Thought for the Day
Never do something permanently foolish just because you are temporarily upset

Class can be temporary, too
When a tour golfer is going through a bad spell we often hear the mantra: ‘Form is temporary, class is permanent’ but I wonder. Leaving aside the journeyman pro who hits a vein of form that can last a few months or even longer – do you remember Steve Richardson – there are still those who seem to have everything, be the real deal, and yet they go off the boil never to recover.

I’m not talking about the surprise one-hit wonders who manage to pull everything together for one week, which just happens to be the week in which a major occurs. Into these ranks we can add the names of Ben Curtis in The Open and the other one whose name is so difficult to remember (Todd Hamilton). In the US Open we have had Lucas Glover and Geoff Ogilvy; Larry Mize and Mike Weir had their four days of glory in the Masters and the US PGA Championship has seen unexpected winners in Jason Dufner and Yang Yong-eun, the first Asian golfer to win a men’s major, and he beat Tiger Woods into the bargain.

These names represent the fortuitous moments that occur in all sports, where that welcome but rare peak of ability coincides with one of the biggest events of the calendar year, but turns out to be a one-off. Whether Danny Willett joins their number remains to be seen.

What I am thinking about is the golfer who is more than a journeyman; a player whose skill and temperament set them apart from the herd because of innate ability and application. The sort of competitor who becomes a multiple major winner. The most obvious recent example is Padraig Harrington, winner of three major championships in a 13-month stretch. But that was in 2007/08 and since then following this ever-likeable Irishman has been an exercise in endless frustration. And that’s just for us, the fans; imagine what it has been like for the man himself.

He has flattered to deceive, winning the 2015 Honda Classic and 2016 Portugal Masters but these rare glimpses of his talent have been short-lived blips on the radar rather than evidence of a true return to masterful form. Since his last major win, the 2008 US PGA Championship, he has missed the cut or not taken part in more majors (21) than made it through to the weekend (15). As I write he sits 168th in the world rankings.

Another golfer who I thought was the real deal, and would go on to a stellar career is the German Martin Kaymer. His three wins in America are the 2010 US PGA Championship and four years later the Players Championship and US Open. He has also won nine times in Europe between 2008/11 and, of course, sunk the winning putt in the most memorable Ryder Cup of recent times – the 2012 ‘Miracle of Medinah’. That is a career record of which anyone would be proud but while I thought he would kick on to become one of European golf’s most proficient and consistent performers, recent years would suggest otherwise.

In Martin’s case the 2015 Abu Dhabi HSBC Champions tournament may have left the kind of permanent scar from which a career never recovers. Leading by six going into the final round he shot a sickening 75 and lost by three. It was a scale of collapse that brought to mind Greg Norman’s meltdown in the 1996 Masters. Norman did win once in 1997 and once in 1998 but that traumatic day and injuries effectively ended Greg’s competitive career and I sincerely hope that it is not and indicator for Kaymer.

The good news for the affable German is that, at the age of 32 he still has time to resurrect himself from his current world ranking of 77th (down from 52nd at the end of 2016). Padraig Harrington, by contrast, is 46 and if he is to taste more glory days it will surely be among the ranks of the seniors.

The other glimmer of hope for Kaymer is that such slumps can be escaped from – just look at Lee Westwood. The former world number one, who has tasted victory more than 40 times, on five different continents, endured the sort of dip in form in the early part of this century that drives strong men to drink or bow-legged women. He changed his coach and caddy (more than once) but eventually decided to stop trying so hard. In an interview with David Feherty he revealed that instead of continually focusing on his score he decided to just concentrate of his swing – if he got that right, the scores would follow.

As is so often the case in golf it would appear that the key to playing better is less, not more.

Quote of the Week
Comparatively few golfers ever show that they are aware that the golf architect tries to design a course that rewards an intelligent golfer and penalises a stupid one.
Tommy Armour

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Thought for the Day
If you really want to do something you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse

Rory discovers the realities of the good life
Everyone has a boss; someone to whom they are answerable. Even the megalomaniac tycoon has to consider shareholders, or the customers who buy his services or products. So it is little surprise to learn that tour golfers, including the best in the world, have to dance to someone else’s tune. You may have thought that, as self-employed, independent practitioners who sink or swim by their own efforts each week, the tour pros might be immune to such pressures but it ain’t so – just ask Rory McIlroy.

