The most open of Opens

This week’s Open Championship at Royal St Georges presents the opportunity for a potential sixth straight first time major champion in golf. It is a run that stretches back to Graeme McDowell’s victory in the 2010 U.S. Open, and is in many ways symptomatic of the game’s current state of flux. With so many of the golfing establishment – Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk to name but a few – now the wrong side of forty and struggling to consistently find form, there is very much a feeling that the guard is changing within the sport. No small contributing factor to this is of course Tiger Woods’ run of injuries and/or indifferent form which now stretches back as far as the, worryingly high, 18 month mark. In any case, only once since 1895 have there been six consecutive first time major winners; this week I expect to mark the second occasion.

  Now, given that currently the world’s 1 & 2 ranked players have precisely zero majors between them, perhaps this isn’t the daring premonition that my dramatic nineteenth century stat hinted at. However, I will be sticking my neck out below by listing three rank outsiders whom I feel have the potential to upset the apple cart at Sandwich and make the Claret Jug their inaugural major title.

Matteo Manassero – Age 18 – Odds 66/1

If it weren’t for the exploits of a certain Rory McIlroy then the golfing press would have long since touted Manassero as ‘the’ next big thing – even the next Tiger Woods, perhaps. After winning the Amateur Championship in 2009 aged just sixteen, Manassero subsequently claimed the silver medal honours as the leading amateur in that year’s Open Championship at Turnberry, finishing 13^th overall. Since turning pro he has added two European Tour titles to his name (that’s one more than McIlroy has now), and all of this achieved before his eighteenth birthday. A straight driver of the golf ball and outrageously good putter, Manassero’s main advantage lies in his fearless attitude. In fact, he has so little to lose at Royal St Georges this week that he might just go out there and win.

 

Thorbjorn Olesen – Age 21 – Odds 150/1

Perhaps the least well known of the three, Olesen has quietly built a reputation on the European Tour this season as a birdie-making machine. Never was this more evident than in his final round 62 in the BMW Italian Open which propelled him out of mid field mediocrity into an unlikely tie for second. A further second place finish in the Open de France, staged at 2018 Ryder Cup venue Le Golf national – an event which the 21 year old must already be penning into his long term diary – saw him qualify for the Open Championship. If he can translate his recent form on to the links layout, he has a great chance.

Alexander Noren – Age 29 – Odds 200/1

Despite being significantly older than the other two, Noren is still considered amongst golfing circles as a precocious talent. Indeed the fact that – regardless of the two European Tour titles he has to his name – he is seen as one of golf’s underachievers is testament to Noren’s potential as a world beater. Unfancied by most this week, as shown by his outrageously long odds, Noren has tasted victory as recently as six weeks ago, and his smooth swing might just be the perfect combatant to any adverse weather conditions that the British ‘summer’ is liable to produce in Sandwich.

Maturity is immaterial for Sergio

When Sergio Garcia tees it up for his opening round of the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club on Thursday, it will mark his 47^th consecutive start in a golfing major championship. Garcia takes his place in the field after coming through a 36-hole regional qualifying event – a path that was forced upon him following his world ranking plummet. Once ranked as high as second in the world, the precocious Spaniard now flounders as merely the world’s 75^th best player. And, indeed, 47^th consecutive start it may be, but Sergio will need no reminding that his current major record reads – as the Americans like to say – 0 for 46.

  If, however, as so many have prophesised, Garcia’s poor form has resulted from a perceived loss of passion for the game, then the U.S. Open may very well be the perfect setting for his rejuvenation. Seen as something of a firebrand in his earlier years, Garcia has always held somewhat of a fractious relationship with the American public – not least in the nation’s flagship golfing event, the United States Open. The 2002 Open at Bethpage Black was notable for a couple of unsavoury incidents which revolved around Garcia. Firstly, after completing his first round in adverse weather conditions, Garcia launched an attack on the USGA (United States Golf Association), claiming, with some justification, that had Tiger Woods been drawn to play at the same time, the event would have been suspended. Secondly, and more notably, Garcia got into a couple of run-ins with the fans. Garcia’s habit, at the time, of gripping and re-gripping before hitting the ball (actually far less annoying than Mike Weir’s ‘look-back’ or Jim Furyk’s putting peccadilloes) caused one fan to yell out “hit the damn ball Sergio”. Garcia promptly gave him the finger, and found himself largely booed for the remainder of the championship in which he went on to finish in a highly credible fourth place.

