Lucas Glover would probably do quite well in a category that measures recovery from a horrible start after the 1st round of the SBS Championship. The reigning US Open Champion put aside a double bogey on his opening hole to go 9 under par in a 9 hole stretch in the middle of his round to finish at 7 under 66 and lead the tournament at the end of the day. His blistering round included 2 eagles.

He showed how important it is to be patient:

“I knew there were a lot of birdies,” he said. “I saw some scores early and I knew guys were making birdies, and if I played well, I could get something going. So just don’t rush anything. Be patient.”

Australia was well represented in the elite field by Nathan Green(67) and defending champion Geoff Ogilvy (69).

Green (T2) is already looking forward to seeing improvements in his game from 2009. At this level, the little things that help a player maintain momentum in a round can end up being the difference between being in contention and struggling to make the cut. On Thursday, Green managed to limit the damage from his worst shot of the day when he hit a spectator with an errant shot out of the rough on the par 3 8th. He had about 30 yards left to the hole from where he ended up, and managed to get it up and down to escape with a bogey.

“That’s the stuff I wasn’t doing much at all last year,” said Green. “If I had a slightly good break like that, I wouldn’t make the most of it. I wouldn’t manage to get it up and down.”

Defending champ Ogilvy ended the day tied for 11th place at 69, 3 shots behind the leader.

When asked about what this stat means to him, Ogilvy said:

“Well, I learned that then actually when you said that. Yes and no. I mean it probably doesn’t happen very often in a year. Probably most places you go to, there will be knowledgeable people who have won on that golf course before. Unless you go to Bay Hill and Tiger is probably the only one who won there, or Akron or something. I guess, it’s interesting.”

Ogilvy is aware of this event’s previous history of repeat winners, and certainly feels confident enough to be in the hunt in the defense of his title this week. When asked who he thinks the favorite is this week, he didn’t shy away from backing himself:

“Obviously, everyone here is a good player because they won a golf tournament last year. Stuart (Appleby) won three times in a row, so it’s obviously feasible. It’s a place my first couple of times I never played well. But last year was the best I ever played last year. I came back here feeling pretty good, so I don’t see any reason why I can’t win again“.

This will be the fifth time the colorfully attired Daly has played this event at the Waialae Country Club. The Sony Open will be played from Jan 14 to 17.
The event will have a very strong field including all 4 Major Champions of 2009 including Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink and Y.E. Yang. Also in the field will be local favorites Tadd Fujikawa, Dean Wilson and Parker McLachlin.

Tip: For the latest updates from your favorite pros, follow them on Twitter! Their Twitter usernames are :

@PGA_JohnDaly

@StewartCink

@TaddFujikawa

@ParkerMcLachlin

According to the analysis, winners on the US PGA Tour received an an average of 52.51 points, compared with 42.54 points for their European Tour counterparts.

European Tour events only outranked  US PGA Tour events being played in the same week on eight occasions. Three of those events however were played after the Tour Championship, which is usually the season finale for most top ranked players.

The rest of the world does however seem to catch up in the couple of months after the Tour Championship. Predominantly US-based players such as Dustin Johnson (40 to 53), Davis Love III (52 to 79) and Scott Verplank (47 to 60) for example have all dropped significant world ranking spots after the Tour Championship.

The Vic Open is the first event on the 2010 PGA Tour of Australasia calendar and boasts a field that includes crowd favorite and US Champions Tour rookie Peter Senior, 2009 Australian Order of Merit runner up Alistair Presnell, Moonah Classic winner Ewan Porter, former Australian Open Champion Stephen Allan and two-time Nationwide Tour winner Jarrod Lyle.Current NSW Open Champion Leigh McKechnie, WA Open Champion Michael Curtain and young gun Matthew Griffin are also in the field.

Griffin has enjoyed a strong season, winning his first pro title at the Fiji Open in June by 11 shots, retaining his card on the Asian Tour with a couple of clutch top 10 finishes and a strong showing at the Australian PGA Championship where he led the field going into the third round. This event has often been a great launching pad for successful professional careers and defending champion Ashley Hall would probably vouch for that. The 26 year old Victorian is also in the field this week.

According to info provided by the PGA of Australia :

“Admission to the 2010 Subaru Victorian Open is just $8 for a daily adult ticket or $15 for a season pass across the four days. Juniors under 16 years of age are free on all days of the Championship.”

Monday, December 21| Australia’s Marc Leishman has received the perfect Christmas present: a Rookie of the Year award on the US PGA Tour as announced by Commissioner Tim Finchem on Friday.

For at least a day, the Warnambool boy shared the golf media headlines with embattled Tiger Woods, who was awarded his 10th Player of the Year award and his first since 2007. Leishman became the first Australian to receive this honor since it was first awarded in 1990.

