SINGAPORE – For all the talk of the youth movement in women’s golf, Karrie Webb showed on Friday that experienced players can still show up their younger competitors from time to time.

The 39-year-old Webb recovered from two bogeys on the back nine to card a 3-under 69 and open a two-stroke lead over 36-year-old Angela Stanford after the second round of the HSBC Women’s Champions.

Webb, who was at 9-under 135 overall, was quick to point out after her round that being older can have its advantages.

“Two old ducks, I guess,” she said about her and Stanford topping the leaderboard. “Did you ask any of the younger players if it’s hard to play against girls in their 30s? Because you always ask me the opposite question.”

Stanford, the 2012 HSBC champion, also shot a 69, while Taiwan’s Teresa Lu was in third place at 6 under after a 70.

Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall briefly pulled into a share of the lead with Webb on the back nine before two bogeys and a double bogey on her final three holes. She fell back to joint fourth at 4-under 140 with four others.

The LPGA Tour’s latest teenage prodigy, 16-year-old Lydia Ko, was at 2-under 142, tied for 13th with 19-year-old Lexi Thompson and world No. 1 Inbee Park.

Webb, a seven-time major winner, has played some of her best golf in recent years this month. Two weeks ago, she captured her fifth Australian Open title in Melbourne, and now she holds the lead going into the weekend against a tough field in Singapore.

The Australian acknowledged that the younger players have forced her to step up her conditioning, something she does not enjoy.

“All these young players coming up are athletes,” Webb said. “For me, I’ve had to learn to get in the gym and do the work required.

“My workouts have just gradually increased so it wasn’t hard-core to start with, where I would have just hated it and never done it.”

Webb was pushed by one of the younger upstarts on tour, Hedwall, for much of the round on Friday.

The Swede, who has never won a LPGA title, sunk two long putts for back-to-back birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 and had a chance to pull even on the ninth but missed her 10-foot birdie putt wide. Webb followed with an 8-foot birdie putt that caught the edge of the cup and curled in, giving her a two-stroke cushion again.

Then came her bogeys on the back nine, however, which re-opened the door for Hedwall. Instead of capitalizing, though, the Swede suddenly faltered.

Faced with a tough chip shot on a steeply sloped bunker next to the 18th green, Hedwall swung once at the ball and missed. Then she swung again, and missed again. She finally got on the green with her third shot and two-putted to save the double bogey.

“It was just a bad lie and I was trying too hard to get it close,” she said. “It was just one of those moments when you want to walk off the golf course.”

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, winner of last week’s LPGA Thailand, made seven birdies for a 5-under 67, tied for the low round of the day. She was joint fourth with Hedwall and three Americans: Morgan Pressel (69), Paula Creamer (73) and Danielle Kang (70).

World No. 2 Suzann Pettersen of Norway stumbled with bogeys on Nos. 14, 15 and 17, but made up for it on the 18th with a 40-foot putt for eagle. She was in a tie for ninth place at 3-under 141, a stroke ahead of Park.

Pettersen has a chance to overtake Park in the rankings this week if she wins and Park finishes no higher than equal third.

Defending champion Stacy Lewis, meanwhile, struggled for the second straight day. She shot an even-par 72 to be tied for 39th.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – On the course where Rory McIlroy first rose to No. 1, he looked as if he might be headed in that direction again.

McIlroy swung freely and walked briskly on his way to a 7-under 63 on Thursday, with birdies on the last two holes at PGA National giving him a one-shot lead over Russell Henley after the first round of the Honda Classic.

If nothing else, it was big improvement from the last official round he played on PGA National.

McIlroy was 7 over through eight holes last year when he became so frustrated with mounting expectations and a slumping game that he walked off the course in the middle of the second round. He said it was a mistake that he would never repeat.

He apparently buried the past with his clubs, if not his head.

“It’s not something I really thought about out there,” McIlroy said. “Coming in this week, I knew that I was playing well and I just wanted to try and get off to a good start. … Regardless of what happened last year or where it is, it’s always nice to shoot a round like this and get yourself in the mix early.”

Tiger Woods wouldn’t know the feeling so far this year.

In first tournament in a month, Woods couldn’t make a birdie putt early and had to scramble for pars late in his round. A birdie on the last hole gave him a 71, leaving him eight shots behind.

