Six Mile, South Carolina - The International Institute of Golf would like to congratulate Arjun Atwal in his most recent performance at the Wyndham Championship.

Atwal become the first Indian-born player to win on TOUR and the first player to win from a Monday qualifier since 1986.  “I told my caddie that we had nothing to lose this week.  Just go out there and try to win it,” Atwal stated.

Atwal’s one shot victory (-20) over David Toms will allow him to play in next years Masters as well as other various PGA TOUR events.  “I don’t have a card, I don’t have anything.  Just go out there and free-wheel it, and that’s what I did this week,” the Indian-born player added.

This most recent win has now put BannLynch Golf at three wins for the season, with Geoff Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby winning earlier this year.

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

Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy has made a great start to his campaign at The Memorial Tournament on the US PGA Tour, firing a blistering 7 under par 65 to be tied for the lead after the 1st round.

The Bann Lynch Golf/Yarra Bend Golf team member made 8 birdies in his round against the lone bogey to share the lead with England’s Justin Rose and American Ricky Fowler.

Ogilvy seems to have carried into this week the positive momentum from his final round at last week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational where he shot a 6 under par 64 in the final round to vault up the leader board and finish T13. His putting was the key stat, as he needed just 26 putts in his round (T8 in that category).

With the US Open at Pebble Beach approaching, the return to form bodes well for former champion Ogilvy who has had a bit of a quiet season since his win at the opening event in Hawaii. At The Memorial however, Ogilvy is once again displaying his knack for playing well in tournaments with strong fields (the field includes Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and some of the top ranked players in the world).

“I’m happy the way I’m hitting the ball.” said Ogilvy. “I hit the ball great last week. I hit the ball great really since Augusta. And I feel like it’s been on the improve. So that’s nice.”

KJ Choi was the best of the other Bann Lynch Golf players, shooting a 3 under par 69 to be tied for 16th place. Having finished 4th at this year’s Masters, Choi is looking to peak at the right time once again for the US Open at Pebble Beach and get that first major.

Scores for other Bann Lynch Golf/Yarra Bend Golf players: Aaron Baddeley -1 (T34), Stuart Appleby +1 (T67), Mat Goggin +1 (T67), Marc Leishman +4 (T109).

Bann Lynch Golf players K.J Choi of South Korea and Geoff Ogilvy of Australia can both take plenty of positives from their respective performances in the US PGA Tour’s Crowne Plaza Invitational which concluded today at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Choi and Ogilvy both finished in a tie for 13th along with 7 other players at 12 under par, 9 shots behind winner Zach Johnson of the United States.

Choi and Ogilvy are coached by International Institute of Golf co-Directors Steve Bann and Dale Lynch respectively.

Yarra Bend Golf team member Ogilvy followed rounds of 70, 67 and 67 with a blistering final round 64 on the par 70 layout to vault up the leader board. He made 6 birdies against no bogeys and this performance will surely give the 2006 US Open Champion plenty of confidence with the 2010 event just a few weeks away.

While Ogilvy shot a stellar final round, Choi can probably lay claim to the strangest round of the week- his 66 on Saturday is probably one round of golf he won’t forget for a while. The South Korean birdied 3 of his first 4 holes, then recovered from a bogey on the 5th with a stunning eagle on the par 4 6th. He parred into the turn to score 4 under par 31 for the front 9. K.J then caught fire again birdieing 4 of the next 5 holes to get it to 8 under for the round. After parring 15 through 17, Choi teed off on the 18th hole tied for the lead with Bryce Molder at 14 under par and needing a birdie to match the course record.

That’s when it all went wrong.

After hitting his tee shot into the left rough, KJ couldn’t get it out on his first attempt, and then compounded his problems by hitting the next one into the water next to the green. After dropping, it took him 3 attempts with the wedge to get it onto the green and he had to make an 8 footer for a quadruple bogey 8 that left him with a 4 under par 66 which while impressive could have been so much better.

Still, both Ogilvy and Choi have shown some very encouraging signs this week that their games are peaking at the right time for the second major of the year. The US Open will be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links from June 17-20.

Thanks to Yarra Bend Golf for this article.

UPDATE: Arjun Atwal fired a final round of even par 70 on Sunday to finish the day where he started, T7th on the leaderboard at -6, 4 shots behind tournament winner Jason Day of Australia. Day gave back 2 shots to the field but held on to win his first PGA Tour event with a score of 10 under par 270.

