Orr and Begay given extensions - Saturday, November 03, 2007

The back problems suffered by Scot Gary Orr and American Notah Begay III have led to them being given medical extensions to their European Tour membership next season. Begay, a former US Tour winner and partner of Tiger Woods in the 2000 Presidents Cup, has not played since the Irish Open in May and finished outside the top 200 on the Order of Merit, but will keep his current exempt category for the whole of next year. Former British Masters champion Orr, on the other hand, has just nine events to try to earn the extra £23,000 he needs for fully exempt status. The 40-year-old from Helensburgh finished 132nd on the money list, but was out of action from June until September. Orr now has to decide whether to fly to the Hong Kong Open in two weeks' time to start his bid to climb back into the top 117 on the Order of Merit or go to Spain for the qualifying school. If successful at the school he might gain entry to more tournaments next season than would otherwise be the case.

As some of you may know, I have a golf course design consulting firm called NB3 Consulting.  I started NB3 Consulting in 2002 because I wanted to work with Native American tribes on golf course development projects.  My goal, as always, is to bring the best team possible to the table and to keep the interests of the community first.  We just launched the NB3 Consulting website,
www.nb3consulting.com and I encourage you to spend some time on it if you have the chance. NB3