The Professor and the panel of the Judge, Paul Dalligan and the Gelding discuss round 13 of the NRL and game 1 in State of Origin. The Judge takes aim at the AFL as it prevaricates on whether Tasmania will get a team or not. The panel also talk about the coming LIV International golf tour and its ramifications for professional golf and the Gelding has a few racing tips for Moe and Geelong races.
Tag Archives: golf
Sandy Jamieson – One Club Golf – podcast
We spoke with golf professional and coach, Sandy Jamieson. Sandy is the former pro at Commonwealth Golf Club who left the world of private golf clubs to start up One Club Golf at public courses. He says golf is not a difficult game.
Sandy Jamieson talks 1ClubGolf and the challenges facing golf post Covid on show #448
The Professor and the panel of the Judge, Paul Dalligan and the Gelding talk with special guest, Sandy Jamieson about his 1ClubGolf initiative and the challenges facing the sport of golf post Covid.
Paul Dalligan reviews round 1 of the NRL and round 3 of the NRLW.
The panel discusses the suggestion of moving the start of the new AFLW season to late August 2022 and the Professor asks if independent grounds keepers should prepare test cricket pitches given the ‘road’ that was used for the first test between Pakistan and Australia.
4 best bets for Flemington races on 12 March 2022 and the Professor’s Parlay
After an average day at the track last week, the Professor and the Gelding will be trying to redeem themselves today at Flemington where the track is rated a Good 4 and the rail is out 5 metres for the entire circuit.
Don’t forget to back the tips each way!
Flemington
Professor’s tips
Race 1 Horse 5 – Nanagui (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 5 Horse 9 – Arktika (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Gelding’s tips
Race 6 Horse 2 – Home Affairs
Race 7 Horse 2 – Think it Over
Professor’s Parlay
Race 6 Horse 2 – Home Affairs into Melbourne Storm to beat Wests Tigers (NRL) into Parramatta Eels to beat Gold Coast Titans (NRL).
The Professor and the panel of the Judge, Coutta, Paul Dalligan and the Gelding will be talking sport on the Sportzfan Radio YouTube channel from 12.00AEDT tomorrow. Special guest, Sandy Jameison.
Good luck and good punting!
The Professor
Weekend musing – Jordan Spieth, Faf Du Plessis, big changes in the Aussie Test team…..
I watched the end of the Australian Open golf tournament last Sunday and it was no surprise to see Jordan Spieth in contention. He nailed some crucial putts and made it into the play-off with Ashley
Hall and Cameron Smith. He then proceeded to birdie the first play-off hole and win the tournament. He has now competed in the Australian Open on three occasions for two wins and a second. For anyone, that is a phenomenal record, but for a 23 year old it is amazing. Aaron Baddeley won in 1999(am) & 2000 as an 18/19 year old which was amazing at the time, but he has probably not gone onto the heights predicted at that time.
It was noted with interest that Faf Du Plessis was found guilty of ball tampering in the second test and was then fined his match fee. As the captain of the team, with a history of ball tampering, this has got 
to be an inadequate penalty. I understand the previous penalty was three years ago and records are wiped clean after two years, but the man still has a history. A penalty such as the match fee is no deterrent to future indiscretions by anyone let alone the captain. The test started yesterday and Du Plessis clearly made the most of his reprieve with a not out century.
Sticking with the cricket, the Australian team needed a shake up and we got that with five changes from the team that was embarrassed in Hobart. Accepting that changes had to be made, I still felt a bit sorry for Callum Ferguson. He has probably deserved a chance at 
test cricket for some time, but when his form has warranted selection he has either been injured or no places have been available. He finally gets a chance at 32 years of age and loses his place after one test. That is probably the end of the road for Ferguson which is a bit of a shame as he probably deserved more of an opportunity. Joe Mennie also lost his place after one test, however, he is only 27 and therefore still young enough if good enough. I thought Mennie was lucky to get a spot for Hobart ahead of Jackson Bird on his home track, so maybe not so deserving in the first place.