He, you may remember, damaged his ribs in practice way back in December. He tried to get an early start to the season during the ‘desert swing’ in the Middle East after playing one event in South Africa but withdrew from the Abu Dhabi WGC Championship, hoping to get fit in time for the Masters. Unfortunately, the pattern of heralded comeback followed by disappointing results and more withdrawals has continued throughout the season. Following the last major of 2017, the USPGA Championship, he announced to no real surprise that he might miss the rest of the year.

Some of us fervently hoped he would, and write-off 2017 as a bad lot. We wanted him to see his dismal year as a consequence of an initial problem being constantly exacerbated by premature attempts to get back into competition. It was something of an unexpected revelation, therefore, when he returned to compete in the FedEx playoffs over recent weeks. It was no surprise, however, to see him play badly by his standards and frankly, not look too bothered at his lacklustre performances. When he failed to make the final 30 who will tee it up this week in the Tour Championship we gained an insight into why he continues to push his body beyond its comfortable or safe limits.

He said: ‘Some decisions aren’t completely up to the individual. There was outside expectation from elsewhere. I played these events for two reasons – thinking I still had a chance but trying to fulfil obligations elsewhere.’

It doesn’t take too much insight to imagine that these external expectations are from the major sponsors, Nike and TaylorMade, who pay the Northern Irishman an amount that could total $350 million over 10 years, although much of this may be performance based. The irony is that the original rib injury Rory suffered will have been exacerbated, if not directly caused, by the number of drivers he had to hit in the closed season. He was searching for a new equipment manufacturer after Nike announced it was quitting production of golf balls and clubs.

When you swing as hard as Rory does, especially with a driver, which is where he concentrated much of his practice efforts, even a young, fit and athletic golfer can create injuries – just ask Tiger Woods. And the manufacturers who provide Rory with the clothes he wears (Nike) and equipment he plays (TaylorMade) want to see a return on their investment. Winning tournaments is one way that Rory justifies this fee but even more important is visibility.

He excites crowds and is the subject of considerable TV coverage, irrespective of how he plays. Like Tiger, and Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, he is news whether he shoots 65 or 75. So the sponsors want him to compete and be seen wearing or brandishing their stuff, and the golfer drags himself around another golf course when all he really wants or needs to do is rest up and recover. Sadly, it also looks as if he will honour one final commitment and play in next month’s Dunhill Links Championship.

There must be a lot of good things that attach themselves to being Rory McIlroy but every life also comes with its share of crap.

Mind-numbing nomenclatures
I couldn’t help but notice during the Evian Championship, the last women’s major of the year (admirably won by Ann Nordqvist) that it can at times be difficult to follow the women’s game. Five of the competitors had the surname Lee, there were the same number of Kims, two Fengs and two Chois. For someone who has trouble keeping Charley Hull and Georgia Hall separate in my mind this duplication can be a bit intimidating.

Thankfully for those of us who have to type these things out, there was only one golfer in the field with the last name of Santiwiwatthanaphong (she missed the cut).

Quote of the Week
The devoted golfer is an anguished soul who has learned a lot about putting, just as an avalanche victim has learned a lot about snow
Dan Jenkins

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Thought for the Day
People are more what they hide than what they show

The wimmin are doing good
At least a decade or so ago writers like me would often advise: If you really want to learn from Tour pros how to improve your game, don’t go to a men’s event but watch the women instead. The logic was twofold. First, the best men in the world play at a stratified level that we handicap hackers could never hope to replicate. It would be like visiting an exhibition by Manet or Degas and then trying to paint a masterpiece of our own. The most important thing to study at a men’s event, we argued, was the rhythm and timing of a smooth swinger like Ernie Els or Colin Montgomerie. As for the rest – forget it Buster, only in your dreams.

The women, in contrast, demonstrated pretty much the same clubhead speed as a reasonable male handicap golfer. They concentrated far more on hitting the ball straight because, unlike their counterparts on the US or European Tours, they didn’t have the strength to slash the ball out of a thick buried lie and still get it on or near the green. And then came putting. I once pondered as to why the best women in the world still could not match their male counterparts on the greens because there was no physiological reason why they should not; it was always a bit of a mystery.

Watching the Solheim Cup, however, was further proof of just how much the women’s pro game has improved over the last decade or so. Golfers from both sides of the pond were hitting it both straight and long, recovering from any manner of hopeless positions and getting it close from just about anywhere on the course. And when it came to putting, the Americans at least, were as good as anyone – seemingly able to hole it from any part of the green almost at will. And that’s where this Solheim Cup was won and lost; the Americans putted better than we did.

