Mavs Weekly European & Challenge to update - Castello Masters

First topic message reminder :

Firstly to Tom Lewis, congratulations on his win in what was only his 3rd pro start, there have bee some saying it was his 4th, but they are over looking the fact his first event at was prior to the walker cup meaning he was still an Am. His win secures him a 2year exemption to the tour and means he can look at building a full schedule for next season to kick on his pro career.

Briefly to mentionthe Gran Slam of golf, what I find the most pointless event in world golf, much like the Chevron just a invite to something that is purely a money generator for those that already have pots of it playing in an exhibition type event, but thats just my opinion.

So to this week:

1.Adam Hunter this week passed away after a a battle with leukaemia. Hunter a former winner on the European Tour was 48 years old. After his brief spell on the tour he went onto become Paul Lawries swing coach and you could say they had some successes, an Open win for example only a year after they began to work together. He had also less than a year ago been appointed head coach to the scottish U16's by the SGU.

2.Sergio returns to spain this week for an event he won back in 2008 and is surely not far from being back in the winners enclosure his ball striking this year is right back up there now he just needs toput it all together. A note to boost Sergios confidence is RC Captain Olazabal saying he is sure Sergio will play his way onto the RC team with his talent.

3.This weeks defendig champion another young prodigy like Sergio is Matteo Manassero, to add to the field Tom Lewis, plus 2 time winner this year Noren it promises to be a good week for potential talent should be looking at making next years RC.

4.I guess the Golfing Gypsy John Daly deserves a mention travellng around on invites like some form of bad smell rather than doing the rght thing an earning a tour card.

5. So this week were in Spain at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, reports saying the organisers are looking to have the greens around 10.6 on the stimp by Thursdays opening round. The Course designed by Ramon Espinosa opened in 1978 and claims it's Par 3 16th as it's signature hole; the other hole of note this week is the 17th, a Par 5 for it's members but for the tour players this week being set to a long Par 4. The course measuring at 7073 yards providig the weathers good should see a winning score around the -19 mark.

6. The first of the big names to confirm for the Barclays Singapore Open are in, names such as Mickelson, McDowell, Villegas, YE Yang and Anthony Kim. Expect many more big names such as Manassero, Westwood, Scott, Poulter and McIlroy to confirm they are playing in the 6million dollar event, the only likely oe from that list that maybe absent is Poults, not sure what his schedule is but judging my his comments that he was glad the season ended for him early due to his poor performance allowing him to work on the range, don't expect to see him too soon before end of season RTD

Challenge Tour Bit

Congratulations to Sam Little for his 3rd win on the CT in less than 6 weeks, he no longer has to worry about hitting the numbers on the money list as 3 wins is automatic promotion to the ET proper and makes him the 2nd man to achieve the feat this term with Frances Benjamin Hebert the first.

Not really much to mention this week as there is no evet taking place everthing goes quiet as they are preparing for the grand final which takes place the first week in november and when we will have our definitive list of who has earned their tour cards and who has got close but not close enough.

So rather than posting the list of who is currently in and out, we'll look at that more in depth next week in the weeks befores run in to the final event which was won last year by Matt Haines securing him 2nd place on the money list and earning him his full ET card, unfortunately not been the great first year on the tour for him and needs a late flourish to make the top 115 and maintain his card for another year, but he is talented and will be around for years to come

'That was for Seve!" he said... Pure class finish!!! 11 ahead of the rest... Great to see him now in the field in Valderama as well, hopefully another great week to come...

Simply a great win from El Nino as Seve used to call Sergio. On the back of such an emphatic win Valderamma could well see him go close again

European Tour Tournament of Champions destined for Fancourt, SA, in mid-January . . . . . .