MAJESTICKS GC WANT TO MAKE THE MOST OF HOME SUPPORT AT JCB

Majesticks have had two fourth place finishes this season on LIV Golf in Hong Kong and Nashville, but their last podium visit as a team was a third place in Boston in 2022. However, the team seems to be trending in the right direction, with Co-Captain Lee Westwood and Sam Horsfield both securing their career-best LIV finish in Nashville – Westwood a tied third and Horsfield a second.

The majority English team is currently placed 11th in the season-long standings and are hoping to turn things around at the JCB Golf & Country Club.

Westwood grew up in Worksop, less than 100 kilometres from this week’s venue, while Horsfield is now a member of the club and lives five minutes from the golf course.

“This is obviously our home event, and even more so for me, because I’m from the Midlands. My phone has been quite lively for the last month or so with people wanting tickets. It will be fun playing in front of friends and family and also people from this area in England,” said Westwood.

“It’s always special to play in the UK. Golf fans are very knowledgeable. They’re great fans. I’m sure they’re looking forward to coming out and seeing some world-class golf.”

Winning would mean a lot to the Majesticks, but Co-Captain Ian Poulter was under no illusions about the task ahead of them.

“It would mean an awful lot. Hopefully if we do win, we can keep the pub open until early hours on Monday morning and celebrate with 14,000 fans,” said Poulter.

“Whenever we have the opportunity to come and play in front of home fans, and especially this week, is awesome for us. We don’t play enough golf over here, so when we do, it’s pretty special.

“I mean, this is home from the perspective of UK. It’s obviously Sam’s home because he practices and plays here an awful lot. For Lee, I and Henrik (Stenson), it’s about us trying to get to grips with the golf course over the next couple of days.

“The home fan is a big piece of the puzzle for us. I think to have that level of support, you’ve got that little bit of extra pressure to want to go and play well in front of them. It is a good thing, because it gets the adrenaline going early…your brain is switched on right from the get-go.”

The golf course would be a tough challenge, with several blind tee shots, but also because of the large, undulating greens. Horsfield, who has played the most number of rounds here, felt good iron play, distance control, being able to leave it in the right spots and speed putting would be the key to scoring well this week.

“You’re going to have a number of tricky shots this week. No fairway is perfectly flat. Those blind tee shots, you really have to do your homework,” agreed Poulter.

“The challenge is going to be putting the ball where you need to put it with your second shot to give yourself a decent opportunity to make birdie. The green surfaces are very large. You have to use some of these ridges in the green to feed it into certain pin locations.”

Among the several activations this week by Majesticks GC is the Majesticks Arms Pub, located in the Fan Village, where those signing up to be Majesticks Fans, get free access. The franchise also announced a partnership of their Little Sticks programme with Complete PE, which will make golf a part of the curriculum in nearly 200 schools across UK. There is also a recycling programme that is being done by the team, where plastic items collected would be turned into skittles for use in Little Sticks schools.

And Poulter provided extra incentive to the fans if any Majesticks player gets a hole-in-one on the Party Hole this week – the 14th.

“Hopefully, one of us can get a hole-in-one and everyone comes to the Majesticks pub and we can all go and celebrate and have a beer. If one of us gets that hole-in-one, then we’ll see you there for a pint. I will be happy to pay for the round.”