John Rollins, Ryder Cupper?

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From the AP's Doug Ferguson:

John Rollins earned more Ryder Cup points (375) for winning the watered-down B.C. Open than Chris DiMarco earned (360) for being runner-up at the British Open.

DiMarco nearly chased down Tiger Woods at his best, making four birdies and two clutch par saves on the back nine at Royal Liverpool to close with a 68 and finishing two shots behind.

Across the ocean at the B.C. Open, a tournament rife with Nationwide Tour players and those without full status in the big leagues, Rollins rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a one-shot victory over Bob May.

PGA president Roger Warren knew there was potential for such a scenario, but offered no apologies.

"It has drawn a lot of attention because it actually occurred," Warren said Monday night from Kiawah Island, S.C. "The interpretation of that as good or bad, I'm not going to get into that. The system was designed to make sure we had those players who were playing well in this year receiving points higher than the first year, so as to reward good play. And we wanted to make sure we placed a value on winning."

Both got into the top 10 in the U.S. standings -- DiMarco went from 21st to sixth place, while Rollins went from 39th to 10th. Four tournaments remain before the team is announced.

Getting To K Club Sounds Fun

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Lawrence Donegan reporting from the K Club, site of this week's European Tour event and this fall's Ryder Cup:

As malapropisms go, the one uttered this week by Richard Hills was a little too close to the truth for comfort. "I fully expect roadworks to be in place," the Ryder Cup director announced when asked if work on the access routes into the K Club will be completed in time for the start of the big event in 10 weeks' time.

Less than a mile away the bulldozers were backed up on the road from Maynooth as the workmen sheltered from the rain. Work was over in the afternoon. Still, the media tent transcribers were busy. When Hills' words were finally regurgitated for public consumption they had been "tidied up" to read "We are confident that the roads will be ready."

He goes on to explain why most of us will be quite content to watch this one on television. 

 

Selcraig On K Club

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The Irish Times web site is for subscribers only, but reader Paddy sent this piece by American writer Bruce Selcraig on a recent Irish golf trip that included a visit to the Ryder Cup host site, K Club. I think it's fair to say he's not a fan.

Oh, and somewhere along the trip, we apparently were anaesthetised and flown George Bush-rendition-style back to Florida or Texas, where we played a thoroughly uninspiring, comically overpriced, Americanised resort course beside some gazillionaire's lovely, green, horsey estate.

They call it - oh, steel my loins - The K Club.

I think you're having a big tournament there in September.

I hate to sound rude to my many wonderful Irish golf friends in your long-overdue time of pride - and please know that I love Irish golf like a vital organ, perhaps a kidney - but the K Club and its major-domo, cardboard-box baron Mike Smurfit, and his regal hosting of the Ryder Cup as a jewel for his crown, symbolise nearly all that is rotten about modern golf. And worse, as many have said before me, the K Club Palmer Course is a relentlessly mundane track that has no business representing Irish golf.

And...

Bringing Ireland's first Ryder Cup to the charmless Palmer course is like having Keira Knightley invite you to her bedroom - to move furniture. It's like going to Rome for dinner and ordering fish and chips.

Yes, America has provided some pretty lacklustre venues for the Ryder Cup - Kentucky's Valhalla in 2008 is a snoozer, too - but American golf is not synonymous with the game's purest ancestral ground.

Dear Ireland, repeat after me: You now possess the finest collection of golf courses in the world. Period. There is no more competition with Scotland, where they're still talking about Old Tom Morris's niblick. You have Ballybunion, Portmarnock, Waterville, the European Club, Carne, Enniscrone, Lahinch and two-dozen more Ballywhotsits. And we'll throw in Royal Portrush and Royal County Down just to irritate the Brits.

In other words, you have Rembrandt, Cezanne, Gauguin and Michelangelo hanging in your kitchen, and in September you're inviting 800 million TV viewers to watch your Disney World home movies.

And...

Frank Hannigan, former director of the United States Golf Association and a spirited columnist, challenged readers to name any Arnold Palmer-designed course that was merely "good, not great". George Peper, formerly the editor of Golf magazine for 25 years, just surveyed the best courses in Scotland and Ireland and put the K Club on his "10 most overrated" list.

"To put it bluntly," Peper wrote, "this was the most disappointing course on my visit."

There are some constructed ponds and hillocks - and the required artificial fountain Yanks adore - but because there's so little natural elevation-change and no sweeping vistas - unlike Druid's Heath, unlike Killarney - your pulse never quickens. On my visit, among journalists everywhere, I rarely saw a camera pulled in delight. Just duty. Trust me - there are 14,000 golf courses in America, and 1,000 of them look like the K Club but cost 300 less to play.

And...

