The future of golf entertainment?

A decade ago, twin brothers in England discovered what most golfers already knew — practice is boring.

The driving range is a monotonous place of repetitive motions, most of which are grossly errant and devastating to the possibility of any real improvement.

The brothers, inventors by trade, developed a microchip to place inside a golf ball, without affecting its weight or trajectory, which could determine exactly how far it is hit.

Steve and Dave Jolliffe’s ingenuity spawned a new way to practice and play the sport loved by so many. It’s called Top Golf, and by next year it’s likely that micro-chipped balls will be zipping through Toronto.

Top Golf takes the practice aspect of a driving range and makes it competitive, while adding the good times of your local pub.

“Our view is that it’s a new category in the sport of golf,” says Joe Vrankin, CEO of Top Golf. “It’s really golf entertainment.”

“The vast majority of people go for fun,” he says. “It’s for the social side of it — they decide if they want to go to Top Golf, or to a high-end bowling alley, or to a movie, or to a bar. That’s what our competition is.”

So what exactly is Top Golf?

New York Times sportswriter Bill Pennington described it as a “cross between the ambience of a 1950s bowling alley and an episode of ‘The Jetsons’.”

The basic idea is to turn the driving range experience into a social activity. It turns the country-club traditions of golf into an accessible night of entertainment, without the dress code.

Friends gather in a hub, complete with sofas, tables, televisions and a touch-screen monitor. The players take turns shooting golf balls at targets scattered at different spots across a 250-yard open fairway. As many as six people can play at a time.

“It’s kind of like high-end bowling meets darts,” Vrankin says.

The interactive touch screen keeps track of how far each ball is hit, and awards points for accuracy and shot difficulty.

The monitors can also order up some pints and bar food, brought directly to your party by waiters known as caddies. Each facility is more than 50,000 square feet, with a restaurant and two bars. It costs about $6 per person to play a game at peak hours.

While the serious golfer in you is groaning, consider the appeal to the rest of us hacks.

Close to half of the Top Golf patrons are not golfers, Vrankin says. They’ve either never picked up a club before, or might get out to a range or course once or twice a year.

And there’s still room for the serious, solo practice session — complete with computer technology to track your shot distance, and specialized games to focus on accuracy.

Each of the micro-chipped balls is produced by Callaway Golf, which was an early investor in the company. There are plans to eventually create a Top Golf tournament circuit.

There are currently four Top Golf locations in the United States and three in the U.K., and the company plans to expand heavily over the next couple of years.

The facilities average about 200,000 visitors a year, with each visitor spending about $35. In the U.S., there is a Top Golf near Washington, one just outside Chicago and two in Dallas.

Top Golf will open up three new locations in the southern U.S. through the next year, and are about 12 months away from expanding further into the north, including Canada. The company plans to have up to 50 locations running in the next six years, Vrankin says.

Heating methods have been perfected at the Chicago location, where people play the game in the open with a -10 C wind-chill. Snow is removed quickly from the fairways, allowing it to remain an open-air game, free from the dreary confines of a dome.

That year-round appeal might even lure some of the traditional polo shirt-sporting, handicap-counting crowd in the winter months.

“Toronto would be a fantastic market for us,” says Vrankin. “Canada is a great market for golf.”

Colin Montgomerie questioning Rory McIlroy's Open prep

Colin Montgomerie yesterday questioned Rory McIlroy's build-up for the Open Championship. Does this mean the Ulsterman's honeymoon period is already over or is his Ryder Cup captain simply concerned that the experience might be overwhelming for the US Open champion when he eventually turns up at Royal St George's next week?

Undoubtedly the latter. Montgomerie remains a huge fan of the 22-year-old and declares "he will contend". But he also believes it would have been wiser for McIlroy to play an event in the three-week gap between Congressional and Sandwich.

"I can understand having two out of three weeks off, but I would like to have seen Rory play a competitive tournament between the two majors," Montgomerie said.

Since the eight-shot victory which established him as golf's new superstar, McIlroy has attended a number of sponsors' days, made two trips to Wimbledon and travelled to Hamburg for the world heavyweight title fight. Originally, McIlroy had been due to play in last week's French Open and Montgomerie thinks he should have stuck to that plan or at least entered this week's Scottish Open. Yet Montgomerie is not worried about any rust in McIlroy's game.

"Rory's so natural I don't think there are any fears about his game," said Montgomerie. "But it's the locker room. There will be so many people wanting to congratulate him, wanting to talk to him. That's bloody tiring. Whether it was the French or the Scottish Open he could have got that out of his system, so he could start the Open afresh. Now he's got all that ahead of him and by the time he gets to the first tee, I think he will be mentally tired. But who am I to say?"

After two days' reconnaissance on the Kent links this week, McIlroy will stay away from the course until the Tuesday afternoon – and does not plan to play until Wednesday. Padraig Harrington agreed with Montgomerie in believing McIlory might be in for a hectic time. "Whenever you win and you go to the next tournament there are 155 other players and 155 other caddies who want to say 'well done'," said the three-times major winner. "Everyone will want a conversation. That will be an issue for him."

