Robert Allenby, of Australia, ended four years without a win on Sunday - and nobody would have been surprised that his success came in a sudden-death finish.
Allenby beat the defending champion, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, at the third extra hole of the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City in South Africa, his 11th play-off victory in 12 attempts.
Allenby’s victory, worth more than £720,000, was his first since his 2005 hat-trick of Australian Open, PGA and Masters titles.
The pair had both picked up bogeys at the closing hole to finish on an 11-under total of 277. They then played the 502-yard 18th hole three more times before Allenby hit a six-iron to within five feet of the flag and two-putted.
Stenson hit his approach shot into the grandstand, from where he had a free drop, but he could only pitch the ball 30 feet past the hole.
“I’m glad it’s over,” a weary Allenby said after completing 21 holes in sauna-like conditions on a course playing tougher than Saturday due to a stronger wind. “I had a putt in regulation play to win, but took too much time over the line and not enough on the pace. These things happen when you are under the gun and the mind is racing.”
England’s Ross Fisher and South African Tim Clark tied for third on 10 under, Fisher just missing a 20-footer to make the play-off, while Retief Goosen, two in front overnight, dropped to fifth with a 75.
Rory McIlroy retired after rounds of 73 and 76 with a stomach bug.
Tiger Woods’ late replacement, Graeme McDowell, made his impact felt at the Chevron World Challenge as he took a share of the lead after three rounds in California.
McDowell was only called into the 18-player field at Sherwood Country Club on Monday, when tournament host Woods withdrew citing injuries sustained in the car crash that made headlines around the world eight days ago.
The Northern Irishman shared the lead with US PGA champion, Y E Yang of Korea following a third-round, six-under-par 66 at the course near Los Angeles.
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and Britain’s Lee Westwood were one stroke behind.
Adam Scott held off Stuart Appleby to win the Australian Open by five shots in Sydney, recording his first tournament victory in over 19 months.
Ross Fisher beat American Anthony Kim 4&3 on Sunday to claim the Volvo World Matchplay Championship at the Finca Cortesin Golf Club.
A birdie on the first hole of the 36-hole final gave the 28 year-old an early lead and he was never behind, eventually securing victory when both players recorded pars on the par-four 33rd.
The victory earned Fisher the €750,000 top prize, which takes him from seventh to fourth in The Race to Dubai European Tour money list.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” said Fisher, who moves up to 17 in the world rankings on the back of his triumph. “It’s been a long, gruelling week, but obviously very worthwhile.
“This course was very physically demanding and I don’t think I am the fittest of blokes out here. I know I need to work a lot more in the gym.
“The only thing that’s been missing this year was a win. I feel I’ve been very consistent and to be the leading guy in the majors [in terms of shots taken] shows my golf has been very good.”
Leading by one hole after the morning session, Fisher went three up after winning the 22nd and 23rd holes, first with a 35-foot eagle putt and then a birdie after Kim drove into trouble.
Kim - one of the stars of the United States Ryder Cup victory last year - responded on the 24th to reduce the deficit but Fisher kicked again on the back nine, restoring his three-hole lead when Kim bogeyed the 28th and going four up with four to play thanks to a birdie at the par-four 32nd.
Fisher, who let the lead slip on the final day of the Open, went into the afternoon with a one-hole lead, having missed a chance to extend his advantage by three-putting on the 18th after Kim could only make par.
The Englishman took the lead on four separate occasions but was unable to pull away, with Kim levelling the match on the seventh, ninth and 13th holes before bogeying the 464-yard 16th to hand his opponent the initiative.
“I think this format suits me,” Fisher continued. “I’m quite an aggressive player and sometimes it’s caught me out in the past but the best player in the world [Tiger Woods] is an aggressive player and he hasn’t done too badly.
“That’s where I draw inspiration from - try to be aggressive but smart as well.”
Earlier, Australia’s Robert Allenby defeated Argentina’s Masters champion Angel Cabrera in the 18-hole third-place play-off match.