  Astonishingly, the general reportage on that incident suggested that Garcia’s response was that of a petulant child who needed to earn the respect of the American fans. It’s difficult to sum up in words just how misguided this suggestion was. Respect from the golfing crowd should always be unconditional; no player should have to earn it. If you don’t like what you see, then don’t applaud, but heckling is unforgiveable. This basic rule of etiquette was somehow missed in a swirl of hyperbole concerning the passion of the U.S. Open crowd, and the supposed immaturity of a young Spanish golfer. To strike a parallel with an upcoming British sporting event, could you realistically imagine a scenario whereby partisan Andy Murray supporters heckled his opponent before every shot? And if so, would the press dismiss such behaviour as ‘proud Brits defending their bulldog’? Unlikely.

  An examination of Garcia’s behaviour on the golf course since that event will show that he is still no paragon of virtue. Blemishes on his record include being fined for spitting into the cup following a three-putt at Doral in 2007. And at the 2010 USPGA Championship, failure to escape a bunker resulted in Garcia making a Happy Gilmore style assault on the sand-trap with a wedge. But, we should not forget that it is when such energy gets channelled into positive outbursts that Garcia finds his greatest glory, and that is why he remains one of the most exciting players to watch.  Now aged 31, Garcia has 20 professional wins, but alongside them more near misses and golfing agonies than most players twenty years his senior have had to harbour. Such factors may have softened the American sentiment towards him over the years, but one thing is for sure, Garcia won’t have to earn the respect of the U.S Open crowds at Congressional; if he we wants it badly enough, he’ll just take it.

Unporting Behaviour

   Is there a place left for player honesty in sport?

  Former England cricket captain Michael Atherton has strongly argued that batsmen who knowingly get a slight edge or nick on the ball – and are not given out by the umpire – should have no obligation to walk of their own accord. His justifications being that players are at times wrongly dismissed by umpires and under those circumstances often have no choice but to return to the locker room. The referral system in cricket has gone some way to eliminating such moral quandaries, but they still do happen, and in such cases the batsman who feels the edge or the fielder who knows he hasn’t taken the catch cleanly are left with weighty decisions to make.

  Or do they? Atherton is not alone in implying that the onus should be solely on officials to make important sporting verdicts. During a UK indoor athletics meeting in 2010, the BBC commentary team picked up on a replay that clearly showed a British athlete running out of their lane – a fault punishable by disqualification. However, Steve Cram smugly maintained that if there was any over-sight on the part of the officials, it was simply their responsibility to pick up on it. Or put bluntly: it’s okay to cheat, just so long as you’re not caught. Staggering hypocrisy from a man whose brazen disgust towards former drug users (since rehabilitated) in athletics single handedly ruins the BBC’s ostensible impartiality in their athletics coverage.

  In any case, the argument for officiating cognizance trumping player responsibility would seem to be morally defensible position, but only with the inclusion of one highly important caveat: that you take the rough with the smooth. This is what Michael Atherton and countless other sportsmen do; they accept that they will both benefit and suffer from officiating ineptitude. However, there are those, and far too many of them, who happily acquiesce with the favourable mistakes, whilst fiercely attacking the official when an error acts to their detriment. Regrettably, the most salient examples seem to almost always occur in football. Messrs Ferguson and Wenger are particularly guilty of this offence. Indeed, it is with astonishing frequency that they ‘fail to see’ the controversial incidents that benefit their side, but when the shoe is on the other foot, their abuse of referees goes even so far as to draw the impartiality of their decision-making into question.

  Back to square one. If officials are biased how can we expect players to be honest? The answer of course is that officials are not biased, but merely fallible. And the gap to fairness must be bridged with a conscious effort on the part of the players. This might seem to be unrealistic, but there is a sport where honesty rules, it’s called golf. It’s a point that I like to labour, but golf really is the only game in town in which players routinely call penalty strokes against themselves. Anyone who’s seen golf movie ‘The Legend of Bagger Vance’ will recall the scene on the final hole in which Matt Damon, whilst tied for the lead, calls a penalty stroke upon himself for a ball that moves by an inch. Any non-golf fans who saw that presumably thought they had witnessed mere Hollywood hyperbole; they would be wrong to think so. Last year, whilst in a playoff to win his maiden PGA Tour title, professional golfer Brian Davis called a two stroke penalty upon himself for a rules infraction that only he alone could have seen. Golfers are fiercely proud of their honesty. Erm, Tiger Woods notwithstanding.

  In fairness to football, it has more scope for infraction of the rules than any other sport. And indeed players are subject to the each individual referee’s interpretation of the laws of the game, and that can change from week to week. A footballer might get more bad officiating calls against him in one game than say a cricketer would in his entire career. But the point remains, that a little honesty will usually go a long way. That’s why Paolo Di Canio is remembered more for catching the ball against Everton – to check on the health of an opposition player no less– with the goal at his mercy, than he is for pushing over referee Paul Alock in an act of stupid petulance.

