26.3.–2.4. - Live Scoring - Seuraa suomalaisten menestystä

[6][5]
KilpailuaSuomalaista

26.3.–2.4. - Live Scoring - Seuraa suomalaisten menestystä

[6][5]
KilpailuaSuomalaista
Amatöörigolf - Kilpagolf

Gary Wolstenholme tulee taas

Kaksikymmentä vuotta on kulunut siitä, kun Gary Wolstenholme saapui Taliin ensimmäistä kertaa 1987. Tuolloin Gary toi mukanaan nyttemmin jo ”vanhan” ammattilaiskonkarin Paul Broadhurst´n. Tuolloin, vuonna 1987, ei heistä kumpikaan yltänyt kolmen parhaan joukkoon, mutta Gary ihastui Suomeen ja suomalaisiin ja on sittemmin palannut Taliin aina vuosi toisensa jälkeen. Kisan kynnyksellä Jaana Jalonen haastatteli tänä vuonna myös yli 35-vuotiaiden Euroopan mestaruuden voittanutta Garya. When and how did your start your golfing career? I started golf through my Grand Mother when I was four years old at the 9 hole Grange Fell Golf Club in the South Lakeland area in the North West of England. Is there any particular reason why you have stayed as amateur? I stayed Amateur through my career mainly because I was never good enough or young enough. I was 23 handicap at age 18! I was playing lots of other sports at school and golf was very much on the ”back burner” so to speak. Financially I was never in a position to really have a go. By the time I was good enough I was perhaps 33 years old, but really by then it was probably too late to give it a go with any chance of long time success. Your special moments so far? Mention some of those? Winning the Eisenhower Trophy (World Team Championships in Chile) in 1998 was the biggest thing I’ve achieved in golf. I’ve won the Amateur Championship twice which is pretty rare too. Also I will be always known for beating Tiger Woods in the Walker Cup – 18 months later Tiger won the Masters by 12 shots! I also heard that you got a special recognition from the Queen? I was honoured in the New Years Honours List this year receiving an MBE for services to golf. I went to Buckingham Palace to receive my medal from the Queen in May this year. It was a fantastic experience, and something I’m very proud of. Hopefully I can do many more things to deserve further recognition in the future, but I want to try to put something back into the game and to develop golf into the future. It has been 20 years since your first visit to Tali. What kind of memories you have from Finland? Finland is a fabulous country, and the people are friendly. Helsinki is clean, and a pretty city with a great atmosphere and fun ”night life” too. The Finnish girls are very pretty too, and speak great English which is perfect as my Finnish isn’t that hot!! What makes you come over year after year? The Finnish Amateur is a great event for lots of reasons. It’s one round a day, I love the course, as its interesting and scorable if you play well and usually in good condition year on year. Its a mixed event, which is fun too. We in Britain don’t have any events like that. Its brilliantly well organised which makes it great to play and the atmosphere for the event makes it fun with good support from the public and the media. How long do you think your amateur career will continue at this level? I’m hoping that my amateur career at this level will last at least 3 to 4 more years for England, and perhaps 2 to 3 more years for GB&I / Europe. Then I can think about possibly turning professional on the Seniors Tour or staying amateur to help develop the game. Either way, I’ve still got a lot to achieve and much still to work for. When not golfing, how do you spend your time? When I’m not playing golf I try to go to the gym. I love films and watch movies when ever I can. I like reading, mainly novels. I like cars and driving (which is good really as I have to get to tournaments all over the country). I like music, from classical to pop, and rock to the latest tunes. My laptop seems to keep me more and more busy these days though! Gary in a nutshell:Name: Gary Wolstenholme MBE Age: 46 Hcp: Plus four (+3.9), best handicap held +5.5 in 2000 Best round: in tournament 62, in friendly 60 It is believed that I am now the most capped national Amateur golfer in the world with 208 full caps for my country, and also the most successful GB&I player in Walker Cup history verses America with 10 points gained.

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