Back in the 1950s and ‘60s, when Team USA so routinely trashed us in the Ryder Cup that the result was almost always a foregone conclusion, it was inevitably put down to their superiority on the greens, especially when they played at home. We reasoned that because the United States is such a vast country, it is possible for American players to tee it up somewhere with a good climate and a perfectly presented course, no matter the time of year. I think we’re now seeing the same phenomenon in the women’s game.

The LPGA Tour stages 34 events this year, starting in the Bahamas in January, visiting equable climate States such as California, Texas and Florida before climaxing in the Far East with tournaments in places like South Korea, China and Japan, with one final stop in Florida in November.

The Ladies European Tour, in contrast, has 15 events in the season, six of which are staged on European soil. Between the conclusion of the Solheim Cup and the end of the year, players on the LPGA Tour will compete in 12 tournaments for a total prize fund of $22,700,000. The LET golfers will share the spoils from eight events, the prize money for which, converted at today’s rate of exchange from Euro to dollars, amounts to $7,230,000, less than a third of the American Tour total. It is little wonder that the best players in the world gravitate to the States when they can, that the world rankings gulf between Team USA and Team Europe during the Solheim Cup was so vast, and that the Yanks putted us off the golf course.

The surprise is not that America won with conspicuous ease but that the margin of victory wasn’t greater than the final 16.5 – 11.5 total of points. Women’s golf has developed hugely in the last 10 years but in order for our women to compete on equal terms with the Americans they must have the same competitive opportunities, or at least, not face such an enormous disparity.

All change?
Just before the Open, Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, said that the BBC’s golf coverage had become ‘tired and outdated.’ This was in response to the news that the Beeb has acquired unique rights to next year’s US PGA Championship, so Slumbers was asked if he regretted allowing Sky to become host broadcaster for The Open. Now we learn that BT is making a strong bid for next year’s Masters, with suggestions that negotiations between Sky and Augusta National have stalled. Sky recently revamped its sports coverage, offering dedicated channels to football, cricket and golf, so it will be desperate to hang on to as many majors as possible but its hegemony has now gone, and its position as lead broadcaster of golf, at least of the majors, could also be threatened.

Confucius is supposed the have said: ‘May you never live in interesting times’ (although a Chinese origin has never been identified) and Sky must be cursing the interesting times in which we now live – where broadcasting rights for sports now seem to be up for grabs again.

Quote of the Week
My ball retriever is not long enough to get my putter out of the tree
Brian Weis

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Thought for the Day
It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company

Back from the dead
I was about to make a comparison between Jordan Spieth’s astonishing turnaround during the last nine holes of the Open Championship and Lazarus famously rising from the dead – but of course, every journalist in the country is probably doing exactly the same thing. The problem for we scribes is that Lazarus is the only well-known historical example of someone coming back from the deceased to which we can compare – Jon Snow’s unlikely revivication in last season’s Game of Thrones doesn’t really cut it.

But a resurrection it certainly was, almost without parallel in modern golf and it underlines what Paul McGinley said about Spieth being the fiercest competitor in modern golf. The difference between him and Tiger Woods is that Jordan manages to keep that competitive fire burning red-hot in his belly while never forgetting the ethos and spirit of the game. After his appalling drive on the 13th and the seemingly endless to-ing and fro-ing before he took his penalty shot, he eventually reached the green and made a point of apologising to his playing partner and only serious rival, Matt Kuchar. It was also noticeable that even at the height of their struggle for supremacy, they were able to chat and treat each other with both courtesy and good will.

When Jordan won his first major, the 2015 Masters, Jack Nicklaus said: ‘Congratulations to an exceptionally talented young man. That was an incredible performance. Jordan is so beyond his years. I like everything about him. He’s polite. He’s humble, he handles himself so well off and on the golf course. And he’s obviously a wonderful player and now a Masters champion.’

Nicklaus was not alone and almost every golfer, journalist or official quoted on Jordan emphasised his personality as much as his golf. It made me wonder if Tiger Woods’ surliness, 1,000 yard stare, club-throwing, swearing and general demeanour were finally being seen for what they were – graceless, charmless and sapping much of the fun out of watching pro golf. It certainly seemed that putting as much emphasis on Jordan Spieth’s personal qualities as his playing ability was evidence of a welcome return to those values that have always been important in golf – courtesy, chivalry, good manners and civility.

