Cameron Percy & coach Darren Cole

Note: We previously reported that Cameron Percy had qualified for the US Open. He has in fact qualified for the British Open Championship. We apologize for this error.

Australia’s Cameron Percy has qualified for the 2010 Open Championship by defeating Charley Hoffman and Bubba Watson in a playoff at the qualifier in Texas.

Percy birdied the third playoff hole to defeat the American duo and grab the final spot available from the qualifying event being played at the Gleneagles Golf Club in Plano, Texas.

It will be Percy’s 2nd start in a major championship, having previously competed in the 2003 Open Championship where he missed the cut.

Having earned his PGA Tour card after a stellar 2009 season on the Nationwide Tour where he finished 8th on the money list, Percy is still finding his feet on the big stage with 5 of 12 cuts made this season and one top 25 finish to his name.

Playing in his second major should be a huge boost for the Aussie who is coached by Bann Lynch Golf coach and Yarra Bend Golf team member Darren Cole.

It has been a good week of qualifying for the Bann Lynch Golf/Yarra Bend Golf stable with Paul Sheehan (coached by Denis McDade) qualifying for the US Open Championship via the qualifying event in Japan.

Welcome to the latest episode of our Fly on the Wall Series, where we eavesdrop on PGA Tour coach Steve Bann as he works with some of his professional clients.

In this episode, Steve is working with LPGA Tour player Hee Young Park on her pitching and chipping. Steve is working to help simplify Hee Young’s technique so she can “free it up” and just concentrate on where she wants to land the golf ball. This is a money shot- having a good pitching game will help you make a bunch of birdies on par 5’s and short par 4’s while also helping you save par on long par 4’s or when you get into trouble off the tee. Enjoy!:

Nike has virtually built the golf section of its brand on the back of its sponsorship of Woods and the company has no intentions of rushing the World #1 back into competition until he is ready to be back inside the ropes. Nike brand president Charlie Denson emphasized this when he said: “Under the circumstances, the more he deals with the issues and the better he deals with them, the better off he’ll be when he does return”.

After losing Accenture and AT&T as sponsors while being downgraded by Gillette and Tag-Huer, Woods can at least count on his major sponsor supporting him through what has surely been the toughest period of his career to date.

“We’ve been supportive of Tiger since the story broke and we continue to be supportive,” Denson said. “He’s got issues he needs to deal with and he’s dealing with them. We are looking forward to him getting back on the golf course.”

Woods issued a public apology last week and has said that he is returning to rehab to solve issues with his personal life.

Golf.com reports that the European Tour’s top two officials John Paramor and Andy McFee have completed a DVD meant to educate players on basic rulings. If a player is deemed to have asked for a ruling when not completely necessary, he will have 3 tournaments to attend a seminar and view the DVD before he can enter another tournament.

Anything to make rounds of golf faster!

Sophomore slump? Don’t bother talking about anything of that sort to  Marc Leishman. The 2009 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year has started the 2010 season picking up right where he left off.

Leishman has made 3 out of 4 cuts with the highlight being a T2 finish in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. The Victorian finished one shot behind winner Ben Crane of the United States, and tied with fellow Aussie Michael Sim and American Brandt Snedeker.

Coming into the new season, Leishman was asked about his goals for the season:

“I think if I could just improve my game, that’s the main thing. If I can do that, I can improve, and the results will take care of themselves. I had a very good year last year. I guess I maybe went past my goals a little bit… It was great. Hopefully I can do better this year and see how we go.”

Leishman has also put in strong performances at the Northern Trust Open (T15) and the Sony Open in Hawaii (T20) with his sole disappointment of the season so far being a missed cut at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Don’t worry about him becoming complacent any time soon though:

“I knew that just because I got Rookie of the Year it didn’t mean I was all of a sudden going to become an unbelievable player,” Leishman said. “I knew I still had work to be done. I really didn’t take that for granted and I’m not taking the PGA TOUR for granted.”

This is exactly the kind of attitude that has Leishman’s coach Denis McDade of Bann Lynch Golf very excited about his prospects:

“Marc continues to grow as a player but there is no shortage of incredibly talented players out here on Tour” said McDade. “I think what’s really working in his favor is his belief in his own abilities and a very positive attitude towards enjoying his game, enjoying the process of getting better and enjoying the thrill of competition. I’m proud of what he has accomplished so far.”

The season is still young and it remains to be seen whether Leishman can sustain his run of good play for the rest of the year. However with this kind of positive attitude and the results to back it up, not many people would bet against him making it back into the FedEx Cup Playoffs this year after being the only rookie to do so last year.

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.

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

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“.

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.”

After playing his way to a Nationwide Tour membership during the year, the Greenville, S.C resident set his sights on pro golf’s ultimate stage. With rounds of 74, 71, 66, 68 ,75 and 69, Delahoussaye finished at 9 under 423 for the tournament and tied for 23rd place.It was a clutch performance in his final round of 3 under par 69 that sealed the deal for Delahoussaye.

While he hails from the United States, his success certainly has an Aussie connection to it. Delahoussaye has been working at the International Institute of Golf at The Cliffs, Keowee Springs in South Carolina with IIG coaches Brett Latcham and John Thalassinos.

The International Institute of Golf is the brainchild of Australia’s most successful coaching team- Steve Bann and Dale Lynch. The Institute officially opened its doors in May this year and is the training ground for some of the PGA Tour’s top stars including Stuart Appleby, Geoff Ogilvy, KJ Choi, Nick Flanagan, Mat Goggin, Aaron Baddeley and many more.