Los Altos Golf Company

The couple’s first child is expected this summer The American world number one said on his website: “Obviously, we couldn’t be happier and our families are thrilled.”I have always wanted to be a dad. I just wish my father could be around to share the experience.”Woods, who married his Swedish wife in October 2004, lost his father Earl in May this year when he died after a long battle with cancer.Woods has decided to skip next week’s season-opening Mercedes Championship in Hawaii to spend more time with
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AMID all the changes in store for the US PGA Tour in 2007, expect one thing to stay the same: Tiger Woods will again reign supreme.

The season starting with the Mercedes-Benz Championships at Kapalua, Hawaii, on Thursday is being touted by US tour officials as a “new era” in golf.

The revamped schedule includes the 33-week FedEx Cup season, in which players earn points to make it into the PGA Tour playoffs for the FedEx Cup.

Those four tournaments, ending with the Tour Championship in September, are designed to cap a streamlined season in dramatic style.

“It’s interesting, it really is,” Woods said of the new system.

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TIGER Woods and his wife, Elin, are expecting their first child in 2007, the golf superstar announced on his website overnight.

The news coincided with Woods’s 31st birthday, which he said he was celebrating quietly with friends and family.

“But Elin and I have more exciting news to share: We are expecting our first child this summer,” Woods wrote.

“Obviously we couldn’t be happier, and our families are thrilled. I have always wanted to be a dad. I just wish my father could be around to share in the experience.”

Woods’s father and mentor, Earl Woods, died on May 3 of cancer.

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TIGER Woods will miss the PGA Tour season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii next week.

Woods, who went skiing with his family in Colorado last week, said he did not have time to get his game ready, and he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Woods, who has won six consecutive PGA Tour tournaments, announced on his website that he had spent the past 12 days relaxing with family and friends “but I’ve basically been away from golf since winning the Target World Challenge” on December 17.

“I considered playing in next week’s Mercedes-Benz Championship, the official launch of the new FedExCup, but I just haven’t been able to prepare,” Woods said.

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Zara Phillips was voted 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year World equestrian champion Phillips, who was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, is made an MBE while Edwards becomes a CBE and Woosnam an OBE.Football was also honoured with Steven Gerrard and Faye White becoming MBEs.Boxer Ricky Hatton and amateur golfer Gary Wolstenholme are made MBEs, as is BBC tennis commentator John Barrett.

Phillips, the Queen’s granddaughter,
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Orlando, FL - Tiger Woods has decided to skip the first three events of the 2007 PGA Tour campaign and will make his season debut in late January, as the two-time defending champion at the Buick Invitational in California.

Woods, according to his website, said he has been spending time with his family and had considered playing in next week’s season-opening Mercedes Championship in Hawaii.

‘I just haven’t been able to prepare,’ Woods wrote. ‘I usually spend at least one week working on my game before a tournament, and have been unable to do that this year.’

Woods has
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Woods spent Christmas skiing The American wants to spend more time with his family and says he does not have enough time to get his game ready.Woods also missed this year’s tournament to spend time with his father, who died in May from cancer.Compatriot Phil Mickelson will also sit out the event, which will feature only eight of the world’s top 20 players.Woods has won six consecutive PGA Tour events, a run that will continue until he returns to action on 25 January at the Buick Invitational in San Diego.

NATALIE Gulbie has her own calendar amd a reality television show, and she writes a column in a men’s magazine. Now she is heading to Sydney.

The former American collegiate golf champion won’t walk away from the label of sex symbol.

Gulbis’ website has a photo gallery with a special section reserved for ‘Cover Girl’ shots, in addition to the family scrapbook, tournament play, and pictures of friends and places on tour.

The knowing looks and swimwear poses for her 2007 calendar means the 23 year old from Sacramento, California, is very comfortable with who she is and how people perceive her.

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KOREAN ski resort Pyeongchang received a boost overnight in its bid to win the right to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games as teenage golf star Michelle Wie agreed to become an honorary ambassador.

The 17-year-old American, whose parents are Korean, agreed after months of negotiations to accept the role after further talks with the chairman of the bid committee Han Seung-soo.

Wie, who has yet to triumph on the senior US women’s LPGA tour but has finished third at two majors, the Kraft Nabisco and the US Open, and fifth at the LPGA Championship this year, said that it had not been a difficult decision to come to.

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Woosnam’s wildcard picks incensed the left-out Bjorn The 48-year-old Welshman upset Bjorn by opting for Lee Westwood instead of him.The Dane launched a withering attack on Woosnam but later apologised and was fined £10,000 for the outburst.In an interview with The Independent, Woosnam, however, said the row was the “lowest point” of his career and he was “prepared to resign” over it.Woosnam was furious about Bjorn’s reaction to being left out but was deeply concerned that his feelings were shared by others in the European team.
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PETER Lonard’s putter is at the centre of a bragging-rights war between a backyard Aussie inventor and a multi-national US club maker. Sydneysider Bruce Kennedy — who created and still makes the revolutionary Pendulum putter in his back shed — claims Lonard used a rip-off of his design to finish second at this month’s Australian PGA Championship at Coolum.