But of course, all the charm in world – demonstrated once again in his gracious acceptance speech – would mean nothing if he couldn’t play a bit. The thing is, everyone in the field last week can knock the ball around a golf course with an assurance and level of skill that causes people like us to pour out in our tens of thousands to watch them do it. They can all play a bit. What separates the champion from the wannabe is an almost indefinable mental strength, a determination or bloody-mindedness to not even countenance the possibility of defeat until the last putt has dropped and the last hope of victory been snatched away.

It helps if you are the best putter in the world and can rely on a stroke so routinely efficient that 20 footers are virtual gimmes but after missing several on the front nine that he would normally make in his sleep, including a three-foot effort that you and I would hole more often than not, Jordan might be forgiven for thinking that Open Sunday was just not going to be his day. When the most reliable part of your game heads south even the strongest of competitors must harbour some dark thoughts. And then came that drive on 13, so wide that he was extraordinarily lucky to find it, and so deeply buried that it wouldn’t be shifted with dynamite, let alone a golf club.

And that was where Jordan’s other ability, the one he shares with Jack Nicklaus, came into its own – the capacity to think clearly when his game was collapsing like a jerry-built house in a hurricane. To coolly calculate that his best option after declaring his ball unplayable was to go back as far as he liked, and then get relief from the temporary immoveable obstruction of a three-ton truck, showed a man whose brain was in anything but freefall.

You know the rest. An iron shot on the 14th that damned near went in for an ace, followed by two superb putts on the next two greens to complete a run of birdie, eagle, birdie and in the space of three holes get back off the canvas at the count of nine to knock his opponent out, and quite possibly break his heart. And a thought for that opponent, one of the most likeable gentlemen and gentle men in the game who, at the age of 39 probably knows that this was his one real chance of joining the roll call of the game’s greats by lifting a major. He shouldn’t beat himself up, and seven career wins and more than $40 million in prize money will hopefully, eventually, offer a little balm to wounds that today must be raw.

It was just his bad luck to run up against a force of nature in Jordan Spieth who was not going to be denied.

So that’s two great Opens in a row. This 2017 edition came nowhere near last year’s championship in terms of final day scoring and sheer shot-making brilliance but I think it surpassed it for drama.

Quote of the Week
Heaven is absolutely golf free. This game tortures souls who foolishly conclude that one day they may truly excel at it. Isn’t that what hell’s supposed to be? An endless series of pains and frustrations? And doesn’t that pretty much sum up what golf’s all about?
Jesper Parnevik

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Thought for the Day
Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours a day that were given to Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein

Six of one…
This year’s US Open has divided opinion like few others before – and this for what is often the most controversial major of the year for a plethora of reasons. It was played over a young course with no major pedigree but the standout fact is that champion Brooks Koepka equaled the lowest winning score to par (set by Rory McIlroy) at minus 16. Never before has anyone other than the champion finished in double digits under par but six others managed it at Erin Hills. And there was also the matter of Justin Thomas equalling the best ever US Open round of 63. And all this on a course of 7,700 yards with diabolically penalising rough.

If history repeats itself, which it has a tendency to do, the USGA will have a hissy fit of the vapours and next year’s venue, Shinnecock Hills, will be set up in such a way that 10-over par will win. So let us hope that before then the committee responsible for preparing the course stops to consider a few relevant facts. First, the scoring was better than at any other US Open in history largely because of the weather – it rained three times during the week and wind was largely absent. This makes for a softer, more receptive course than the hard, fast-running, greased-lightning speedtracks the USGA prefers to produce.

Second, the fairways were considerably wider than the norm, sometimes twice as broad as seen at a customary US Open venue. Third, player fitness, technique and equipment all march inexorably forward so it is inevitable that scoring will improve over the years. It is clear that if it could the USGA would re-introduce hickory shafts, gutta percha balls and compulsory wear of plus fours and buttoned jackets for competitors but even they wouldn’t dare, much as they might dream.

Let us hope also that it considers the fact that, despite the low scoring, the earth did not tilt from its axis, the gods of golf have not visited divine retribution on us all and we spectators got to watch a great deal of excellent golf. Okay, Koepka was so completely in control of his emotions and swing that his win looked pretty inevitable from early in the final round but that doesn’t detract from an otherwise enjoyable week.

