Woosnam skips Nordic Open after father’s death

“Ian withdrew from last week’s Scandinavian Masters on the Monday that followed, and also pulled out of the Nordic Open that same day,” the spokesman added.

“His father’s funeral will take place at Oswestry (his son’s birthplace in Wales) this Thursday.”

Briton Woosnam, the 1991 US Masters champion, paid tribute to his farmer father in his autobiography, saying he had learned everything about the value of a good work ethic from him.

“Dad drummed into me at an early age that the only way to be the best at anything was to work much harder than anyone else,” said the 45-year-old Welshman.

Woosnam’s father sold his stock of cherished pedigree dairy cattle in 1975 to switch to arable farming in a bid to support his son’s burgeoning career in golf.

Ten years earlier, Harold had taken up golf and introduced his seven-year-old son to the game after being impressed by an exhibition match between 1951 British Open champion Max Faulkner, Harold Weetman and Ken Bousfield.

Harold went on to become captain of the local Llanmynech Golf Club, which unusually features 15 holes in Wales and three in England.

Because farming had forced Harold to give up promising sporting careers in both boxing and soccer, he vowed to give full support to his children should they want to take up a sport in earnest. Son Ian Woosnam learned the game on the Llanmynech layout and worked on the family farm for six months after leaving school before turning professional in 1976.

He has since won 29 titles on the European Tour and became World Number One on April 7, 1991, a week before his victory in the US Masters at Augusta National.

Although now in the twilight of his playing career, Welshman is determined to play his way on to Bernhard Langer’s European Ryder Cup team for next yer, having failed to win the captaincy himself last month.

However Woosnam has realigned his sights on gaining the Ryder Cup captaincy for 2006, when the biennial competition against the United States is set to take place in Ireland. (Reuters)