Greg Miles announced his forthcoming retirement during the week 
and while he has had a few hiccups in the last few years I have always regarded him as one of the best race callers I have heard. He probably lacks the impact of a Bill Collins, but for someone listening to a race and wanting to know where your horse is placed I think he has had few peers. A great career.
Have a great weekend!
Weekend musing – Tour de France, British Open, Arsene Wenger and England
I commented last week on a number of topics including the Tour de France, the England soccer team’s poor display in the European Championships and the British Open.
It looks like I was on the money picking Chris Froome as the winner of the race. With 19 stages complete and only a couple to go Froome 
seems to have the field covered. Great display by Aussie Richie Porte in the tough mountain section but looks like he will just fall short of a podium finish. Certainly looks like a rider to watch for the 2017 Tour.
As much as I was on the money with the Tour de France, I was way off in my assessment of the British Open. I didn’t see Swede, Henrik 
Stenson winning. Stenson and Phil Mickelson showed a mastery of the Royal Troon course that the rest of the field struggled with. Mickelson at 17 under had an 11 shot buffer between he and the third placed golfer. The leading Australian was world number 1, Jason Day at one over par tied for equal 22nd. My selection of Adam Scott was poor as he finished at 5 over par. Our golfers need to improve their performances in major tournaments!
My suggestion for the English soccer team is to go all out for Arsene Wenger. They could do a lot worse. He is the shot in the arm that the
English need and his time at Arsenal is limited. It would be a good move for England, Arsenal and Wenger.
Have a great weekend!
Weekend musing – AFL bye rounds, European Cup, Tour de France, British Open….
Round 17 of the AFL season started on Thursday night and these Thursday night games have been aptly called ‘Pie night’ games by Fox Footy. The games are largely only possible due to the bye rounds where only six games are played each round across three weekends. Many people do not like the 6 x 6 x 6 way of having a bye, but in my opinion, I think it is fine. I
would rather that method than a complete break in the mid-season. It affords every side a break, there is still a good number of games for each weekend and it allows for the introduction of these Thursday night games which appear to have attracted good crowds and TV ratings. I have heard some in the media saying the bye rounds mean the AFL season loses momentum. I do not agree or see it as a problem. After all, if you think about it, the old VFL competition only had six games a week and we thought that was plenty back then.
The round also started with another Hawthorn escape and I think the Swans would be ruing the three 50 metre penalties which resulted in two goals in a game that was decided by five points. The 
50 metre penalties were there, but it is massive penalty for innocuous incidents that had little to no impact on the play. There was also a big disparity in the free kick count, especially up to 3/4 time. The Hawthorn free kicks were probably there, but there were a lot of free kicks not paid to Sydney that should have been paid. Again, in a tight game it makes a difference.
In the Euro Cup, Portugal continued the run of outsiders winning big competitions this year and without a meaningful contribution from
Cristiano Ronaldo. The highlight of the tournament though still has to be Iceland’s defeat of England. One wonders how such a result could occur when one considers the disparity between the two nations in population and football history. Clearly England need to re-invent themselves if they wish to seriously challenge for major silverware in the future.
The Tour de France continues on and I must say even with the halfway mark just reached, it looks like Chris Froome will again be in front at the end. He seems a cut above the rest and barring some unfortunate accident he is over the line.
The British Open continues to be a major Championship that eludes Australian golfers even now that we have some of the top golfers in
the world. Greg Norman ‘was our last winner and that was a very long time ago. I see our best chance with Adam Scott, but I am far from confident that any Aussie will be lifting the claret mug this year.
Have a great weekend!
Weekend musing – Essendon FC and the #1 draft pick, US Open, Jason Day
There has been heated discussion over recent weeks as to whether Essendon should get the number one draft pick should they finish on the bottom of the ladder. Speaking from a purely one eyed position, surely if they finish last they get the number one pick. Hasn’t the 
team been punished enough? three years of investigations combined with the most severe penalties ever dished out to a club….and all this when the Tribunal could not establish clearly that banned substances had been administered. Personally, I would prefer they didn’t justify the number one pick as the club has not won the wooden spoon since 1933 which is well before I was born, so in my life time I have not experienced the ignominy of finishing last. In 1933 there was only twelve teams, so they would be finishing six places lower this time!
