It cannot have escaped Tiger Woods’s attention, as his Gulfstream jet touched down in Sheboygan Falls for the US PGA Championship, that the wind-lashed layout of Whistling Straits had somewhere in the region of 1,000 bunkers.
So in addition to his sand-iron he might like to have picked a spade – just so he could dig a hole in one of them.
While ‘the Straits’, dubbed “links golf on steroids” by one professional, represent one of perhaps 10 courses that the standard American hacker would board any plane to play, it is as harsh a test as could be conceived for a man who has just played four rounds on the manicured fairways of Akron in 18 over par.
Woods arrived in Wisconsin under the radar, at the crack of dawn, with a haggard look born not just of his scruffy goatee beard but of his uncomfortable sense of embarrassment. We must assume, even allowing for the weary way he slapped it around at Firestone last week, that a wretched total of 298 was accompanied by a degree of shame, because to believe otherwise would be to conclude that he does not care.
Even at this nadir in his career, Woods would never be so fatalistic. In a season when he has lost his wife, his dignity, his coach and his putting stroke, he betrays little intention of giving up on a game that has proved a dependable friend. At Pebble Beach for the US Open, where he shot one of just three rounds all year under 69, he would spend hours ahead of each round working on angles and trajectories, simply to regain his former touch.
His enigmatic attitude at Akron, where he struck a television tower with one shot and mock-bowed after the rarest of birdies, hinted at a resigned recognition that none of those drills has worked. There is a school of thought among seasoned Woods observers that what the world No 1 most needs is some tough love, a reminder that many others suffer divorces but are still expected to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities.
Still, not all of them suffer such chaos, however self-inflicted, in their personal circumstances. Woods’s attempts at rehabilitation for sex addiction have not saved his marriage. He appears none the wiser on when he will next see his children. His life is in turmoil, and in a sport requiring such unremitting mental application as his, some impairment is inescapable.
Although Woods, four-times a PGA champion, could take solace from the tournament’s reputation as glory’s last shot, Whistling Straits this week is no place for one so vulnerable. Jack Nicklaus, in a private moment earlier in the year, indicated that Woods, marooned on 14 majors, would need to win at least one this year to threaten his record of 18. But the thrill of the chase has, briefly, evaporated. Forget the majors; Woods approaches the season’s final showpiece unable even to get it going in the minors.
He is due to meet Corey Pavin, the US Ryder Cup captain, this week to discuss his potential role at Celtic Manor, but was suitably blunt when asked if he wanted to play. “Not playing like this,” he replied. “I mean, I wouldn’t help the team. No one could help the team if they’re shooting 18 over par.”
On the latest evidence, 18 over could resemble a respectable total for Woods once the sandy graves of the Straits Course have swallowed him whole. He hardly boasts an enviable record at the place, having only narrowly survived the cut at the PGA in 2004. That hollow look in his eyes will not vanish easily over the coming week.
So we should excuse him if he fails again to contend, but instead stares out at the waves of Lake Michigan and laments how it ever came to this. Then, at last, he might begin to find the answers he craves.
Statistics show Tiger is losing his bite
» Driving: Woods claimed to have controlled the ball beautifully in June’s AT&T National at Aronimink, and that he had it on a piece of string throughout his ragged Open performance at St Andrews. But closer analysis hints at a delusion: he is ranked 163rd in the PGA Tour standings for driving accuracy. The fear instilled in rivals by his distance is diminishing, too; an average of 298 yards is impressive, but pales against the 330 routinely reached by Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy.
» Iron play: Curiously enough, if a category was developed to judge a player by his irons from 175-225 yards, Woods would be the undisputed No 1 in the world. His masterly ball-striking from this range tends to be what keeps him in tournaments when all other departments of his game are failing and in a mess. Closer in, he is more fallible, landing his shots farther from the pin and dropping 40 places in the rankings for approach play from last season before his troubles.
» Scrambling: Not only is Woods finding more sticky situations on the course, he is failing to extricate himself from them as elegantly. Statistically, ’scrambling’ – or his ability to save par after missing the green – is the area where his play has deteriorated the most this year, with his proportion of successful up-and-downs dropping from 68 per cent in 2009 to a less-than-remarkable 53 in 2010. His chipping is nothing like as clinical as in his pomp.
