Teenage golfing sensation, Anthony Paolucci, exorcised past demons, and won the Rolex Tournament of Champions with a score of 1 under 287. The hard earned victory came at the Blessing Golf Club, considered by many as the most difficult golfing course in the world.

The win had its dramatic moments though; especially, when Anthony Paolucci mishit his drive into the hazard on the 18th hole, flooding memories of the FootJoy Invitational Tournament, where he had snap hooked his drive into the woods in the final round, resulting in a double bogey and losing by one. The mishit tee shot into the woods brought back the same sinking albeit for a few minutes before the eventual course correction.

Anthony Paolucci said that the FootJoy tournament was at the back of his mind, and he was glad that he came out unscathed.

The Rolex Tournament of Champions was held in sweltering conditions with the mercury touching 90 and above. The conditions at the golf course in conjunction with the weather made it all the more difficult for the golfers to shoot low scores. Anthony Paolucci managed a sub par score of 1 under 287, sufficient to score the biggest win of his career. Patrick Rodgers, who won at the Western Junior, finished two shots behind after scoring a 75.

Commenting on his win, Anthony Paolucci said that he was aiming for a top five position and the win came as a bonus. However, the win did not come easy to the teenage sensation whose three shot lead did not provide any insurance against the vagaries of form. Needing just a solid finish to wrap up the competition-he mistimed his go-to shot badly, landing in the woods. After the search party failed to turn up with the golf ball, he faced the intimidating prospect of a 200 yard fourth shot over a ridge and over a bunker. Patrick Rodgers mulling over a possible birdie on the fairway made matters even worse.

Anthony Paolucci said that the mishit made him focus hard due to which he was able to get over the temporary blimp in form, without harming his title aspirations.  Patrick Rodgers, however, did not have luck going his way; miss-hitting his irons and landing the ball on the bunker. He was unable to redeem the situation from there as his shot barely cleared the lip, ending up with a bogey.

Ruing his missed chances, Patrick Rodgers said that the course was brutal, where even the slightest mistake was severely punished. He congratulated Anthony Paolucci, saying that the teenage sensation richly deserved to win.

Sammi Stevens received an invitation to play at the Rolex Tournament of Champions after an injury had sidelined Kyung Kim from the AJGA event. The Rolex Tournament of Champions is a 72 stroke play invitational even dating back to 1978, and featuring participants from 27 states and as far as Japan, Mexico and Canada.

Sammi Stevens had travelled 500 miles by automobile and car to be in time for Monday’s practice session.  The trip was possible as Sammi Stevens was not tied down by any other event on her touring itinerary. According to her, the timing of the invitation was perfect for her as it was the only week in her itinerary that was vacant. She was looking forward to participating in the event, saying that it was an honor for her to be chosen for the tournament, and she hoped to give a good account of herself at the tournament.

Chances of her doing well are high taking into consideration her first round score, which was a solid 1-over-par 73. Describing the run of play, she said that the front nine was tough for her, but she came back by scoring birdies on 12th and 13th holes.

At the end of the day Sammi Stevens was in a great position to make the cut and within striking distance of the lead.

The Rolex Tournament of Champions will have a new venue this year at the Blessing Golf Club. The club has been voted as among the top ten New Golf Courses in the United States. However, it is tough place to play unless the golfer is at the top of his game. The golf course has been designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., and is characterized by tight lengthy fairways, winding hills, and intimidating greens.

Sammi Stevens will have to adopt a play safe strategy to make an impression at the event. The easiest way to do well at the event is to stay away from the hazards and roughs and keep at the fairways. According to experts, an aggressive strategy could potentially misfire because of the higher propensity to make errors.

Emma Talley says that practice sessions are not sufficient for one to cope with the mental and physical pressures of playing at the event. Samantha Wagner is one of the youngest golfers at the Rolex Tournament of Champions at 13 years and 8 months, but she is known to carry a mature head on her shoulders. According to her, the secret of a successful run in the tournament lay in cutting down errors and running up a string of solid scores.

The Rolex Tournament of Champions will be played out at the Blessing Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. The course is expected to tax the players to their limit, featuring as it does tight, lengthy fairways, winding hills and difficult greens.

The Blessing Golf Club, tucked away in the woodlands of Northern Arkansas, has earned notoriety for being an unforgiving golf course, similar to some of the big names like Pine Valley, Bethpage and Pinehurst.