Allenby, who was defeated by Kim in Saturday’s semi-final, holed in one with a 230-yard five wood on the sixth hole but had to birdie the 18th to send the match to a sudden-death play-off.
The Australian prevailed on the first extra hole after sinking an 18-foot eagle putt off the back of the green, giving him third place and a cheque for €250,000.
Ian Poulter fired a final round one-over 72 to win the Singapore Open by one shot. The Briton finished the $5 million event on 10-under 274 after leading from the first day to the last.
Poulter managed to edge out China’s Liang Wen-chong to complete a nervous wire-to-wire victory.
With former Asian No 1 Liang in the clubhouse at nine under following a final round of 70, Poulter stood on the 18th tee with a one-stroke lead after seeing his five-shot halfway cushion wiped out yesterday.
But the 33 year-old held his nerve to make par and secure a first win since the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan in 2007 and first on the European Tour since Madrid the previous year.
Australia’s Scott Hend came third two behind Poulter along with resurgent compatriot Adam Scott.
Scott only just made the cut but raced up the leaderboard with a third round 65 as he recovered some form after a miserable year of missed cuts.
The former world No 3, who won the tournament in 2005 and 2006, carried his new-found touch into the final round with a 68 for his best result since the Sony Open in January.
World No 2 Phil Mickelson tied for 14th after an inconsistent week marred by too many bogeys. He now heads to the WSG-HSBC Champions in Shanghai to renew his rivalry with Tiger Woods.
Three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington also heads to China after a disappointing weekend in Singapore, where he finished tied 38th to end any realistic hope he had of finishing the year as Europe’s No 1.
Lee Westwood wore Tiger Woods red on Sunday as he attempted to end two years in Europe without a victory.
Francesco Molinari wore Stewart Cink ogre-green as he tried to end three years without a victory. As usual Tiger-red triumphed and with this win at the Portugal Masters Westwood now goes top of the Race to Dubai ahead of Rory McIlroy.
The 36-year-old Englishman was both skilful and fortunate. On the 17th hole he baled out of his dangerous second shot over water, but was lucky that his nervy hoik finished in an ornamental shrubbery near a path from which he got a free drop.
The bad news was that he now faced a flop shot, off a bare lie, over some small trees, to a green with water beyond. He said earlier in the week that the weakness in his game is from 80 yards in. On Sunday Westwood played one of the shots of his life, all but holing the pitch and leaving a tap-in for birdie. It was just reward for an awful lot of hard work in the previous two years.
Poor Molinari watching back in the fairway must have been cursing his luck. The Italian had just jabbed a short putt for par left of the hole on the 16th green, having putted brilliantly earlier in the afternoon. But his old weakness had come back at the crucial moment.
At the start of the week Westwood said he wanted put himself in a position where a win in Dubai next month would guarantee he would finish top of the money list. By Saturday night it was no longer about the money, it was about winning.
Westwood’s caddie Billy Foster, who used to caddie for Seve Ballesteros, has been reprising the great Spaniard’s mantra all week “second is no good.” On Sunday evening Westwood became a winner again, just as he was back in 2000 when he had six victories and was known as the most ruthless closer on tour. Westwood can now take that winning feeling on into next year’s majors, having become such a formidable player in the big championships.
But spare a thought for Molinari. Like Westwood he is one of the best ball strikers on Tour, but Molinari fears the putter. Before his round Gary Wolstenholme, the conqueror of Molinari in the semi-final of the 2003 Amateur Championship, said: “Can he conquer his nerves? He was exceptionally long as an amateur but his putting was always a genuine weakness.” This time the weakness proved still as genuine as this Italian, who can yet become an important member of Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup team.
Despite winning three majors, Padrraig Harrington is driven by the need to improve his game.
Many people thought that Padraig Harrington had gone mad. How could anyone win three majors and then start messing about with their game? Harrington’s answer is a simple one. He wasn’t going any higher.
