The men are 'Thinking Pink'

With the euphoria surrounding another magnificent Ryder Cup still ringing in the ears and the publicity it generates, a new crop of exciting young players on the world stage, and the re-emergence of the game as an Olympic sport in 2016, the sport of golf is a powerful tool on many fronts and using the game to raise funds and awareness of charitable organisations is certainly one of them.

Over the years individual players, golf clubs and the game's governing bodies have all done their part to support many fine causes; here in Bahrain we are no different and it was my pleasure along with 37 other male golfers to don a pink shirt and take to the fairways on Sunday evening for the second Gent's Think Pink golf event at the Royal Golf Club.

The event is gaining popularity with each year amongst the male golfing contingent here in the kingdom and as well as being a great excuse for spending an evening out on the course under the floodlights, it's a great way to raise much needed funds and awareness.

The event was supported by several generous sponsors - Mercure, BMI, Y.K Almoayed & Sons (Infiniti), Couture Group, Gulf Air, SICO Investment Bank, Highland Water and Euro Motors.

At the end of the day, the winning and the result was not the most important thing; everyone who teed it up was out there doing their bit and helped contribute to the BD2,700 that was raised on the evening.

A great night was had by all, a superb start to Think Pink week at the golf club and when the sign-up sheet goes up for next year there will, I'm sure, be a mad dash for entries.

Further afield it has been another amazing week in the world of golf. By the time you read this we may have a new world number one as Lee Westwood stands to finally take over at the top from a certain Mr Woods; Westwood, who despite his continuing injury problems, will gain the spot due to the complex system of points averages over a two year period, but his reign could be shortlived.

German Martin Kaymer who is the world's most in-form player could prevent the Englishman should he win or come second this week in Spain.

Woods himself will be back in action (possibly as the world's third best player!) during the first week of November, fired up I'm sure, to try and regain top spot.

The two stories that grabbed my attention most this week, though, come from either side of the Atlantic. Italian teenager (and possible future world number one) Matteo Manassero has become the youngest European Tour event winner with a four-shot victory at the Castello Masters in Valencia.

The 17-year-old sank three consecutive birdie putts on the back nine to move to 16 under with a final-round 67. It was a stunning performance from the teenager who, at 17 years and 188 days, broke the record by over a year from New Zealander Danny Lee who was 18 years and 213 days old when he won the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic - I certainly didn't think that was possible, not by that margin.

The future of Italian golf looks in safe hands, with the Molinari brothers now joined on the world stage by their young counterpart.

And how about this for a way to win a tournament; Jonathan Byrd was battling it out with defending champion Martin Laird and Cameron Percy in a three-way play-off as darkness descended at the Justin Timberlake PGA Tour event in Las Vegas.

The trio debated whether to keep playing and, when they did, Byrd holed in one at the 204-yard par-three 17th to clinch the win in style and the fourth win of his career!

One insurance company puts a PGA Tour pro's chances at 1 in 3,756 and an amateur's at 1 in 12,750 of achieving a hole in one; I wonder what the odds are of it happening on the 76th hole of a PGA Tour event to take the title? We will probably never ever see that again.