(Okay we all know he’s remembered best for scoring that volley, but you still get my drift)

Swing Doctoring

 

Tiger Woods is currently in the process of remodelling his swing for a third time since he turned pro fifteen years ago. This time it is under the tutelage of golf coach Sean Foley, and it is fair to say that things are not going well. Much of Woods’ poor form in 2010 can be attributed to (the very public) matters in his private life, but after joining up with Foley around the time of last year’s USPGA, general feeling was that Woods’ on-course results would improve. Thus far they have not. In his last event, The Dubai Desert Classic, Woods slumped to a final round 75, and his swing looked very, very un-Tiger-like.

  There’s a tendency to get rather blinded by science when examining the mechanics of a golf swing, so in looking at the changes Woods and Foley have been making, I’ll try to keep things (relatively) simple. Okay, here goes:  For a long time, Wood’s Achilles heel has been to push his shots – particularly with the Driver – high and wide of the fairway to the right. This was caused in part by his upper body working ahead of his lower body, causing him to get ‘stuck’ behind the ball at impact. However, this tended to be a problem that only really affected him when attempting to hit the ball monumental distances, causing him to compromise balance and tempo. In light of this, Foley has been encouraging Woods to ‘clear his hips’ before impact, meaning that his legs will move move ahead of his arms and body, thus creating the maximum coil and torque in the golf swing. The problem is, that this system looks much better on paper than it does in practice. The result of Woods’ swing changes are, as one commentator cheekily puts it: “he’s now swinging his hips more than Shakira”. Chortle.

  Perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to judge. After all, history tells us that when Tiger Woods makes swing changes, he usually has the last laugh when it comes to the trophy count. Indeed it is often the case that only after extensive swing changes can a player make the transition from ‘very good’ to ‘world class’; Nick Faldo being the most salient case in point. Yet,  equally true, is the truism that you shouldn’t mix with the perfect formula; a lesson that ‘serial tinkerer’ Padraig Harrington has discovered in the time since his double major winning year of 2009. And in fact last week’s L.A. Open on the PGA Tour proved that sometimes it’s just best to go back to what you know. Aaron Baddeley clamed his first win in four years, after reverting back to the swing method that served him so well in his youth.

  Though on current evidence, even Tiger Woods’ most ardent followers would think twice before suggesting he’s likely to re-capture his glorious form of 2000. Indeed, this week marks a significant moment for Woods; in lieu of the Accenture World Golf Matchplay Championship, bookmakers price Woods at 14-1 to claim the title – the highest pre-tournament odds placed on him since he burst on to the scene with an astonishing twelve stroke victory fourteen years ago at the 1997 U.S. Masters. Jack Nicklaus once said of Woods, that “he plays a game with which I am not familiar”, perhaps even Woods isn’t familiar with that game anymore.

  Woods will take some hope from the fact that in 2004, when he endured his only previous golfing slump even comparable to the one he currently withstands, his solitary title of the season was in fact the Accenture Matchplay Championship. Indeed match-play can often provide welcome respite for a player struggling with his swing. Factors like mental toughness and ability to make clutch shots under pressure become paramount, and there is probably still no-one greater than Tiger as far as these assets are concerned. The real question is whether he is comfortable enough with his swing to win the five consecutive matches required to take home the title. The answer to that question is surely an emphatic no.

To the Manor boys

It all began with an unexpected phone call. Having settled down on the sofa to spend my Saturday evening watching a distinctly uninspiring episode of Match of the Day, my mobile rang with an incoming call from my friend Josh. Knowing him to be at work during this hour, I was somewhat surprised, but quickly answered; glad to be reprieved of Mark Lawrenson’s monotonous drone if only for a moment. Pleasantries out of the way, Josh then asked me what my plans were for the following day. Now, this was somewhat suspicious given the fact that he knew full well that I had nothing to do the next day, but nonetheless I humoured him. Then came the hammer blow:

“Fancy going to the Ryder Cup?”.

Those six sweet words that every golf fan longs to hear were finally being uttered to me, and upon hearing them…….. I had no idea how to respond. So I went with what came naturally to me: scepticism. 

“You’re kidding???”  – “No, I’m not” – “You’re kidding” – “No I’m honestly not” – “Yes you are you lanky pr***” .  And so forth.

Once my hectoring mistrust eventually subsided, Josh explained to me that some generous (idiotic) woman entrusted with a pair of tickets for the final day’s play, had eaten dinner at the hotel at which he works, and then unbelievably offered them as a tip to the staff. Perhaps even more unbelievably, Josh was the only one amongst them to show any interest in the tickets. Then, in what can either be described as an act of unwavering loyalty to the Cowley Manor Sunday shift pattern, or (as I like to think) a true sacrifice of biblical proportions, Josh offered the tickets to fellow golf fanatic Sam Coote and myself.

