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Category:
Sports/Recreation
Publisher: PRADEEP THAKUR & SONS
ISBN-10: 0557775302
Pages: 734
ISBN-13: 9780557775309
In 2005, Golf Digest calculated that the countries with most golf courses per capita, starting with the best endowed were: Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, Wales, United States, Sweden, and England. The most notable example of this phenomenon is China. The first golf course in the People's Republic of China opened in 1984, but by the end of 2009 there were roughly 600 in the country. GOLF: Career Money Leaders—features 50 top men, and 30 women, who earned highest prize money in their careers. Five introductory chapters are included to have wide view of the professional golf tours and championships. So this book is the window of the International Golf and it’s most popular and highest prize money earning players.
Excerpt
PREFACE
Golf is one of the few ball games that do not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf “courses”, each of which features a unique design, although courses typically consist of either nine or 18 holes. Golf is defined, in the rules of golf, as “playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules.”
A golf-like game is recorded as taking place on February 26, 1297, in the Netherlands, in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht, where the Dutch played a game with a stick and leather ball. The winner was whoever hit the ball with the least number of strokes into a target several hundred yards away. The modern game of golf we understand today is generally considered to be a Scottish invention. In 1880 England had 12 courses, rising to 50 in 1887 and over 1000 by 1914. The game in England had progressed sufficiently by 1890 to produce its first Open Champion John Ball.
As in England, it was not until the late 19th century that golf started to become firmly established in United States. By 1910 there were 267 clubs. During the Roaring Twenties the game expanded greatly in popularity and by 1932 there were over 1,100 golf clubs affiliated to the USGA. In 1922 Walter Hagen became the first native born American to win the British Open Championship. The expansion of the game was halted by the Great Depression and World War II, but continued in the post war years. By 1980 there were over 5,000 USGA affiliated clubs, and today the total exceeds 9,700.
In 1924 The Japan Golf Association was established by the seven clubs then in existence. During the 1920s and early 30's several new courses were built. By 1956 there were 72 courses and in 1957 Torakichi Nakamura and Koichi Ono won the Canada Cup (now World Cup) in Japan, an event that is often cited as igniting the post-war golf boom. Between 1960 and 1964 the number of golf courses in Japan increased from 195 to 424. By the early 1970s there were over 1,000 courses. The 1987 Resort Law that reduced protection on agricultural land and forest preserves created a further boom in course construction and by 2009 there were over 2,400 courses. The popularity of golf in Japan also caused many golf resorts to be created across the Pacific Rim.
In 2005, Golf Digest calculated that the countries with most golf courses per capita, starting with the best endowed were: Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, Wales, United States, Sweden, and England (countries with fewer than 500,000 people were excluded). Apart from Sweden, all of these countries have English as the majority language, but the number of courses in new territories is increasing rapidly.
The most notable example of this phenomenon is China. The first golf course in the People's Republic of China opened in 1984, but by the end of 2009 there were roughly 600 in the country. Jack Nicklaus, who in late 2009 had either designed or had plans to design 35 courses in China, claimed in October of that year that China had plans to build 1,400 public courses in the next five years
Historically the distinction between amateur and professional golfers had much to do with social class. In the developed world, the class distinction is now almost entirely irrelevant. Golf is affordable to a large portion of the population, and most golf professionals are from middle class backgrounds, often the same sort of backgrounds as the members of the clubs where they work or the people they teach the game, and educated to university level.
In various countries, Professional Golfers’ Associations (PGAs) serve either or both of these categories of professionals. There are separate LPGAs (Ladies Professional Golf Associations) for women. There are at least twenty professional golf tours, each run by a PGA or an independent tour organization, which is responsible for arranging events, finding sponsors, and regulating the tour.
The most widely known tour is the PGA Tour, which tends to attract the strongest fields, outside the four Majors and the four World Golf Championships events. This is due mostly to the fact that most PGA Tour events have a first prize of at least US $800,000. The PGA European Tour, which attracts a substantial number of top golfers from outside North America, ranks second to the PGA Tour in worldwide prestige.