» Short game: Nowhere is Woods’s “head full of spaghetti”, to borrow a description from former Europe Ryder Cup captain Mark James, more evident than in his putting. At times the holes on Akron’s greens last week seemed to be shouting “over here, Tiger”, such were the margins by which he missed. Seeds of the demise were sown by his indecision at The Open, where he abandoned a fresh Nike putter – his first change for 12 years – in favour of his old Scotty Cameron model.
Whisper it to Michael Schumacher, but not all Germans lose their powers as the years march on. And mutter it quietly in the vicinity of Sebastian Vettel, but some sons of Prussia can win cleanly from pole position as well.
Bernhard Langer made both points emphatically at Carnoustie, winning the Senior Open Championship with a closing round of 72 to beat current US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin by one shot. Pavin had said earlier that he rather liked the idea of a seniors version of the transatlantic team competition, but his enthusiasm may have waned after seeing Langer at his efficient best.
Langer has never looked to be in a hurry to do anything on a golf course, but he has set a blistering pace as far as filling his trophy cabinet is concerned since he joined the over-50s ranks three years ago. This was his 10th seniors title and he has also topped the US Champions Tour money list for the past two seasons. In winning at Carnoustie, he also becomes the first player from Continental Europe to lift a senior major championship.
Although he had a mid-round wobble, Langer had looked the epitome of cool earlier in the day, measuring each and every shot with characteristic precision.Testing the wind, he pulled up so many blades of grass that the Carnoustie greenkeepers can probably save themselves the bother of mowing the place for the next two weeks. However, his composure left him at the par-three eighth, where a putt from just off the upturned-saucer green gasped its last halfway up the slope, an error that led to his first bogey of the day.
Another soon followed,as Langer three-putted the 10th, Pavin had been four shotsback after the seventh, but the gap had shrunk to one by the time thetwo men reached the 12th tee. The two men matched each other’s birdies at the 14th, but the American made a critical error when he put his approach into a greenside bunker at the 15th, carding the bogey that effectively knocked himout of the contest. From that point on, Langer could play safe all the way to the finish, where a cheque for £205,000 was waiting.
The crowd warmed to Langer as the week wore on, but Tom Watson still drew levels ofadoration that no others could match. Yet while Watson had kissed the parapet of the Swilcan Bridge as he took his leave of St Andrews last week, there was more chance that he would throw himself into the Barry Burn than get smoochy with any its crossings as he bid his competitive farewell to Carnoustie with three straight bogeys over its last three holes.
Watson ended with a 74, despite an eagle at the par-five sixth, where his eight-iron from 129 yards took one hop at the front of the green and dived into the hole. “Not too many good shots after that,” said the 60-year-old wryly. “I finished on a bad note at 18 with a fat sand wedge into the burn.That’s not a good way to finish.”
The organisers of the St Jude Classic, the warm-up tournament to the US Open, have refused Lee Westwood an invitation to this year’s event because of a tiny logo on his shirt. The tournament director claimed that the UPS branding clashes with FedEx, who are based in Memphis
Westwood joked at Tuesday’s press conference at Quail Hollow that his application for the St Jude had been turned down because of the small UPS logo on his golf shirts. At least reporters thought that it was a joke at the time. It turned out that Westwood was more serious than he knew.
Phil Cannon, the tournament director of the St Jude Classic, said about Westwood’s exclusion: "One of his sponsors gives us a little concern. Brown trucks (a reference to UPS) aren’t welcome onsite."
It is an extraordinary snub to the number four player in the world and disrupts Westwood’s preparation for the second major of the season. A fortnight ago Westwood told Telegraph Sport : "I will try to play at Pebble Beach a couple of times beforehand and in Memphis the week before the US Open . The practice rounds at Augusta worked well for the Masters."
Those plans are now in ruins. It is unthinkable that the Scottish Open, the tournament before the Open , would treat a top American with similar contempt. Indeed many have been made more than welcome at Loch Lomond over the years.
