Johnnie Walker Classic
After a four year gap this week’s Johnnie Walker Classic returns to Perth, Western Australia and The Vines Golf & Country Club. The Vines is a first class resort situated about 25km North East of Perth in the Swan Valley. This region of Western Australia is one of the country’s largest producers of fine wine and I’m sure this week’s winner will put a little of the 235,000 euro first prize towards a few bottles.
The course is not overly long at just over 7000 yards but is protected by huge undulating greens which can become incredibly quick and the local trade wind know as “The Fremantle Doctor” generally blows early in the afternoon and makes club selection very tough. As was the case last week in Malaysia The Vines resort plays host to some truly spectacular wildlife. No round is complete without a close encounter with one of the local kangaroos.
Click here to check out the photo gallery
The Johnnie Walker classic is Tri-sanctioned between the European, Asian and Australasian Tours and is a marquee event in the schedule of the PGA Tour Australasia. Bringing the three Tours together creates a strong and diverse field and the Australian players are relishing the opportunity to go up against some of the European Tour’s big guns, not to mention two particularly high profile names from the USPGA Tour in Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim.
As you’d expect, this week’s field features a very strong Aussie contingent with Titleist ambassadors Peter O’Malley, Scott Strange and Brett Rumford all flying the flag for their home nation. Alongside the more established names is a crop of up and coming talent looking to make their mark on the big stage. One such player is Titleist Ambassador Richie Gallichan. Richie is currently lying inside the top 50 on the Australasian Tour Order of Merit and is looking to make further progress up the rankings over the coming months. Richie spent time this week working on a new Driver with Titleist Technician Brook Salmon. Richie was looking for a slightly higher ball flight from his driver and after a Trackman fitting session with Brook had found just the club. Richie’s weapon of choice is the new Titleist 909 DComp, 9.5° fitted with the Mitsubishi Diamana White Board shaft. The higher launch and spin characteristics of the 909 DComp club-head combined with the stability of the Diamana shaft gave Richie the ball flight he was looking for and the new stick seemed to be in fine working order during his opening round of 69 (-3). Sadly, a second round 74 (+2) saw Richie narrowly miss the cut but we will be watching him with interest over the coming months.
Below is a summary of Richie’s equipment and you can take a closer look in this week’s slideshow.
Richie’s Bag:
> 909 DComp, 9.5°, Mitsubishi Diamana White Board
> 906F2, 15°, UST Proforce V2
> Titleist ZB Irons, 3-PW, True Temper Rifle
> Vokey Tour Chrome Spin Milled 50°, 54° & 60°
> Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2
It’s great to see the Titleist Golf Ball loyalist Camilo Villegas making another start on the European Tour. The charismatic Colombian, now number 9 in the Official World Golf Rankings, will play at least 12 European Tour events this season as part of a global 2009 schedule. Camilo’s swash buckling style of play makes him a real draw for the galleries but unfortunately a rare missed cut has given the Australian public only the briefest look at one of the game’s most entertaining players. However, armed with the all new Titleist Pro V1, we fully expect Camilo to be back on form and contending for titles in the coming weeks.
Next week sees the world’s top 64 players head out to Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, USA for the WGC World Match Play event. A number of Titleist ambassadors such as Robert Karlsson, Adam Scott and Martin Kaymer will be in the hunt for one of golf’s most prestigious prizes alongside fellow Titleist ambassador Rory McIlroy. Rory will be playing in a WGC event for the first time following his meteoric rise up the world rankings over the past 12 months. Rory is no stranger to match play having played in the Walker Cup as an amateur and, with a 2009 European Tour stroke average of 68.55, his credentials as a potential winner of the event are very much apparent. With such strong representation from our Titleist ambassadors, not to mention the return of world #1 Tiger Woods after injury, all eyes will be on Dove Mountain for what promises to be a fascinating event.
Those players outside of the world’s top 64 will be moving onto Bali for the Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia Open. The absence of the world’s top 64 gives a real opportunity to those players in the field and Titleist will be strongly represented by the likes of Mikko Ilonen, Brett Rumford, Robert Dinwiddie and Scott Strange. The Tour team will be on site at New Kuta Golf Club for another week of fierce European Tour competition.
Add comment February 20th, 2009