Harrington believed that he had reached the top of his ascent and he could still see people above him. Harrington was not able to accept third best.
All day Harrington has been working on his game under the Portuguese sun. As Harrington grinds on the practice ground, Phil Bonham of Wilson has been grinding his irons in the equipment truck. It’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon and still they are grinding, searching for an ever sharper groove.
Harrington pauses and says: “My attitude is, yeah, I’ve won three majors but I want to get better. I would say that I had peaked at No 3 in the world when I won the three majors. I had peaked unless I did something to change and get better. Right or wrong that’s my nature. There’s no change in my nature, you got that right.”
Those who have questioned Harrington’s need to make changes might as well question why the river runs to the shore. Nature. It is the story of the scorpion who persuades the frog to give him a ride and then stings him halfway across the raging river. As they both accept their approaching deaths, the scorpion explains: “It’s my nature.”
Harrington has to keep trying to get better. It’s his nature. That nature won him three majors. It drives coach Bob Torrance mad and it keeps Harrington almost sane. He says: “I’m a happier person, even if I’m playing badly, if I know I’m going forward. Bob takes it to heart. It’s not easy for him if I don’t perform. I’m much better at saying this is all part of the process going forward.”
Some questioned if Harrington was as mentally sun-dried as we had thought after he dumped balls in the water in successive tournaments back in August. Harrington is amused at the thought that he might be haunted by those shots.
He says: “Someone said to me the other day: ‘Don’t hit it in the water’. Well, I could avoid hitting it in the water, but I wouldn’t be trying to win the tournament. That’s the fact. Tom Kite used to say he could lead greens-in-regulation stats every week if he wanted to, but he wouldn’t win the tournament by hitting it in the middle of the green.
“You have to take some chances. At Bridgestone I could have chipped it out to 15 feet, two-putted for my bogey, lost the tournament to Tiger [Woods] by a shot and everyone would say: ‘Oh well’. There’s a place where you are pushed into it and you have to go for it.
“At the PGA I came to a tough par-three. I didn’t feel I could afford to make bogey. I played lovely all day, but I hadn’t holed anything in the first seven holes. I didn’t feel I had the luxury of bailing out like a lot of people bailed out. I felt I had to go for it. You live by the sword, you die by it.”
If you want to second-guess Harrington’s decision, then look back at what Y E Yang did. He went for that flag, like Harrington. Tiger bailed out, like Lucas Glover and many, many others. Yang hit the shot of the day, caught Tiger and changed the future. Who is to say Harrington was wrong?
Still Harrington’s mind rages on. It must wear him out sometimes. Next year Harrington could accept not winning a major again, but only, precisely if “I’ve done everything I can.” But he would far rather “be pushed over the edge” by the effort of winning two majors and suffer the same exhaustion that led to his poor performance at the 2008 Ryder Cup.
He agrees that it was an issue and says that if Colin Montgomerie wants to rest him before next year’s Ryder Cup then he could now accept that. Harrington doubts whether even a year ago he could have admitted the need to rest, but “I’m better able to tell who I am now”.
So, who is he?
Harrington is the man who has won three majors, tied with Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson. The next one to “win and get to four will set them apart.” And the one who wins Olympic gold will stand even further apart in Harrington’s mental labyrinth.
He says: “I want to win an Olympic gold because when I’m 70 years of age and looking back, we might be counting that as a major. The majors weren’t the majors 60 years ago. I think it’s going to grow.”
There are not many professional sportsmen who can get past the present like that. But Harrington has always looked into the future. The trick is not to go blind when staring at the sun. Or mad. Welcome to the sun-dried mind of Padraig Harrington. It’s fascinating, but it’s a maze that you wonder if even he always knows the way out.
Jean van de Velde’s hopes of making it back into The Open were hanging by a thread after an opening five-over-par 76 in the 36-hole final qualifying competition at Glasgow Gailes in Scotland on Monday
A total of 288 players were battling for only 12 places over three courses and Van de Velde was fighting an uphill battle from the moment he bogeyed the first four holes.
