Ep38: Asia-Pacific Amateurs, Bunker Play Tips, & Top 5 'Wind Players'

Another fun Talk Birdie To Me this week...We start with Mark and Nick giving us an update on their preparations for this Fridays pro-am at Box Hill, Mark predicts he'll win, and Nick is less confident. A long chat about the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships, won by Jasper Stubbs with a superb performance - particularly in the last 12 or 13 holes - but what a fantastic weekend at Royal Melbourne, the entire tournament was a cracker full of some awesome golf.Mark runs through three amateurs who have been offered a place in this weekends Queensland PGA tournament as professionals. Times have changed, but what a great achievement.A discussion about Michael Block being invited to play in the Australian Open. Neither Nick or Mark are completely on board with the invite, and feel there were more suitable people to invite rather than Block.Mark believes the US College Golf system is a natural pathway for young golfers from Australia and Asia; and explains why. He reckons any young golfer worth their salt in Australia, if they're good, but not quite on the radar of Golf Australia - the US College system is worth a look.Nick made a whirlwind trip to Fiji last week to MC the welcome and evening function for the BMW National Golf Club Final for Australia and New Zealand. Very windy, but some great scores. Mark is, tonight, at Huntingdale in Melbourne just before they rip up the course and it is rebuilt by OCM.Email from Greg from the Central Coast, who has a question on bunker play for Nick and Mark. Fortunately, Mark Allen was arguably the best bunker player in the world and so he can give some cracking advice to Greg. And we have a voicemail from Damien from Sandringham asking a question about Ambrose Golf, and other golf game variants.PING global results from Nick this week again huge. Lots going on, the main news being the Asia-Pacific Amateurs. And results from the DP World tour in Qatar, which reminds Nick of one of most disappointing results as a player - and he tells us the story. Plus a heap of other tournaments from around the world.This weeks Top 5 comes from Nick O'Hern, and he looks at the Top 5 wind players in the world.And we wrap up with a killer masterclass from Mark Allen on how to address the dreaded double cross, the shots that go left.Talk Birdie To Me, new episodes weekly wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and you'll never miss an episode! If you've got a friend who is into golf, we'd love you to share the podcast with them, and if you can rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts that would be great.Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, or send a voicemail to us here.We're live from Titleist and FootJoy HQ thanks to our great partners:Hostplus, Talk Birdie To Me's official retirement partnerBMW, luxury and comfort for the 19th hole;Titleist, the #1 ball in golf;FootJoy, the #1 shoe and glove in golf;Golf Clearance Outlet, they beat everyone's prices;Betr, the fastest and easiest betting app in Australia;The Find My Player app - follow every player on every tour;And Southern Golf Club. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.