Everyone knows by now the selection of the Ryder Cup venue has nothing to do with quality golf and honouring the home country, and everything to do with maximising profits for the event's biennial owners - this year, the PGA European Tour, the British PGA and the national PGAs on the Continent. Sure, the venue has to be able to handle crowds, and you need good roads and plenty of hotel rooms, but if the golf lords thought they could put everyone in a Beijing car park and make more money we'd all be shopping for chopsticks.

Money dominates this event like few others in golf. Is it really true that the Irish Government contributed €16 million of your tax money just for marketing - 5 million of which went to the European PGA Tour - and that you'll not even be able to watch the thing on free-to-air television?

Even the compliant American masses might not swallow those worms. We may look the other way on torture and global warming, but tamper with our God-given right to fall asleep to golf on TV and you're headed for fist city.

"Let's be clear about this, we're talking commercialism, unashamedly as far as I'm concerned," explained the former European Tour executive director Ken Schofield to author Dermot Gilleece in his book Ryder Cup 2006.

Schofield reportedly said the K Club deal was sealed when Smurfit - oops, that's a mandatory Doctor Smurfit for all his "speak when spoken to" serfs- promised his company (once Jefferson-Smurfit, now absorbed by the US firm Madison Dearborn) would sponsor the European Open from 2005 to 2015. That decision, Gilleece writes, "nailed the widespread, cynical view, certainly among Irish observers, that success for Dr Smurfit was always a foregone conclusion."

They were right. To Smurfit, a Monaco tax-haven resident whose family fortune was recently estimated by the Sunday Times of London at 403 million, the Ryder Cup is just another bauble beside the Italian yacht, Gulfstream jet, helicopter commutes and far-flung mansions from Paris to Acapulco, including what the Independent of London reported in 2002 featured a 40,000 sq ft palace beside the Marbella Club on the Costa del Sol, estimated at $40 million, and an apartment below Donald Trump's in New York City's gauche Trump Towers.

"He is absolutely lost in his own importance," a K Club member told the Independent.

So, Mike Smurfit bought himself the Ryder Cup. Sad, but not a felony. If you had his loot - after giving most of it to Darfur refugees, of course - you'd have bought the Cup too. But that doesn't mean those of us who love Ireland and its incomparable links courses have to applaud the moneychangers as they take over the temple.

K Club Preparations

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Jodie Ginsberg of Reuters writes about Ryder Cup preparations at K Club, where Ian Woosnam has brought the Hootie Pine Fungus to the Irish course.

"We have been focusing over the last number of years on strengthening the golf course as a whole," Byrne said in an interview on a rainy day at his K Club office in County Kildare.

"Our emphasis has been on creating long, tight and interesting holes".

And...

Stretched by 300 yards, the par-72 layout will play to around 7,400 for the Ryder Cup, providing more of a challenge for big hitters such as Americans Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Several of the changes made by Byrne's team of 22 permanent greenkeepers were prompted by suggestions from European Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam, who visited last year.

Among these were the addition of 13 new trees at key turning points on six of the holes and the introduction of tightly-mown swales, or collection areas, around eight of the greens.

The installation of tall, mature trees, most notably on 16 and 17, will prevent power drivers of the ball from cutting off the doglegs.

"Now, if a player wants to cut the corner on some of the holes, he's going to have to carry a certain amount of trouble," Byrne said. "You could call that 'Tiger-proof' if you wanted to."

The introduction of the collection areas replaces the deepish rough that existed at the K Club around the greens, rough which demanded the flop shot beloved by many of the leading American players.

With a faster runoff, the swales will provide players with the choice of "a pitch-and-run shot, using the putter or executing a flop shot from a very tight line", Byrne said.

And this is fun...

"Because many of the greens are raised, they're suitable for these runoffs which have actually given the course more of an Irish feel," he added.

"Because a very European-type shot will now often be required, it might be an advantage to European players.'

Oh and take your rain gear...

Byrne is preparing for a worst-case weather scenario in September: an inch of rain every day.

Greens and fairways would be cut with the lightest possible equipment and viewing areas drained and sandcapped to ensure that expected crowds of around 40,000 are able to get round the golf course with their feet relatively dry.

No More 2-Year Exemptions For Cup Team Players

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One of the silliest PGA Tour exemptions is about to run its course, according to Doug Ferguson.

Trevor Immelman came within a 10-foot putt of winning the Wachovia Championship, a tournament he might not have been able to play except for a Presidents Cup perk that no longer exists.

The PGA Tour began offering a two-year exemption in 2004 to anyone on the previous Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup teams, provided they had some degree of tour membership.

More times than not, anyone good enough to make either team had no trouble keeping his card, although there were exceptions. Paul Azinger was picked in 2001 to play in a Ryder Cup that was rescheduled to 2002, and he was able to play in 2004 on that exemption after finishing 169th on the money list.

But what really infuriated players was the case of Immelman.

He tied for 17th in the PGA Championship to earn just enough money for special temporary membership. Later that day, Gary Player made him as a captain's pick for the International team, even though Immelman was 22nd in the standings.