Montgomerie and Harrington were talking at the launch of the "HSBC Ultimate Open 18" (the duo's choice of the perfect Open course pulled from the nine courses on the current Open roster). They arrive in Inverness today to prepare for this week's Scottish Open, with Montgomerie needing a top-five finish to stand a chance of qualifying for Sandwich. "I haven't missed an Open in 22 years. I'm in the last chance saloon," he said.

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Sergio Garcia loses the BMW Championship in playoff to fellow Spaniard

Pablo Larrazabal birdied the fifth playoff hole to beat fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia and win the BMW International Open on Sunday, capturing his his second European Tour tournament.

Larrazabal made his short put on the par-5 18th after Garcia missed from about 5 feet to add to his victory at the Alstom Open de France title in 2008.

Both players have now qualified for the British Open at Royal St. George's at Sandwich next month. Their prize money won putting them top of a money list from six European Tour events, starting with the BMW PGA Championship and ending in Munich.

Garcia birdied the 18th during his final round to shoot 4-under 68 and join Larrazabal (68) on 16-under 272 to force the playoff.

There was nothing between them for four playoff holes, matching each other's score at No. 18 twice, No. 12 and No. 17 before playing the last hole for the fourth time Sunday. Garcia sent an eagle attempt four feet beyond the hole and missed his birdie chance.

Before the playoff, Larrazabal had birdies at Nos. 1, 6, 7 and 9 before two more at No. 10 and 11 gave him the outright lead.

Garcia's started steadily with five pars but, having relinquished the lead, a long eagle putt on No. 9 took him back into a share of the lead at the turn.

He picked up seven shots in six holes up to No. 11, which he eagled to move two shots ahead of Larrazabal, who bogeyed No. 13.

Garcia, however, then made three straight bogeys from No. 12 for Larrazabal to cut the lead.

PGA Championship holder Martin Kaymer shot a 69 for a share of 18th place with Dustin Johnson (67) and European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie (69) seven strokes back.

Yani Tseng wins 4th major in McIlroy fashion

World No. 1 Yani Tseng, a week after Rory McIlroy turned the U.S. Open into a rout, did the same in the LPGA Championship, the second major of the season on the LPGA tour. Beginning Sunday's final round with a five-stroke lead, Tseng made birdies on five of her first eight holes, took a 10-shot lead to the turn and waltzed home to a 10-stroke victory over Morgan Pressel at soggy Locust Hill Country Club.

With a 6-under-par 66, Tseng finished at 19-under 269 — which included 27 birdies — and tied the record for lowest score in relation to par ever shot in a major championship, by and man or woman.

Tseng has won four of the last 13 majors played on the LPGA tour. At 22, she is the youngest player — male or female — to win four major championships since Young Tom Morris won his fourth and final major in 1872 at age 21. For perspective, Tiger Woods was 24 when he won his fourth. Former world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa won just two majors. And Patty Berg's record of 15 majors on the LPGA tour no longer seems so distant.

It was Tseng's sixth win worldwide this season, her 16th career win worldwide and her eighth career victory on the LPGA tour.

"It's pretty good," Tseng said with a smile as she listened to a list of her historical achievements this week. "But I just try to focus on every tournament. I don't think about (history) too much.

"I will still go and try to win the next major."

That would be the U.S. Women's Open in two weeks at The Broadmoor in Colorado. A win there and she would become the youngest player — man or woman — to win a career Grand Slam.

As for Sunday, her main foe was herself.

"I kept telling myself that I'm going to break a record. I was so far ahead I had to have a goal to look at," said Tseng, who won the LPGA Championship during her rookie-of-the-year season in 2008, and won the Kraft Nabisco Championship and Ricoh Women's British Open last year. "I was patient all day. I had a bogey on the first hole, but I told myself it's only the first hole and I can get more birdies. On the 18th hole, I almost cried because it was so emotional with all the fans."

An over-eager photographer snapped a picture in Tseng's backswing on the first tee, which led to a poor drive and a bogey. Only a three-putt bogey on the 13th bothered Tseng the rest of the day, and the two blemishes were more than offset by her eight birdies. For the week, she hit 68% of fairways, 79% of greens in regulation and needed 111 putts.

"Yani is a phenomenal player," said Suzann Pettersen, who finished in a tie for third with Paula Creamer and defending champion Cristie Kerr, who also shot 19 under last year in the LPGA Championship to win by a record 12 shots. "She pushes the edges like Annika (Sorenstam) used to, and Lorena (Ochoa) used to. Now Yani is getting an edge on us."

Tseng's idol, mentor and former owner of her house, Hall of Famer and 10-time major champion Sorenstam, was impressed as she watched the tournament in her Florida home.

"The sky is really the limit for her as she has tremendous physical abilities and the willingness to put in a lot of work to get better," Sorenstam said in a text message to USA TODAY. "I admire her ambition and the fact that she has really improved her English. She realizes that she's got a chance to be the face of the LPGA for years and she'll need to communicate well with the media, sponsors, and fans to capitalize on that."

"When we get together off the course to discuss her goals she asks a lot of good questions. I can tell she is genuinely interested in improving in all areas. She wants to do the right things that will enable her to be a star for a long time."