The episode gives Westwood extra motivation to win at Quail Hollow this week. A victory in North Carolina would give Westwood automatic membership of the US Tour and straight entry into the St Jude Classic. If that happened Westwood might turn up with an extra big UPS logo, just to make his point.
Cannon says that most of their invites go to past champions and local players. John Daly, a Tennessee resident, has already received an exemption, never mind a career of fines for loutish behaviour. But Westwood isn’t welcome because of a couple inches of branding.
Westwood said: "I’m at the point in my career now and the age where I’m at a standard where I can play pretty much where I want, when I want. That’s how it is this year, apart from one event where I haven’t been able to get an invite."
That event turns out to be the St Jude Classic, presented by Smith & Nephew, a medical firm that brands itself as "helping improve people’s lives." They haven’t done much to improve Westwood’s life.
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
Padraig Harrington knows he is in a race against time to have his game in good enough shape to win a third successive Open title.
“If I’m going to play well in the Open it’s got to start now - I’m running out of time,” Harrington said on the eve of the French Open Alstom which starts on Thursday at Le Golf National near Paris.
The Dubliner has missed his last four cuts – and five of the last six – after deciding to make swing changes despite his back-to-back major wins last season.
“I’m always optimistic,” he said, “and I still believe I’m going to be ready. But, then again, I thought I’d be ready for the US Open.” He had two rounds of 76 at Bethpage Black to miss the cut by eight shots. He finished joint 137th of the 156 players.
Because of his triumphs at Carnoustie, Birkdale and Oakland Hills Harrington still finds himself joint second favourite – behind Tiger Woods, of course – for Turnberry.
But it is a demonstration of where he is at right now that he is only joint fourth favourite this week behind Ryder Cup team-mates Ian Poulter, runner-up to him last July, Lee Westwood and Soren Hansen.
Without a top-10 finish since January, Harrington ranks an incredible 195th out of 212 in driving accuracy on the European Tour this season. “I’m still trying to find the magic stick that goes straight and long,” he said. “Aren’t we all?”
He has been experimenting with different drivers and gives no guarantee that he will stick with the one he settles on for the first round.
Three days were spent with coach Bob Torrance last week. “At the US Open my backswing had totally gone off,” said Harrington. “We weren’t trying to change that, but I was focusing so much on my downswing.
“Last week we were doing a lot of covering of old stuff, putting things back in position. For my preparations to be spot-on I shouldn’t be tinkering with my swing. I’m well capable of winning when I haven’t prepared properly, but it reduces the chances.”
Harrington also defends his Irish PGA title next week before heading to Scotland and of the two tournaments he said: “It’s more important that I play well [in terms of ball-striking] rather than perform well [in terms of results].
“I do need these two weeks to show myself some form. Having not performed very well I need a certain level of confidence going into the Open and it’s important I show signs of having control over the ball.
“I’d like to score well too, but other things can affect that. I don’t need the results, but I do need to play well.”
Long term, however, the 37 year-old is excited about the prospects of adding to his three majors.
“I’ve never been more enthusiastic or more positive about my game going forward. It’s still not bedded in and I won’t be going to the first tee here with it automatic, but I’m thrilled with what I see when it’s good.
“I’m always trying to improve and sometimes there are short-term sacrifices for long-term gains.”
Poulter, based himself in Florida for the first half of the year, returned to the heat of Britain last week wishing he had had air-conditioning installed in his home.
This is his first tournament in Europe since the Volvo Masters almost eight months ago. He has not won in that time, but did have a notable second place behind Henrik Stenson at the Players Championship in May and has risen to 16th in the world,only five behind Harrington. This time last year there were 28 places between them.
“I had my eyes fixed in January [he had an astigmatism and was having a problem in fading light] and just before the Masters my wrist was sorted [he had a cyst],” Poulter said.
“I also think that mentally I’m better than I was heading to Birkdale. I had some putting issues at the start of the week there. I wore a hole in the practice green.”
Like Westwood, Colin Montgomerie, Masters champion Angel Cabrera and John Daly next week’s Barclays Scottish Open is also on Poulter’ss schedule.
But this week carries more prize money– £3.4 million against the £3 million on offer at Loch Lomond. the winner receives more than £565,000.