So after a couple of hours of snatched sleep, we set sail (drove) to Celtic Manor Golf Resort at 6am Sunday morning with tickets in hand, or around neck as was literally the case, for what we thought would be the final day of the 2010 Ryder Cup. The journey was only an hour long, and was spent equally divided between eulogizing Josh, and then repeatedly exclaiming our own pure disbelief that we were actually on our way to the greatest event in all of sport. It was perhaps for this reason that we turned somewhat of a blind eye to the rapidly increasing rainfall outside – which by the time we had arrived at Celtic Manor cast a striking resemblance to a small monsoon.  We were soon met with news that play had been suspended until 1:30; fortunately for us, the literal interpretation of ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ was now applicable, in that once the weather improved we would get to see golf in the afternoon, and our tickets would remain valid for the singles matches now put back to Monday.

And so at around 1:00, still in high spirits, we finally ventured on to the course and made our way to the stand located directly behind the sixth green, where after half an hour of gentle banter with some overexcited Italian fellows, we settled down to watch some golf. Stewart Cink had a lip out from the bunker in the very first group we saw, and that somewhat set the tone for a fabulous standard throughout the rest of the day. It’s widely considered that the Ryder Cup heaps a different kind of pressure on its competitors; one unparalleled throughout any other sport, let alone any other golf event. However, that Sunday the pressure was channelled into some wonderful performances, and as a spectator it seemed like at times there were hour long intervals between bad shots. Yet if the quality of the golf was flawless, there were one or two slight complaints to be had by Sam and myself about some of the patrons.  Clearly, knowing the full rulebook of golf should be no pre requisite to spectating, but it became somewhat painful to repeatedly overhear the uneducated crowd make idiots of themselves. Particular highlights included the man who simply couldn’t wrap his head around the concept that being 3up with three holes to play didn’t guarantee a win. And of course, there was the delightful lady who continually stung our ears when shouting “good shot lee!”…. every time Luke Donald hit a shot. Cynicism aside, we had a great day and I didn’t even have the heart to pocket the fiver dropped by the person in front of me as we were walking out. I ran after him and returned it, safe in the knowledge that it was a small price to pay for a free Ryder Cup ticket. In other heart-warming news, Europe now held a three point advantage over the U.S. going into the Monday singles. Victory was surely a foregone conclusion…

Arriving on the course bright and early the next morning, it became immediately apparent that media fears over the Monday finish limiting crowd numbers were completely erroneous. The whole course was rapidly filling, and with singing and chanting rife, the atmosphere was already electric. Before long, all twelve matches were out on the course and the roars began to echo around Celtic Manor. The problem that Sam and I soon discovered is that it is in fact very very difficult to be in the right place at the right time given such a format. We left the Woods vs Molinari match, and five minutes later Tiger holed his shot from 150 yards. Similarly, we walked away from the Ian Poulter match just mere moments before he holed out from 50 yards for an eagle. But such are the vagaries of Ryder Cup golf; for every flash of pure inspiration, there lies a moment of pure brilliance around the corner and knowing this, we charged around the course trying to soak in every possible image. As we clambered up the bank by the 15^th hole, a glance at the leaderboard told us that things had started to become close, uncomfortably close. After a slow start to the day, the United States were fighting back brilliantly, and snatching an unlikely win was suddenly no longer out of the question. A quick spot of mental arithmetic told us that there was a good chance that – ceteris paribus – it would all come down to the last match, so we raced to the 13^th green to see what was happening in the crucial encounter which pitted Graeme Mcdowell  up against Hunter Mahan.

It didn’t take long for others to comprehend just how important this match would prove to be, and by the time the players reached the 14^th green there seemed to be a small army of fans surrounding them hemming them in. The stewards did quite a job in creating a pathway for the players to go through to get to the next tee, but in their anxiousness to ease the swelling crowd they lowered the ropes too soon, and two carts had yet to pass through; one of them containing captain Montgomerie. A couple of panic stricken moments passed before the stewards had realised what had happened, by which point Monty was incandescent with rage, his ostensible air of control utterly vanquished.  “LET ME THROUGH” he bellowed, “GET THAT GREEN CART OUT OF THE WAY NOW!!!!!” It probably shouldn’t have been funny, but amidst a scene of unbelievable tension and panic, I was almost uncontrollably hysterical. In fact it’s actually a real shame that none of the cameras picked up the incident, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it happened.

