Turning the car into this manicured corner of Orlando’s gated Lake Nona enclave, the rear-view mirror fills suddenly with the vision of a hulking white Mercedes S-Class. Out into the midday sun, resplendent in a signature get-up of two-tone shirt and designer shades, steps Ian Poulter.

He is talking animatedly on his iPhone. An audience with the Hertfordshire harlequin must wait a couple of minutes longer. He opens the garage, wedging the Poultsmobile neatly between wife Katie’s SUV — not so much a Chelsea tractor as a combine harvester — and a Ferrari California. Both the other motors are white, too.

Poulter, if you had not already noticed from his taste in golfing slacks, is partial to a bit of colour-coding.

The California is a beguiling beast: a muscular, streamlined convertible that perfectly captures its owner’s embrace of the sunshine lifestyle. By its sheer elegance, it stops short of outright ostentation. But should it not, to take the view of the Ferrari purist, be red? Not if you exhibit Poulter’s OCD-degree of fetish for white.

His furnishings, his clubs, his status symbols: all of them, it appears, must be white. Even the gleaming new driver from Cobra, which he takes to swishing about absent-mindedly like a wand, has a white grip.

Continue Reading: The Masters 2011: Ian Poulter’s search for perfection in countdown to Augusta is a major white-knuckle ride

Congratulations to Lake Nona golfers Ashley Holder and Ryan Stovash who were both selected to the 2010 Orlando Sentinel All-Central Florida Golf teams. Ashley was selected to the first-team and Ryan was selected to the second-team respectively.

Congratulations to the Lake Nona Boys Golf team who defeated Central Florida Christian Academy on Wednesday, 180 to 234. Once again, Ryan Stovash and Bo Hyltin led the Lions with the low scores of the round. Stovash had a match low 36 and Hyltin added a 41. The win brings the boys’ overall record to 2-2.

The Girls Volleyball lost a tough one to the Harmony Longhorns. The ladies fell in a 5-game match against Harmony, 18-25, 25-15, 15-25, 25-15, 8-15.

The Lake Nona Boys bowling team won on Tuesday, defeating Freedom, 2086-2002. Leading the way for the Lions, was Ian Aikens and Ricky Mateo, who both bowled a team high 201. In the girls match, the Lions fell to Freedom, but Chelsea Quindardo led the team with a 161 in her first game.

Second-year Lake Nona boys golf coach Justin Johnson was thinking about more than his team’s stroke average when the Lions opened their 2010 season last week against Bishop Moore.

Johnson, 28, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in July and has since undergone two of a scheduled four chemotherapy treatments.

Despite the diagnosis, Johnson said his current plans are to continue coaching this season.

“I look forward to coaching each day, because it’s keeping my mind off the treatments,” Johnson said. “Being around kids and teaching golf is my passion and so far they’ve been a been distraction from everything.”

Lake Nona (1-1) plays at Foundation Academy Tuesday and next hosts Orlando Christian Prep and Celebration on Sept. 13 at Eagle Creek Golf Club.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Across the pond: Ian Poulter is enjoying life in Florida Photo: REUTERS

Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and Ross Fisher all live on the same gated estate in Orlando. But Poulter, extolling the virtues of his transatlantic lifestyle in the very Home Counties setting of Woburn, would not have it any other way.

“It’s European,” he says of the exclusive Lake Nona suburb he is happy to call home. “All the street names are English: Covent Garden Drive, Sloane Street. It’s just a very relaxed, social environment to live in.”

In reality, his inauthentic surroundings are about as European as the Everglades or the Florida flamingos, but Poulter bristles at the suggestion he has become Americanized.

“I just feel like an Englishman living in America,” he counters. “I still have my English home comforts – I like my PG Tips, my bacon butties, the odd curry – but it’s the ease of living over there that I enjoy. To pop down to the shops and buy some steak for a barbecue takes me 10 minutes. Time is money.”

Continue Reading

Justin Rose and Ross Fisher each collected two points Tuesday to lead Lake Nona to its third win at the Tavistock Cup.

Lake Nona defeated Isleworth, 17-13, for the club’s second straight win in the event. The victory for Nona was its first at Isleworth and ties the series at 3-3-1.

Tuesday’s format saw two players from each club playing individual matches against both players from the opposing club in their foursome.

