Golf News Digest – 11.01.08

Rory Sabbatini joins Adams Golf

Four-time PGA Tour champion Rory Sabbatini has signed to Adams Golf. Coming off his best year as a tour pro, Sabbatini is now ranked 11th in the world.

The president and CEO of Adam?s Golf, Chip Brewer explained that in Sabbatini joining Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer and Aaron Baddeley, Adam?s Golf are now ?branching out from our roots on the Champions Tour and complementing our recent success in hybrid clubs on Tour. We believe that building a PGA Tour presence is important for our brand and that Rory can greatly contribute towards this goal.?

The Heather Trust?s Country Market & Sporting Sale Catalogue 2008

The Heather Trust?s popular auction, Country Market & Sporting Sale, will be held on Friday May 2. This year golfers can bid for golf at the Roxburghe Golf Club near Kelso, The Loch Ness Golf Club near Inverness and at Dalmeny House near Edinburgh.

The sale includes sporting accessories, gourmet food, sporting books, paintings and many other items. The catalogue will be available free from the end of March from Catherine Maughan on 01387 723201 or by email info@heathertrust.co.uk. For more details, see www.heathertrust.co.uk.

Zara Phillips and Frankie Dettori hit the Chivas Snow Golf Championship

Zara Phillips and Frankie Dettori are among the 75 competitors from 12 countries playing in this year?s Chivas Snow Golf Championship in St Moritz. Played under the shadow of the Corvatsch Mountain, the fairways are compacted snow, and the 'whites' are made from frozen snow.

Zara Phillips, the current World Equestrian Games gold medallist, will be hoping to freeze out the rest of the women?s field at Golf?s coolest event: ?The course is spectacular and very cool. I am a novice golfer but I?m looking forward to a new challenge.?

Champion Jockey Frankie Dettori takes part in this year?s men?s amateur competition. Frankie said: ?I am a keen golfer and can?t wait to get out onto the course. I have been practising my putting, but know I will need ice-cool nerves on this course?.

The Men?s Professional category includes Ryder Cup winner Costantino Rocca, European Tour Golfer Lee Slattery, Chile?s number one golfer Christian Leon, Indian professional Rishi Nahrain and BBC golf presenter Paul Eales. They will battle it out over nine snow holes to win the Chivas Regal Trophy and be crowned ?King of the Mountains?.

2011 Open Qualifying

The R&A has announced the Local Final Qualifying venues for the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St Georges. They are Littlestone, Prince?s and Royal Cinque Ports. When Royal St George?s last held the Open, in 2003, all three venues also staged Local Final Qualifying.

Desert Springs

Desert Springs Resort and Golf Club has announced its 2008 title sponsorship of their ladies golf tournament, which will become The Desert Springs ?Golf 4 Women? Salver for the Douglas Bader Foundation. The Grand Final will to be held over the Indiana course at the Desert Springs Resort and Golf Club in Spain, on November 16-20.

A Ladies American greensomes stableford qualifying tournament will be held at clubs in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The winning pair from each club event will then compete at one of 11 Regional Finals, and the winners of each of these go on to the Grand Final at the Desert Springs Resort.

Sir Douglas Bader CBE lost both of his legs in an air crash, but returned to become a famous World War II fighter pilot. Post-war, Bader achieved a golf handicap of five. The Douglas Bader Foundation exists to promote the welfare of the physically disabled.

Wentworth Golf Bursary scheme launched

A bursary established jointly by Royal Holloway, University of London and the Wentworth Club will offer bursaries to two students for the 2008-09 academic year. The bursary will include full individual membership of the club. The bursary will be available to undergraduate students at Royal Holloway who have low single-figure handicap and whose financial situation would mean they could not afford to pay for membership of the club.

Wentworth has run a similar scheme for local young golfers for several years and one Wentworth scholar, Ross Fisher, recently won his first European Tour event - the KLM Dutch Open.