The 1999 runner-up was at the French Open on Sunday and took a late night flight from Paris to Prestwick, but it looked to be in vain as he trailed seven behind early leader Elliot Saltman, whose brother Lloyd – top amateur in the 2005 Open – was competing at Kilmarnock Barassie.
Former European Open champion Kenneth Ferrie, who missed out on a Turnberry spot by one shot by finishing sixth in France, returned a two-under 71 at Barassie, but that was four behind Spaniard Manuel Quiros.
Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal and 1993 Ryder Cup team-mate Barry Lane were later starters at the same course.
Three players who will be at Turnberry are American trio Bryce Molder, Paul Goydos and Brant Snedeker.
Molder and Goydos secured their places as the top two players not already exempt in a mini-money list which ran from the Players Championship in May through to last week’s AT&T National, while Snedeker’s fifth place on Sunday earned him a spot.
Collated first round scores in the Open Qualifying Final Championship, Glasgow Gailes, Kilmarnock Barassie, Western Gailes, Ayrshire, Scotland смотреть порно видеоролики бесплатно
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par: 71, 71, 73):
(x) denotes amateurs
Glasgow Gailes
67 Elliot Saltman
69 Craig Corrigan, James Gill (Nzl), Paul Maddy, Nicolas Redfern (Hkg), Peter Baker, Euan Little, Chris Gaunt (Aus), Thomas Aiken (Rsa)
70 John Mellor, (x) Jamie Abbott, Mark Davies, Chris Geraghty, David Higgins, Scott Barr (Aus)
71 Craig Matheson, Scott Dunlap (USA), Craig Lee, Tim Dykes, Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Scott Jackson, Luis Claverie (Spa), Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Oliver Whiteley, Ross Bain
72 Kenny Banks, Brendan McDermott, Matthew King, Stuart Archibald, Ronan Rafferty, Warren Bladon, David Mills, John Parry, (x) Jarred McKnight, Ian Keenan, Darryn Lliyd (Rsa)
73 Joey Carlisle, (x) Matt Haines, (x) James Atkinson, Andrew Marshall, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Nick Soto
74 Kenny Hutton, (x) Mark Rogers, Ben Westgate, Garry Houston, (x) Ross Spurgeon, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Martin Edge, Will Barnes, Ross Kellett, Barry Taylor
75 Carl Duke, David Kirkpatrick, Paul Dwyer, Scott Marshall, Daniel Casey, (x) Pat Murray, (x) Sam Hutsby, Sebastian Garcia-Grout (Spa), David James, David Boyce, (x) Michael Stewart, Andrew Johnston
76 Mark Stewart, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Chris Doak, Phil Worthington, Ben Banks, Brett Taylor, David Griffiths
77 (x) Graham Povey, Andrew Barnett, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), (x) Richard Prophet, Simon Stevenson, Kieron Gaskell, Jonathan Lomas, Martin Sell, John Gallagher
78 John Green, (x) Neil Hargreaves, Thomas Crozer
79 (x) Michael Downes, Shaun Webster, Matt Allen, (x) Ben Stow, (x) James Hamilton (Nzl), Jerry Scullion, (x) James Fox
70 (x) Tommy King, Matthew Nixon, Jonathan Caldwell, Richard Golding, James Busby, Daniel Greenwood, (x) James Wilson, Gordon J Brand, (x) Luke Goddard, Gary Wolstenholme, Jon Bevan, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa), (x) Chris Paisley
