Thought for the Day:
Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and when he grows up, he’ll never be able to merge his car onto a motorway
G’Day Mate
There is nothing more pleasing in sport, or life, as a tale of redemption – the hero who trampolines back from desperate disappointment or failure to eventually triumph (you can add the phrase ‘against all odds’ if you wish because most newspapers and magazines probably will). And so, despite huge sympathy for Angel Cabrera, who epitomised how to lose with grace, let us roll out the bunting and raise a glass or three to Adam Scott. Ever since he emerged as a pro golfer there have been predictions of a glowing future, replete with major championships. The most notable of these came from his coach, Butch Harmon, who famously said that Adam’s basic swing fundamentals were better even than those of Tiger, and he was right. Scott has always had a classically orthodox swing of perfect tempo. And the predictions appeared prescient as the young Australian made good progress, with a steady, if not spectacular accumulation of titles – nine wins in America, eight in Europe – with the most notable of these being the Player’s Championship. But that was in 2004 and the huge hole in his CV was his comparatively dreadful form in the majors. For a full decade he simply disappeared when any of the four big ones were played and to say that his major record was a disappointment is akin saying that Paris Hilton is a bit of a goer.
But then he switched to the long putter and suddenly he was a contender. In 2012 alone he finished tied eighth in the Masters, tied 15th in the US Open, tied 11th in the US PGA and of course, runner-up to Ernie Els in The Open, having a cataclysmic meltdown over the last four holes. But like Rory McIlroy before him he was able, somehow, to use that enormous disappointment as a spur rather than sheet anchor. It has taken him a while but I’m sure that if we could ask him this morning he would say that it has all been worthwhile.
Not a loser
Angel Cabrera may not have a second green jacket but he has, I’m sure, made even more friends as a result of coming so close. It has always been easy to like him for the unpretentious, unruffled and uncomplicated way in which he has gone about his business, swinging the club with a languid, easy grace and getting on with it. He has always been a welcome antidote to the affected, if not downright pompous self-importance that seems to afflict so many. Jason Day please take note – it is possible to hit a golf ball both well and in less time than it takes glaciers to form. Cabrera’s apparently genuine admiration for Adam Scott’s play was, for me, the highlight of the week. Having hit his approach shot to what turned out to be the final hole, when Scott matched it he immediately turned and gave a thumbs up (which, inevitably, Peter Alliss missed in the BBC commentary booth). Angel is a true gentleman.
Rules is rules
Of all the majors it is this first one that often throws up more stories and drama that the other three combined and this year it was two highly controversial rules decisions that dominated the news. The first concerned the Chinese teenage prodigy Tianlang Guan – and am I alone in being a little spooked by his apparent absence of emotion? His unchanging facial expression, not smiling even when he holed a crucial putt made me think of a cyborg rather than a young, inexperienced golfer on the journey of a lifetime. Perhaps he was just in shock. Those who suggest, however, that the penalty applied for slow play, the first in Masters history, was unfair, are wide of the mark for two reasons. First, in a sport and event not noted for the speed at which participants move, he stood out as even more excruciatingly slow than the rest. He was spoken to on the 10th, put on the clock at the 12th, warned again on the 13th, and yet again on the 17th tee, before finally getting the stroke penalty while he dithered over his approach to the green on the same hole. Second, the rules official involved was the European Tour’s John Paramor, and to question his integrity, as part of some conspiracy, is to grossly misunderstand the man and his character. Perhaps no-one has, rather famously, ever been docked a stroke before in America because they don’t have officials of the same calibre and guts as John.
Which brings us to Tiger. I have been an advocate, for many years now, of common sense and logic being applied when it comes to rules infringements. Yes, he dropped incorrectly and should have added two penalty strokes to his score and for that, disqualification is the punishment. But the game’s lawmakers recently decided to remind us all that, in exceptional cases, disqualification can be waived by the committee. They reviewed the incident before Tiger signed his card and decided no infringement had taken place. When he then described to the press what he had done, and it became clear that he had violated the rules, the committee looked again and took the very sensible decision that, as they had previously told the player he was okay to sign his card, it would then have been grossly unfair to penalise him retrospectively for following their advice. It raises the question of why, during its review, the committee did not see what was obvious to a blind man (that Tiger was dropping in the wrong place) but that is a different debate for another day.
Quote of the Week
Hitting a golf ball is an act so precise that there is unlimited room for error. That error begins in the mind and finds expression in the swing
Lorne Rubenstein