Match Play Sunday, Colonial Open Thread

Poulter and Donald are in the finale in Spain, they've a nice final foursome at the Sybase and Colonial has gotten more interesting. And I'm sure the only thing anyone will want to talk about is Ian Poulter falling and losing his diamond encrusted ball marker.

Me, I'm just forwarding through the telecast to see...if we can figure out what happened to the marker. Ian declared himself "alright," but only after checking to see if his pants had been stained. We wouldn't have him any other way.

Update on 2011-05-22 18:25 by Geoff

**Here's a photo of the pricey coin at GolfDigest.com.

Trying To Makes Sense Of The Volvo Match Play

Okay, I tried to read the format description of this week's 24-player Volvo World Match Play Championship's eight groups of three, round robin format. After my third try, I've given up. Anyone care to help this blogger?

Round robin group matches will be played on Thursday and Friday with players grouped according to their Official World Golf Ranking as of the Monday of the Championship. The three players in each group will play each other once. Players will be awarded two points for a win and no points for a loss. If a match is tied after 18 holes each player shall receive one point.

The top two players in each group will progress to the knock-out stages. Should, after all matches have been played, two or more players are tied on points the following criteria will be used to determine the order:

   i) Where two players are tied within a group (in any position within the group) then their specific head to head match result will be used to identify which player is placed higher

   ii) If two or more players are still tied then those players will compete in a hole-by-hole play-off.

   iii) If all three players win one match in their respective group then all three players shall play-off.

The knock out stage will consist of the last 16 and quarter-finals, played on Saturday, and semi-finals and final, played on Sunday. All matches will be over 18 holes.  There will be no third and fourth place play-off on Sunday.

Here's the day one roundup, which I'd like to get excited about since golf needs fresh formats. Especially a creative use of match play. But so far this one is just not doing it for me.

2018 Ryder Cup Choice Is A "Proper" Course

There hasn't been this much swooning over a Von Hagge design since, well, never. Lawrence Donegan on the common $en$e choice for the '18 Ryder Cup and why Spain didn't get more consideration.

The truth is relations between Seve Ballesteros, and by extension his family, and the tour hierarchy had been poor for years. This isn't to say that those involved in taking today's decision were swayed by memory of that fractious history – the bidding process was overseen by independent observers, remember – although it is entirely possible it made them even less inclined than most to be swayed by the emotion of the Ballesteros-backed Spanish bid and even more inclined to go with their instincts.

The European Tour is a business. Golf in Europe is a business and awarding the 2018 Ryder Cup to France was a business decision. The good news is that it was also the right one.

Paul Mahoney says the mix of links golf and inland American golf is "proper," though I'm not sure what that means.

Sentimental voters were disappointed that Spain lost out, but the Ryder Cup is all about big business for the European Tour. "Follow the money" is always the best bet when trying to discover the truth hidden behind bidding wars. (See: the Olympics and soccer's World Cup.) Recent European Ryder Cup history has centered on the deep pockets of Sir Terry Matthews (Celtic Manor), Dr. Michael Smurfit (the K Club), and Jaime Patino (Valderrama). France 2018 had the full backing of the French government. It was a fait accompli. And the right decision.

Ryder Cup 2018: "This great victory is for everyone involved in French golf."

Mitch Phillips reports that France and Le Golf National won the 2018 Ryder Cup bidding.

The 2018 Ryder Cup will be played on Le Golf National course in Versailles, near Paris after the French bid won a five-way contest on Tuesday to host the biennial match against the United States.

European Tour officials made the announcement at their base in Wentworth, saying one of the main draws had been the "outstanding spectator viewing." France will become only the second country in continental Europe to stage the Ryder Cup after Spain in 1997.

"We always believed. The world of French golf was united and that did not escape European Tour bosses," Pascal Grizot, chairman of the Ryder Cup Committee at the French Golf Federation, said in a statement.

"This great victory is for everyone involved in French golf."

This Euro Tour site story quotes the disappointed Spaniards, who had made a late surge and had the most impressive looking bid. But we know looks meant little in this contest!

Following the announcement, Gonzaga Escauriaza, President of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation (RFEG), said: “Madrid would have been a fantastic venue for the Ryder Cup in 2018, but unfortunately our dream has not come true. I honestly believe we could not have produced a better bid, and I have been extremely proud to be a part of it. I hope that Spain will one day be given the opportunity to host the Ryder Cup again.  Congratulations to France on their victory, I’m sure they will do a fantastic job”.

Spain Showing Late Speed In '18 Ryder Cup Derby?

Lawrence Donegan says that's the case in this analysis of Tuesday's announcement.

The French bid boasts a great course – Le Golf National near Versailles – and has reportedly offered the greatest financial support to the European Tour over the long run. It has also been the bookies' favourite – an assignation never to be underestimated. But in the past week or so the weight of expectation has fallen behind the efforts to stage the biennial contest between Europe's best and their American counterparts in Madrid.

Financially this would make sense. Spain has long been one of the tour's strongest markets, staging more tournaments most years than any other European nation (seven in 2011, compared with two in England). To deny Madrid would be to risk losing Spanish support for the European Tour into 2018 and beyond – a prospect that will weigh heavily on tour officials.

