Republic of Ireland
Martin Vousden – good to see the Tiger’s teeth again
Dec 05 2011 Posted in Golf News, Martin Vousden by GoKartThought for the Day:
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese
Good to see that fist pump again
Whatever you may think about Tiger Woods, unless you’re a complete sadist, it was surely good to see him win again at the weekend. After grabbing the halfway lead it looked as if everything was back to normal but of course, this Tiger is a very different animal to the magnificent golfing machine we admired between 1997 and 2009. So when he had a third round 73 in the Chevron Challenge to fall back into the pack I feared the worst but a last day 69 was just good enough – more impressively, he birdied the last two holes, from 15 and six feet respectively – to snatch the title from his playing partner Zach Johnson.
The shame is that Tiger is not now scheduled to play again until next month but at least he’ll have something to smile about over Christmas.
Drama once more
Just as the FedEx Playoffs on the US Tour consistently underwhelm, the Dubai World Championship seems always to provide an exciting finale to the European Tour season. By winning the UBS Hong Kong Open, young scamp Rory McIlroy has put just a little bit of pressure onto Luke Donald, who for some months has apparently been a shoo-in to top the Race to Dubai money-list. Should he manage to hang on and clinch that title, Donald would be the first player ever to top the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic in the same season, which would be an astonishing achievement. And he’s still (more…)
Martin Vousden. Not impressed.
Dec 02 2011 Posted in Golf News, Martin Vousden by GoKartThought for the Day:
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
Does this look like an interested face?
Writing about golf is my job, and one which I enjoy very much. But like all jobs, there are the odd bits you would rather not do – explain the intricacies of the FedEx Playoff scoring system, for example, or think too deeply about some of the things Tiger Woods has been up to, or interview Sir Nick Faldo, under any circumstances. Added to this short list, I have to confess, is the requirement to show the slightest bit of interest in the Presidents Cup.
There are two main reasons for my resistance. First, it’s a competition that was created, rather than one which evolved, and that’s usually a recipe for failure. As a contrast, consider the Masters. It was initially a private, invitation-only event but for a number of reasons – the high regard in which Bobby Jones was held, the magnificence of the course on which it is played, the ‘shot heard around the world’ by Gene Sarazen in its second staging – it quickly achieved an eminent status that lifted it above run-of-the-mill tournaments and eventually led to it being regarded as golf’s fourth major. In stark contrast, no matter how many times the Americans tell us that their flagship PGA Tour event, the Players (which they now insist on labelling THE PLAYERS) is the game’s fifth major, the rest of the world looks down its nose, says ‘Yeh, right’ and ignores this patently ludicrous claim. So it is with the Presidents Cup, which America would love to believe has the same stature as the Ryder Cup but this level of significance, importance or relevance exists only in the addled and deluded minds of a few people at the US Tour – and I’m not even convinced that they believe it.
The second reason I just cannot get interested in the competition is its predictability. It has now been staged nine times and the scoreline for America reads: (more…)
Add a comment TweetRacist? Or just plain stupid? Martin Vousden considers.
Nov 21 2011 Posted in Golf News, Martin Vousden by GoKartThought for the Day:Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now
Runaway mouth
There is no doubt that Steve Williams, erstwhile caddy to Tiger Woods, is a boorish, arrogant, obnoxious, egotistical prat but racist? I don’t think so. You will almost certainly have noticed the media storm that has been whipped up by Williams’ insensitive, stupid remark at a private dinner during last week’s WGC HSBC Championship in China but just in case you missed it, while accepting a tongue-in-cheek award for ‘Celebration of the Year’, Williams said of Woods: ‘It was my aim to shove it right up that black asshole.’ He was talking about his first taste of victory on the bag of Adam Scott, shortly after being sacked by Woods, when he said in the immediate aftermath of the triumph that it was: ‘The best win of my career.’ But to put it in context, the caddy dinner is always a pretty raucous, irreverent occasion in which bad language and offensive comments are (more…)
Padraig – if it ain’t broke….Vousden on swing surgery.
Nov 07 2011 Posted in Golf News, Martin Vousden by GoKartThought for the Day
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
There’s odd, and then there’s Irish
I have remarked before on the peculiar nature of pro golfers who insist on changing things that ain’t broke – specifically, the golf swing with which they have just won a truckload of money and several titles. No-one exemplifies this baffling phenomenon more graphically than Padraig Harrington, who won three majors in 13 months and in the process became the first European to lift the Wanamaker Trophy since 1930, and the first to successfully defend the claret jug since 1906, which amounts to a pretty impressive roll-call of achievement. Despite all this, Padraig decided that his method of swinging the club was in such disarray that he needed to go back to the drawing board, dismantle what was clearly functioning extremely well and try something new, in the hope of even greater success (although what would be measured as greater success than three majors in just over a year is hard to imagine).
In consequence, since that last major win, the 2008 US PGA Championship, Padraig has won bugger all and slipped from 3rd in the world to 78th. He can’t even taste victory in his home championship, the Irish Open, which tends to showcase a field that, in comparison to most Tour events is, how can I put this delicately – pretty sub-standard. And in the middle of this seemingly inexorable (more…)
Add a comment TweetVousden. On saying it how it is.
Oct 20 2011 Posted in Golf News, Martin Vousden by GoKartThought for the Day
How do you know when you’re out of invisible ink?
Rest well
You may not recognise the name of Dave Hill, who died at the end of last month, but he was one of the most accomplished shot-makers the American Tour has ever seen. He was also one of its most outspoken (and therefore frequently fined) members, a man of genuine wit and one of the participants in the single most bad-tempered Ryder Cup match ever seen – one that nearly caused a riot.
It happened in 1969 and, although the chief culprit was Hill’s fourball partner, Ken Still (who could start an argument at a convention of pacifists), Dave Hill and their opponents, Bernard Gallacher and Brian Huggett, nevertheless played their part. It is ironic that this Ryder Cup is best remembered for the Jack Nicklaus putt that he conceded on the final green to give Tony Jacklin a half because what preceded that remarkable gesture was the most spiteful single match in the competition’s history. The week got off to a bad start when the (more…)
Add a comment TweetSolheim Showdown. Vousden reflects.
Sep 28 2011 Posted in Golf News by GoKartThought for the Day
Why is it that no matter what colour bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?
Solheim shocker
Trish Johnson, an on-course commentator for Sky Sports and a veteran herself of eight Solheim Cups, summed it all up neatly as the final day at Killeen Castle was reaching its climax. I quote from memory.
‘It’s always the same,’ she said. ‘Europe does well in the fourball and foursomes but gets pegged back over the last few holes. And then the Americans win the singles.’
And so it appeared this time until those final three, magnificent matches. Suzann Pettersen one-putted the last four greens, birdying the final three holes, to turn a two-hole deficit into a one-hole win against Michelle Wie. Rookie Caroline Hedwall won the last two holes against Ryan O’Toole to grab a crucial half point. And fellow rookie Azahara Munoz held on for a one-hole win in the final match to seal the deal at 15-13. We can only hope that (more…)
Add a comment Tweet
