Tour Notebook: Lefty loses $5k flutter to teenage amateur
Lefty loses out Aussie teenager
According to reports Phil Mickelson lost a $5k bet to a teenage Aussie amateur.
The three-time Masters champion is known to like a flutter so when he came up against 17-year-old Ryan Ruffels he proposed a bet and came out on the wrong side of it.
Mickelson was trying to recruit Ruffels for a place at Arizona State University where Mickelson’s brother Tim is the head coach.
Ruffels told the Sydney Morning Herald: “We get on the 1st tee, it’s pretty early in the morning and he says, ’I don’t wake up this early to play for any less than $2,500.’”
The Aussie, who shot a 66 in the first round of the Canadian Open, was given odds of 2-1 and could defer his payment until when he turned pro.
“I was a few down through nine but then I birdied six of my last seven to win by one shot and took his money, so that was pretty cool,” Ruffels added.
Ruffels then turned pro so never did go to college and he will get starts at the Farmers Insurance Open and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in the coming weeks.
Woods gives Wie a chipping lesson
Tiger Woods has been seen on a golf course again and with a golf club in hand.
Woods, who is recovering from another back operation, was seen with Michelle Wie at his Foundation and, according to her Instagram, gave Wie a chipping lesson.
We don’t know if he was able to hit any shots but he was wearing a glove in the photo.
Woods said at the start of December in a rather bleak press conference that he couldn’t put a date on his return.
“There is no timetable, so that’s the hardest part for me. There’s really nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build towards.
“Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? I walk. And I walk and I walk some more.”
Dream birthday present for Poulter
Ian Poulter turned 40 last week and, by way of a special present, his EurAsia Cup team-mates got him a special present – a Tottenham shirt.
The Arsenal-mad player is seen on Instagram unwrapping the pressie, tossing it away and then delivers a word beginning with ’f’ before the video cuts off.
Captain Darren Clarke said: “It was such a thoughtful present for all of his team-mates to sign his shirt and give it to him.”
Poulter replied: “It was a lovely thought. But I think I’ll auction it off for charity because it won’t be coming in my house. It will be very fitting in somebody’s house but it won’t be fitting in my closet.”
“I was a few down through nine but then I birdied six of my last seven to win by one shot and took his money, so that was pretty cool,” Ryan Ruffels Westwood gets royal appointment
The Queen of Malaysia or, to give her her proper name,
Her Majesty, The Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tuanka Hajah Haminah Hamidun, The Queen of Malaysia gave the EurAsia Cup the royal seal of approval by hitting a ceremonial opening drive.
And, by the look of it, produced a very solid tee ball.
She was playing in the pro-am with Lee Westwood.
One of the nice lines of the week came when captain Darren Clarke introduced his team to the queen. When it came to Matt Fitzpatrick he said: “This is Matt – he’s 15 years old.”
When introduced to 6”6 Chris Wood she said: “Oh, you’re very tall.”
Victor floored in Malaysia
The strange injury of the week award goes to Victor Dubuisson after the Frenchman’s knee locked on the 14th green on day one of the EurAsia Cup.
Dubuisson was reading a putt when he was unable to bend and the physio had to be called out to administer some treatment. After some tentative stretches and some pained
expressions he limped his way down the 16th before making a birdie. He and Soren Kjeldsen went on to halve their match.
Mark Townsend
Been watching and playing golf since the early 80s and generally still stuck in this period. Huge fan of all things Robert Rock, less so white belts. Handicap of 8, fragile mind and short game
