN LITTLE / GETTY IMAGES

He then proceeded to shot a superb final round of 67 on Sunday, despite feeling a “little hungover” after sharing a bottle with this coach Simon Shanks.

The round left him unsure of whether to leave Carnoustie in case the clubhouse leader might find himself in with a chance of a playhouse as Francesco Molinarni completed his back nine.

As it was the Italian took the Claret Jug, finishing three shots ahead of the Oxfordshire ace, who had started the day eight shots behind the leader, having endured a frustrating Saturday on Carnoustie’s famously tough track.

Eddie, who came through ranks playing for B.B.&O. with Harleyford’s Tyrrell Hatton, regularly shares his life with favoured pooch Gus on social media.

He is not afraid of entering a debate with his followers – and some times critics, or voicing an opinion about everything from human rights in Saudi Arabia to a fellow Wee Wonders graduate winning his first tournament after Aaron Rai’s win in Hong Kong.

His blogs have showed Pepperell to be a very thoughtful student of life and the human psyche as well as golf.

He has revealed many of the frustrations as well as highlights of a modern tour pro’s life, living out of suitcases and in airport departure lounges.

In 2018, he teamed up with experienced tour caddy Mick Doran, who has worked with the likes of Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, David Howell Paul Lawrie and Darren Clarke.

The Berkshire-based caddy, who grew up in Englefield Green and caddied at Wentworth before finding himself on the bag when Italy’s Costantino Rocca lost a play-off at St Andrews, in the 1995 Open.

With many pundits believing the Open offers Pepperell’s best hopes in the Majors, Doran’s experience with many of Europe’s Ryder Cup stars over the last 30 years, could be invaluable when Royal St George’s hosts the 148^th Open Championship at Sandwich this summer.

Pepperell lost to Hertfordshire’s fellow England junior Tom Lewis, from Welwyn Garden City, in the final of the Boys’ Amateur Championship, at Royal St George’s, in 2009.

Two years later, Lewis, fresh off his victory in the St Andrews Links Trophy, one of the top three amateur strokeplay events in Europe, led the Open after the first round at Royal St Geroge’s.

Slightly surprisingly, Pepperell, who turned pro in 2011 only qualified for his first Open in 2015 – having lost a play-off in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, at Royal County Down.

Hatton by contrast, played in his fourth Open in six years at St Andrews that summer after finishing fourth in Northern Ireland, after missing out on the play-off by just a shot.

Pepperell’s pay cheque of €217,135 after that play-off defeat, in very windy conditions, was the biggest of his young career, and also saw him break into the world top 100 for the first time.

Eddie Pepperell will be looking for his third European Tour victory in 2020 – and his first as a contracted Ping player. Picture by WARREN LITTLE / GETTY IMAGES

At that point Eddie had already qualified for the 2013 US Open at Merion, when Justin Rose, became the first English winner since Tony Jacklin 43 years earlier, after Pepperell came through the European qualifier at Walton Heath – the scene of his second European Tour victory 15 months ago.

That win lifted Pepperell – who was crowned Portuguese Amateur Champion in 2011 – to an all-time high of 33 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Eddie, who turns 29 later this month, said at the time of his Open debut: “I grew up playing links in my amateur days so it’s something I’m very comfortable with when I’m playing well.

“I’m going to embrace the experience and hopefully go there with my game in good shape and you never know what can happen.”

Currently in 52^nd place on the OWGR, Pepperell will be looking for a strong start to 2020, to get back into the top 50 to secure his second appearance at The Masters – having missed the cut on his debut in 2019.

The last Ping player to win The Open? Louis Oosthuizen at St Andrews in 2010, who is the defending champion in South Africa this week.

•You can follow Eddie Pepperell’s blog by clicking here.

What’s in Eddie Pepperell’s bag? Ping G410 Plus driver, G410 5-wood, i210 irons, three Glide Forged wedges and a Custom PLD PrimeTyne putter. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

The post Eddie Pepperell likes sound of signing for Ping, following Bubba Watson and Finau appeared first on Golf North.

SOMERSET’S Mimi Rhodes, Essex’s Lily May Humphreys and Surrey’s Annabell Fuller have all been included in the European team to face the United States of America in next month’s PING Junior Solheim Cup at Gleneagles.

Seventeen-year-old Rhodes, from Burnham & Berrow, earned an automatic place on the team having finished in the top-six on the European Junior Solheim Cup ranking.

Fuller, from Roehampton, and Humphreys, from Stoke by Nayland, who have both already played in the Curtis Cup against the USA even though they are only both 17 like Rhodes, were both selected as wild card picks by European captain Mickey Walker.

Scotland’s Hannah Darling, Denmark’s Amalie Leth-Nissen, France’s Lilas Pinthier and Germany’s Paula Schulz-Hanssen were the other picks.

“I’m excited to announce such a young, talented and international team for this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup, said Walker, who was Europe’s Solheim Cup captain when the match was first played in 1990.

“This will be a special week for everyone involved and create memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.

“I am delighted the matches will be played at Gleneagles, one of the most iconic golfing venues in the UK and one of my personal favourite places to visit and play golf,

Walker, who was herself an Essex-based amateur, added: “I feel sure that all the girls participating in the PJSC will feel the same.”

“Finally, on behalf of the European team, I would like to say a big thank-you to John Solheim and his family for their vision and generosity in creating this wonderful match between the very best young players from the two continents.”

“The depth of talent on Mickey Walker’s team is very impressive and promises to create some exciting and memorable moments at Gleneagles,” said John Solheim, PING chairman and chief executive.

“It is wonderful to see six countries represented. It speaks to the wide appeal of the game and is a testament to the golf organisations within each country that have committed to developing such talented young ladies.,” Mr Solheim added.

This year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup is to be played over the King’s course at Gleneagles, on September 10 and 11, immediately ahead of the Solheim Cup which starts on the resort’s PGA Centenary course on September 13.

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