71 James Mason, Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Raymond Russell, Llewellyn Matthews, George Cowan, Steve Lewton, Paul Wesselingh, Andrea Basciu (Ita), Mark Kerr, Kenneth Ferrie, (x) Jonathan Watt
72 Graeme Bell, Simon Lilly, Craig Ronald, Gareth Davies, Barry Hume, (x) Duncan Harris, Ryan Fenwick, (x) Curtis Griffiths, Barry Lane, (x) Scott Pinckney (USA), James Wilkinson
73 (x) Steven Brown, Christopher Kelly, Ashley Lucas, Marcus Armitage, (x) Xavier Feyaerts (Bel), Justin Evans, Jesper Thuen (Den)
74 Steven Parry, (x) Daniel Byrne, (x) Michael Daily, Jamie Moul, Simon Ward, Adam Hodkinson, (x) Farren Keenan, James Jankowski, David Shacklady
75 (x) Alex Christie, (x) James Robinson, (x) Mark Chamberlain, (x) Josh Mere, Matthew Evans, Steven Taylor
76 Alan Tyson, Lloyd Campbell, Jason Levermore, Kieran Staunton, (x) Jonathan Gidney, Duncan Muscroft, (x) Jake Amos, Neil Lythgoe, Neil Rowlands, Steve McAnally
77 Adam Norman, David Rawluk, Jamie Howarth
78 Jonnie Cliff, Jon Wetton, Scott Emery, Jack Wallace
79 Paul Jones, Ian Ridgway
80 Craig Smith, Mike Bradley
81 James Hepworth, (x) Andrew Hogan, (x) Jack Senior
DQ: Anthony Snobeck (Fra), Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe)
NR: Alex Fuell
Western Gailes
68 (x) James Byrne
69 Carlos Balmaseda (Spa)
70 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe), Duncan McCarthy, Martyn Thompson, Rob Harris, Daniel Perrett, Zane Scotland, (x) Dale Whitnell, Jason Dransfield, Peter O’Keefe, Mark Loftus
71 Matthew Baldwin, Iain Steel (Mal), Steve Richardson, Michael Curtain (Aus), Reinier Saxton (Ned), Peter Whiteford, Thomas Whitehouse, Raul Quiros (Spa), (x) Amir Habibi, Craig Shave
72 Alexander Wrigley, Steve Surry, Ian Ashenden, (x) Jonathan Bale, Daniel Wardrop, Greig Hutcheon, Johan Axgren (Swe)
73 Thomas Haylock, Chris Gill, (x) Scott Fallon, (x) Sam Matton, (x) Richard Hooper, (x) Tom Hayes, Andrew Oldcorn, Lee Jackson, Lee Clarke, Kevin Harper, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Scott Henderson
74 Michiel Bothma (Rsa), James Harper, James Heath, Steven Tiley, Simon Edwards, (x) Todd Adcock, (x) Myles Cunningham, (x) Adrian Ford (Rsa), Matthew Griffiths, Nick Ludwell
75 Mark Smith, Luke Eggleston, Davin Knudsen (Aus), (x) Garrick Porteous, (x) Andy Sullivan, David Stanton, Robin Carroll
76 Guy Woodman, Francisco Lagarto (Spa), (x) Brendan Smith (Aus), (x) Sean Einhaus (Ger), Nicholas Morris, Lloyd Davies, Jeremy Robinson
77 Richard Neil-Jones, Wilhelm Schauman (Swe), (x) Andrew Gunson, Daniel Sugrue, Daniel Wood, Benjamin Howlett, David Carter
78 Paul Bradshaw, (x) Kevin Garwood
79 (x) Peter Latimer, Scott Henry, (x) Tom Sherreard, Alec Smith, Craig Bell, (x) Alex Hogben, Chris Roake, (x) Patrick Spraggs, James Westwood, Ben Scott
Tiger Woods admitted he will celebrate his WGC-Bridgestone Invitational win “quickly” before turning his attention to the US PGA, which begins on Thursday.
Following his disastrous Open championship at Turnberry, where he missed the cut, Woods has won two tournaments in a row, and is eyeing a third at the Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minnesota this weekend.
“It’s going to be a quick turnaround,” Woods said. “I’ll be out there tomorrow. I’ll celebrate quickly.