I also noted with interest the comments from Mark Thompson during the week regarding the Essendon style of play. Bomber is 
part of the media and certainly entitled to his opinion, but I must say apart from the last two weeks I think their progress has been quite good. Even in the big loss to Fremantle, the Bombers won the last quarter. The loss to Hawthorn was certainly on the cards and I picked the Hawks to win by 100pts so I was not far off. One thing I will say about Mark Thompson’s comments is that they weren’t vindictive like Mick Malthouse’s continued comments about Collingwood. I think Bomber’s comments at least showed that he still cared.
OK, Essendon rant over for now.
The US Open is on at the fearsome Oakmont course. I was surprised to hear that Jason Day is feeling weighed down by the number one tag. That is unfortunate as surely that is what every sportsman strives for. His form has certainly dropped off since getting to the number one spot. I can’t get excited about the Aussie contingent this time around. Adam Scott is talking a good talk but his confidence seems to be lacking. I think the most likely winner is the home grown Jordan Spieth.
Have a great weekend!
Friday musing – limited overs cricket a lesser version of the game…..
Late last year I lamented the decline of West Indian cricket and the impact on world cricket and now we have the West Indian men’s team, women’s team and the men’s U19 team being the current 
World T20 champions. While I think that is great for West Indian cricket and it should engender significant more people wanting to play cricket in that region, I hope that first class and test cricket is not overlooked. Whilst it might be my age and what I grew up with, test cricket is still the pinnacle of the sport in my opinion and the limited overs competitions are lesser versions of the game. Do you agree?
I was a little disappointed to see Jason Day drop down the leader 
board at the Masters on the first day. He got off to a great start, but a triple bogey late in his round brought him back to even with the card. He is still in contention, but it would be good to see Spieth, McIlroy and Day in the final groupings on Monday morning.
I tuned in to watch a little bit of the Footy Show last night to see how Rebecca Maddern fitted in to the format. She was clearly nervous which is understandable and some of her material was obviously 
rehearsed/scripted to get her into the program, but I think she acquitted herself quite well and should be a welcome addition to the show which now has a very strong Geelong flavour. I don’t think her addition to the show will make me want to watch the show more often, but it is good see a bit of diversification and Rebecca is obviously a big footy fan which is essential.
Have a great weekend!
Weekend musing – AFL, Sheffield Shield, Peter Moody, Jason Day
Well Easter must be one of the most diverse periods for sport in Australia, we had the start of the AFL season, the Stawell Gift, the 
Bells Beach Surfing Classic, the Sheffield Shield Final and some big horse races from Sydney. We also had soccer World Cup qualifiers either side of Easter.
It was great to have the football back despite Essendon not having much to look forward to. The debut of Patrick Dangerfield for Geelong was clearly the difference that got them over Hawthorn and 
if he had of kicked straight they would have won by more. Collingwood and Fremantle were very disappointing, but I think both sides will perform a lot better this week. The Bombers first half was probably as expected, but their second half was a bit better. Given the number of new players due to the supplement scandal outcome it might take a while for the team to gel, but the wooden spoon still is theirs for the taking!
Also great to see Victoria win the Sheffield Shield away from home. A couple of weeks ago I was going to comment about the demise of Cameron White as a cricketer and while he has not put himself back
in the frame for Australian selection, he has redeemed himself. When he lead Victoria to the Shield win just after David Hookes died I thought he was a future Australian Test Captain and while he did play a couple of test matches, he was mainly a ODI and 20/20 player, but his star had dimmed in recent times to the point where he missed selection for Victoria.
I was sad to see Peter Moody retire from racing and he has now sold 
off all his gear to resist the temptation to return to the sport, but I think, once his suspension is over, he will come back and establish a smaller boutique stable just to keep his hand in. It is very hard for real horsemen to simply walk away from the sport it is too ingrained in their DNA.
Also good to see Jason Day back to the world number 1 position in golf and I just hope he maintains his form going into the Masters.
Have a great weekend!