This is Atwal’s best finish of the season. He earned US $189,150.00 and 80 FedEx Cup points for his efforts. He still has a lot of work left to do to be a factor in the FedEx Cup, currently ranked 146th. Coach Dale Lynch will surely be pleased with his performance this week, however.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Marc Leishman fired a final round of 1 under par 69 to finish at 5 under for the week and T12th. Leishman earned US $131,625.00 and 59.50 FedEx Cup points. This is Leishman’s 5th Top 25 finish of the season and moves him to 39th in the FedEx Cup standings. Another one of Denis McDade’s charges continues to perform well at the highest level.

India’s Arjun Atwal has put himself in a great position to get his best finish of the season on the US PGA Tour by firing an impressive 6 under 64 in the 3rd round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship at the TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas in Irving, Texas.

Atwal’s moving day performance vaulted him to T7th on the leaderboard at 6 under for the tournament, 6 strokes behind leader Jason Day of Australia.

This is only Atwal’s 3rd event of the season, with his best finish so far on Tour coming last week at the Valero Texas Open (T17th).

Atwal works with IIG co-Director Dale Lynch. Another player from the Bann Lynch Golf stable, March Leishman of Australia is T16th at -4.

Australia’s Aaron Baddeley notched his best finish of the season by far by finishing 3rd at the Valero Texas Open on Sunday.

“Badds” as he is popularly known bounced back from an opening round of 75 to shoot 66 in the second round. After poor weather had forced a 36 hole Sunday finish, the Aussie fired rounds of 67 and 68 on the marathon final day to finish at 12 under par for the tournament, 2 shots behind eventual winner and fellow Aussie Adam Scott.

While it was the end of a long victory drought for Scott on the US PGA Tour, Baddeley would be encouraged that he too is not too far from winning form and ending a drought of his own (his last victory came at the 2007 FBR Open). Going through swing changes while competing at the highest level can be tough for even the most talented players in the world, however with his performance this week Baddeley seems to have turned a corner.

Baddeley returned to his childhood coach Dale Lynch earlier this year after having experimented with other swing methods. The pair had plenty of success early in Baddeley’s career as he lifted the 1999 Australian Open as an amateur and retained his title the following year having turned professional. He has been looking to return to the same principles in his game that brought him all that success, the basis of which is taking a holistic approach to golf as outlined in Dale Lynch and his coaching partner Steve Bann’s Pure Golf Training program.

The numbers:

Baddeley was typically strong on the greens this week ranking T4 for Putts Per Round (26) and 3rd for Putts Per Green In Regulation (1.574). He also bombed it off the tee ranking 2nd in driving distance (averaging 310.5 yards). Driving Accuracy (57.1 %- T25) and Greens in Regulation (65.3%- T24) might be two areas in which he did quite well but might look to improve a bit to get him over the line for that win.

With Baddeley’s putting talent, more greens will surely mean more birdies. More birdies ought to lead to that breakthrough win sooner rather than later.

Thanks to the Pure Golf Training team for this article, and well done Badds!

Six Mile, S.C. (January 11,2010) — The International Institute of Golf (IIG) would like to congratulate Geoff Ogilvy on his second straight victory at the SBS Championship at Kapalua Resort in Maui, Hawaii.

Ogilvy posted four rounds in the sixties to finish at 22 under par, good for a one stroke victory.  This victory moved Geoff to 9th in the Official World Golf Rankings and marked his seventh PGA Tour victory including wins at the 2006 U.S. Open and the 2006, 2008 and 2009 WGC Accenture World Match Play. 

Winning the SBS Championship back-to-back is nothing new to IIG students.  Stuart Appleby is a three-time winner of this event 2004, 2005 and 2006, marking the only time it has been won in three consecutive years.  With Ogilvy winning this event the past two years it marks multiple victories for both Steve Bann and Dale Lynch as instructors at this event.  Ogilvy has been under the watchful eye of Lynch since he entered the golf program at the Victorian Institute of Sport at the age of sixteen which Lynch co directed with Bann.  

“Geoff’s game is primed for the 2010 season and he will not rest on this victory.  He has his sights set on becoming a better player,” said Dale Lynch.  “We focus on all aspects of his game – physical, mental, technical and strategic,” said Lynch. “Of all the things that stood out in Geoff’s game at Kapalua, his wedge play and putting showed the effort he has put into his off season practice.  Many players come to Maui to shake off the rust; he came with his game in shape to start the year off strongly.  I look forward to seeing what he will accomplish in 2010.” 

About the International Institute of Golf (IIG)
Located at the Cliffs at Keowee Springs, the IIG accompanies a Tom Fazio-designed golf course and community.  Headed up by Steve Bann and Dale Lynch, the IIG offers varying levels of instruction, group lessons and corporate outings.  In his commitment to make the IIG the premier instructional facility in the world, Lynch relocated to the Greenville, S.C. with his family. Bann will commute across the continents at the outset, splitting his time between the IIG at Keowee Springs and Melbourne training facility.  Both instructors spend time traveling with their professional clients including Geoff Ogilvy, Stuart Appleby, Mathew Goggin, K.J. Choi, Arjun Atwal, Roger Tambellini, Nick Flanagan, and Steve Allan.  