Miguel Angel Jimenez would love to mark his 500th Tour event by claiming that.
Tiger Woods said his role as host of the AT&T National, which begins today at Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington, DC, provided an added incentive to finish top of the leaderboard at Congressional Country Club.
“It is fun winning your own event,” said the 33 year-old world number one who headlines a 120-player field at pristine Congressional, site of the 2011 US Open.
Among those also entered are newly crowned US Open champion Lucas Glover, 2008 AT&T winner Anthony Kim, world number three Paul Casey and triple major winner Vijay Singh.
What’s wrong with British tennis? The answer is so painfully simple. It’s not about money, it’s about people.
A few years ago English golf was nearly as dilapidated as English tennis. Lee Westwood was the only player in the world’s top 100. Now English golf has a world No 3 to rank alongside Andy Murray in tennis, four other Englishmen in the world’s top 25 and two more in the top 50.
More good young golfers are coming through all the time, but government ministers never make a fuss over golf’s success. The opposition is no better. When David Cameron was asked about the state of British tennis the other day, he talked about looking to compete with other sports like “cricket, football and badminton.” Not a mention of golf. You want to wake these people up. You want to show them what is going on in their own country. You want them to take a look at the achievements of the English Golf Union and the Faldo Junior Series.
More than anything you want them to get down on their knees and look at the grassroots. Our politicians always seem to bang on about the grassroots, but most of them wouldn’t know their fescue from their ryegrass. Royal North Devon is England’s oldest golf course. It’s sometimes known as Westward Ho! And if you didn’t know any better you might assume it was populated by former captains of the R&A and retired judges. It is. But it also has teachers and shopkeepers and the unemployed and Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Royal North Devon is friendly, it’s inclusive, it’s grassroots.
If Serena and Venus’s dad Richard Williams had arrived at the club on a wet Sunday morning in May he would have probably sneered. He would have seen middle class white people chipping golf balls while an over enthusiastic mum jumped up and down.
Williams would have walked away and said that English golf needed to go into the ghetto. And he would have been wrong - because this is the ghetto. This part of Devon is one of the poorest socio-economic areas in England.
Pro Iain Parker says: “A lot of the kids come from working class backgrounds with parents on benefits. There’s money but no jobs. We’re trying to be the community club.” Parker says that a lot of pros like him are interested in junior development because of all the obstacles they encountered when they were young.
Royal North Devon has built a special little ‘pimpley ground’ course for the children to play on. There are lessons and challenges and mars bars each weekend. When the kids get good enough Parker takes them up to the National Skills Challenge put on by the EGU at Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire.
Last year they reached the final and one of the boys holed his first bunker shot. Parker said: “He’s won his age group two years running. He’s from an underprivileged background, one of eight or nine kids, parents split up, mother on benefit. Golf’s been very beneficial.
“It gives them a focus. The discipline and organisation you need to be a good golfer helps with other things in life. Some of these kids weren’t doing particularly well in class and the golf has really helped them with their schooling.” This is the grassroots. This is about the people, not the money. This is about people like Parker being prepared to go into the local schools and get the kids involved. This is about people like Gary Smith, a retired teacher from Wolverhampton, and granddad Alan Vichion giving up their time to run a junior section.
And this is about the lady jumping up and down –Carol is not a mum, she doesn’t have children, she’s not a member because the course is too hard for her - she just comes down and helps. These are the people who make champions.
I’ve stalked this putt from every angle, but whichever way I look at it, it seems to break the same way. Tiger will win the US Open this week.
Look at what he did when he won the Memorial at Muirfield village eight days ago. Tiger hit 14 fairways out of 14 on the last day. If he does that at Bethpage then it’s game over. I don’t think Tiger will be gifted the US Open, but I do think he’ll win it. He has to be the overwhelming favourite.
The US Open used to suit my game and with three second places and a third on my debut I have a fair idea of what is required. The key is understanding that par is a very, very good score. You hear players say that about the US Open but very few are able to live it on the course.
Look at what he did when he won the Memorial at Muirfield village eight days ago. Tiger hit 14 fairways out of 14 on the last day. If he does that at Bethpage then it’s game over. I don’t think Tiger will be gifted the US Open, but I do think he’ll win it. He has to be the overwhelming favourite.
