Focus Spring 2016
Page 48
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Apr 3-9
Golf, Masters Augusta, USA
Apr 8
Horse Racing, Grand National Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool
Apr 12-16
Cycling, World Track Championships Hong Kong
May 27
Football, FA Cup final Wembley Stadium, London
May 28-Jun 11 Tennis, French Open Paris, France
Jun 3
Football, UEFA Champions League final Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Jun 15–18
Golf, US Open Erin Hills, Wisconsin
Jun 17-18
Motor Racing, 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit, France
Jun 17-27
Sailing, America's Cup Bermuda
Jun 17-Jul 2
Football, Confederations Cup Russia
Jul 1–23
Cycling, 2017 Tour de France Germany / France
Jul 3-16
Tennis, Wimbledon London, England
Jul 20-23
Golf, British Open Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Merseyside
G
olf as we know it today origi-
nated from a game played on
the eastern coast of Scotland in
the Kingdom of Fife during the
15th century. Players would hit a
pebble around a natural course of
sand dunes, rabbit runs and
tracks using a stick or primitive
club.
The population's enthusiastic pur-
suit of golf and soccer to the ne-
glect of military training caused
the Scottish parliament of King
James II to ban both sports in
1457. The ban was reaffirmed in
1470 and 1491 although people
largely ignored it. Only in 1502
with the Treaty of Glasgow was
the ban lifted
Golf's status and popularity quick-
ly spread throughout the 16th
century due to it's royal endorse-
ment. King Charles I popularised
the game in England and Mary
Queen of Scots, who was French,
introduced the game to France
while she studied there. Indeed
the term 'caddie’ stems from the
name given to her helpers who
were the French Military, known
in french as cadets.
The premier golf course of the
time was Leith near Edinburgh.
Indeed King Charles I was on the
course when given the news of the
Irish rebellion of 1641. Leith was
also the scene of the first interna-
tional golf match in 1682 when the
Duke of York and George Patter-
son playing for Scotland beat two
English noblemen. The rest is, as
they say, history.
A Little Sporting Focus…
some future events for 2017
SOME GOLF HISTORY