“I hit it good starting out, hit it kind of scrappy in the middle and then hit it good at the end,” Woods said. “But it was just one or the other. I either hit it good and missed the putt, and then scrap around and make a putt.”

In his other two events this year, Woods was eight shots behind after the opening round at Torrey Pines and five shots behind at Dubai. He goes into the second round Friday outside the cut line.

Henley opened with five birdies and six holes before he cooled off for a 64. Past champion Rory Sabbatini, William McGirt and Jamie Donaldson of Wales were at 65.

Zach Johnson was four shots behind and thrilled about his 67. He hit two shots into the water on his way to a quadruple-bogey 8 on his second hold of the tournament. The former Masters champ followed with seven birdies to get back in the game.

“It was a day where it could have gone the other way _ quick,” Johnson said.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., also shot a 67. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., carded a 72, and Calgary’s Stephen Ames is another shot back at 73.

McIlroy has been shifting gears since late last year, which he closed out with a win at the Australian Open. He had chances to win in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and he played well in a second-round loss to Harris English last week at Match Play.

But this looked like the McIlroy who won two majors, each by eight shots, bobbing along the fairways and swinging with no fear. It helped to make a few putts, such as the 25-foot birdie on No. 2 and a 45-foot birdie putt on No. 11. He had a few par saves that kept him motoring along, such as the up-and-down from 40 yards at No. 9, making a putt from just outside 10 feet.

Boy Wonder took off from there. He hit into 8 feet for birdie on the 493-yard 10th hole, made the long one at No. 11 and then stuffed a gap wedge into 6 feet on No. 12.

“You can’t fake it around here,” McIlroy said. “You have to play well to shoot good scores, and I was able to do that today.”

McIlroy put last year behind him, though it was hard to ignore the turnaround.

He was the defending champion and No. 1 in the world last year, newly signed to a big Nike contract and struggling to break par. He also was in the early stages of leaving a management company for the second time in two years. It all got to be too much, and as he walked up to the 18th green at PGA National, he shook hands and headed straight to the parking lot. He said then he was “not in a good place mentally.”

Now he is playing well. He is adjusted to his equipment. He’s engaged to tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, who followed him around the golf course.

“I’m in a great place,” McIlroy said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

The finish didn’t hurt. The 24-year-old from Northern Ireland took aim at the flag over the water on the par-3 17th and made a 12-foot birdie putt. He finished with a fairway metal into the front bunker, and a simple shot to 4 feet for birdie on the par-5 closing hole.

He still hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since the BMW Championship at the end of the 2012 season. He hasn’t won on the European Tour since Dubai at the end of that year to capture the money title on both sides of the Atlantic.

But with every tournament, he’s moving in the right direction.

“I’ve reached a point now where I’m very comfortable with everything in my game and my swing,” he said. “I’m seeing shots the way I want to see them. When I do that, I feel like the scores are just a byproduct of all the hard work and making good swings.”

DIVOTS: Phil Mickelson, playing PGA National for the first time since he was an amateur, had two birdies and a double bogey for a 70. … Masters champion Adam Scott, in his first tournament in six weeks, opened with a 68. … Jason Allred, whose tie for third at Riviera enabled him to get into the Honda Classic, opened with a 75. Allred had not played a regular PGA Tour event since 2008 until the Northern Trust Open.

CENTURION, South Africa – Simon Dyson birdied his last four holes in a 7-under 65 to take the clubhouse lead at the Tshwane Open on Thursday.

Trevor Fisher Jr. was also 7 under through 16 holes of his opening round before play was suspended because of a thunderstorm in Centurion.

Englishman Dyson made a strong finish at Copperleaf Golf and Country Estate and had seven birdies in all and no dropped shots on the Ernie Els-designed course. South Africa’s Fisher Jr. also had seven birdies but with two holes to complete in his opening round.

Another Englishman, Ross Fisher, and South Africans Jared Harvey and Erik van Rooyen shot 6-under 66s to be a shot behind Dyson in the European Tour event.

Adams Golf  has unveiled its Pro Hybrid, the latest in the company’s line of industry-changing hybrids.

Adams’ Pro Hybrid is designed to work for players of all skill levels. Incorporating preferences from Tour players and the most beneficial attributes from the company’s award-winning models, engineers created a hybrid that plays as a true transitional club between the iron and metal wood.