The principle of wider fairways but brutally unforgiving rough if you miss them, is exactly the right one and I hope it’s something we continue to see. And if the USGA remains concerned about the length these guys hit the ball, pinch the fairways in between 290 and 330 yards, subliminally offering the message: ‘Come and have a go if you think you’re hard (or good) enough.’

… And half a dozen of the other
On the subject of how far modern pros hit the ball – and remember that the record scoring at the US Open was set on the longest course ever played in the event – I cannot help but feel that both the R&A and USGA are ducking the issue. For just two specific illustrations, remember that Rickie Fowler, on the 637 yard 18th got home with a 3-wood and long iron. Second, this year’s champions and last year’s, Koepka and Dustin Johnston respectively, drove the ball 322 and 317 yards, significantly further than the previous three US Open winners.

And yet the governing bodies continue to insist that in their many tests of equipment, particularly those measuring the performance of golf balls, distances have improved only marginally in recent decades. Therefore, they argue, there is no need to limit the distance these balls fly. But the empirical evidence all of us watching and participating in the game seems to contradict this. Some years ago the USGA caught a crab with Karsten Solheim’s company Ping, regarding the measurement of the grooves on its irons. The PGA Tour banned them, the USGA supported the tour so Solheim sued them both and an out of court settlement was reached.

As a result, both bodies (and, one suspects, the R&A and European Tour) want as little to do with legislating against club or ball manufacturers as possible – specifically by limiting the distance a ball can travel. This is unlikely to change in the near future.

Quote of the Week
Golf would not be the game that it is, without the continual hope of doing better the next time we play
Mike Hebron

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Thought for the Day
You cannot change what you refuse to confront

New broom sweeps clean
Keith Pelley took over as chief executive of the European Tour almost two years ago and had given the organisation exactly the shake-up it needed. But any successful chief exec, in addition to business acumen and flair, needs a healthy dose of good fortune. The last of these was delivered by Swedish golfer Alex Noren who stormed through the final round of the BMW Championship at Wentworth with a last day 62, a new course record, to win by two strokes. If Keith Pelley sits at his headquarters on Monday with a big smile on his face (and I’m prepared to bet that he will be in his office despite it being a bank holiday), he has earned the right to be just a tad self-congratulatory.

He looked at the BMW Championship, which the Tour regards as its flagship event, on a par with the Players Championship at Sawgrass, and wondered why it was not attracting the best players in the world, particularly home-grown stars like Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose. He was told that the Wentworth venue was not up to standard (despite a recent revamp by Ernie Els’ construction company) and that the prize fund was insufficient. He gambled, adding an extra £1 million to the pot from the Tour’s own cash reserves of £13 million. For the first time the total prize fund on offer was bigger than the concurrent event on the PGA Tour (last week’s Dean and Deluca Invitational in Texas). The money on offer there was $6.9m, and although the BMW’s purse is only fractionally higher at $7m, symbolic differences matter. The Tour will also be subsidising the prize funds at this year’s Scottish and Irish Opens.

More strikingly, Pelley persuaded the owners of Wentworth to replace all 18 greens on the famed West Course – the biggest problem as far as the players were concerned, and make many of the bunkers significantly shallower. It is difficult if not impossible to find any in the field who has not wholeheartedly approved. In addition, the event is the first of the new Rolex series, an eight-tournament bunfest that could add an estimated £50 million to the money for which the players compete.

When Pelley’s surprise appointment was announced in the summer of 2015 we all had to hurriedly research this Canadian of whom we knew fairly little, to discover he was ex-president of Rogers Media and a former boss of Canadian Football League outfit the Toronto Argonauts. On appointment he said he, hoped to make the Tour ‘significantly different’ by 2018 and is well on his way to making that ambition a reality. This livewire entrepreneur introduced the GolfSixes earlier this month, the two-man international matchplay competition won by Danish duo Thorbjorn Olesen and Lucas Bjerragaard (and try typing that when you have a hangover).

It was not to the taste of some purists – ie old farts who resist any sort of change – but went down pretty well with players and spectators alike, particularly as it introduced the Shot Clock, which allowed only 40 seconds for the golfer to play. As Pelley himself said, it may need tweaking, but it is a welcome and radically different offering from the relentless diet of 72-hole strokeplay we endure for the rest of the season.