Eventually the panic subsided and I made my way through in time to see Mahan hole a putt on the 15^th green that brought him back to just one down in the match. Having been separated from Sam on the previous hole, I decided to run down the 16^th hole to get a good sight of the players’ second shots to the green. Now, by this point the walkways alongside the fairways had depleted into soggy brown mush, but by some small miracle I kept my feet and then managed to get a spot by the rope exactly in line with where Mcdowell’s ball lay in the fairway. Mcdowell approached his ball side by side with a still visibly shaken Monty and began to take a few practice swings, but then an enormous collective groan came out from the crowd. News had come through that Rickie Fowler had come from 3 down with 3 to play to snatch an unlikely half in his match against Edoardo Molinari. Suddenly the equation had changed, a half no longer sufficed for Mcdowell, he needed to win this match. Now, if Mahan were able to beat Mcdowell over the final three holes, the Ryder Cup trophy would be retained by America. The hush amongst the crowd lasted probably only ten seconds, but it felt like an age. Then someone shouted “come on Graeme you can do it!”, hearing this Mcdowell started to wave his arms in urgency to get the crowd going again. The responding cheers were so deafening that my blood seemed to drop about 20 degrees in temperature; to be right there at such a moment was simply incredible.

 Somehow Mcdowell managed to compose himself and then hit a brilliant shot to within fifteen feet of the hole. As he strode towards the green, the barriers were lowered and the crowd charged on to the fairway to follow the players. With Mahan all but guaranteed his par, Mcdowell knew that he couldn’t be too aggressive with his putt. Peering between three sets of heads, I could just see the ball rolling very slowly across the green as a quick stroke of Mcdowell’s putter head sent it tentatively towards the hole, and then after an agonizing wait, it disappeared. The deafening noise returned and without warning I was hugging and high fiving complete strangers. It was the moment of the Ryder Cup and to experience it first-hand will leave an indelible mark on my memory.

Depth or Deliverence?

So much of the build up to the impending Ryder Cup Matches at Celtic Manor has been dominated by talk over the strength in depth of the European side; how they could put out two sides worthy of competing. Well, that’s all well and good, except for the fact that you don’t actually need two sides, you need one. It seems obvious to state, but in fact of those 12 members in each team, probably only half of them will play in four or more matches. Suddenly the competition starts to take on a rather different complexion, particularly given the fact that this year, America has six potentially very dangerous players who will make up the crux of their side:

Dustin Johnson & Hunter Mahan ‘The Gunslingers’ – These two might just be the two best ball strikers in the world as things stand, as both players come into the Ryder Cup in the form of their lives. Mahan has two victories on the PGA Tour this year, including a win at the illustrious WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Last time out at the Ryder Cup, he played all five matches and came out unbeaten, go figure. Johnson will be a Ryder Cup rookie, but there is no simply no doubting his pedigree given his amazing bounce back from a traumatic experience in the final major of the year at Whistling Straits. He also has two victories on the PGA Tour this year, and will look to use his considerable strength in a bid to overpower opponents in Wales.

Steve Stricker & Matt Kuchar ‘The Reliables’ – They say in golf that you drive for show and put for dough. Well, these two are living proof that it can really be the case; between them they’ve won exactly $8,816,462 this season. Matt Kuchar seems to have woken from a decade long slumber of mediocrity with a swing that looks more suited to baseball than golf, but boy does it produce results. And according to most observers, Steve Stricker carried Tiger Woods to a 100% record in last year’s Presidents Cup, as he drained long putt after long putt. Don’t be at all surprised if he reproduces the goods in the Ryder Cup, where last time out he managed the distinction of being the only player in history to match Sergio Garcia in terms of exuberant celebrations. That’s no mean feat.

Tiger Woods & Phil Mickelson ‘The Enigmatics’ – Firstly, let me be clear. Under no given circumstances am I suggesting that these two be paired together. Realistically that could only be achieved by some sort of Hal Sutton induced world implosion. However, despite the fact that between them they’ve managed just a solitary top ten performance since June’s U.S. Open, Woods and Mickelson are still officially ranked at number one and two in the world respectively. And the beauty of team golf, particularly fourballs, is that it allows players like Woods and Mickelson to go for broke whilst their inevitably steadier partners try to make the routine pars. It really is very difficult to know what to expect from these two at the moment, neither is playing well, but yes, you want them on your team. Every time.

If however, these super six fail to take the lion’s share of points from their matches, the balance of power will almost certainly swing back in Europe’s favour. The Ryder Cup has proved time and time again that the rookies and so called ‘weaker’ players are far more likely to cause an upset whilst playing on home soil than they are away; Phillip Price’s extraordinary victory over Phil Mickelson in 2002 being a case in point. So for the Americans it’s fairly simple, either your big guns fire you through to a famous victory, or you pray to God that Jeff Overton has a long lost Welsh grandmother.

Glory’s Last Shot

Widely known in the golfing world as ‘glory’s last shot’, the U.S. PGA Championship represents the final chance of the year to lay claim to a major championship title. Add to that the fact that it contains the strongest field of the season and with Ryder Cup qualification on the line this year, it promises to be an extremely exciting spectacle.