The Blessing Golf Club got immediate recognition following its grand entry in the year 2004. The Golf & Leisure Golf Magazine recognized it as one of the 10 Best New Private Golf Courses in the year 2004. Tom Jones, General Manager and Director of the Blessing Golf Club, is optimistic that the junior golfers will perform well at the newly designed golf course.  Describing the settings as intimidating, he said that accuracy and pin point precision was required to do well at Blessing Golf Club golf course.

The Rolex Tournament of Champions will feature, Emma Talley of Princeton, ranked 25th in the Polo Golf Ranking. She is no stranger to this event, having won the AJGA Arkansas Junior at this course a year ago. However, she knows that a repeat of last year’s performance is not guaranteed, keeping in view, the unpredictable nature of the golf course.

According to Emma Talley, the golfers have to be at the top of their game to succeed at the Blessing Golf Club. She also said that it was difficult to simulate the mental pressure that the course brings on the golfers and a golfer can practice all day, without being prepared for the challenges thrown up by the course. The only way to succeed at this course, it seems, is to keep away from the roughs and the hazards and keep to the fairway; but all said and done, it is not easy as it seems, because of the unpredictable nature of the course.

Emma Talley, who has a deep understanding of the game, says that playing smart is the way to go on this challenging golf course. Firmly, ruling out an all out, aggressive strategy, she says that it would only lead to further trouble for the golfer. However, one could shoot low scores by eschewing risks, especially when in a spot of trouble.

Professional golfers with years of experience behind agree that it is difficult to string together low scores at this golf course because of its difficulty level. Each hole on the golf greens has its own set of challenges, making it difficult to master in the long run.

Sam Straka led the boys division in the first round of the Rolex Tournament of Champions with a score of 3-under-par 69. The girls division was dominated by Samantha Wagner, Clermont, Fla., who scored an even par 72 to lead the preliminaries.

The Rolex Tournament of Champions is played out on the 72 hole, picturesque Blessing Golf Club, featuring 132 players; 72 boys and 60 girls. The popularity of the tournament can be gauged by the fact that the players come from all over the world including Colombia, Denmark, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and Philippines. Domestic representation is equally strong with the 28 states well represented in the competition. The boys division is spread across 7,141 yards whereas the girls division is played out on much smaller 6,118 yards of lush green golf course.

Sam Straka kept his composure right from the moment he teed off on No.10 to the last putt of the day on the No.9. He finished with a score of 2-under-par on what is considered as the most difficult section of the golf course: the back nine. He struck gold on the No.16 after finishing the first six holes with even scores. According to him, he was frustrated with his inability to hit the greens with any kind of consistency initially. However, the mood changed after he hit a sunk a birdie on the sixteenth hole.

His performance during the day was commendable taking into consideration the fact that he had not practiced at the Blessings Golf Club before. His performance was characterized by patches of good form interspersed by instances of lazy shot making. However, at the end of the day he was happy with his performance; calling it a good day at the office.   Expressing satisfaction at how the day panned out he said that he struggled a bit initially; however, he was able to improve his performance as the day progressed.

Sam Straka is followed by the duo of Shun Yat Hak and Drew Czuchry, tied in the second spot with a score of 2 under par 70. The fifth spot is taken by Anthony Paolucci and Nicholas Reach with similar scores of 1 under par 71.

The girls division is led by Samantha Wagner, who at 13 is the youngest player in the competition. Commenting on the day’s play she said that she was surprised that she was able to come out tops in a field that included many recognized golfers. However, what was left unsaid was the effort that had been put in by the gifted golfer to improve her putting game. The hard work paid off as she was able to hit 10 greens and hit two birdies en-route the first day’s honors.

Emily Tubert is the current favorite in the list of the 26 Rolex Junior All Americans this year. Tubert, a freshman golfer is honing her talent as she participates in the Rolex Tournament of Champions in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Emily comes fresh from participation in the American Junior Golf Association Club-Corp Mission Hills Desert Junior that took place in the Mission Hills Country Club-Dinah Shore Tournament Course in Rancho Mirage. The first timer made her presence felt with shooting rounds of 73, 74,73 for a total of 220. Tubert scored for herself nine birdies while parring 32 holes. This was a good score for someone who has just started out and Tubert is leaving no stones unturned to better her score this season.

Tubert who is fond of all kinds of sports has given up playing basketball, softball and volleyball temporarily and is concentrating whole heartedly on golf. She calls it a more challenging alternative. And that is perhaps the reason why Rolex consorts with a game like golf and at a level where Rolex demands the same excellence that it lends to the making of its watches.

The young Emily has a very clear headed conception of why she wants to play the game. She is responsible towards her game like any professional golfer and will hold herself culpable to a win or a loss. The girl has learnt to take both defeat and victory in her stride and is gradually acquiring the right attitude for the game.