“We refined the playability through numerous iterations so all players, from PGA Tour stars to recreational golfers, can replace their current hybrids with these easy-to-hit models” said Michael Fox, Director of Global Product Management for Adams Golf. “Our player testing group raved about the forgiveness, but was also quick to note an improvement in distance, compared to existing models.”

Featuring patented high moment of inertia upside-down head shaping, the Pro Hybrid follows a blueprint that has proven to make consistent contact easier for golfers of all skill levels. Patented Velocity Slot Technology on the crown and Cut-Thru Slot technology on the sole combine with an ultra-thin face to add forgiveness and flexion, making it effortless to catapult the ball online towards its intended target.

Repositioning the center of gravity (CG) behind the center of the face enhances the workability of the club for players who favour shot-shaping.

The Pro hybrid family also consists of the Pro Mini for low-handicap players with high swing-speeds and the Pro DHy, based off the successful design of the Super DHy, one of the most popular clubs on the PGA Tour in 2013.

All versions of the Pro Hybrid will ship to pro shops and specialty golf retailers on April 1, 2014. With an manufacturers suggested retail price of of $229.99, the clubs will include Aldila Tour series graphite shafts.

Lofts for the Pro Hybrid and Pro Mini are 16°, 18°, 20°, 23° and 26°, while the Pro DHy is offered in 18°, 21°, 24° and 27°.

SINGAPORE – Karrie Webb birdied six holes to shoot a 6-under 66 and take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the HSBC Women’s Champions on Thursday.

Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall and American Paula Creamer were tied for second after shooting 5-under 67, a stroke ahead of 2012 champion Angela Stanford and Taiwan’s Teresa Lu in joint fourth.

Webb didn’t make many mistakes on the course at Sentosa Golf Club, but she feared she may have made one in the scoring tent by forgetting to sign her scorecard.

Three weeks ago, she was disqualified from the Australian Ladies Masters for signing an incorrect scorecard after her second round. This time, however, she didn’t have any problems – her scorecard was fine.

“I’ve just had trouble getting out of the scorer tent since then,” she said about her slip-up at Royal Pines. “I walked out (today) and couldn’t remember if I signed my card, which it would have been too late anyway.”

Disqualification aside, the 39-year-old Australian is having a strong start to the season. A week after the ill-fated Australian Ladies Masters, she won her fifth Women’s Australian Open title, and 40th overall.

Webb has won seven majors in her long career, but none since the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2006. Her results have been consistent, if not dominant, in recent years – she had six top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour last year and one win at the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

“I’ve had a good career and I feel like I want to finish in the fashion that I started,” she said. “I just continue to work hard, and my working hard now is probably a little different to my working hard 20 years ago, but it’s still working hard.”

Webb birdied four of her first six holes on Thursday, then sank a difficult 15-foot putt to save par on the par-4 11th hole. Her only mistake on the green was a close miss on the 12th hole when her birdie putt from 2 feet lipped out of the hole.

Creamer has also had a fast start to the year, finishing tied for third at her first two tournaments – the Bahamas LPGA Classic and the Women’s Australian Open. She’s played well on this course in Singapore, too, finishing in third place here last year.

The American hasn’t had a win on the LPGA Tour, though, since her breakthrough victory at the Women’s U.S. Open in 2010.

“My main goal is just to be very consistent this year and a win happens by itself, you don’t have to force any of that,” she said.

World No. 1 Inbee Park, who finished runner-up to Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist last week at the LPGA Thailand tournament, had a 2-under 70 and was in a tie for seventh with four others.

Park, the winner of three majors last year, could lose her top ranking to Suzann Pettersen this week if the Norwegian wins the event and Park doesn’t finish higher than a tie for third. Pettersen had a 1-under 71 on Thursday for equal 12th place.

“It wasn’t a bad putting day, but I hit the ball great today,” Park said. “And I didn’t get myself in big trouble so that’s good.”

Sixteen-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand struggled with her putting, making just two birdies and finishing at 1-over 73, tied for 27th place with Nordqvist, American Michelle Wie, former No. 1 Yani Tseng and several others.

Ko is not the youngest in the field this week. Fourteen-year-old Singaporean Amanda Tan won a qualifying tournament in January to become the youngest-ever player at the HSBC Champions. She was in last place after a 7-over 79.

No Canadians are in the field this week.

Three of Ontario’s top coaches are joining forces Sunday, March 2 from noon to 1pm (EST) at the Toronto Golf & Travel Show to host a junior golf summit.

