Category Archives: Sports

Downloadable Printable UK TV Schedule – World Cup 2018

So the World Cup 2018 has started and there are games on every day and it can be a bit difficult to keep track of. Obviously you will know when your own team are playing but you might want to watch out for other teams too.

So if you are looking for a printable UK TV schedule for the World Cup so that you can keep something with you to hand to refer to and know when all the games are on then we have one here for you.

Yes you can go all techno and get the official app but sometimes it just makes things easier to look at the whole schedule on a piece (or 3 in this case) of paper.

So here is the schedule, showing what date and time the matches are on, together with whether they are on BBC or ITV and with a space for you to complete the scores.

We will update this as we go along with the relevant teams showing in the quarter finals, semi finals etc so if you want to you can come back and print page 3 again once these things have been decided.

Download the printed World Cup 2018 schedule of games here. The format is a 1 page Word document (updated for the last 16).

How Does the President’s Cup Scoring Work?

President’s Cup Scoring

So the scoring for the President’s Cup golf tournament is different to most of the other golf events that you may see and in particular different to all the major tournaments which work on a strokeplay basis, where the President’s Cup works on a matchplay basis, like the Ryder Cup. So the aim is to win matches rather than just to get round the course in as few shots as possible.

In order to win a match the player or players in a team try to win as many holes as they can from the 18 that they may play. For each hole that they play, if they score better than their opponent then they win that hole. If they score the same as their opponent (i.e they take the same number of shots to sink their ball in the hole) then that hole is halved.

So, if one person or team wins the first hole let’s say, then they go 1 Up. If the other team wins the next hole then they will go back to ‘All Square’ (A/S). They keep playing until either they finish all 18 holes or one person or team has won so many holes that the other team cannot catch up. For example, if one team are 5 Up and there are only 4 holes remaining, then there is no way the other team can win, so the first team is said to win that match 5&4.

Golf tournaments bring in large crowds

President’s Cup Format

The format of the President’s Cup is similar to that of the Ryder Cup. Except that in this case the competition is between the USA and a team from non-European countries (whereas the Ryder Cup is USA v Europe). There are 4 days of play and the President’s Cup is run alternate years to the Ryder Cup.

There are 12 players in each team, just like the Ryder Cup, but the players all play in more games as follows:

Thursday and Friday – there are 5 matches of Fourbballs and Five matches of Foursomes. Previously there were 6 matches of each so that all players played in these matches.
Saturday AM – 8 players from each team play in the Foursomes (4 matches)
Saturday PM – 8 players from each team play in the Fourballs (4 matches)
Sunday – all players play in the singles (12 matches)

So with a total of 30 matches, there are 30 points up for grabs and so a team can win by scoring 15 1/2 points. If it is a draw at 15 points all then the team that won the previous year keep hold of the trophy.

Foursomes Format

The foursomes format involves 2 players in each team only using one ball between them. One player is nominated to take the first tee shot and from then onwards tee shots alternate between players so one will take tee shots from the even numbered holes and one from the odd numbered holes.

The second shot is taken by the player who did not take the tee shot and so on, alternating players until the ball is holed.

The winner of the hole is the team that holes out in the fewest number of shots from that one ball.

Fourball Format

The fourball format involves 2 players on each team who each play their own ball. The team then takes the best score on each hole from either player and compares this to the best score from either player on the other team. Again the team with the best score will win that hole (or half it if both teams score the same).

So you may see a player pick up their ball if they cannot score any better than their partner.

President’s Cup 2017

The next President’s Cup tournament will take place in the USA at the Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, NJ, from September 26th to 1st October 2017. The two president’s Cup captains are Nick Price (International Team) and Steve Stricker (USA) and they will choose their teams a few weeks before the tournament.

Ten members of the USA team are chosen based on FedEx Cup points from September 2015 to September 2017 (weighted to favor points in 2017) with 2 captain’s picks made in September 2017.

The International Team is made up of the top ten players in the rankings as at 8 September 2017 plus 2 captain’s picks made in September 2017.

Where Can I Get a Waterproof iPod?

