Monday, July 23, 2007

Well done both of you!

Padraig ~ Now you've gone & done it!!!!!

Padraig Harrington - With This Win
22 Jul 2007


Padraig Harrington has achieved..........................


*His 12th European Tour International Schedule victory in his 260th European Tour event as a professional.



*His first Major Championship victory in his 37th Major Championship appearance.



*Becomes just the second Irishman to win a Major Championship, joining Fred Daly, who won The Open Championship in 1947.

*Becomes the first European-born player to win a Major Championship since Paul Lawrie at The 1999 Open Championship also at Carnoustie – a gap of 31 Major Championships.



*This victory beats his best previous Major Championship performances of fifth in the US Open Championship in 2006 and tied fifth in the 1997 Open Championship, 2000 US Open Championship, 2002 Masters Tournament, and 2002 Open Championship.



*Wins The Open Championship in his 11th appearance.



*His third top ten finish in The Open Championship from his 11 appearances – and ninth overall top ten from his Major Championship career.



*Third consecutive first-time Major Champion, following Zach Johnson (Masters Tournament) and Angel Cabrera (US Open Championship). First time this has occurred since Phil Mickelson (2004 Masters Tournament), Shaun Micheel (2003 US PGA Championship) and Ben Curtis (2003 The Open Championship).



*His victory becomes the 32nd Major Championship victory since 1979 by a European Tour Member.



*Becomes the 14th different European Tour Member to win a Major Championship since 1979.



*Second victory on The 2007 European Tour International Schedule, following the Irish Open.



*Third victory of 2007, following the Irish Open and Irish PGA Championship last week.



*Fourth time in his European Tour career he has recorded multiple victories in the same season.



*Joins Henrik Stenson (Dubai Desert Classic and WGC – Accenture Match Play), as the only two multiple winners on The 2007 European Tour.



*His six shot final round deficit by a winner equals the largest on The 2007 European Tour, matching that of Nathan Green at the Blue Chip New Zealand Open.



*Gains an exemption into The Open Championship until the age of 65.



*Gains a five year exemption into The Masters Tournament, the US Open Championship and USPGA Championship.



*Gains a place in the 2007 PGA Grand Slam of Golf, joining Johnson and Cabrera.



*Gains a place in the 2007 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and HSBC World Match Play Championship.



*Gains a place in the 2008 HSBC Champions.



*Extends his European Tour exemption until the end of 2017.



*Gains his largest European Tour prize of €1,106,617 (£750,000)



*Moves over €16 million in European Tour Official Career Earnings.



*Moves to€2,059,507in The European Tour Order of Merit – the fourth time he has amassed more than €2 million in a single season.



*The second Irish victory on the 2007 European Tour.



*The 41st Irish victory on The European Tour.



*Fifth top ten finish of the 2007 season and 89th of his European Tour career



*His 20th win as a professional.

Tour De France

Favourite sport even in the floods

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Look at me...I've got 8 teeeve....James Martin

Dark clouds over Limoges, Wimbledon & the world

Today in Limoges, we have dark clouds, heavy rain and temperatures of between 10/12 degrees. "Today" has lasted from May through June and is now set for July.

Wimbledon is on then off then on etc etc............

So what's happening? A blip in the weather? A poor summer? A one-off?

I think not. The trend of unusual and unseasonal weather has been with us for some years & the scientists have been examining and appraising the situation for many years now.

See the problem for me is not that something is happening and accelerating ~ that's obvious. I see it with my own eyes.

No! The problem for me is that the experts themselves disagree both on the causes of what we are witnessing and the potential solutions.

* There are those who blame mankind. They argue ~ We have developed and built our societies on the fossil fuels & simultaneously polluted our atmospheres with so much carbon as to alter the normal balances of nature, weather etc. The only solution ~ and it may be too late ~ is to reduce carbon emissions.

* There are those who argue that what we are going through is a natural adjustment ~ part of the cyclic nature of the earth. They also indicate that man's contribution is negligible and the major cause in the shift is the sun. There is no solution. Things will get worse.



So here I am in the Limousin watching the rain ~ [ not watching tennis!] and also seeing the first signs of confusion & doubt in our usually confident approach to life.

There's one thing that's certain ~ there's much more of this to come and the process will accelerate.