Team Canada’s National Women’s Head Coach, Tristan Mullally, alongside the GAO’s Head Provincial Coach, Reggie Millage and Sean Casey, Director of Instruction at the ClubLink Academy at Glen Abbey, will come together at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to provide parents with advice on how to best develop their child’s golf game.

The summit will focus on how to get children started in the sport and how to encourage them into competitive golf.  This info session is ideal for parents looking for information on collegiate golf in Canada or the USA as well as information on Team Canada’s National Amateur Team program.

During the junior golf summit, Sam Young of the PGA of Ontario and founder of one of Canada’s leading junior golf programs at Shelburne Golf Club, will be teaching the kids while parents attend the seminar.

On Sunday at the Toronto Golf and Travel Show, junior golfers under the age of 18 will receive complimentary admission courtesy of Georgian College. Parents who bring their children can purchase a “Family Pass” – two adult admissions for $25 which are valid only at the door.

Please note: Parents must have children present to receive the ‘Family Pass Discount’

For more information on the Toronto Golf Show’s schedule of events click here.

Click here to listen to the announcement.

Oakville, Ont. – The Canadian Golf Hall of Fame is proud to announce Stephen Ames of Calgary has been elected as the 2014 inductee into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

Ames, a dual citizen of Canada and Trinidad and Tobago is four-time winner on the PGA Tour. With his induction in the player category, Ames will become the 74th honoured member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

“The Canadian Golf Hall of Fame seeks to recognize excellence as golfers, contributors and supporters of the game,” said Ian Clarke, Chair of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame Selection Committee. “Stephen Ames has excelled on the biggest stage in our sport and it is fitting that he will be recognized for his respective accomplishments.”

Ames’ induction ceremony into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame is scheduled to take place in Calgary during the Shaw Charity Classic, a tournament he is a founding patron of.

“As a proud Canadian, I am truly humbled by this great honour,” said Stephen Ames. “The opportunity to join this exceptional company of names in front of my friends and family at home in Calgary is something that I will cherish for a long time.”

Stephen Ames, 49, enters the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame as a prominent professional player, having amassed four PGA Tour victories and over $19.5 million in career earnings.

Ames resides in Calgary and began playing professionally in 1987. He is past champion of the Trinidad and Tobago Open (1989) and won his first professional title on American soil at the Pensacola Open on the Ben Hogan Tour (now the Web.com Tour) in 1991.

Prior to playing on the PGA Tour, Ames spent five seasons competing on the European Tour where he captured the 1994 Open V33 Grand Lyon and the Benson & Hedges International Open in 1996. He qualified for the PGA Tour in 1997, earning exempt status for the 1998 season by finishing third at qualifying. Ames won his first PGA Tour title in 2004 at the Cialis Western Open, defeating Steve Lowery by two strokes.

In 2006, Ames captured one of the Tour’s marquee events, winning The Players Championship by six strokes over Retief Goosen. His victory at TPC Sawgrass was played against 48 of the top 50 players in the world and vaulted him at that time to No. 27 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Ames is also a two-time champion of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic (2007 & 2009). In major championship play he has finished inside the top-10 on six occasions. His best finish was a tie for fifth at The Open Championship in 1997.

In 2013, the Stephen Ames Foundation funded the inaugural CJGA Stephen Ames Junior Cup presented by RBC at the Country Club of the Hamptons in Calgary.  Since 2005, Ames has proudly hosted the Stephen Ames Cup, a Ryder Cup style tournament featuring a team of Canadian junior players versus Team Trinidad & Tobago.  In addition, the Stephen Ames Foundation provides funding for junior golf programs and other children’s initiatives in Canada and Trinidad and Tobago.

Representing the start of an exciting and dramatic process in which thousands of golfers from around the world will pursue the title of America’s national champion, the United States Golf Association (USGA) has announced local qualifying sites for the 2014 U.S. Open Championship.

The U.S. Open will be contested at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2, in Village of Pinehurst, N.C., on June 12-15. Local qualifying, conducted over 18 holes at 111 sites in 42 states, will take place between May 2-19.

Players who advance out of local qualifying will compete in sectional qualifying, which will be conducted over 36 holes at 10 U.S. sites on June 2. For the 10th consecutive year, Japan and England will host international sectional qualifying, both scheduled for May 26.

