Good things always come in three’s.

The battle for supremacy in women’s golf is so tightly bunched that from one tournament to the next one will find it difficult to pick the winner. No longer are we seeing the lop-sided domination of previous years.

Karrie Webb is showing the most consistent form with several recent wins and a second over the weekend at the L.P.G.A. Championship.

Annika Sorenstam’s form is starting to return too. She finished with a tie for 9th at only three off the lead.

Si Ri Pak made a welcome return to the winners circle and has shown she is back with the vigor that is required to win major titles.

Michelle Wie, oh so close again. This has been said so many times it seems like a stutter but Michelle will hopefully clinch that maiden title and silence some of her critics.

Lorena Ochoa finished tied with Annika and is continuing her great form from earlier in the season.

This sort of close competition can only be good for women’s golf and the game in general. Keep it up ladies, I will certainly be watching.

I am restricted to second rate games of rugby, soccer and cricket and while these are a bit of fun, I do miss heading to the playing fields of the world to see my teams compete.

But it looks like that has changed on the golfing scene here at least.

It was announced today, that Phuket will host a new tournament which has been tri-sanctioned by the Asian, Japan and Australasian Tours.

Starting from March 8, 2007, the Motorola Blue Canyon International, will host more than 200 players who will compete for a share of the $1.278 million in prize money on offer.

Australasian Tour chairman Wayne Grady said the new event heralded an exciting era for the respective tours.

I have to say that I think this is a fantastic development forward for golf in the region and while Phuket is still suffering from a downturn in tourism due to the 2004 Tsunami, this is surely a step in the right direction.

Also another leap ahead for the Blue Canyon Club who were, this week, released by the Central Bankruptcy Court in Bangkok from a debt restructuring process order which has been in place since 2002.

Well done all round and save me a ticket Blue Canyon, I am looking forward to some live action.

Michelle Wie is attempting to do just that, break new ground. She can be proud of her efforts of attempting to compete at the highest level. She is not far off the pace either and before long she may get there and achieve her goals.

But what we cannot forget is that there are plenty of other golfers out there who did achieve their goals. They also were competing at the highest level. They also had to go through all the hardships and probably without the funding behind them that Wie is enjoying.

Let’s congratulate the players that did make it. I look forward to seeing them in the U.S. Open, to watch them compete at the highest level.

I admire Michelle Wie in the way she holds herself and what she is attempting to do, but in this world of equality, the point that she is a woman competing against men cannot come into the argument.

Michelle Wie is a golfer who is competing in the wonderful game of golf at the highest level. Nothing else matters.

On holes which gave options of a dangerous long drive with water carry or an intelligent lay-up, one could not leave the course with dignity in-tact if the latter was chosen.
Comments could be heard, “it’s not golf if you don’t go for it", or the ever popular “you can make that easily” just to boost one’s confidence.

Of course, most of the shots were sprayed all over the place and the hole could have easily been played with a lay-up off the tee and a fair approach shot, but that one big drive every now and then that was nailed down the centre of the fairway and way over the hazards was well worth it.

That’s why I have to give credit to Bubba. He has a big drive and he is not afraid to use it. When things are not going his way, he has a crack at it and a good percentage of the time it comes off. At the end of the day, everyone loves to see a long drive.

In an ESPN article Bubba said, “I’m just making a living hitting the ball. It’s fun. I enjoy it. That’s why I hit driver today, hoping I could do something so people would cheer for me. They weren’t cheering when I was shooting 5 over.”

Like with John Daly, crowds react to the all or nothing attitude. Daly has gone on to win some majors and if Bubba can get a handle on the rest of his game he is sure to win his share too.

I for one will be watching him because my mates reckon, “he can make that easily".

Time difference will also make a huge impact. How can some of these players be expected to tee off in the early morning after spending all night watching games of soccer on TV?

Maybe the relative tours can alter tee times to suit the schedule of the soccer teams. I can imagine Paul Casey holding up the starter for five minutes while David Beckham shoots a penalty goal for England.

Will this sort of thing happen? I doubt it. But, the next few weeks will have some fine golfing television viewing. Oh and a couple of soccer games too.

Being a golfer and one of the many follicly challenged males in the world, I thought this might be of interest.

Laughingly, it was yet another attempt to palm off some rubbish solution.

What do they take us baldies for?

Pro golfers are becoming high profile celebrities in their own rights and I can see a time when it may become fashionable for some golfers to get together and become golfing celebrity couples.

I wonder what some of their media names would become?

For example Trevor Immelman and Paula Creamer may be named “Trevaula” or say, Justin Leonard and Michelle Wie - “Justmi".

Maybe you can think of a few.

Aparently, he had so many broken windows and intruding wayward golfers that he couldn’t stand it any more and moved out.