  This year the event is staged at Whistling Straits Golf Course; a 7600 yard Wisconsin coastal layout with over 900 bunkers, where 500 yard par fours are the norm, as are 600 yard par fives. However, the course only really shows its teeth when the wind blows – which it is expected to do above 15mph all of this week. Sound familiar to a certain style of golf in Britain? Many golf purists will argue that ‘links golf’ is an esoteric term reserved only for courses located inside Great Britain and Ireland deemed worthy of the term by men in red blazers. But make no mistake, links golf will be the order of the day at Whistling Straits, and those who know how to play it should be licking their chops.

   Justin Leonard is coming off a long overdue good performance at the Bridgestone Invitational last week and needs a very good finish at the PGA if he’s to be considered for the American Ryder Cup side.  Hailing from West Texas, Leonard is no stranger to playing in windy conditions; he is after all a former Open Champion. He will, however, have mixed memories from Whistling Straits – which hosted the PGA Championship for the first time in 2004. Leonard led for most of the final round in that Championship, before bogeying the final hole to fall into a 3 way playoff which was ultimately won by Vijay Singh. If Leonard can play his links finest this week, he might just be the surprise package of the field.

  Another man who has unfinished business at Whistling Straits is Ernie Els. He missed that playoff in 2004 by a single shot after three putting the final green, and is now ready for some more major success. Els’ fabulous record in the Open Championship (which he won in 2002), demonstrates that he has a penchant for links golf, and he possesses the sort of deft touch from the sand that ought to come in useful on a course practically buried in it. Therefore perhaps his real test will be whether he has the mental state to last the 72 holes. Els has suffered an abundance of major championship near misses in recent years, not least at the hands of Messrs Woods and Mickelson. But with the world’s top two players struggling badly for form at the moment, the door might once again be ajar for the big South African.

  And of course this is to not consider the European challenge, which is undoubtedly a formidable one. It’s been an astonishingly successful season for European golf stateside, with no less than five separate winners on the PGA Tour, any one of whom could win again this week. However, one man yet to break his duck across the pond (no pun intended) is Germany’s Martin Kaymer; a player who possesses the complementing attributes of immense raw power and steely Bavarian grit. Not only should his low driving iron shots suit him well in the winds of Wisconsin, but perhaps more critically, his demeanour is seemingly entirely unflappable. Indeed stoicism might just be the tool in Kaymer’s armoury which sees him unlock the brutal links layout this week.

  In 2004, 72 holes weren’t enough to separate the field and with no clear favourite this time around, you have to expect it to be close again. There’s just so much at stake: Ryder Cup points, the world #1 ranking spot, and of course actually winning the Wanamaker Trophy itself. Saddle up, it’s glory’s last shot.

Sergio’s Struggles

 

   It’s an almost immemorial tradition in any sport to hype up the talented youngster into a future icon of the game, with the sort of hastiness that defies all rationality. And of course it is exactly this hype which then leaves such a sour taste in the mouth for all concerned when the unreachable standards are inevitably left unfulfilled. Indeed golf is no exception to this rule, as has been proved by the likes of Michelle Wie and *cough* Ty Tryon. But, in the case of Sergio Garcia, there is simply no scope to suggest that his immense promise was unfounded, which of course begs the question: what on earth has gone wrong?

   Ten years ago, it was simply unthinkable that he could reach the age of thirty without a single major title, but it’s happened. And perhaps more shockingly, the shortest odds you’d have got on Garcia to win last week’s Open Championship at St Andrews were 90/1. Although somewhat less surprising when you consider that he has dropped as low as #44 in the Official Golf World Rankings.

   For Garcia, it all started so well: a glittering amateur career that saw him win the British Amateur Championship as well as becoming the youngest ever player to make the cut in a European Tour event, was followed by a runners-up finish in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah behind Tiger Woods at just nineteen years of age. There was no question that a decade of intense rivalry with Woods at the peak of the game surely beckoned, but somehow it never materialised. Since that time, Garcia has risen as high as the 2^nd ranking player in the world behind Woods, but there is no doubt that his greatest rival always has been (and probably always will be) himself. Over the years, Garcia has put himself in position to win a number of large events, which in some cases he did, but far too often he’s fallen away under pressure; the most notable case in point being his playoff loss to Padraig Harrington at the 2007 Open Championship, having surrendered a six stroke advantage over him at the start of play. In recent times Garcia’s struggles have worsened greatly, and indeed now it seems that his name only ever appears high on the leaderboard accompanied with the inexorable dread of knowing that it won’t remain there for long.