So I have recently taken up swimming as a great form of exercise both to keep fit and also to keep my back flexible and stop my back pain. I am not a great swimmer but I can keep going for a bit doing breaststroke and although that is not as good as doing front crawl I’m sure the swimming helps as part of my exercise regime.

However, the more I swim and the more lengths I do, the slightly more boring the swimming gets so I decided to see if I could get a waterproof iPod or some kind of music device to help stop the boredom and keep me swimming for longer.

I am a big music fan and I find that it helps in the gym, particularly on the treadmill to make the time go quicker. However, my everyday iPod will was obviously not going to be any good for swimming and so I had a look for a waterproof iPod, as I wasn’t sure if there was one, and found that there was indeed such a thing.

Actually there are two options for getting music in your ears while you swim and one is to buy a custom waterproof iPod or MP3 player and the other is to buy a waterproof case for your existing iPod or MP3 player. There are companies that take standard iPod shuffles and waterproof them with a 2 year guarantee.

Waterproof iPods

Waterproof iPod Shuffle options
 

Obviously there are pros and cons to each and it is a personal decision as to which one will be better for you but I would suggest the following:

If you are a frequent swimmer then maybe a waterproof iPod would be better then you don’t need to keep taking your iPod out of the waterproof case and also you can load up some songs that are perfect for swimming to. You can also get hold of a smaller iPod shuffle that is easy to attach when you are in the pool.

Waterproof MP3s can also be used in snow and for other watersports and not only for swimming. In fact obviously you can use them whenever but they are designed to work in water so you might as well use them for that!

The iPod can be attached to your goggles and you will also need waterproof headphones or earbuds to go with it. A waterproof iPod can also be used just like a normal iPod.

Waterproof Cases

If you just want to waterproof your iPod for going on holiday then think about getting a waterproof case, there are plenty available and the majority of these are cheaper than buying a waterproof ipod or MP3 player so you don’t have to shell out a lot of money.

You can also just get waterproof cases that will protect your iPhone or other smartphone for when you are at the pool or the beach so that your phone doesn’t get damaged by water.

However, if you are planning to swim with music then it is probably better to get something much smaller and easier to use than using your iPod or iPhone.

 

How Much Do Golfers Earn?

It is no secret that top sports people, including golfers, can earn a lot of money. Not only do they earn money from taking part in (and hopefully winning) tournaments, but they also earn a lot of money from sponsorship deals, in fact these days they often earn more money from that than their actual sports earnings!

tiger-woodsBut regardless of sponsorship deals it can be interesting to look at money that golfers can earn from tournaments. In order to check on the top level of earnings that a golfer might be able to achieve, we have looked back on the earnings of Tiger Woods from when he turned professional.

Obviously looking at someone who was so successful will give a good idea of the maximum earnings a golfer can strive for not including sponsorships. But also in Woods’ case, you can see the effect of the bad years that he has had due to his personal situation and injuries.

Most tournaments that you take part in as a golfer offer prize money to all levels of participants – the bigger the tournament the higher the prize money of course.

Dropping just one extra shot in a tournament can lose you a large chuck of money so it is no wonder golfers need to be concentrating at all times and don’t like to have any distractions when playing.

So here are the annual tournament earnings of Tiger Woods from when he turned professional in 1996:

2015 – $448,598
2014 – $108,275
2013 – $8,553,439
2012 – $ 6,133,159
2011 – $ 660,238.00
2010 – $ 2,090,477.00
2009 – $ 9,434,813.00
2008 – $ 5,875,000.00
2007 – $ 12,217,052.00
2006 – $ 11,291,563.00
2005 – $ 10,870,522.00
2004 – $ 6,925,471.00
2003 – $ 7,373,413.00
2002 – $ 8,789,225.00
2001 – $ 6,846,108.00
2000 – $ 10,318,321.00
1999 – $ 6,816,584.00
1998 – $ 2,241,116.00
1997 – $ 2,376,831.00
1996 – $ 906,170.00

Looking at the annual earnings for other golfers it seems that the top golfer of the year earns around $8-12m depending on how many events they play and how dominant they are in those events.

For example in 2015 Jordan Speith was dominant with earnings of over $12 million, up with Tiger’s top earnings.

However, in 2014 Rory McIlroy was the top earning golfer but he actually ‘only’ earned over $8 million.