Kennedy is convinced Lonard’s supplier, TaylorMade, copied his unique broomstick putter — which is distinguished from regular models by its canoe shape, weight and central shaft.

And while Lonard concedes he asked the US company to devise a putter based on the Pendulum, the golfer insists the final product is different.

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Casey finished runner-up in the European Order of Merit Casey, partnering David Howell, holed with a four iron from 213 yards on the 14th at the K Club to seal a 5&4 win over Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson.The 29-year-old Englishman, who was named as the European Tour Golfer of the Year last week, wins £2,000 to donate to the charity of his choice.”It is a very, very special award. I feel very privileged,” said Casey.”There were so many great shots played during the season and I feel very lucky that mine
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PAUL Casey’s Ryder Cup hole-in-one has been voted as the European PGA Tour’s shot of the year.

The Englishman used a four-iron to ace the 213-yards 14th hole while playing fourballs with David Howell against Americans Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson on the second day of the clash at the K-Club outside Dublin in September.

That effort gave the win to Casey and Howell by five and four, the first time in Ryder Cup history that a hole-in-one had closed out a match.

It was also the first ace in the Ryder Cup since Howard Clark’s effort at Oak Hill in 1995.

The rampant Europe team went on to defend the trophy by a record-equalling 18.5-9.5 points.

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Howell says he needs to protect his fitness The 31-year-old Englishman admitted: “I need to cut my schedule down, and Europe is going to take the hit.”I’ll cut four or five events out which I can’t do in America because I already play my minimum there (15 events).”World No. 14 Howell looked to be well on his way to winning the 2006 European Order of Merit until his recurring back injury got the better of him.He began the European season by beating Tiger Woods in Shanghai, and also won the BMW Championship
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Ernie Els The 37-year-old has been revitalised after shaking off a lingering knee injury and winning last week’s South African Open.”I see 2007 as the start of three years where I totally re-dedicate myself to the game,” the world number five told his official website. “I want to win more majors and start giving Tiger a run for his money.”Woods (20.41 ranking points) has a huge lead at the top of the official world
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ERNIE Els has laid out a three-year battle plan to challenge Tiger Woods as world No.1.

Buoyed by his triumph at the South African Open on Monday (AEDT), a victory that allowed Els to maintain his record of winning at least once a year since 1991, he said his sights were now firmly set on his American rival.

“I see 2007 as the start of a three-year plan where I totally re-dedicate myself to the game,” the South African told his official website.

“I want to win more Majors and start giving Tiger a run for his money.

“If you look at where he is at the top of the
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Wall is 59th in the world rankings Europe captain Seve Ballesteros has already selected Ryder Cup stars Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson and Lee Westwood.Johan Edfors of Sweden makes up the eight-man team.Asia skipper Joe Ozaki has picked India’s Jeev Milkha Singh and Japan’s Toru Taniguchi and Tetsuji Hiratsuka.Asia’s side also includes Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant, Prom Meesawat and Thongchai Jaidee, and South Korea’s Yang Yong-Eun and SK Ho.The teams will contest 16 matches
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ROBERT Allenby has become the sixth Australian golfer to qualify for the 2007 US Masters.

 Allenby will contest the 71st Masters at Augusta National from April 5-8 after squeezing into the top 50 spot in the end-of-year world rankings.

US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, world No.4 Adam Scott, Rod Pampling, Nick O’Hern, and Stuart Appleby had already qualified for the first Major of 2007 through other categories.

The Masters qualification criteria range from Major champions over the past five years to top finishes in the other three Majors, although the bulk of players in the field are drawn from the US PGA Tour money list (top 40) and the world rankings (top 50).

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TIGER Woods has been voted player of the year for a record eighth time, with 97 per cent of the ballot, by the Golf Writers’ Association of America.

Lorena Ochoa was named best female player and Jay Haas the top senior.

Woods became the first player in history to win multiple majors in consecutive years, capturing the British Open and US PGA Championship among his eight US PGA Tour victories.

He finished the season with six consecutive US tour wins.

Woods won on a ballot that included Masters champion Phil Mickelson and Australia’s US Open champion, Geoff Ogilvy.

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Philadelphia, PA - The LPGA Tour is several weeks into its offseason, so there was little change in the Rolex World Rankings again.

Annika Sorenstam, of course, remained the No. 1 player in the world, and the rest of the top 10 held on to their positions as well.

Sorenstam was followed by Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa, Karrie Webb, Cristie Kerr, Juli Inkster, Ai Miyazato, Jeong Jang, Paula Creamer, Shiho Ohyama and Michelle Wie.

Pat Hurst move up a spot to 11th and bumped Hee-Won Han to 12th, where she was trailed by Se Ri Pak, Mi Hyun Kim, Yuri Fudoh and Julieta Granada.