The annoucement will be broadcast live online Tuesday.

Seve's Brother Makes Plea For Spain To Get '18 Ryder Cup

The Telegraph's Ian Chadband reports that the Ballesteros family would like the European Ryder Cup committee to select Madrid next Tuesday when they announce the winner of the 2018 Ryder Cup bidding.

The golfer’s brothers Manuel, Vicente and Baldomero and sons, Javier and Miguel, want the European Tour’s Ryder Cup committee to choose Spain’s capital city over rival bids from France, Germany, Portugal and Holland when they meet at Wentworth on Tuesday.

A tearful Baldomero invoked the legend of El Cid, the 11th century nobleman who, having been strapped to his warhorse following his death in battle and placed at the front of his troops, was supposed to have inspired them to one final victory.

He said: “I wish that, like El Cid, Seve wins the last battle after his death. It would be the greatest tribute to him.

“I appeal to the sensitivity of the Ryder Cup Committee of the European Tour to agree the greatest honour that could be bestowed on Seve is to award the competition to Spain. I appeal on behalf of the family.

Golfweek Illustrators Give The European Tour Common Sense Options

Golfweek illustrators D.J. Piehowski and Jason Lusk put together logo options for the European Tour to ditch the old geezer who never played the European Tour with a Seve-themed logo. This is the one that floated my boat:

"The large crowd outside the church burst into applause as Ballesteros' ashes reached the tiny church, which was filled to its 400-person capacity."

AP's Paul Logothetis reports on Seve Ballesteros' memorial service.

Ballesteros' oldest son, Javier, carried the urn holding the Spanish golf great's ashes at the front of the procession, with the wail of a single bagpipe punctuating the occasion on an overcast day in the tiny village off the Bay of Santander.

The procession also included several young boys and girls wearing a replica of the navy blue outfit that Ballesteros wore for his first British Open win in 1979. They each held a 3-iron, the first club he used as a child.

Members of a local men's rowing team marched with their oars.

The large crowd outside the church burst into applause as Ballesteros' ashes reached the tiny church, which was filled to its 400-person capacity. Locals, friends and others watched from one of the three giant screens set up outside.

An unbylined European Tour story included this:

The 2012 European Captain José Maria Olazábal, who with Seve formed the greatest partnership in Ryder Cup history, was joined by past Captains Sir Nick Faldo, Bernard Gallacher, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam. Miguel Angel Jiménez and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño were among the Spanish contingent with a host of European Tour players past and present who joined family and friends in Seve's hometown.

George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson and his predecessor Sir Michael Bonallack were among those paying their respects.

Getty Images has a library of shots from the service. Thanks to reader Tim for the link.

Tributes continue to come in (or I'm just now reading them), including this from Mitchell Platts:

I recall a breakfast with Seve at the Ritz in London when, with tears in his eyes, he spoke warmly of his parents – his father had now died - and three brothers. He said: “The biggest influence on my life was my parents and probably the surroundings because our house was right there on the golf course (Real Club de Golf de Pedreña). My uncle, Ramon Sota,  was also a professional golfer and he was very good.

“My father was always optimistic; he always believed in me. The house had belonged to my mother’s uncle. When we were growing up Baldomero, my eldest brother, had one bedroom, Manuel had another and I shared with Vicente. We were a happy family. We kept cows which my father looked after. He also fished, some for us to eat and some to sell, and he caddied. It seemed that he and my mother were always working.”

Later the tears turned to smiles when he recalled being drunk at the age of 12. He said: “I came home and my father and mother had gone fishing. My lunch had been left and there was a bottle of wine. I had four glasses. It did not go unnoticed when I returned to school; I was sent back home!”

Scott Michaux suggested this as a way to pay tribute to Seve…not that it'll happen, but it might be fun to do once a year.

If the game's leaders wanted to truly honor Seve's memory, they would figure out a way to restore the relevance of his style in an era before players carried five different wedges, several hybrids, long putters and balls designed to combat the elements of spin. It's probably too late to cap the bottle of technology, but maybe something as simple as reducing the number of clubs in the bag from 14 to 11 would require today's elite players to learn how to do more with less the way Ballesteros could.

Sally Jenkins wrote:

Ballesteros’s life ended where it began: in the Cantabrian hamlet of Pedrena, along the rock-edged, turquoise shores of the Bay of Santander, where he was raised.

“The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbor from the village,” his brother Baldomero said. “Seve is a country boy. We thought it was best.”

It’s a simpler and somewhat rougher part of Spain’s coast, not as traveled as the southern Mediterranean, but ancient and splendidly beautiful even so, wild with energy, and suggestive of just what an epic act of self-fashioning his career was. His essence, surely, is there.

Seve: "Suffered a severe deterioration."

From the European Tour site, courtesy of reader Patrick:

"The Ballesteros family informs that Seve’s neurological condition has suffered a severe deterioration. The family will inform accordingly about any change in his health condition and takes this opportunity of thanking everyone for the support that both Seve and his own family have been receiving during all this time."

Reader David shared this longer Guardian story by Ewan Murray.