   Most people believe that Garcia’s struggles are inextricably linked to his putting deficiencies, but that only tells half of the story. It used to be Garcia’s energetic attitude on the course that defined him as a golfer, but there’s no question that he hasn’t been the same man over the last eighteen months or so. In yesteryear, his exuberance on the course was seen by many as having a detrimental effect on his game, scrambling his concentration and causing him to make rash decisions. Other more traditionalist proponents of the game believed that Garcia’s behaviour even bordered on iconoclastic. But for Sergio I’m afraid it’s simple; he plays better when he’s fired up. Emotion doesn’t ruin his concentration, it simply focuses it. And if anyone needed convincing, just simply take a look at his stellar Ryder Cup record – an event in which he always plays with his heart on his sleeve. In any case, even the stuffiest of Peter Allis moulded codgers would have to concede that watching Garcia mope his way around eighteen holes recently has been difficult to watch.

   Yet, as bad as Sergio Garcia might be playing right now, never has it been more true to say that whilst form is temporary, class is permanent. This is something Greg Norman understood last year, when as President’s Cup Captain he picked an out of form (but hugely talented) Adam Scott as a wildcard for his side – something Scott accredited for his subsequent win at the Australian Open a month later. Garcia’s plight is uncannily representative of that of Scott’s and it might just take a wild card selection from Captain Monty to play for Europe in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor to reignite the flames in the Spaniard’s belly. In all likelihood for that happen Garcia will first have to show some form, and getting him riled up might just be the way to do it.

Angling for Augusta

    From Wednesday’s par three contest through to Amen Corner on Sunday, the Masters never fails to produce iconic moments of golfing brilliance, entertainment and sheer drama. But picking a winner in the last several years has provided to be a rather difficult task. Therefore this year I’m cheating and picking five. In my defence you’ll notice messrs Woods and Mickelson are conspicuously absent from the list, but I digress, the picks have justification: 

Ernie Els.    World Ranking: 8    Odds: 12/1                     Els is the only player on the PGA tour this year to record multiple victories, and the fact that they were back to back and both within the last four weeks would signify that he comes into this year’s first major championship in better form than anyone. Els is a veteran of this tournament, having played it sixteen times, and indeed has come tantalizingly close to winning it, as demonstrated by 2^nd place finishes in both 2000 and 2004. Furthermore, it would seem that recent missed cuts at Augusta National won’t be preying on the mind of a man very much reinvigorated. The Big Easy has shortened the length of his putter this year and consequently is holing out from all over the place with the unerring accuracy of a man on a mission. Indeed he recently reiterated; “This year I’m going in with a fair bit more confidence and momentum than I have had for a while. You know, I think the whole package is there”. If he’s right, this must represent the best chance that Els has had in years to finally claim the green jacket which he’ll feel he is rightfully owed.   

Lee Westwood.    World Ranking: 4    Odds: 20/1            Lee has been a model of consistency over the past 2 seasons; a feat which has been vindicated by his current position of 4^th in the world rankings. Perhaps the only lingering criticism of Westwood has been that in such time he has not picked up enough key victories, however much of this doubt was dispelled when he emphatically triumphed in last year’s season ending tournament in Dubai – where he consequently claimed the European order of Merit title for the second time in his career. After narrow misses at the U.S. Open in 08 and the Open in 09, he must surely believe that the time is ripe to pick up a major title for himself. Westwood’s long game is routinely superb and thus his chances for success this week might just depend solely on whether he can get hot with the putter. There hasn’t been an English winner at the Masters since Nick Faldo in 1996; Westwood would be a fitting heir to his throne.

Paul Casey.    World Ranking: 6    Odds: 33/1                 The second Englishman to be considered, Casey is super long, super confident and super cool. He displayed the latter of these qualities recently after being described as “the biggest underachiever in golf” by former U.S. player turned pundit Johnny Miller. Casey retorted “it’s a back handed compliment… I’m coming into the prime of my career”. Casey, who is yet to finish outside the top ten in a PGA tour event this year, would appear to be right on both fronts. In Miller’s defence, it’s hard to think of a reason why Paul Casey shouldn’t be winning events every time he tees it up. After all Casey is blessed with the combination of a superb physique and a completely natural talent for the game. Furthermore, his record in the Masters is pretty stellar: 4 top 20 finishes in 6 years. One slight concern is his current fitness – Casey withdrew from last week’s Shell Houston Open as a ‘precaution’ over a niggling shoulder injury. Provided it was no more than that, expect Casey to compete and compete well this week at Augusta. 

Geoff Ogilvy.    World Ranking: 13    Odds: 40/1             Golf analyst Gary McCord once described the greens at Augusta National as “bikini waxed”. He was forever banned by the Masters committee from covering the tournament again, but essentially he was right. One man this suits perfectly is Geoff Ogilvy, who just seems to get better and better the faster the greens are running. Such a trait should come in more than handy on Augusta greens which can at times make fine players look very foolish indeed. The man from down under has an uncanny ability to get on a roll of consistently knocking in putts in the 10 – 25 foot range, which are always so crucial at the Masters, whether it be to keep a score going, or to gain shots on the field. It must be said that since recording a win in the Mercedes Championship in January, Ogilvy has looked somewhat out of sorts. However he has a fine habit of turning on the style when major championships come around. Outside of his 2006 U.S. Open win he has 5 top tens in majors and hasn’t finished outside of the top 40 in 4 starts at the Masters. It is so often said that the Masters doesn’t begin in earnest until the back nine on Sunday, if Ogilvy is in contention come that time, don’t expect him to wilt.