Several local exemptions for the U.S. Open have been amended and will take effect in 2014.

The top 500 point leaders and ties from the Official World Golf Ranking (as of March 3) will be exempt. Any player in the OWGR’s top 500 (as of April 21) who has filed an entry prior to the deadline of 5 p.m. EDT on April 23, will also earn a local exemption. Only the top 150 point leaders were exempted in previous years. In addition, any player who has had multiple finishes in the top 400 of the year-ending OWGR in the last five calendar years (2009-2013) will be exempt from local qualifying.

In 2014, five clubs are hosting U.S. Open local qualifying for at least the 10th consecutive year. Illini Country Club, in Springfield, Ill., has held a U.S. Open local qualifier since the late 1940s, while Maketewah Country Club, in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been a site for more than four decades. Riverton (Wyo.) Country Club and Genoa Lakes Golf Club, in Genoa, Nev., have hosted local qualifying since the 1990s. Collindale Golf Course, in Fort Collins, Colo., has also hosted for at least a decade. Thirty-nine courses return as U.S. Open local qualifying sites from last year.

Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., the site of the 1958, 1977 and 2001 U.S. Opens, is hosting one of this year’s U.S. Open local qualifiers.

There are 16 local qualifying sites in the state of Florida, with the first of the scheduled qualifiers at The Club at Admirals Cove’s East Course in Jupiter on May 2. Fourteen local qualifiers are scheduled in California.

Ken Venturi (1964) and Orville Moody (1969) are the only players to win the U.S. Open after qualifying through both local and sectional play. Last year, 20 players advanced through local and sectional qualifying to the 156-player U.S. Open championship field at Merion Golf Club.

The U.S. Open will be held for the third time at Pinehurst No. 2. In 1999, Payne Stewart made an 18-foot par-saving putt on the final hole to edge Phil Mickelson by one stroke and win his second U.S. Open title. In 2005, Michael Campbell shot a final-round 69 to finish at even-par 280, two strokes ahead of Tiger Woods. To be eligible, a player must have a USGA Handicap Index or Golf Canada Handicap Factor not exceeding 1.4, or be a professional.

Online player registration for the 2014 U.S. Open begins the first week of March.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Former PGA champion Steve Elkington caused more outrage on Twitter on Tuesday when he made a disparaging remark about Missouri defensive end Michael Sam while trying to criticize media coverage that refers to him as gay.

Sam came out publicly two weeks ago. The NFL has never had an openly homosexual player. Sam worked out this week at the NFL combine in Indianapolis and is projected to be a mid- to late-round draft pick.

Elkington first tweeted that ESPN’s coverage of Sam was “embarrassing.”

He followed with this tweet: “ESPN reporting Michael Sam is leading the handbag throw at NFL combine … No one else expected to throw today.”

Elkington later deleted his tweet, and then tried to clarify his position. He posted a reply: “I’m for Sam I’m against ESPN telling me he’s gay….”

The PGA Tour suggested a fine was in order, though it has a policy of not announcing discipline.

“Under our regulations, conduct unbecoming a professional includes public commentary that is clearly inappropriate or offensive. With respect to this matter, and consistent with our longstanding policy, we do not comment on player disciplinary matters,” the tour said in a statement.

Elkington created more reaction trying to explain his earlier post.

“It goes back to ”a ball hit an oriental spectator” .There’s no oriental spectators..There just spectators..”like m Sam…He’s just an athlete,“ he tweeted.

Elkington, an Australian who played college golf at Houston, has a cult following with his “Secret in the Dirt” cartoons depicting news from the world of golf, and he’s never bashful about poking fun at players.

But he has drawn ire on Twitter for some of his social commentary.

In November, he tweeted about the helicopter that crashed into a Glasgow pub and killed 10 people, “Helicopter crashes into Scottish pub. … locals report no beer was spilt.”

He was reprimanded by the European Tour last summer when he tweeted disparaging comments about the area around Royal Birkdale, where the Senior British Open was being held. He later tweeted that “couple caddies got rolled by some Pakkis, bad night for them.”

Elkington later apologized in a statement, saying he wasn’t aware that “Pakki” was an objectionable phrase in Britain, and that his comments were made out of frustration stemming from what had happened to a colleague.

Elkington won 10 times on the PGA Tour, including the PGA Championship in 1995 at Riviera for his only major.

