White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (August  1,2010) –BannLynch Golf would like to congratulate Stuart Appleby on his victory Sunday at the Inaugural Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia. The win marks Appleby’s first title since the 2006 Houston Open and his ninth US PGA Tour victory overall. Appleby won in record fashion, closing with a final round 59 to become the first ever non – American to do so and only the fifth player ever on the US PGA TOUR. Appleby’s round, which included nine birdies and an eagle at the 12th, saw him come from seven shots back to beat Jeff Overton by a stroke.

“I had a quiet voice in the back of my head saying you’re going to make this, you’re going to make this,” Appleby said of the 11-footer he drained for birdie and 59 on the final green. “I felt like I was going to make that putt. It was just a beautiful round of golf from a feeling point of view.”

Appleby’s success is no surprise to his longtime coach and BannLynch Principal Director, Steve Bann. ”We have been working hard the last couple of years and it was great to finally see it all come to fruition. It’s exciting to see Stuart back in form and I look forward to his rise in the golfing ranks once again,” said Bann.

In this video, Ross Perrett from Thomson Perrett Golf Course Architects introduces us to the firm’s latest venture: Yarra Bend Golf.

Thomson Perrett Golf Course Architects are a well established and respected firm in the golf industry with numerous golf course design projects around the world, particularly in Asia. They are excited to join forces with Bann Lynch Golf as part of a consortium that is going to build and manage this wonderful new facility, just 4 kms from the Melbourne CBD.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will provide you with updates on the progress of this project, which will include a brilliant new floodlit driving range with up to 60 hitting bays, state of the art golf coaching academy, golf course renovations to the Yarra Bend Golf Course, a mini golf facility, wellness center, cafe and much much more.

Stay tuned for more from the Yarra Bend Golf team!

Australia’s Marcus Fraser finished an impressive week in Korea with a 4 shot victory at the Ballantines Championship on the European Tour here on Sunday. After the win, the Victorian Institute of Sport, Golf Program graduate credited a return to coach Denis McDade of Bann Lynch Golf for his win.

“…It’s all thanks to a lot of hard work back home with my coach Denis McDade…you always feel like you’re working towards something with all the practice that we do together, and its a big confidence boost this week, long overdue.”

McDade coached Fraser through the VIS Program and the early part of his professional career, when he earned his first European Tour win at the Russian Open in 2003. After a break of a few years from McDade in which he struggled with his game to the point where he contemplated quitting it altogether, Fraser decided to return to his old coach and get back to what he knew worked for him. The result is the biggest victory of his professional career to date, over a field that included major champions Ernie Els and Y.E Yang and some of the best players in the world including Henrik Stenson and Anthony Kim.

Fraser mentioned how a return to his old coach with whom he had enjoyed so much success as an amateur revitalized his game and gave him the confidence that he was on the right track:

“I had 4 wins in my first year as a professional and I expected a lot of myself…for some reason I stopped seeing him (McDade), don’t know why I did that..but it’s all water under the bridge for us now and we’re working hard to get another win.”

Bann Lynch Golf coach Denis McDade

McDade was understandably thrilled with Fraser’s performance: “It’s just incredibly satisfying for me to see Marcus break through this way…we all know he’s got the talent to compete on this level and it was just a matter of working together to build his confidence up and keep putting himself in contention. A lot of hard work has gone into this, including via Skype this week! Absolutely over the moon.”

You can listen to the full audio clip of Marcus Fraser’s post-victory interview on the European Tour site by clicking this link:

3 Bann Lynch Golf players played in the St.Jude Classic presented by Smith & Nephew which concluded on Sunday at the TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.

Cameron Percy of Australia (coached by Darren Cole) finished tied for 25th place at -3 for the week after rounds of 70, 68, 67 and 72. Percy finished 7 shots behind eventual winner Lee Westwood of England.

Mathew Goggin (coached by Dale Lynch) finished tied for 37th place at -1 after rounds of 69, 69, 69 and 72 at the par 70 layout.

Stuart Appleby (coached by Steve Bann) shot an excellent 3 under par 67 in the second round but failed to make the cut as a first round 75 left him with too much ground to make up.

It was a bizarre end to the tournament as American Robert Garrigus seemed to have the tournament wrapped up with a 3 shot lead coming to the final tee on Sunday. Unfortunately, the pressure of chasing his first PGA Tour win seemed to get the better of him as he yanked his tee shot left into the water. He proceeded to make a mess of the hole and had to hole a 3 footer just to make triple bogey and get into a playoff with Westwood and Robert Karlsson of Sweden.

Garrigus was the first to perish in the sudden death playoff, and Westwood and Karlsson matched each other’s shaky putting until the Englishman finally holed a 6 footer to grab the title on the 4th playoff hole.

The golf world’s attention now turns to the US Open being played this week at Pebble Beach. Bann Lynch Golf has 8 players competing in this year’s event. Watch this site for up to date coverage on all our players.

Thanks to Yarra Bend Golf for this article.

Aussies Stuart Appleby and Aaron Baddeley were among the 15 players who have successfully qualified for the 2010 US Open from the Sectional Qualifying event in Columbus, Ohio.

The Down Under duo came through the 36 hole qualifier played at the Lakes and Brookside courses along with major winners Tom Lehman, Davis Love III and Ben Curtis.