The US Open used to suit my game and with three second places and a third on my debut I have a fair idea of what is required. The key is understanding that par is a very, very good score. You hear players say that about the US Open but very few are able to live it on the course.
Phil Mickelson can expect an emotional welcome from players, caddies and fans when he returns to the PGA Tour in the St Jude Classic, which begins on Thursday in Memphis, Tennessee.
The world No 2 has not competed since the Players’ Championship five weeks ago, having suspended his campaign after his wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Mickelson has long been a fans’ favourite, while his wife is also a popular figure on the American circuit and the couple have received huge support since the diagnosis.
“It is hard to describe how much the outpouring of support has meant to us,” Mickelson said after the PGA Tour Wives Association urged players and their wives to wear pink during last month’s Colonial Invitational in a “Pink Out” of breast cancer support.
“We both had tears rolling down our faces. It was such an incredibly thoughtful gesture, not only for Amy but for the 200,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.”
Mickelson is playing in Memphis to prepare for next week’s US Open in New York. He heads a strong field, with four other players in the world’s top 12 competing alongside him. Sergio Garcia is featuring, along with Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington and Colombian Camilo Villegas.
Justin Leonard is back in Tennessee to defend his title and, like Mickelson, he is using this week as an ideal warm-up for the US Open.
“It’s a good way to get ready,” Leonard said. “Par is a good score and you’ve got to come here this week and grind out a lot of pars. That’s certainly going to be part of the task.”
Hundreds of golf clubs throughout the UK are fighting for survival during the economic downturn as cash-strapped players cut their spending.
Growing numbers of clubs face being driven out of business as the credit crunch forces tens of thousands of golfers to ditch expensive membership fees to reduce their leisure outlay.
About half the country’s 2,500 clubs have lost members in the last year, figures show.
Many struggling clubs are reducing membership fees and offering cut-price joining deals to stem an exodus of players amid the recession.
Clubs, which for decades have turned away membership applicants, now have vacancies for new players.
Waiting lists have also virtually disappeared.
Dozens of club managers and greenkeepers have been made redundant as a result.
Industry analysts say that as hundreds of thousands of members are forced to tighten their belts on their leisure activities, crucial food and drink takings in the clubhouse have also been affected.
But growing unemployment has also fuelled the slump in spending by golfing enthusiasts.
A shortage of corporate golf days has also hit the industry hard as companies cut back on their entertaining of clients.
More than 800 new courses were created in the 1980s and 90s, when golf’s popularity hit new heights thanks to British stars Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam.
Experts say there are too many clubs chasing too few players.
The English Golf Union, the sport’s governing body, said that 19 clubs had gone into administration since the start of the year.
It warned that many others faced closure as their takings are hit the recession.
A leading corporate rescue specialist company has reported that in the first three months of the year almost 130 golf clubs admitted they have faced “significant problems”.
A further four face ‘critical problems’ while another five have been insolvent.
In addition clubs have been forced to make their own redundancies and cut the numbers of greenkeepers and staff working in club houses and pro shops.
A spokeswoman for the English Golf Union said: “It’s going to be a challenging year for all clubs and membership has clearly fallen, although we don’t know by how much.
“We are putting initiatives in place to help clubs get through this difficult situation.
“But what we are finding is golfers who stop being members are still playing - often at pay-and-play courses - and becoming nomadic golfers.”
But Kevin Buckett of insolvency specialist MCR, believes that more clubs will go under this year as unemployment rises.
He warned: “I don’t think the knock-on effect has happened yet.
“Membership is normally renewed in March or April and I think the full effect will be seen in two or three months’ time when membership is not taken up and clubs start to have cashflow problems.”
John Parkinson of the Golf Club Managers Association said: “Clubs are not getting the same number of visitors and income is on the slide.
“The only way to increase that is by higher subscriptions. But that is a Catch-22 situation.
“Put up subscriptions and you will lose more members.”
The British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association said it was acting for an increasing number of managers and greenkeepers who have been made redundant.
golf
August 10th, 2010 