The IIG includes a state of the art 80-yard short-game area with varying rough heights, run-offs and green shapes and speeds will help golfers learn different ways to save strokes; a teaching center featuring NIKE 360® Fitting System; a state of the art Swing Catalyst motion analysis studio; and an indoor putting studio with the TOMI system and a fitness training area. 

The Cliffs at Keowee Springs is one of eight private master-planned residential developments within The Cliffs Communities, founded in 1989 by Jim Anthony and located in the heart of the Carolina Preserve stretching from Greenville, S.C., to Asheville, N.C. To learn more about the IIG, call (864) 868-0477 or visit www.iofgolf.com ? 

About The Cliffs Communities
Founded in 1989 by Jim Anthony, The Cliffs Communities offers a unique collection of eight communities within three distinct regions of The Carolina Preserve — Asheville, Mountain-lake and Mountain— while providing immediate enjoyment of all with only one membership. All communities are just minutes from each other. All are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of protected parklands at the southernmost edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. And all provide access to two of the South’s most vibrant towns: Greenville, South Carolina, and Asheville, North Carolina. When you are a member of one Cliffs community, you are a Member of all eight. The Cliffs offers home sites from $200,000 to more than $3 million and custom homes from $700,000 to $5 million. To learn more about living at The Cliffs, call (877) 254-3371 or visit www.cliffscommunities.com. 

Contacts:
Barrett Wood      
(864) 868-0477 IIG      
(404) 543-3400 cell    
bwood@cliffscommunities.com

IIG players Cameron Percy and Roger Tambellini have secured what millions of golfers around the world can only dream of- a gig on the PGA Tour next season.

The pair were part of the top 25 players on the money list at season’s end on the Nationwide Tour who gain promotion to “the big dance” next year.

Cameron Percy

For Percy, who works with Darren Cole and trains at the IIG, it is vindication of a decision he made in consultation with his family and support team:

“Last year, my advisors and I thought about what would benefit me the most, Q-school or the Nationwide Tour. We decided that a year’s worth of experience and traveling outweighs trying to catch lightning in a bottle during the one week of Q-School and going to the PGA TOUR unprepared. The most important thing to me is not making sure I get to the PGA TOUR, but making sure that when I get there that I am going to stay there. I feel this prepared me for doing exactly that.”

Percy notched 7 top ten finishes on the Nationwide Tour this season with a highlight being a T-5th finish at the Nationwide Tour Championship. The 35 year old from Victoria, Australia finished 8th on the money list.

Roger Tambellini

For Roger Tambellini, who works with IIG co-director Dale Lynch, this year was a great learning experience in terms of understanding strategy and the importance of a positive mindset on the golf course:

“The Nationwide Tour is full of talent and aggressive players. This year I learned how to practice, and how much, so that when I step onto the first tee I am looking for birdies. Everyone says the Nationwide Tour is just like the PGA TOUR but on a smaller scale and that statement couldn’t be more true.”

That aggressive attitude paid handsome dividends for Tambellini this season, no more so than when he won the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. He notched 4 other top ten finishes to end up 9th on the Nationwide Tour money list.

All of us here at IIG would like to congratulate Cameron and Roger, also their coaches Darren and Dale respectively, on a great achievement. Best of luck next year!

Marc Leishman has earned himself a place in the Tour Championship after finishing in a tie for 2nd place with Jim Furyk at -11, 8 shots behind runaway winner Tiger Woods.

Leishman, a rookie on the PGA Tour this year closed with a 69, having only advanced to the third round of playoffs at Cog Hill by making an eagle putt on his final hole last week at the TPC Boston. Now he’s headed to the Fedex Cup finale at the Tour Championship in a couple of weeks for an outside shot at $10 million, and is assured of making his first trip to the Masters.

“I’m in the Tour Championship now and the Masters,” Leishman said. “It’s pretty hard to wipe the smile off my face.”

Marc Leishman works with Denis McDade at the BannLynch Golf School in Melbourne, Australia. BannLynch Golf is the original academy set up by IIG co-directors Steve Bann and Dale Lynch in Australia which has played a big part in producing the so-called “Aussie Invasion” of the US PGA Tour.

All of us here at the IIG would like to congratulate Marc on an incredible first full year out on Tour, and we wish him the best for the Tour Championship at East Lake!