Huggan On WGC's

Well so much for wondering when writers would notice that the PGA Tour has anchored the "World Golf Championships" in the U.S.

John Huggan vents on Golfobserver. Make sure you read all of this one. The highlights:

There was, given the reaction of the other Federation members, not so much as a warning phone call from Ponte Vedra. Tim Finchem, commissioner of the PGA Tour, had simply done what was financially expedient for his organization and members. And everyone else? They could, as my granny used to say, take a running jump to themselves.

As an example of corporate arrogance, it was breathtaking. As an example of international cooperation and friendship, it was, to put it in crude Scottish parlance, piss-taking. 

It was also, of course, an example of blatant hypocrisy. While the PGA Tour wants the kudos that goes with being seen to metaphorically join hands with their 'friends' across the oceans, they also have no intention of listening to anything said in anything but an American accent. 

Make sure to check out the chart of WGC venue sites accompanying the column. 

Els: "...called the World Golf Championships, aren't they?"

I wonder about it here, it comes out over there. Paraphrasing Albert Brooks's character in Broadcast News of course.

It seems that the lack of "World" in the WGC is on the minds of European Tour players too. 

James Corrigan in The Independent: 

Cue outrage, and not only at the European Tour Players' Committee meeting here at the Emirates Golf Club on Tuesday, but also, more intriguingly, from Woods yesterday. "Of course, the WGCs should be held in other places rather than just America," said the world No 1. "It's our responsibility to play around the world and grow the game as much as we can." Ernie Els, the world No 5, concurred. "It's crazy," said the South African. "They're called the World Golf Championships, aren't they?"

So what can the European Tour do about it? Nothing much, or so it seems if their gloomy statement is anything to go by. "We have communicated our disappointment," it read, "and can confirm that we did offer to host one of the World Golf Championships, but this was rejected."

Update on 2006-02-02 14:52 by Geoff

Thanks to Tuco for this more extensive follow up on the WGC's, which says the sponsors have stipulated that the existing three are played inside the U.S., while the World Cup is still definitely alive and well. The story also includes a few more quotes from players critical of the setup.

Seve: The Long Goodbye

Norman Dabell in the Telegraph:

It is the news that many were expecting long before now: Severiano Ballesteros, winner of five major titles, Ryder Cup inspiration on and off the course, and once the world's most revered golfer, has announced his retirement.

Don't have to be playing actively to retire? Sorry, continue Norman...

However, before Seve's fans go into mourning, he won't be hanging up his clubs until 2011, when he will be 54. By that time, he reckons, he will no longer have that legendary desire to beat the world, especially Americans, he has had for over three decades.

He's announcing his retirement five years in advance? Cher's farewell tour wasn't this long. 

The Future of the European Tour (And Golf)

John Huggan looks at the impact the new PGA Tour TV deal will have on the European Tour and his general thoughts on why the Tour had a hard time getting an ideal package.

Despite the tedious and prolonged protestations of certain equipment companies apparently unconcerned with a big picture that isn't painted solely by their own bottom lines, maybe the public really is jaded by the one-dimensional crash-bang-wallop nature of a modern game in which shot making, imagination and flair have taken distant back seats to power.

It happened in tennis, so it can happen in golf.

So as the sublime touch of John McEnroe has morphed into bashers like Andy Roddick, so Tom Watson will become Bubba. I know which I'd prefer to watch.

Huggan Visits With Clarke

John Huggan lets Darren Clarke do the talking.

Monty's Musings

Thanks to reader Phillip for this reminder that they still have room for fluff in the British papers.

From Colin Montgomerie, writing some kind of diary and sharing this rationale behind his move to a new home closer to the great St. George's Hill course:

...it was a good hour's drive simply to pick [the kids] up. Much the same applied to my visits to the Wisley. The urge to practise can disappear at the end of a lengthy drive. But it is not just these bigger issues which prompted me to sell up. This may sound trivial, but I wanted my own front door and, above all, I wanted to be able to wash my car as I had always enjoyed doing in the past. You can't be trailing from a sixth floor apartment to the basement with a bucket of water. It just doesn't work.

No, not trivial. Ridiculous maybe, but not trivial Monty.

In next week's installment, Monty talks about how he approaches his washing schedule on those 12 days a year it doesn't rain in Britain.

Get This Man Some Exemptions

David Drysdale, who withdrew from the Dunhill Cup with a rib injury when he could have taken one swing and earned a check that would have secured his 2006 European Tour card, failed at Euro Q-School...by one shot.

Here's Lawrence Donegan's column that initially drew attention to Drysdale's situation and how he passed up the chance for a check so someone else could play at the Dunhill.

Donegan on Drysdale

Neat story from Lawrence Donegan on David Drysdale. Well, neat in the sense that Drysdale demonstrated great integrity and class.

Donegan on Van de Velde

Lawrence Donegan has some fun with the Van de Velde story.

He'll Even Wear a Kilt and Shave His Legs

Jean Van de Velde is going to try to enter the Women's British Open.

"I'll even wear a kilt and shave my legs," he said Thursday after shooting a 7-over-par 78 in the first round of the Volvo Masters.

Van de Velde became infamous in the 1999 British Open when he led by three strokes going to the 72nd hole, then wound up losing the tournament in a playoff.

The 39-year-old Frenchman is upset with a recent policy set by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club to allow women to qualify for next year's British Open.

"My whole point is where do we draw the line?" Van de Velde asked, and called the rule change a farce.

"If we accept that women can enter our tournaments, then it applies that men can play with women," he said.

The Frenchman said he would get an application and attempt to qualify.

Next year's women's British Open is set for Aug. 3-6 at Royal Lytham. The event is run by the Ladies' Golf Union, which established a gender policy this year.

The policy says: "It shall be a condition of any competition organized by the Ladies' Golf Union that players must be of the female gender."

Ghosts of Jakarta

Lawrence Donegan takes what should be a boring Volvo Masters preview story and ponders some of the current events in big time golf.

Huggan and Torrance

John Huggan catches up with Sam Torrance and of course it provides a fun read.

Dunhill Decline

Lawrence Donegan looks at what a non-event the Dunhill Cup has become. 

Huggan On World Match Play

John Huggan previews the upcoming World Match Play and looks at its past:

None of which should blind us to what was, for long enough, the biggest shortcoming of the tournament. Namely, that the field was shamelessly stacked with clients of the late Mark McCormack's International Management Group. Given that the event was McCormack's brainchild - and pride and joy - this was hardly surprising, but it must be acknowledged that such blatant bias did nothing for the credibility of what could and should have been an even greater event.

Nowadays, things are different. Not only has McCormack gone to the big office in the sky - it's hard not to imagine him up there organising a series of lucrative exhibition matches between Young Tom Morris and Bobby Jones - players qualify for the expanded 16-man field through strict and well-defined criteria. No more does IMG automatically claw back its percentages from every player in the draw.