Long-time Golf Digest contributor John Huggan has been named the 2023 recipient of the Memorial Golf Journalism Award, presented by the Memorial Tournament, the PGA Tour event hosted annually by Jack Nicklaus in suburban Columbus, Ohio.

The award, first presented in 1982, is reserved for journalists in print and electronic media who have served their profession with conspicuous honour and have made a major contribution and impact on golf journalism.

Huggan, 62, was selected via a vote of the Memorial Tournament’s Journalism Committee. Past Golf Digest recipients include Tim Rosaforte, Jerry Tarde, Bob Verdi, Ken Bowden, Nick Seitz and Dan Jenkins.

“This is special award for me, if only because of its connection to Jack Nicklaus,” Huggan said. “Where I come from, no one is admired more for the way he played golf — win or lose.”

A native of Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, Huggan was a fine junior golfer who played on several national youth teams. Among his achievements were wins in the 1977 Scottish Boys Stroke-Play Championship and the 1978 Scottish Boys. He advanced to the quarter-finals of the (British) Amateur in 1985.

He began his writing career in 1986 as instruction editor for Golf World UK, a sister publication to Golf Digest, and two years later, after a temporary assignment with Golf Digest, he moved to the US in 1988 and served as its instruction editor for eight years before returning to Scotland to become golf writer for the Glasgow Herald. However, he has remained a writer-at-large for Golf Digest as well as for golfdigest.com. Current writing credits also include Golf Australia magazine, where he has been a columnist since 2005.

Huggan is the 59th recipient of the Memorial’s journalism award. He will be honoured on Wednesday, May 31, at Muirfield Village Golf Club during the tournament’s annual Honouree Ceremony, sharing the stage with three-time major champion Larry Nelson, the tournament’s honouree.

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By John Huggan
In at least one sense, life was never easy for the European Tour. Forever an economic second-best behind the financial behemoth that is the PGA Tour, the Old World circuit always struggled to compete for the attention and attendance of golf’s biggest names. That fact isn’t likely to change now that the “ET” has been laid to rest, but the strategic alliance between the newly packaged DP World Tour and the PGA Tour is one that most in Europe see as a positive development. Call it inevitable—and sensible, too—given the potentially imminent threat to the status quo offered by the Saudi Arabia-based LIV Golf Investments.

“What needs to be talked about is how the alignment with the PGA Tour evolves and what effect that will have in 2023 and beyond,” says Paul McGinley, former European Ryder Cup captain and a member of the DP World Tour Board of Directors. “We’re still finding our feet with that relationship, one that has never been better. We have aligned together against the Saudis. And that loyalty is being repaid in what they call ‘working streams.’ There is a lot more collaboration on social media. Communication is better. So many ideas are now being shared.”

So it is that, in many respects, 2022 can be viewed as something of a transitional year for the rebranded tour. One week before the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews in July, the Scottish Open will become the first DP World Tour event to be co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour. At the same time, the Barbasol and Barracuda Championships in the U.S. will offer starts to DP World Tour members.

Each tour gets 73 spots in the Scottish Open field, with any dual members counting against the PGA Tour’s allocation. So the old line of “play better” will be the response to any DP World players who complain about not getting a start.

“But, on the other hand, I don’t think there will be a more exciting or better time to play well on the European Tour,” says David Law, a Scotsman who finished 100th on the 2021 Race to Dubai. “There are those opportunities to play in the States opposite the Scottish and the Open. Playing really well there could bring massive rewards.”

Whatever, it is a safe bet that such arrangements will increase in frequency in 2023 and beyond. Which is easier said than done, of course. While it’s not that hard to put together a schedule, it is difficult to be fair to all concerned. In particular, the guys down the points lists have to be looked after. Players like David Drysdale, who got the last European Tour card in 2020-21, can’t be lost in this. The tours can’t just look after the star names. As member organizations, they have an obligation to make sure everyone has opportunities to play.

The same is true of the PGA Tour. But it’s difficult to take 230 players from two tours, mix them together and be completely fair. So a schedule that works for both tours is required. Whatever the Saudis do, they will do. DP World chief executive Keith Pelley has made his bed and has aligned with the PGA Tour in an attempt to present the best product he can. After that, players are free to make their own choices.