As the Chair of Golf Canada’s Rules of Golf Committee, I have the privilege of representing Golf Canada at several international tournaments each year.  This past week I was part of the Rules Committee at the PGA Tour’s Accenture Match Play Championship, held in Tucson, Arizona.

Except for the first round, when there are 32 matches, all other matches are accompanied by a walking referee.  We are assigned to a particular match and accompany the players throughout the round to assist them in interpreting and applying the golf’s rules.  While walking with a match is, in my opinion, the best way to see the highest of level of golf be played, it is frequently without incident.  The players often will play an entire match without needing the assistance of a referee.

Such was not the case during the third day of the championship when I was assigned to be the referee accompanying Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler.

The round started easily enough, Sergio and Fowler were clearly comfortable playing with one another and I was able to witness some first rate golf.  It all changed at the par three sixth hole when Garcia’s tee shot ended up very near a sprinkler head close to the green.  Because of the desert conditions found in the Tucson area, moisture is scarce and animals and insects are always eager to find a ready supply of water.  And so it was that, because this sprinkler head had a very small leak, a large number of bees, perhaps upwards of a hundred, had gathered to take advantage of their version of an oasis in the desert.

Sergio went to his ball, saw a number of bees buzzing about and called me over.  He explained he had had a very bad experience with bees in the past and wanted to know if he had to play his next shot with the bees flying around him.  Fortunately, the rules are not without heart and players are entitled to free relief when confronted with a “dangerous situation”.   In fact, Decision 1-4/10 deals with bees specifically and I was able to help Mr. Garcia determine the nearest point that the bees were not an issue and he dropped his ball within 1 club length of that spot, no nearer the hole.

However, probably because Sergio, his caddie and I had been waking in the area, the bees had become more active and had expanded the area they were occupying.  Sergio addressed his ball two or three times and then backed off, not confident the bee issue was resolved.  I felt the dangerous situation had now expanded to include the area where the first drop occurred and stepped in to indicate Sergio could take another drop, this time farther from the sprinkler head.  We determined a new nearest point of relief, Sergio dropped the ball within one club length of that spot and played his shot free the bee situation.

I was able to watch a replay of the incident later that night and enjoyed the light hearted banter the TV announcers had as all this was transpiring on the screen.

At the time of the ruling, I was not too worried about the bees, they appeared to be normal honey bees and, although probably capable of stinging, they did not seem aggressive.  Imagine my surprise when, in talking about the ruling with one of the tournament volunteers the next day, I was told that in all likelihood my innocent honey bees were a hybrid of a type of African bee that could be very aggressive and dangerous and, in fact, Sergio was most definitively faced with a dangerous situation.  In this case, the rules worked to the player’s advantage and helped him out of a sticky situation!

The match then moved onto the seventh hole.  Both players ended up fairly near the hole, with par putts, Sergio having a 6 foot putt and Rickie having about 17 feet.  Rickie had begun his pre-shot routine, and was crouched behind his ball when he and Sergio began talking.  The conversation seemed quite light hearted and the gallery chuckled at the enjoyment the players seemed to be taking in the situation.  I thought it quite odd that such a conversation was taking place after Rickie had begun his pre-shot routine.  The next thing the gallery and I saw, was both players picking up their ball markers and walking off the green.

One of the duties of a walking referee is to announce the results of the hole just completed and the status of the match.  In such cases I might announce, “Mr. Garcia makes 4, Mr. Fowler makes 4 and the match remains All Square.”  Such was my surprise at the seventh hole that I was unclear what had just transpired and the announcement was never made, I just walked behind the players over to the 8th tee, still working out what had happened and the status of the match.

It quickly became clear that both Sergio and Rickie had made use of Rule 2-4, which sets, in part, “A player may concede his opponent’s next stroke at any time, provided the opponent’s ball is at rest.”  In language most golfers are used to, they had agreed their putts were “good for good”.  It was a very unusual move by Sergio to concede Rickie’s lengthy putt but he stated afterword he felt the bee incident on the previous hole had not been fair to Rickie who had a makeable birdie putt that he missed.  The concessions by both players was sportsmanship of the highest level and it was consistent with how they conducted themselves throughout the match.  They were complementary of each other’s shots, seemed to enjoy each other’s company but played a hard fought and well played  match.

It was a pleasure to play a very small part in the match and to witness great play by great players.