It smacked of preferential treatment, not only because Player and Immelman are South Africans, but because Immelman's father is commissioner of the Sunshine Tour in South Africa. And just like that, he was exempt for two years on the PGA Tour.

"I think it's more important to win a golf tournament for a two-year exemption than it is to make one of those teams to get the exemption, or even theoretically be a captain's pick," Jim Furyk said after his playoff victory at Quail Hollow.

Furyk wasn't alone in his complaints.

The criticism was so strong that the tour's policy board rescinded the exemption in May last year. Because it was in the middle of Presidents Cup qualifying, the perk wasn't taken off the books until this year. That means the exemption is effective this year for Ryder Cup players, and through 2007 for Presidents Cup players.

"We are a European team"

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Captain Woosnam on his wildcard picks:
"I have to be firm about it and say that people who play more in Europe will have a better chance of getting into the team."

He named Ireland's Padraig Harington and England's Lee Westwood among the men whose transatlantic form was causing him concern.

"They have to start making a move," he said. "We are a European team. There's a lot of money to make in America but they have to make the choice of trying to make it on world points or the European order of merit. If they are playing here, they are getting both."

Monty For 2010!

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This may not be the endorsement he's looking for, but Monty has Paul Casey on his side when it comes to the 2010 Ryder Cup captaincy. Count me in too. After all, wouldn't it be fun to have the European writers rooting for America every now and then! What better way to have Huggan and Donegan and Lawrenson rooting for the red, white and blue than a Monty captaincy!

"I think he'd be a wonderful captain," said Casey, who is hoping to be in the team for the showdown in September at the K Club outside Dublin.

"I know it is not the same level, but I played for Monty in the Seve Trophy last year and he has been a fabulous captain for that."

Ryder Cup: Fixing What Is Not Broken?

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John Hopkins reports that some tweaking is being considered for the 2010-and-beyond Ryder Cups.

When the Ryder Cup is staged in 2010 at Celtic Manor, near Newport in South Wales, it will be the first time that the event is held on this side of the Atlantic after the US tour beefs up its August and September schedule in 2007. Increasing the importance of events in those two months and offering a huge boost in prize-money means that the United States players, and any from Europe who are involved, will not be disposed to rush back to Europe to compete in a Ryder Cup at the traditional time of the third week in September.
The obvious solution is to move the event to October, but this brings the question of shortening daylight into question, so officials of the European Tour and the PGA in Britain, and the PGA of America, are considering starting on a Thursday instead of a Friday and increasing the numbers of players competing in the foursomes and four-ball matches from eight to ten. Two series of five foursomes matches would be held on Friday, with one series of five four-ball matches on Thursday and one on Saturday. The 12 singles matches would be played on Sunday.

Ah, so it can be more like the President's Cup.

“It is a situation we are looking at,” Sandy Jones, the chief executive of the PGA, said. “No decision has yet been taken and won’t be for some time, certainly not until later this year at the earliest.

“Let’s get this year’s Ryder Cup in Ireland out of the way first. The next Ryder Cup meeting is scheduled for May during the BMW (Championship at Wentworth). It will not be discussed then.

“There are all sorts of issues to consider. There is the health and safety issue of bringing people in and taking them home in the dark, for example. The positives are that there would be more opportunities to sell tickets and more merchandise, though we are pretty well sold out for Thursday this year."
Ahh, because they aren't making enough now!
“The proper thing to consider is the playing of the matches. Some people say the three days is so intense they do not want a fourth day. Others say that adding an extra day would reduce the intensity. It might suit the players in that they are used to arriving late on a Tuesday evening or a Wednesday for an event that starts on a Thursday and ends on a Sunday.”

Huggie and Woosy

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John Huggan profiles Ian Woosnam in the Sunday Scotsman (or whatever they call it).

Apparently it's not too early to hear what the Euros are doing to make the K Club favor their games (they wouldn't have to do anything if they $elected a link$).

"There are a lot of hollows and bumps around the greens, and I want to get them more into play by cutting the grass short," he reveals. "So there will be some run-offs around the putting surfaces. I'm hopeful the weather is dry in the weeks before, so that we get the full benefit of that. I've also put a few more trees in.

"Because of the distances the top guys hit the ball these days, it is too easy for them to cut corners on too many holes and make them look stupid. So I've tried to stop some of that. If they do take a chance and go across the corner, they are going to have to hit perfect shots. If they don't, they'll be in trouble."

I bet those new trees look splendid.

Woosnam on the state of the game:

"When I watch the game on television I don't see the variety of shots I used to maybe 30 years ago," he sighs. "The modern swings are a lot more similar than they used to be. Which is a consequence of the equipment and the desire to hit the ball high. They don't seem to bother about the wind any more.

"In defence of the players today, I don't think they can't play shots, it's just that they don't have to. The equipment has brought everyone closer together, too. It's harder to separate yourself from the others. Almost anyone on tour can win now."