Tubart who took up playing golf only a year ago has the perfect golfer body. She is tall, lean and carries an athletic frame and a determination to win on the golf course. Her coach Zachary Allen, a De Bell golf instructor points out that Emily’s biggest “thing� is her steely conviction. The girl has already won four times and got herself medals and her passion for the game as her coach puts it, is unlimited and fierce. Emily started by winning the Optimist Park Golf Tournament with a score of 37 and happily took home her first tourney trophy. Her Burroughs coach is also gaga over her humility, saying Emily owes her success to her family and surroundings. Tubert has verbally committed herself to the University of Arkansas and was recently honored with the 2009 Girls Junior Americas Cup Team.

The Rolex sponsored American Junior Golf Association is a nonprofit organization that is committed to lending support to budding young men and women. The aim is to nurture those players who want to earn college golf scholarships and they have to score very well at the highly competitive junior golf championship to do the same.

The Rolex Tournament of Champions has been a thirty year event that has showcased young sporting talent and juvenile merit to the utmost. The championship has many big names that have emerged out of the tournament to go on to successfully meet bigger challenges in the game. Some of whom are David Duval, Bob May, David Gossett and Morgan Pressel, among others. Rolex a name that personifies not only flair but prides itself in having a keen eye for the best in spotting talent and catching them young, also hosts an annual dinner for guests, players and staff. It is a formal event where people get to know each other and learn to respect each other’s skills. The Rolex All American is proud to associate itself with a list of nation’s 46 best players. Emily Tubert is extremely optimistic about playing a good game and winning for herself the much coveted Rolex Crown.

The association that began almost an epoch ago, standing the test of time, adapting yet resolute, started out when Rolex presented the legendary Arnold Palmer with a gold Oyster Perpetual Rolex watch, in honor of his remarkable achievements on the greens in 1967. Celebrating the exceptional ability and performance of golfing greats like Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus, Rolex began its unfaltering support of these great golfers and soon ventured out to support a number of organizing committees in creating and sponsoring eminent golfing tournaments. The core ambition has always been to support events that promote the passion of attaining the highest forms of human capacity. Understanding the focus and resilience that is required to master the sport of golf, Rolex assists various golfing bodies around the world in propounding the sport and its players. More than the game itself Rolex propagates the idea and the inspiration behind the sport that forms the crucial core of comprehending the ability of pushing the standards of human endeavor. Even though the game of golf has undergone tremendous changes and incorporated various elements that have propelled it to great heights of popularity, one factor that remains unchanged is the steadfast support of Rolex in supporting the game.

Beginning in 1978 Rolex pioneered the sponsorship of golfing events by aiding the British Open Championship right after which it forged a partnership with the United States Golf Association (USGA). Abiding with its principal of supporting exceptionally talented individuals Rolex sought out to promote women’s golf and soon formed a partnership with the LGPA. Additionally Rolex brought out the Rolex Player of the Year, the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year and the Rolex First-Time Winners in order to honor and promote the ability of talented women golfers. The most recent development in this partnership is the launching of the Rolex Women’s Rankings that combines women golfers everywhere into one single entity. Apart from all of this Rolex is also the official timekeeper for the prestigious women’s golf tournament, the Solheim Cup.

Supporting the Ryder Cup men’s golfing challenge for many years now Rolex also became the official timepiece at the PGA of America, and the official timekeeper for the men’s European Tour. From 2008 onwards Rolex entered into an international collaboration with the Master’s Tournament and assists this eminent tournament by looking after all the broadcast and print media outside the United States that deals with this event. Supporting young golfing talent for two decades now, Rolex has been sponsoring the American Junior Golfers Association (AJGA) for more than 25 years now. Annually hosting the Rolex Tournament of Champions as well as the Rolex Girl’s Championship, Rolex ensures that remarkable talent has a platform to showcase their talent and further develop their skill. Rolex also presents the Rolex Player of the Year Awards and the Rolex All-America Teams awards, which is an effort to honor the talent of these young talents and propel their ambitious vision. Involving itself in all aspects of the sport of golfing, Rolex serves as a publishing partner for the Rules of Golf booklet and also supports the official film and annual tournament of each U.S. Open Championship. Apart from this Rolex provides on-line support to the USGA as well as supplying tee clocks at National Championships and supporting the Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History at the USGA Museum.

Unfazed by the change Rolex continues to support illustrious golfing events around the world and promotes remarkable ability in their quest to definitive triumph.