Isleworth’s Nick O’Hern won the Payne Stewart Silver Salver Award for the low score of the day Tuesday with his 7-under 65. That helped him collect two early points, but Nona’s captain Ernie Els and Graeme McDowell both beat Brian Davis as the first group split the four available points.

Rose posted a 4-under 68 to beat Isleworth captain Mark O’Meara (69) and Stuart Appleby (72). O’Meara beat Ben Curtis, who halved Appleby to push the Lake Nona lead 10 1/2 – 7 1/2.

Charles Howell III helped Isleworth close the gap to 12-10 with wins over Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman. Goosen beat John Cook, who halved Immelman.

Fisher bettered Lee Janzen and Arjun Atwal to extend Lake Nona’s to 14-10 and Peter Hanson won one match and lost his other match to move Nona within 1/2 point of winning the title.

Ian Poulter sealed the title for Lake Nona by beating Robert Allenby by four strokes and halving his match with J.B. Holmes. Henrik Stenson and Allenby halved their match, while Holmes beat Stenson to create the final margin.

Source: The Golf Channel

The professional golf spotlight will be shining upon Orlando, Florida, throughout the next seven days.
Two annual events run back-to-back in Orlando, featuring some of the biggest names in men’s professional golf.

First up is the Tavistock Cup, a two-day battle of posh Orlando neighborhoods – Lake Nona versus Isleworth. Pro stars representing the two golf developments will square off Monday and Tuesday at Isleworth in this team exhibition. Participants include Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen and many more.

The Tavistock is not open to the public, but the action is being carried live on The Golf Channel.

Right down the road at Arnie’s place, the remainder of the PGA Tour will be warming up for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Bay Hill Club will open its doors to the world’s top players, featuring a golf course that players love.

It doesn’t look like Tiger Woods will be able to save his marriage. Friends of his wife, Elin, say she wants a divorce and is planning to leave their Isleworth mansion for good in just a few weeks.

Elin and Tiger were married in October 2004 in a $2 million ceremony. The divorce is expected to cost a whole lot more.
People Magazine is quoting friends of Elin who say she was heartbroken by his long list of mistresses and will file for divorce next year, saying, “There’s nothing to think about. He’s never going to change.”

Elin has been seen in public recently, but Tiger is in hiding. The couple will apparently spend the holidays apart; Elin will spend Christmas in Sweden while Tiger will stay in Orlando with long-time friends.

Continue Reading and See Video

I am really excited about things at the moment. The Dubai World Championship is my last tournament of the year and I am looking forward to having some downtime to practise my golf with Sean Foley, my new coach, to working on my fitness and to Christmas. Fifteen relatives are coming from South Africa to our new house in Lake Nona, in Orlando, Florida. It will be great.

This has been a year of two halves. By the time I got to the US Open [in June] I was struggling and decided to change my coach from Nick Bradley to Sean. With such a change, you become excited and enthused and in the time since I have noticed some big improvements in my game. I have missed only one cut and that by one shot. I feel I am finishing strongly on Sundays. I have a last-round average score of 69.21, the third lowest on the tour.

I have had two chances to win lately. Greensboro [the Wyndham Championship] was the best ball-striking week I have had. I hit 67 out of 72 greens in regulation and I had 31 putts a day to shoot 14 under. That was the week I should have whipped the field.

Last week [at the Children’s Miracle Network Classic] was another really good chance to win. I finished one back but made progress the whole week. I shot 65, 69, 69, 68. Good stuff. I really hope I have brought this form with me to the desert this week.

Continue Reading

Tiger Woods of the U.S. and Robert Allenby of the International team are members of Isleworth in Orlando, and teammates in the Tavistock Cup. Phil Mickelson of the U.S. and Geoff Ogilvy of the International team are both members of Whisper Rock in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The guys who are supposed to be adversaries are actually friends. But that’s O.K. The same is more or less true for the Ryder Cup.

Henrik Stenson and Chris DiMarco wear the same uniforms when they play for Lake Nona at the Tavistock. Stenson and Woods are good friends. Woods married Jesper Parnevik’s nanny. Paul Casey and Phil Mickelson are Arizona State alumni and Whisper Rock pals. And on it goes.

Continue Reading