The recent floods in UK give us an insight into how quickly someone's life can be turned upside down.

I guess we need to worry more about Global warming than any other current problems and, of course when will Wimbledon restart!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Ouch....Montgomery!!!!!!

Storm thunders back to grab maiden win and deny Montgomerie


Gordon Richardson in Paris
Monday July 2, 2007
The Guardian


Graeme Storm, the former amateur champion, strode to a maiden European Tour triumph in the French Open at Golf National in Versailles as Colin Montgomerie again dramatically failed to breast the tape. The Scot looked set to end his 18-month drought when a clear leader with seven holes left but a brace of birdies dashed his hopes.
Storm who holed the winning putt in the 1999 Walker Cup after carrying off that year's amateur crown, fired 66 for a seven-under par 277 and a one-stroke win from the Dane Soren Hansen (72). It earned him nearly £450,000 and a place in the starting line-up for the Open at Carnoustie in two weeks' time.

Not long now

Tour de France

Vinokourov defends Ferrari link


Tour de France favourite Alexander Vinokourov insists he has nothing to hide about his relationship with trainer Dr Michele Ferrari.
Vinokourov has been training with the Italian, who has been linked with drugs allegations but had a suspended prison sentence reversed.

"Ferrari has never offered me any medicine. He is only in charge of my physical preparation," the Kazakh said.

"I know the way he works and I know I have nothing to be ashamed of."

Vinokourov is considered one of the leading lights for this year's race, which starts with the opening time trial in London on Saturday.

His best finish in Le Tour was third overall in 2003 but several leading names from the last few years, including last year's winner Floyd Landis, are absent because of drug allegations.

Vinokourov, who also came fifth in 2005, was one of last year's favourites but Astana had to withdraw after several of the team were implicated in the Operation Puerto doping scandal.

"Vino", who two months later won the Tour of Spain, was not involved himself but was left without enough team-mates to compete.

Ferrari has worked in the past with seven-times Tour winner Lance Armstrong - who defended the relationship in similar fashion - and Vinokourov's manager Tony Rominger.


Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/6260532.stm

Published: 2007/07/02 08:57:57 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Hatton v Mayweather ???????????

Mayweather gets £5m Hatton offer

Mayweather v Hatton could happen later this year
Promoter Dennis Hobson has offered Floyd Mayweather £5m to fight Ricky Hatton in Britain later this year.
Mayweather says he is willing to come out of retirement to fight Manchester's light welterweight champion.

"I've spoken to some of his people and they've been very receptive. It's a very substantial offer," said Hobson.

However, Hatton's former promoter Frank Warren claims he could promote some of his future fights after settling his libel row with the fighter's father.


Watch this space..........

England beat Westindies easily!



Cooke shines..........

Murray's thoughts on British tennis......

Murray blames British attitudes ...................


British number one Andy Murray has launched a wide-ranging attack on underachieving British tennis players and the authorities that run the sport.
"The problem with British tennis is that there's always so much negativity," Murray told the Sun.

"There's always someone complaining, whether it's a coach moaning about the players or players criticising coaches.

"The attitude of some of the players is terrible. Why can't everyone just get on with things?"

With Murray absent because of an injured wrist this year's Wimbledon has been Britain's worst for 17 years, with no home player making it into the third round of either the men's or women's championships.


The people who are allocating funding say a lot of the players are spoilt but surely these players have been made spoilt
Andy Murray

Murray's criticism echoes that of Boris Becker, Tim Henman and British tennis chief Roger Draper over the past few days.

Murray praised fellow Scot Jamie Baker's attitude, saying: "Players with his type of discipline and work ethic should get the funding, not the ones who try to blame something else and say, 'it's this guy's fault or that guy's fault'.

"Just get on with it. Tennis is an individual sport. The funding you get is a bonus. We are very lucky.

"The people who are allocating it say a lot of the players are spoilt but surely these players have been made spoilt.

"We have to stop making excuses. It's not just about numbers. It's about finding the kids who want it."

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/tennis/6260352.stm

Published: 2007/07/02 08:22:41 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Hamilton Predicts

MOTORSPORT

Hamilton makes Silverstone pledge

Lewis Hamilton believes McLaren can match Ferrari at next weekend's British Grand Prix despite coming third at Magny-Cours.

And so do I !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!