“I’m going to play Monday and Tuesday and then do nothing on Wednesday, just practice, that’s it. Get to know the golf course a little bit on Monday and Tuesday and then shut it down Wednesday.”
Woods won the Buick Open in Michigan on Aug 2 and followed it up with a four-stroke win over Padraig Harrington and Robert Allenby at Firestone Country Club yesterday.
And he insisted the two wins came as a relief following his performance at Turnberry, although he argues it was not as bad a performance as some were led to believe.
“I just felt that I had six bad holes, and that six bad holes took me out of the championship, and I only missed the cut by a shot,” he said.
“it wasn’t, I don’t think, as bad as everyone thought it would have been. You’ve just got to not have those bad stretches, just clean it up a little bit.
“I was able to do it the last couple weeks, and instead of having a bad stretch, I had positive ones,” he added.
Padraig Harrington will scale back the preparations for his US PGA Championship defence this week following his last-round defeat by Tiger Woods in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio.
Harrington put eight months of struggle with swing changes behind him at Firestone Country Club to lead for three rounds and battle down the stretch with the world No 1 for 16 holes before sending his hopes of a first title this year into a greenside pond.
He admitted that the encounter with Woods, played out in 90-degree plus heat and high humidity, had taken a physical toll ahead of his journey to Hazeltine National in Chaska for the final major of the year.
“There’s no doubt that it’s not the greatest preparation in the world to have an adrenalin-filled week of holding the lead all week and doing all the interviews and all that,” Harrington said. “I’ll probably just take it a little bit easier for the three practice days.
“Instead of getting out there, I certainly won’t be playing 54 holes over the next three days. I’ll probably just take it easy and rest up, working on the principle that if I’m to win next week I’ve got to be fresh on Sunday.”
A further obstacle to that hope, he revealed, would be the fact he and 2002 champion Rich Beem had been paired by the PGA of America to play with Woods for the first two rounds, thus having to deal with the hoopla over 36 holes that accompanies the world’s best player wherever he plays.
“The hardest thing about playing with Tiger in the first few days is very few players play very well in the next two days after,” Harrington said. “It wears guys down playing with Tiger the first two rounds of a major. On the Saturday and Sunday, after the hype has gone away, they’ve struggled.
“Because of the hype and adrenalin you use up playing with Tiger on the Thursday and Friday, there’s a little bit of a lull afterwards, and players have tended not to perform as well.”
That was not a problem for Harrington the last time he was paired with Woods in the first two days of a tournament, at this year’s US Open at Bethpage Black. “I missed the cut,” he said with a laugh.
Nevertheless, Harrington said he had taken the warning on board and would be prepared come Thursday. “The tournament doesn’t start in a major until the weekend or the last round. So the last thing you want to do is get too hyped up early on, and it’s possible with all the tension that you would.”
Harrington said he would take a lot of positives from his tie for second behind Woods at Firestone. “I was happy with the week overall, yes. Obviously a disappointing finish to the week. I certainly did a lot of things that you need to do right when you want to play good tournaments, and I did a lot of that this week.
“My short game was sharp. I probably see a bit of a weakness in my wedge play . . . that needs a bit of improvement. And the long game was sufficient anyway.”
Tiger Woods has become the first billion-dollar sportsman after 13 years as a professional golfer.
According to Forbes, the $10 million [£6.2 million] bonus that Woods got for his recent FedEx Cup win pushed him over the $1 billion [£620 million] mark in total career earnings.
Up to the beginning of 2009, the world’s number one golfer had earned $895 million from prize money, appearance fees, sponsorship and from designing golf courses.
Adding together his winnings from this year together with his annual $100 million earnings, this makes Woods the first dollar billionaire sportsman.
Woods, 34, has been the world’s highest paid sportsman since 2002, when he overtook Formula One’s Michael Schumacher.
In the past seven years his earnings have rocketed as he diversified into golf course design.
