Thought for the Day
Never take a sleeping pill and laxative on the same night
Choosing the wrong option
Some decisions in life look inexplicable no matter which direction you approach them from – the captain of the Titanic taking a detour to collect a bit more ice for his gin and tonic, William Hague opting for a twin-bed hotel room with his political aide, and Catherine Zeta-Jones marrying Michael Douglas, for example. Now we can add another, which is Colin Montgomerie’s bone-headed decision to select Padraig Harrington as one of his picks for the European Ryder Cup team. He justified his choice with the words: ‘Padraig has won three majors in the past two years. He is someone that we feel that nobody in match play golf wants to play.’
Err, well…
First, Padraig’s last major win was the 2008 US PGA Championship, exactly two years ago. Since then he has won – hang on, I’ll find it here somewhere. Well, on the US Tour he hasn’t won at all, actually. But in Europe, well, in Europe oh, he hasn’t won there either, although to be fair, he’s hardly played here, especially this year (when he was expected to, by Monty, no less, in order to earn Ryder Cup points). On the US Tour to date in 2010 he has played 17, made the cut 12 times and his best finish is tied 3rd at the WGC CA Championship. But hang on, Monty specifically mentioned his major credentials so he must have done well this year in the four big ones. Aghh, maybe not. In fact, he missed the cut in three of them and finished tied 22nd in the US Open.
In that case, to justify Monty’s faith, his recent Ryder Cup record must be fearsome. Oh, just a minute, it says here that in the nine matches he has played in the last two Ryder Cups, he hasn’t won once, gathering only two half points in those nine outings. In fact, his last Ryder Cup victories were in 2004, six long years ago, when he won four, lost one. Oddly, two of those wins were in tandem with Colin Montgomerie. It beggars belief that someone gets chosen to represent their continent in the most important team event in golf because of their reputation (ie, former glories) rather than current ability. I will not highlight the more urgently pressing case that can be made for others, such as Paul Casey and Justin Rose because space does not permit.
And probably the most depressing aspect of this sorry case of severe misjudgement is that Corey Pavin is going to do exactly the same thing and select Tiger Woods.
Fed Ex, SchmedEx
For reasons far too complicated to go into, I’m writing this on Sunday (oh, all right, I’m playing in a meeja golf competition on Monday), before the second of the FedEx Cup playoff events has been concluded. Previously, you will not need to be reminded, Matt Kuchar won the first of them, The Barclays, edging out Scotsman Martin Laird in a playoff. In the second event, the Deutsche Bank Championship, being fiercely contested as I write, after two rounds those titans of golf, Brandt Snedeker and Jason Day lead are tied for the lead. This news is considered so riveting that even the PGA Tour’s own website ignores it in favour of a picture of Phil Mickelson, currently lying tied 8th, asking if he can repeat his second round 65. Between him on the leaderboard and the event front-runners are golfing luminaries such as Charley Hoffman, Kris Blanks, John Senden, DJ Trahan and Michael Sim. Fine golfers all but not the sort of names likely to stir the blood. And how galling must it be for Snedeker and Day, do you think, to be overlooked on their own Tour’s website, in favour of someone four strokes worse after two rounds, and seven places below them?
The FedEx playoffs must be the most dispiriting, depressing, incomprehensible finale to a golfing season ever invented, and despite several tinkerings the format remains unfathomable to most and the tournaments themselves devoid of all but passing interest except to a few passionate devotees.
Less is more
One good thing might come out of the FedEx Playoffs, though, is a move towards shorter names for golf tournaments. In recent years we have seen a dispiriting trend towards ever longer titles that are obliged to include either the main sponsor, or venue name, in the heading. So we get things like The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, or the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun. It used to be a particularly American phenomenon but the European Tour is not immune – witness the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy and Saint-Omer Open presented by Neuflize OBC (I kid you not, these are real events that have been played this season). My favourite remains, of course, on the LPGA Tour which pioneered this kind of thing and is the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic presented by Kroger (although it’s run close by the P&G NW Arkansas Championship presented by Walmart).
Hopefully, and end is in sight to this nonsense, as more and more companies follow the example of the first of the four FedEx playoff events which is called, simply and perfectly, The Barclays.
Quote of the Week
Some golfers fantasise about playing in a foursome with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Sam Snead. The way I hit I’d rather play in a foursome with Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder.
Bruce Lansky