I would really like to hear some stories from people who live or lived in a golfing community. Good or bad, you tell me?

My regular golfing round is found on the mainland of Thailand just north of Phuket Island. Thai Muang Golf Course and Marina has been built right on the ocean front. You can hear the breakers crashing onto the shore from the 17th, 18th and clubhouse. There really is no marina there but I believe plans are in progress. A friend of mine, Max Kagi, sailed his yacht from Phuket, anchored just offshore before playing his round for the day.

The course itself is less known and therefore less played than the tourist trodden links in Phuket. Every time I have played there I have not seen more than one or two other groups.

The Pete Dye designed course itself is in great shape. Due to its proximity, it received some damage from the 2004 Tsunami but this quickly recovered and is now again full of greenery.

The drive north takes only about 30-40 minutes through some lovely rural areas of Thailand. This in itself is a nice reminder to me of where I really am in the world.

Most courses in Phuket are targeting the tourist market. Thai Muang though, has reduced rates and more often than not, it’s local Thais who can be found there.

I have never found a more tranquil place to down a few beers after a round, than the clubhouse at Thai Muang Golf course. Please don’t spread the word too much, I like it this way.

The simple fact is, Greg Norman put himself into a position to win and nine times out of ten a freakish act robbed him of the accolades he much deserved.

Is Adam Scott now going to take over the mantle of proverbial choker? He was dominating the recent Byron Nelson, with a lead of four shots at one stage, but didn’t take away the crystal. He hasn’t even had a win on the PGA Tour this year.

Even when Greg Norman tries to do something to help the flailing Australian golf scene, we have our own Dot Wong bringing out a comment about the “Heimlich".

All I can say is “build a bridge people and get over it". It’s just plain boring.

But do you think that Tiger Woods’ success has just been through years of dedicated practice, starting from such an early age or pure talent. Maybe it’s a combination of all. How does one recognize from such an early age that this kid is going to be a champion?

Being a parent of a young boy, half Thai as is Tiger, I have started to wonder whether he may be able to trek the same path and one day be an exceptional golfer. Does he have what it takes to put in the years of practice starting at such an early age? Does he have the natural talent?

I think the big question is really this. Do I have what it takes to be as good a dad as Earl Woods? I hope so.

Ok, so I got my first golf game in after a layoff of over six months. At first, everything was fine, I played badly of course, as with no practice those bad habits came flowing back. I expected that.

After 10 holes, I really started to feel it. It was a hot day too and by the time I had finished 18 holes I was dog tired.

What I didn’t expect though, was to wake up the next day with aches and pains so bad I could hardly move. Thank you very much.

I am five months shy of my 39th birthday and have to start to admit that I am not the athlete I once was. Maybe it’s the lack of exercise I am currently getting or maybe it’s just middle age, not so much creeping but, speeding up on me.

Whatever it is, I am going to have to start to take care of myself a bit better and try to remember all those stretching exercises that I was told about but didn’t really listen to.

Oh yeah, my new shoes were great. Well worth the late night trip back to the store.

One of the reasons that I settled in Phuket, Thailand was the all-year-round warm temperatures and the ability to play reasonably inexpensive golf. And I hadn’t played in six months, what was I doing?

I was so excited with the prospect of approaching golf that I felt I had to go over all my gear in preparation for the event and especially to wear in the new pair of golf shoes that I bought pre-Christmas. They have been sitting in their box, eagerly awaiting me to get up and play. It was time to dust them off, try them on and walk around.

I got one shoe out and it looked great. You know, all new and shiny. I got the other one out and “what the …?”

They are both left shoes.

Being Thailand, this is not all that out of the ordinary. Stranger things have happened but there was only one thing to do, head down to the mall where I know I will have a dual language conversation to nowhere.

After more than two years here, I have learnt that when there is a problem, it’s best to attend to it with another Thai in tow. I packed my wife and baby son into my pickup truck and drove us all to the mall where

I politely showed the two left golf shoes to the attendant at the store where I bought them. Of course, he doesn’t speak English and I had to let my wife do my battle for me.

The first response from her was that I would have to wait one month while they send them off to the company and return with a left and right shoe. “No good” I said. I am playing tomorrow. I need these shoes, why is this happening to me? More discussions and for a while I thought nothing was going to happen. How could I play golf without my new shoes?

To my surprise, the manager who was now involved, suggested that I choose another pair and they would deduct the price of my returned left shoes. Ahhhh, a solution. This does not happen here, it’s all going along too smoothly, what’s going on?

I selected a new pair of shoes (priced more than double the original lefties) and quickly left the store two hours after my initial discovery. Things don’t happen quickly here either.

A happy end to the day and about the only way my wife would have let me buy another new pair of golf shoes.