The bulk of Woods’s earnings come from his long-term partnership with sports giant Nike, which paya him upwards of £20 million a year.
The Forbes report also found America’s wealthiest are getting poorer as a direct of result of the financial crisis, with the country’s ten richest individuals seeing $39.2bn (£24.5bn) wiped off their collective wealth in just a year.
The net worth of the 400 most affluent people in the US fell by $300bn in the past 12 months, from $1.57 trillion to $1.27 trillion.
The findings come from the latest survey of America’s 400 richest people by Forbes magazine – the Forbes 400.
Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has criticised Ian Poulter’s decision not to play for Great Britain and Ireland in this week’s Vivendi Trophy.
Monty felt that Poulter’s no show was a failure to pay his dues after the Englishman had received a wild card to play in last years Ryder Cup.
Speaking on the eve of the match between GB&I and Continental Europe at Saint-Nom-la-Breteche, near Paris, Monty said of Poulter: “Not having qualified for the Tour Championship and having been picked for the last Ryder Cup team a little more effort might have been made to come here.”
That may sound mild, but in the context of the diplomatic language used by a Ryder Cup captain it was close to a bawling out. Monty deliberately singled out Poulter from the other absentees because Poulter had been given a wild card into the 2008 Ryder Cup.
Monty reiterated that “more of an effort might well have been made” by Poulter because of that debt and then repeated his disappointment on BBC radio. The Ryder Cup captain is in France as an interested observer and was anxious later that he had not spoken out of turn. Maybe some things are better said in private.
However, Poulter tweeted: “It would have been great to play [in the Vivendi], but it’s so important not to burn out. I really want to be fresh and strong for all of the Ryder Cup qualifying events that I’m going to play in. Ryder Cup means everything to me.” Poulter added that Monty would be an inspirational captain.
There is a lot of history between Monty and Poulter. Four years ago when this competition was called ‘The Seve Trophy’, Monty reprimanded Poulter for practising rather than supporting his teammates. At last year’s European Open Poulter then had a go at Monty for making too much noise.
The row reached a climax in the lead-up to Nick Faldo’s picks ahead of the 2008 Ryder Cup. Monty said that Poulter seemed to have a “hotline” to the captain.
Poulter responded by saying: “Monty has enough work to do to try to make the side, he should be getting his head down.” Monty then said: “It’s nice to be told what to do by one so young and inexperienced.”
Several other players are absent this week, but only Poulter, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia are not either excused by injury or a commitment to play in the Tour Championship in America.
Paul McGinley, the GB&I captain, said: “I’ve always been a great team player and whenever I’ve got picked for a team I play. Others guys see it another way. I might not agree with it, but I respect that they have a different opinion.
“Lee is the only one who rang me and explained why he wasn’t going to play. As I say, I didn’t agree with him and I don’t agree with him, but I respect that he’s his own man and he can make his own decisions.”
Thomas Bjorn, the captain of Continental Europe, was reluctant to comment on Garcia’s absence but he did stir things up by saying: “When you’re a Continental European there’s nothing better than beating Brits.”
It was all very in the spirit of Seve, who was the orginal force behind this competiton. There is a plane on standby to fly Seve in on Sunday morning if he feels up to it, but at the moment the Spaniard is pretty unwell after a second course of radiotherapy.
Rory McIlroy has never met Ballesteros, but he was moved by a letter that Seve sent to the two teams. McIlroy, who is making his debut in professional team competition, said: “There was bit right at the end that said: ‘It seemed like only yesterday when I came on Tour. It went so quickly. Make the most of it and enjoy your time out here because it doesn’t last for very long.’”
McIlroy, meanwhile, says he has revised his opinion of the Ryder Cup. Earlier this year, the 20 year-old branded the event an “exhibition” and was not “a huge goal” of his.
“I take my comments back a little bit and this is a great opportunity for me to show what I can do in a team event,” McIlroy said.
December 7th, 2009 