The other leading men’s tours include the Japan Golf Tour, the Asian Tour (Asia outside Japan), the PGA Tour of Australasia, and the Sunshine Tour (for Southern Africa, primarily South Africa). The Japan, Australasian, Sunshine, PGA, and European Tours are the charter members of the trade body of the world's main tours, the International Federation of PGA Tours, founded in 1996. The Asian Tour became a full member in 1999. The Canadian Tour became an associate member of the Federation in 2000, and the Tour de las Americas (Latin America) became an associate member of the Federation in 2007. The Federation underwent a major expansion in 2009 which saw 11 new tours become full members—the Canadian Tour, Tour de las Americas, China Golf Association, the Korea Professional Golfers’ Association, Professional Golf Tour of India, and the operators of all six major women's tours worldwide.
The men’s major championships are the four most prestigious men’s tournaments of the year. In chronological order they are: The Masters, the U.S. Open, The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open) and the PGA Championship. Women’s golf does not have a globally agreed set of majors. Like the PGA Tour, the (U.S.) LPGA has four majors: the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA Championship, the U.S. Women's Open and the Women’s British Open. Only the last of these is also recognised by the Ladies European Tour. Senior (50-and-over) men’s golf does not have a globally agreed upon set of majors. The Champions Tour now recognises five majors: the Senior PGA Championship, the United States Senior Open, the Senior British Open Championship, The Tradition and the Senior Players Championship.
The Official World Golf Rankings is a system for rating the performance level of male professional golfers (although there is no rule prohibiting women from being ranked). They were introduced in 1986 and are endorsed by the four major championships and six major professional tours, five of which are charter members of the International Federation of PGA Tours.
The book before you—GOLF: Career Money Leaders—features features only 50 top men, and 30 women, who earned highest prize money in their careers.
The section- Men Career Money Leaders include: Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els Davis Love III, David Toms, Kenny Perry, Justin Leonard, Stewart Cink, Steve Stricker, Mike Weir, Sergio Garcia, Scott Verplank, Retief Goosen, Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, Mark Calcavecchia, Geoff Ogilvy, K.J. Choi, Rory Sabbatini, Fred Couples, Adam Scott, Jerry Kelly, Chris DiMarco, Tom Lehman, Fred Funk, Nick Price, Zach Johnson, Charles Howell III, Padraig Harrington, Chad Campbell, Bob Estes, Billy Mayfair, Luke Donald, Stephen Ames, Scott Hoch, David Duval, Jeff Sluman, Brad Faxon, Steve Flesch, Tim Clark, Jeff Maggert, Tim Herron, Corey Pavin, Bob Tway, Rocco Mediate, Lee Janzen, Steve Elkington and Hal Sutton.
The section- Women Career Money Leaders includes: Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Lorena Ochoa, Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr, Se Ri Pak, Meg Mallon, Beth Daniel, Laura Davies, Mi Hyun Kim, Rosie Jones, Paula Creamer, Betsy King, Dottie Pepper, Lorie Kane, Pat Hurst, Suzann Pettersen, Jeong Jang, Hee-Won Han, Catriona Matthew, Sherri Steinhauer, Liselotte Neumann, Pat Bradley, Kelly Robbins, Rachel Hetherington, Helen Alfredsson, Michele Redman, Sophie Gustafson, Patty Sheehan and Grace Park
I have included five introductory chapters to have wide view of the professional golf tours and championships. So this book is the window of the International Golf and it’s most popular and prize money earning players. Sorry to say, so many great players of Golf are not included in detail due to ranking limits.
I hope this book would provide the best useful information and a better reading delight to the esteemed readers of all walks of life. I have compiled and edited this book from different new sources, which are mentioned in the course of the relevant text. I am obliged and thankful to all of them, particularly PGA and LPGA.
PRADEEP THAKUR
October28, 2010
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