“To be honest, I’m not sure the likes of Paul Casey, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell making the jump to anything the Saudis come up with would necessarily do much harm to the DP World Tour,” says Ewen Murray, a former European Tour player and now Sky Sports commentator. “Hardly any of them play that much in Europe these days. Like the PGA Tour, what the European Tour has done really well is to [just] keep going [during the COVID-19 pandemic]. OK, the money was down, but there has been a chance to play almost every week. I would have to question the integrity of those who say goodbye to all that, just to chase a few dollars.”

In the meantime, work continues behind the scenes on both sides of the Atlantic.

“There is certainly more to come as far as our partnership with the PGA Tour is concerned,” McGinley says. “More tournaments are likely to be aligned and co-sanctioned as time goes on. There is lot going on behind the scenes as we try to build a year-long international schedule that works for both tours. There are a few obvious opportunities for us. Post-FedEx Cup is one. Finishing in Dubai, that’s a big part of our season.”

The DP World schedule will offer $200 million in 2022, twice as much as 2021, and represents, according to Pelley, “a new era for global golf.” Maybe, but still one that will retain some familiar aspects. Strong early in the Middle East—the tour resumes play the week of Jan. 17 in Abu Dhabi—and around the Open Championship, the traditional ebb and flow on tour remains. Meanwhile, “in-between” times like February/March, April/May and August will still feature a mix of some strong and not-so strong events.

“Our long-established tournaments will continue to flourish under the DP World umbrella,” McGinley says. “That level of sponsorship was a huge announcement for us, not just financially. It shows we are in good shape entering what looks like a new era for professional golf. But there are decisions to be made on what events remain just part of our tour and which ones are also part of the PGA Tour. It’s all being navigated at the moment.”

Luke Walker
For the first time in the history of the former European Tour, an American—Collin Morikawa—won the year-long Race to Dubai title.

And not only on the main circuit. Recently, the second-division Challenge Tour announced a record-breaking global schedule for the 2022 season that will see the total prize fund surpass the €8 million mark for the first time. In all, the “Road to Mallorca” will consist of 31 tournaments staged across three continents in 18 different countries.

Which is all good. But Murray, would go further.

“I’ve always been an advocate of more change over, a bigger influx of new players every year,” says the Scot. “I don’t think as many as 110 players should be exempt. I see 75 as enough, which would allow more spots to open up for those graduating from the Challenge Tour. I like to see young players getting a chance. If they get to play in what might be called ‘average’ DP World Tour events, the incentive and opportunity to move up and on into the premier events will be there. Those events will become important stepping stones for those good enough to make the next upward move.”

Still, first thing first.

“I’m thrilled to see the prize money boost there,” says Law, who spent five years on the Challenge Tour before graduating to the European circuit. “A minimum purse of €250,000 every week will make a massive difference. It used to be that you had to make maybe €30,000 to keep your Challenge Tour card. And around €90,000-€95,000 would see you onto the European Tour. Next year those numbers will go up. Players will need to make around €45,000 to keep their cards. And those who do get promoted will have made some decent dough. Given the standard of golf being played on that tour, those numbers are far more appropriate.”

‘We can’t brush Whistling Straits under any carpets. There are many lessons to be learned. Although we had a lot of headwinds against us, what happened wasn’t just a loss. It was a hammering.’ —Paul McGinley on the Ryder Cup

Hang on though. While the financial side of the tours are trending upward, some perspective is required. Yes, the prize money on the DP World Tour has doubled, but only when compared with last season. In many cases, purses have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic levels. By way of example, the British Masters will offer £1.85 million in 2022; in 2019 the prize fund was £3 million. The Dutch and European Opens will both pay €1.75 million this year, down from €2 million three years earlier. And the European Masters has fallen from €2.5 million to €2 million.

Which is not to say that the tour officials have failed in their primary mission to provide the membership with playing and financial opportunities. Yes, there have been more than a few €1 million events, and the odd dodgy course, but play continued. No mean feat for such a multi-national operation.