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Philadelphia, PA - In 2006, the golf world saw some changes, some great battles and a possible changing of the guard in the world of women’s golf. There were some classic burn outs (well, they all seemed to come at one tournament), amazing shots, but one thing stood out over everything else.

The biggest star in golf, if not all of sports, showed us another side of himself. In the wake of tragedy, a man known best for his steely resolve showed a humanity that earned him any fan he did not already have.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR - TIGER WOODS Honorable Mention - Lorena Ochoa, Jay Haas

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Philadelphia, PA - Ernie Els won the South African Airways Open on Sunday and climbed to No. 5 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking.

Els claimed his fourth South African Airways Open title and first win since last December’s dunhill championship. Because this is the final world ranking of 2006, Els will end the year in the same position he began it — fifth.

Tiger Woods, of course, held on to his No. 1 ranking after winning his third Target World Challenge. He was again followed by Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott.

Els’ ascent knocked Retief Goosen, Vijay
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Bradley Dredge just made it into the top 50 qualifying spots Even though he did not play last week, Dredge has leapfrogged England’s Justin Rose into 50th place by just 0.01 world ranking points.Dredge is guaranteed the spot as there are no further ranking tournaments in the last two weeks of the year.Lee Westwood will play in his eighth Masters after moving to 49th spot with eighth place in the SA Airways Open.He is one of a record 26 Europeans who have already qualified for the first major of 2007.Rose,
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AUSTRALIA’S Geoff Ogilvy backed Tiger Woods to win all four majors in a calendar year after playing second fiddle to the world No.1 at the Target World Challenge yesterday.

US Open champion Ogilvy led by a stroke going into the final round at Sherwood Country Club in California, but had to settle for the runner-up spot after Woods finished the tournament with a six-under-par 66, for a final score of 16-under 272.

“He always seems to play well, under expectation,” Ogilvy said after shooting a 71 to finish at 12-under 276.

“I think Tiger should win all four majors
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THE five new holes due at Royal Queensland in early February have heightened expectation the course will make a bid to host the Australian Open within the next five years.

That’s the whisper around the traps, with Mike Clayton’s major reconfiguration of the famous course no longer a moonscape but full of tangible hints of an exciting RQ of the future.

The soon-to-be-opened 15th and 16th along the Brisbane River are on land never previously used for golf and the par-five 16th especially will be a tough, signature hole.

Queensland has not hosted the Australian
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AUSTRALIAN golfer Peter Fowler, the genial grinder who makes other journeymen look like lazy fly-by-nighters, has finally hit the wall.

The 1983 Australian Open champion, 47, has no official tour status outside Australia next season after firing a final-round 76 at the Asian Tour qualifying school in Thailand and missing his card by a shot at the weekend.

It was better news for Jarrod Moseley and Scott Hend, who both found a new home in Asia for 2007.

Moseley, who lost his card in Europe in 2005, scraped in by a shot at the four-round school, which awarded cards to the top 40 players plus ties.
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Woods completed a “Tiger Slam” by winning the 2001 Masters Australian Ogilvy led by a stroke going into the final round on Sunday but had to settle for the runner-up spot after Woods closed with a six-under-par 66.”He always seems to play well under expectation,” said US Open champion Ogilvy, who carded 71 on the final day.”I think Tiger should win all four majors in a year.”World number one Woods completed the so-called “Tiger Slam” when he won four straight majors between the 2000 US Open and 2001 Masters.
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Woods pulled away from his rivals over the front nine (US unless stated): T Woods
G Ogilvy (Aus)
C DiMarco
H Stenson (Swe)
P Casey (Eng), C Montgomerie (Sco)

Woods fired a six-under-par 66 to finish on 16 under at Sherwood Country Club, four shots clear of Geoff Ogilvy.Woods carded five birdies over the front nine before ending with two birdies in the last three holes.Chris DiMarco finished third on 11 under, with Paul Casey and Colin Montgomerie tied for fifth.The
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TOURNAMENT host Tiger Woods cruised to his 11th title of the year with a four-shot victory at the Target World Challenge today (AEDT).

The world No.1, a stroke off the pace at the start of the day, fired a six-under-par 66 to finish on 16-under 272 at Sherwood Country Club.

Woods charged past overnight leader Geoff Ogilvy with five birdies over the front nine, before sealing his third title here with two birdies in the last three holes.

US Open champion Ogilvy returned a 71 to finish second with American Chris DiMarco a further stroke back in third, also after a 71.

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ERNIE Els has won the South African Airways Open by three strokes from Trevor Immelman.

Els carded 264 in the European PGA tournament, closing with a 65 to 71 for fellow South African Immelman and 67 for Sweden’s Patrik Sjoland who was third a further stroke back.

It was a first win of the year for Els who has fought back from knee surgery last year.

Agence France-Presse