Dustin Johnson.    World Ranking: 29    Odds: 50/1        Very much the dark horse of this crop, at just 25 years of age Johnson may not have much major championship experience, but this week that might just work in his favour. There will hardly be a player in the field who hasn’t previously had their hopes shattered by a cruel bounce or unexpected change of wind on a course than can and usually does punish the slightest mistake. Johnson won’t have such memories imprinted on his mind, and besides in many respects he won’t even be playing the same course as most of his peers. Johnson’s ball striking ability is simply staggering, as he routinely averages over 320 yards with driver in hand. On average he’ll probably be hitting at least two clubs less than the typical player for his approach shots to the green and thus might just be able to find the flagsticks tucked away on the tottering shelves. As long as no one reminds him that he’s playing in the most prestigious golf tournament in the world, he might just go ahead and win the damn thing. 

No Longer a Different Animal

 

  Since Tigermania took hold of the golfing world in 1997, the game has been saddled with ever increasing levels of coverage in the press and far greater media exposure for the players. It has now become the case that any offhand comment made by a player is liable to seized upon by the media and hyper scrutinized, as Fuzzy Zoeller so famously found out at Augusta  National following his ‘fried chicken’ remarks. However, in the midst of this media storm created by Woods over the past 13 years or so, he has for the most part remained conspicuously absent from criticism. But not anymore.

   This unique situation was probably best explained by the notion that Woods’ sheer dominance on the golf course, earned him a mystical like aurora off of it. Tiger’s rise to power in the game was literally too good to be true; in a sport dominated by white men, he broke down the barrier of race using only his golf clubs. And within twelve years, he has amassed fourteen major championships, arguably giving him the title of best ever to play the game. But, he is only human and most of the media seemed to have forgotten that. Indeed if you’ll pardon the pun, when compared to other professionals, Tiger is treated by the press as rather a different animal. At the 2008 U.S. Open, South African golfer Retief Goosen questioned the validity of the knee injury Woods was harbouring, suggesting that Woods only feigned injury after the bad shots, but not the good shots. Goosen was highly lambasted by all corners for his comments and rightly so, and to his credit he later retracted his words and apologized. However, in 2009 when Woods claimed Ernie Els was “lazy”, during the recovery period from an ACL injury, the golfing press hardly batted an eyelid. Woods remarked that Els was “not a big worker physically”, presumably because Els took longer than himself to recover from a similar injury. Just like Goosen’s, this was a comment of sheer ignorance and arrogance from Tiger, but unlike Goosen, Tiger didn’t apologize, he never had to.

   Realistically, players will always be critical of others and of course they have a right to express their opinion. That is of course as long as they are willing to accept the criticism when the shoe is on the other foot. Tiger Woods most definitely cannot.  In 2005 whilst acting as an analyst for broadcaster CBS, Nick Faldo criticized a wild approach shot by Woods to the 18^th green. Woods took deep offence to this, and publicly admitted that he drew a grudge against Faldo, one which he still held when they were paired together at the Open Championship sixteen months later. Seeing as Faldo was simply doing his job, Woods’ reaction was petty in the extreme, but as per usual when the two took to the course, Faldo was branded the villain, and Woods the hero. These are not isolated incidents of ungentlemanly behavior by Tiger, his on course repertoire includes: claiming that he putted “like a spaz”, throwing his clubs to the ground and dropping the ‘f bomb’ following sliced drives into the rough. This might seem like an overly critical observation, until you consider that Woods is (minus John Daly) just about the only player on tour who does this. Such behavior has lead five time Open champion Tom Watson to recently state “I think he (Woods) needs to clean up his act and show the respect for the game that other people before him have shown”. Good on him for saying so.

   It is a real shame that it has taken Woods’ recent very public transgressions for the press to discover that Tiger is not infallible, but now that they have, we can all look forward to a more balanced depiction of the best player in the world. After Tiger’s recent scheduling of a press conference to coincide with the Accenture World Matchplay event, several of the event’s participants raised the concern that through this scheduling, Woods was drawing attention away from the event and towards himself; Ernie Els went so far as to call it a “selfish” move. Shock and horror, for once the golfing press didn’t immediately rush to Woods’ aide. In fact for the most part, the consensus was that the players had it just about spot on in their analysis of the situation. This was refreshing in the least and with Tiger looking set to return to the game competitively within the next few weeks, we can see how well his roar stands up to the preying hyenas, who this time will be out for blood.