“Congratulations to Tiger and Marc for their accomplishments in 2009,” said Commissioner Finchem. “Both players enjoyed outstanding seasons capped off by success in the Playoffs. The recognition by their peers is the one of the highest compliments a PGA TOUR member can receive.”

For 26 year old Leishman, competition for the award came from fellow rookies Jeff Klauk and Webb Simpson. However, having been the only rookie to qualify for the Tour Championship, which was the final event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, he was always going to be tough to beat.

Leishman had 3 top 10 finishes including the Valero Texas Open (T5), the HP Byron Nelson Championship (T8) and probably his most memorable one when he tied for second at the BMW Championships in the third leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

His coach Denis McDade from Bann Lynch Golf in Melbourne has worked with him since his amateur days, and was understandably thrilled with the way his season turned out: “Marc has adjusted so well to playing on the world’s biggest stage and is only going to get better. To be able to produce his best golf under that sort of pressure in your rookie season is really impressive and that kind of confidence is something you can’t teach. I’m really looking forward to seeing him develop into an even stronger player next season“.

Do you want to get your kids into golf but aren’t quite sure where to begin? Or perhaps you’re new to the game yourself and are looking for a good place to start. There is enough instruction around on golf to make you go nuts even before you pick up a golf club! However, luckily for you, we’ve found a great resource which will help you get started on the right track. And best of all…its free!

My First Golf Book Online is a great website developed by world renowned PGA Professional Steve Bann, who coaches PGA Tour stars such as Stuart Appleby and KJ Choi.

The website covers all parts of the game, starting with an introduction to the basics of the game, a section on safety and the rules of the game, and then gets into some basic lessons about technique and the fundamentals of the game.

The website is a great place to get started with the game and has some nice illustrations to go along with the written content to make it fun for the kids to read as well. Give it a go this summer!

Visit: http://www.my-first-golf-book-online.com/

The 38-year-old Allenby has now won back to back tournaments, having beaten Henrik Stenson in a 3 hole playoff last week at the Sun City Challenge in South Africa. His previous Australian PGA titles came in 2000, 2001 and 2005.

“When you start with the lead all you have to do is to hold it and don’t do anything stupid,” said Allenby .

“I did what I had to do from the first hole to the last hole…I had some very, very tough competitors behind me and I had a lot of respect for them. So I tried to just pace myself, I tried to hit as many fairways as I could, I tried to hit as many greens as I could… That’s what I did all day, I just felt totally in control on every shot.”
Allenby certainly stuck to his game plan in a near flawless display on Sunday. He posted five birdies in a clinical display of pure ball striking ability, and despite several players getting to within a stroke of his lead during the final round, he always seemed to be in control. His third birdie of the day at the 12th gave him some breathing room, and he drove that advantage home with two further birdies on the par-five 15th and par-four 17th .
“It’s a nice feeling to win in that fashion,” Allenby told reporters after his victory. “It’s always nice to come down the last with a four-shot lead. I was pretty consistent but to do it under the gun in the final round, that’s pretty special.”

Another reason this win was so special for Allenby was the fact that this is his first win on home soil after losing his mother Sylvia last year to cancer. Allenby has been wearing pink shirts in the final rounds of all events he has played in this year in honor of Sylvia, and having the opportunity to win twice and dedicate the wins to his mother was an incredibly emotional experience for the popular Victorian:

“It’s nice to win with the pink shirt on, that’s for sure,” Allenby said before being overcome with emotion. “This year pink was always my last-day shirt and it was always in honour of my … sorry…Pink is in honour of my mother. Throughout the year I’ve had a couple of chances to win a couple of tournaments in America and in Europe and just haven’t come through because I’ve let too many emotions get in the way of things.”

“It’s been a very tough year but to come out on top last week and this week has been absolutely fantastic. It’s definitely going to be fantastic for my career, it’s just the little bit that’s been missing and I just want to say thanks – and dad I love you.”

Teeing off at 6:25 in the morning, Han made full use of the mild conditions at the revamped Hyatt Regency resort course, firing 11 birdies against two bogeys—on holes 1 and 18.

2nd placed Haller (66) was followed by five other Aussies at 67: Stuart Appleby, Matthew Griffin, Scott Strange, Andrew Dodt and Henry Epstein.

Newly crowned Australian Open Champion Adam Scott was in a group of players at 68, while defending champion Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby each shot 70. American drawcard and noticeably lighter John Daly had a 71.

Han started with birdies on his first 4 holes. He is one of 15 South Koreans in the tournament, which is now part of the new One Asia regional tour.

“I played like Tiger Woods today,” Han said of his incredible performance. “I felt almost like I was in heaven.”

Han, 26, spent 5 years in Florida till the age of 21 in order to develop his game. He was 0 for 16 in tournaments on the Korean tour last year.

He missed the cut last week at the Australian Open, which was his first appearance in an Australian tournament.