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Editor’s note: The World
Golf Championships-Barbados World Cup is being played this
week at Sandy Lane Resort. While she is there covering the tournament,
PGATOUR.com’s Helen Ross will be writing a daily blog.
By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
ST. JAMES, Barbados -- Before this week, all many of us knew about
Barbados was that it’s the island where Tiger
Woods married his wife, Elin, in October of 2004. Their sunset
ceremony, in fact, was held at the exclusive Sandy Lane Resort, which
hosted the World Golf Championships-Barbados World Cup. Woods’ yacht,
Privacy, was anchored off the coast and according to published reports,
he rented the entire resort. Among the wedding guests were former NBA
stars Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, billionaire Bill Gates and
uber-TV star Oprah Winfrey. The guests were said to have feasted on
Bajan flying fish and macaroni pie after the ceremony, and they were
later treated to a concert by Hootie and the Blowfish and a fireworks
display.
Fast forward two years and two months. Locals and media alike were
welcomed at Sandy Lane this week -- but the tourist magazine that ran a
photo of Michelle Wie overlaid with a
caption about the World Golf Championships may have been slightly
disappointed to find the 16-year-old phenom wasn’t competing. Just like
the Woods’ party, we sampled flying fish and macaroni pie in the media
center, although the mellow-voiced Darius Rucker was nowhere to be
heard. And the fireworks were reserved for the golf course, where no
less than eight teams stood within two shots of the lead Sunday
throughout much of the back nine.
The rain that caused a delay of roughly an hour was only a momentary
blip on the radar screen, literally, as well as figuratively. The
largest crowd of the week still turned out today to support their
favorites. One Canadian enthusiast wore a shirt with a red Maple leaf
and Weir printed on the back. Another draped the blue-and-white flag of
Argentina over his shoulders. A young boy waited patiently for Camilo
Villegas to sign a t-shirt that featured the yellow, green and
red bars of the Colombian flag.
The playoff between Germany and Scotland was short, and in some ways,
bittersweet. As was only fitting, two of the game’s most respected
players, Bernhard Langer and Colin
Montgomerie, assumed center stage as the crowd gathered on the
hills that frame the 18th green. The two are among Europe’s greatest
Foursomes players ever -- Langer owns an 11-6-1 record in that format in
the Ryder Cup while Monty’s is 8-3-3. In fact, playing together, the two
are 3-0-1 in Foursomes and 1-1 in Four-balls. In the end, though, it was
the Scot’s missed 8-footer for par that opened the door for the
methodical German to seal the win.
Suffice it to say, Barbados hosted a global golf tournament this week
with the same kind of gracious and generous spirit that greets tourists
here every day The fans who venture here in three months for the ICC
Cricket World Cup surely won’t be disappointed, either. I know I wasn’t.
Click here for a chance to win a trip for two to Barbados.
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