“It goes without saying that the European Tour had to work incredibly hard to keep going as it did,” Law says. “Had we had the schedule we have for 2022 with similar money to what we have seen over the last 18 months, no one could really have complained. But we were beginning to see a knock-on effect at those smaller events. Take the caddies. Those guys make their living off the percentages of what their players earn. And when those percentages went down, it was starting to be tough to get caddies at events. So the boost to the prize funds was something the tour needed. They’ve done a brilliant job in that respect.”

Elsewhere, this wouldn’t be the tour formerly known as European if there was not some talk of the Ryder Cup. Even in years when the biennial battle is in abeyance, the subject is never far from the surface, both on the range and in the media. And in that, the DP World Tour will be no different. According to McGinley, an in-depth look at all things Ryder Cup has already begun in the wake of Europe’s record-breaking loss at Whistling Straits.

“There’s a big de-briefing going on, which is appropriate after such a heavy defeat,” McGinley says. “We have to review a lot of things. I’m on the Ryder Cup committee, but our [mission] is not to control the team. We are more involved, alongside the PGA of America, in building the Ryder Cup brand going forward. But I’m aware of what is going on. [Ryder Cup director] Guy Kinnings is currently undertaking a long look at every aspect of the Ryder Cup.”

Surely part of the eventual conclusions will be a close inspection of the qualifying criteria. With the changing landscape and the fact that so many of Europe’s best players are now based in America, it is appropriate to question the process. Do Europe’s young players get enough of a chance to make the team? Many feel there still needs to be a route into the side from the DP World Tour, although it is clear that it doesn’t have to be one that makes up 50 percent of the squad.

“We need to have the best team out there,” McGinley says. “And we need to have a qualification system that is evolving as the game is evolving. All of those things are being reviewed. We were beaten by a record margin. So we can’t just say things will be grand in two years time, or that all we have to do is grow the rough and off we go. Things are a lot deeper than that. We have to lick our wounds and take a serious look at what we need to do next time. And when that is done present it first to the ex-captains who are currently choosing the next skipper.”

A closer inspection of the scoring at Whistling Straits reveals the disturbing fact that, too often, the Europeans were beaten more by their own relatively poor play than American brilliance. There was also the impression that the narrative over the three days was more focused on team morale—“we’re all great pals and that’s what really counts”—than on the fact that they were getting royally thrashed.

“We can’t brush Whistling Straits under any carpets,” McGinley says. “There are many lessons to be learned. Although we had a lot of headwinds against us, what happened at Whistling Straits wasn’t just a loss. It was a hammering. Away from home with no support was always going to be difficult against what was maybe the best-ever American team. And I mean team. I don’t mean that in terms of this playing ability. I mean in how cohesive they were. And how well-captained and structured they were. They kept it simple. Everything behind the scenes looked very straightforward.”

All of which is for the future. More immediately, many questions remain for the new tour. Things clearly need to settle down. One way of another, the DP World needs to know where things stand with Saudi’s LIV Golf Investments. Is there going to be a rival tour? Are some players going to make the jump? Where are we going to be with COVID? Are we going to see increased restrictions? That’s a big question for a circuit that involves so much international travel.

“We are in the eye of the storm in that respect,” McGinley says. “So it is difficult to predict what will happen in the next 12 months. There are so many challenges and so much turmoil in the world at the moment.”

The post What’s on tap in Europe for 2022? Only a reimagined pro tour and a review of Ryder Cup qualifying appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
The outpouring—let’s call it what it was, a deluge—of genuine affection said it all really. The many tributes paid to Renton Laidlaw in the wake of the 82-year-old Scotsman’s passing on Tuesday followed a similar theme. Former Ryder Cup player Ken Brown summed it up best with the last line of his contribution, “love always.” But just about everyone mentioned the good nature that was the hallmark of the legendary journalist and broadcaster’s career and life. And with good reason. Rare is the member of golf’s just-about-worldwide community who has not been touched by Renton’s propensity for kindness, warmth and generosity of spirit.

I am just one of those people. And proud to be so. My friendship with my fellow Hibs fan (Hibernian Football Club), was, on the face of it, a little unlikely. But only if the only Renton you knew was the public Renton, the peerless broadcaster whose deep knowledge of golf and golfers shone through every one of his countless appearances on radio and television. Away from the microphone and the camera he was free to offer stronger opinions than those he revealed in his professional life. I will miss the invariably thought-provoking discussions we had during our regular lunches over the last few years.