Meanwhile, India’s Arjun Atwal has also qualified for the US Open, being played this year at Pebble Beach, by coming through qualifying in Rockville, Maryland.

Thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this article

6 players coached by Bann Lynch Golf coaches competed at The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio which concluded on Sunday.

It was a case of what might have been for Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy who shared the lead after the 1st round thanks to a blistering 7 under par 65 which could have been even better if not for a missed 2 footer on the par 3 8th hole. Unfortunately for Ogilvy, a 77 in the second round put paid to his chances for the week.

He got back on track with a 3 under par 69 but a 4 over par 76 on Sunday meant he could only finish T41 for the week at -1, well behind England’s Justin Rose who shot a final round 66 to capture his first PGA Tour title. Still, Ogilvy is sure to take plenty of positives from his first round in which he matched his superb ball striking with deft touch on the fast greens, needing just 26 putts despite the 3 putt on hole #8. The former US Open Champion is showing some good signs heading into Pebble Beach.

Fellow Aussie Aaron Baddeley finished T47 at even par while South Korea’s KJ Choi, a former winner here, finished T52.

Thanks to Pure Golf Blog for this post.

Cameron Percy & coach Darren Cole

Note: We previously reported that Cameron Percy had qualified for the US Open. He has in fact qualified for the British Open Championship. We apologize for this error.

Australia’s Cameron Percy has qualified for the 2010  Open Championship by defeating Charley Hoffman and Bubba Watson in a playoff at the qualifier in Texas.

Percy birdied the third playoff hole to defeat the American duo and grab the final spot available from the qualifying event being played at the Gleneagles Golf Club in Plano, Texas.

It will be Percy’s 2nd start in a major championship, having previously competed in the 2003 Open Championship where he missed the cut.

Having earned his PGA Tour card after a stellar 2009 season on the Nationwide Tour where he finished 8th on the money list, Percy is still finding his feet on the big stage with 5 of 12 cuts made this season and one top 25 finish to his name.

Playing in his second major should be a huge boost for the Aussie who is coached by Bann Lynch Golf coach and Yarra Bend Golf team member Darren Cole.

It has been a good week of qualifying for the Bann Lynch Golf/Yarra Bend Golf stable with Paul Sheehan (coached by Denis McDade) qualifying for the US Open Championship via the qualifying event in Japan.

Sheehan shot rounds of 68 and 69 to finish at 137 and be one of only four players to make it through the Japanese Sectional Qualifier played at the Musashi C.C (Toyooka Course) on the 24th of May. This will be the first major of the year for the likable Aussie who has found some rich form of late, finishing 2nd at The Crowns 2010 tournament on the Japanese Tour earlier this month.

Sheehan works with Bann Lynch Golf coach Denis McDade, and is also a part of the Yarra Bend Golf team. He has been spending time working at the new facility with McDade and whatever they’re doing in that practice area near the Yarra river seems to be working wonders out on Tour. Congratulations to Paul and Denis from the entire Yarra Bend Golf team!

In other news, South Korea’s K.J Choi has earned an exemption into the U.S Open thanks to his world ranking. Choi, who made a strong run at this year’s Masters tournament eventually finishing 4th, was among 15 players to qualify for the event based on their world rankings. Interestingly, 13 of those 15 players are international players.

Choi is coached by Bann Lynch Golf co-founder and Yarra Bend Golf team member Steve Bann.

With rounds of 66, 71, 67 and 68, Sheehan finished at 8 under par for the week, tied with Hiroyuki Fujita of Japan, 5 shots behind runaway winner Ryo Ishikawa of Japan, who shot an unbelievable round of 58 on the par 70 layout to take the championship.

Sheehan has been putting in a lot of hard work with Bann Lynch Golf coach Denis McDade, who was understandably thrilled with his performance:

“Paul deserves this result and so much more for the hard work he’s put into his game. Very pleased for Sheeho and lets hope this is the start of a long run of solid play for him”.

Sheehan will be in Melbourne over the next few days and we look forward to speaking to him about his great week in Japan.

Marcus Fraser has completed a 7 year journey back into the winner’s circle on the European Tour by winning the Ballantines Championship on Deju Island in South Korea.

The Victorian shot a final round of 69 to win the weather-shortened 54 hole event by an impressive 4 shot margin at 12 under par. He beat an impressive field which included the likes of Ernie Els, Anthony Kim, Y.E Yang and some of the best players on the European Tour.

“It’s unbelievable, I don’t know how I did that today. It has blown me away,” said Fraser. Clearly emotional and relieved after finally closing the deal, Fraser admitted he has had his fair share of struggles and doubts over the last 7 years or so:

“Probably three or four years ago, I thought about giving it away,” he added. “I was playing terrible. Golf swing wasn’t improving and everything wasn’t really getting any better.

“I thought I was wasting my time and you really start to question yourself, whether you think that you should be out here or whether you deserve to be out here. I went through a patch like that and luckily I went back and saw my old coach that I used to see when I was an amateur, and we got things moving in the right direction.

He was quick to give credit to his coach Denis McDade of Bann Lynch Golf:

“It’s been a lot of hard work over the last couple of years to get back to this position. My last win was when I was coached by Denis McDade, and I’ve had another win today, still being coached by him. So I think we’ve done a lot of things to keep things moving in the right direction.”

We will have more on this story soon. Congratulations to Marcus from all of us here at Bann Lynch Golf!