Thought for the Day
Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Blinkered and blinded
The US PGA Tour has a long history of looking after its own, of an insularity and narrow-mindedness that does neither it, not the game of golf, any favours. As far back as the 1940s the Tour changed its rules to exclude Bobby Locke, who finished second on the money list in 1947 and won three times the following year. And of course, Seve Ballesteros fell foul of this protectionism when he was at the height of his powers in the 1980s. First, Tour commissioner Dene Beman created special privileges to attract Europeans, especially Seve, to play in America. Then, after two years in which the Spaniard carried all before him, and American players complained that he was taking tournament spots and prize money that were rightfully theirs, these privileges were quickly withdrawn.
Now, just to prove the old adage that a leopard does not change its spots, the US Tour announces that Ricky Fowler and not Rory McIlroy is the Rookie of the Year. The young American, who is both likeable and extremely talented, recorded seven top-10s in 28 events, which included finishing runner-up twice. In comparison, McIlroy had five top-10s from 16 events, and won the Wells Fargo Championship in May, destroying a world-class field with weekend scores of 66, 62. Oh, and McIlroy twice finished third in Majors.
Lee Westwood commented on this in one of his tweets and added what for me was the most telling comment about the snub to the young man from Northern Ireland: ‘Oh yes, and he was on the winning Ryder Cup team.’
A game of dishonour
Don’t you think it strange that in a game where honour, sportsmanship and integrity are supposed to be sacrosanct, that the legislators of golf assume that every one of us will cheat, given half a chance. Not only that, but if a genuine error is made, the assumption always is that you have deliberately tried to gain an unfair advantage.
I refer, of course, to the issue of marking your scorecard – and the stringent, some would say mediaeval – penalty of disqualification you will receive should you make a mistake. The game’s rule-makers, the R&A and USGA, say that no-one can accurately say what is in the mind of someone else, so it is impossible to judge whether such an error is a legitimate mistake or an attempt to gain an unfair advantage – so they assume it is the latter and apply the same swingeing penalty to everyone.
This is the only possible explanation for the fact that dozens, if not hundreds, of people are disqualified from competition every year; but no-one is ever considered to have suffered from simple human frailty, no-one is ever allowed another chance and no-one ever has the disqualification penalty rescinded. And if you make a mistake that means you sign for a higher score than the one taken – as most famously committed by Roberto De Vicenzo in the 1968 Masters, when his error cost him the chance of a playoff – you just have to live with the consequences.
But as Jimmy Demaret said of that occasion: ‘Thousands of people saw him take a four on 17, and millions more watched it at home on TV – I think it will stand up in court.’
And there’s the rub, a standard of proof that would be acceptable in any court in this, or any other land, is not considered enough by the R&A. In 2003, Mark Roe and Jesper Parnevik famously forgot to swap scorecards on the first tee of the third round of the Open and were subsequently disqualified. This was despite the fact that the Royal & Ancient, the players themselves, the official scorer and R&A rules official who walked every hole with the pair and millions sat at home could all attest to their scores.
How can it be right that such a blatant injustice is allowed to stand?
Just about every week on a pro Tour somewhere in the world, some poor schmuck or schmuckess will be disqualified and in nearly every case it will be because they inadvertently marked an incorrect score lower than the one they actually took (or to be absolutely exact, their playing partner marked the wrong score and they didn’t check it properly).
Do we think they’re all cheats – it would appear so, judging by the punishment that is meted out.
And while we’re at it, what is so sacrosanct about the scorer’s hut? Spot the mistake while you’re in there, whip out the eraser, correct the error and everything’s hunky-dory. Take one step outside, however, before the blunder comes to light and it’s an early flight home. What would be so wrong, at the very least, of changing the rule so that if the slip-up is corrected before you tee off in the next round, or before the presentation ceremony if it’s the final day, then you’re okay?
Ambitious ambitions
With a blanket of snow and ice laying across the UK for a couple of weeks now, our opportunities to play our favourite game are not too abundant – especially if, like me, you live in Scotland, where even the links courses look like picture postcards but are unplayable. So of course, we turn our minds to other things, like making a bucket list of things that all golfers should do before they die. Here are my suggestions, but I’m sure you could do much better.
1. Play the Old Course at St Andrews
2. Watch a Major championship
3. See your drive end up behind the tee
4. Four-putt
5. Hole an unlikely putt on the last to win your match
6. Score an eagle
7. Play a shot from a water hazard
8. Lose a ball off the tee and then make birdie with the second
9. Take at least one golf holiday
10. Break something in the house because of an ill-thought out practice swing
11. Sneak off to play when you should be working.
If you have any other suggestions, please send them in
Quote of the Week
I don’t say my golf game is bad, but if I grew tomatoes they’d come up sliced.
Anon