The European Tour badly needed an overhaul. After decades of apparently unstoppable growth under Ken Schofield, he was succeeded in by his deputy George O’Grady in 2004. When describing former prime minister Clement Attlee, Winston Churchill reportedly said: ‘An empty taxi pulled up at Westminster and Clement Attlee got out,’ (an attribution Churchill always denied). Attlee was also described as a modest man with much to be modest about and there were some who felt the same about O’Grady. This is not quite fair because he had the misfortune to take over the reins as world economies took a downturn and it is unreasonable to expect someone embedded in an organisation for decades to be able to view it with the fresh eyes needed to plot a new path.

Keith Pelley has those eyes and the significant gambles he is taking deserve applause, which should also be directed to the European Tour’s chairman David Williams, who had the insight to recognise that radical steps were needed, and appoint the man to implement them.

Quote of the Week
The cardinal principle of all golf shot-making is that if you move your head, you ruin body action
Tommy Armour

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Thought for the Day
Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them one day.

Sanity breaks out
It has, admittedly, taken a while but recently there has been clear, incontrovertible evidence that the R&A and USGA have finally started reacting to events at something other than a glacial pace. As the governing bodies for the rules of golf worldwide, they belatedly recognised that the rules were far too cumbersome, nit-picky and incomprehensible. As a consequence they have released a set of proposals, to be introduced in January 2019, which should be welcomed by golfers everywhere.

Not only that, whenever an event at a televised pro tournament causes a bit of a stir, they have started to respond almost immediately (well, within a few weeks or months, which is pretty rapid by their standards) to clarify existing rules or, more pertinently, introduce new interpretations and judgments.

The catalyst would appear to be Dustin Johnson’s win at last year’s US Open, when he was belatedly penalised one stroke because his ball moved on the 3rd green – having been told at the time by the walking official that there was no penalty, he was then given the bad news of the retrospective punishment seven holes later, as he was playing the 12th. Consequently, from January 1st this year, a golfer will only be penalised if he or she is known to have caused the ball to move (Rule 18-2b).

Following the debacle last month when Lexi Thompson missed out on winning the first women’s major of the year, the ANA Inspiration, another update has been made. Lexi replaced her ball on the green in the wrong place (by a fraction); a TV viewer called it in 24 hours after it happened and Lexi was slapped with a two stroke penalty for playing her ball from the wrong spot and a further two strokes for subsequently signing for an incorrect score.

A new Decision (34-3/10) says that if video evidence (such as super slow-mo) reveals a transgression that could not normally be seen with the naked eye, the player cannot be subsequently penalised. The example given is a clubhead barely touching a few grains of sand during the backswing in a bunker, but I’m pretty sure it will come to be known as the Lexi ruling.

There’s a second innovation that says, in essence if a player is placing or replacing a ball the player’s reasonable judgment about where to do that will be accepted and they will not be ‘held to the degree of precision that can sometimes be provided by video technology.’ Amen to that.

All this comes a few weeks after we learned of the significant simplification to be applied to the rules in just over 18 months from now. They will be reduced from 34 to 24, in many instances common sense now prevails – you will be able, for example, to repair both spike and pitch marks on the green, and leave the flagstick in the hole while putting, if you choose. In addition, the governing bodies now seem willing to accept that most rules infringements are through ignorance and genuine mistakes, rather than evidence of cheating, and penalties have been removed or amended accordingly. I will return for a more detailed analysis a bit nearer the time.

Tiger, the end
Mr Woods has revealed that he has had more back surgery, his 4th procedure since September 2014, and will not be playing competitive golf for at least six months, which kisses goodbye to this calendar year. As has been said before, most careers end with a whimper rather than a bang and whatever you may think of Tiger, between 1997 and 2008 he played golf of a sustained brilliance and dominance that has not been seen before or since.

But, great as he has been, when you were watching that tremendous Masters shootout between Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia, did you miss Tiger, or even think about him? We’re seeing the old adage demonstrated yet again that no golfer is bigger than the game. Not even Tiger.

Spare a thought, though, for Bridgestone and TaylorMade, which signed Tiger to multi-year sponsorship deals for balls and clubs respectively, less than six months ago, when Nike decided to pull the plug on all its golf equipment except clothing. I wonder how many of the people who made the decision to sign those deals are now having a moment or two of doubt.

Quote of the Week
Watching Phil Mickelson play golf is like watching a drunk chasing a balloon near the edge of a cliff
The inimitable David Feherty

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Why not check out the new automatic golf trolleys in stock?