The vast majority of those meals took place in the same place. Renton and his sister, Jennifer, live at Drumoig in Fife, a few miles from St. Andrews and maybe 40 minutes from my own home. Most times, we sat at the same table in the Drumoig Hotel, the one by the window. Most times we ordered fish and chips. Most times he drank a ginger beer and lime. And absolutely every time we had ice cream for dessert. Renton liked ice cream. A lot.

I did a lot of listening at those lunches. I would have been crazy not to do so. Renton had an almost endless fund of anecdotes involving just about every significant figure in golf over the last 60 years. He had met them all as his career moved from copy-taking on the Evening News newspaper in his home city of Edinburgh, to “the box” on Grampian Television, Scottish Television and the BBC (where he read the news on the still-running “Reporting Scotland” show every evening) then on to the London Evening Standard as the golf correspondent.

Not long after, Renton was doubling as the golf man on BBC Radio, a gig that eventually led him seamlessly into the role for which he is best known in the United States. Until his retirement at the end of 2014, Renton was the front man on the Golf Channel’s coverage of the European Tour. The introductions to those shows became legendary for both their humour and the often eccentric locations. By way of example, Renton once uttered his opening lines while standing in the middle of fast-moving traffic on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. If he’d had any hair, it would have been raised.

David Cannon
Warren Humpfreys, Ken Brown and Renton Laidlaw broadcasting a European Tour event for the Golf Channel in 2012.

Renton had great affection for two of the four major championships: the Open and the Masters. He first covered the former at Muirfield in 1959 when Gary Player won and he was the first European journalist to make it to Augusta National more than 40 times. As such, he has a parking space at the Masters, as well as a cherished spot on the “wall of fame” in the plush new media center he sadly never had a chance to visit. He was not an outwardly boastful or proud man (far from it), but I know those tributes gave him as much pleasure as the many awards he collected over the years.

In what has become something of a rarity in this modern world, Renton was a genuine friend to many of the game’s luminaries. He could get them all on the phone, just about any time he wanted. But he had his favourites. Ernie Els, who as a young and impecunious pro, lived in Renton’s cottage at Sunningdale for a year or so was one. So was former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher (another Hibs fan).

Renton never married, although he did press the ejector-seat button on a number of engagements in his early life. I could never get him to reveal too much about what went on there, but he always changed the subject with a little enigmatic smile on his face. Which is how I will most remember him.

David Cannon
In 2003, Renton Laidlaw received the PGA of America Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism from then PGA president M.G. Orender.

The last few years of Renton’s life were not particularly easy. There were brushes with cancer. And he had issues with his heart. And at the end, COVID-19 was diagnosed as he lay in the Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. But through it all, at least to me, he admitted to little pain or discomfort—and only when pressed to do so.

Anyway, his suffering is over now. And I’m glad of that at least. I’ll miss my friend, as I know thousands of others around the world will also. It was a pleasure to know him.

The post Here’s what made Renton Laidlaw a great golf broadcaster—and an even greater friend appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Before there was Ian Poulter there was Dai Rees, a Welshman whose passion for the Ryder Cup fuelled often undermanned teams for four decades

By John Huggan
Plenty are those of a (contemporary) European persuasion who will insist the inspirational figure of Ian Poulter is the ultimate “Mr. Ryder Cup.” And they would not be wrong, given the Englishman’s already legendary propensity for heroics—see Medinah, 2012—in golf’s biggest biennial battle. But they would not be completely right, either. That tribute and unofficial title was originally given to another, a man who played in nine Ryder Cups, captained the then Great Britain & Ireland team on five occasions and was good enough to go head-to-head in singles with major champions Byron Nelson, Jay Hebert, Doug Ford and Ed Furgol—and beat all four.

Dai Rees has been gone for nearly 40 years, but his memory deserves recognition beyond reference in dusty history books. No one has ever displayed more enthusiasm for the Ryder Cup than the wee Welshman who was also three times a runner-up in the Open Championship. You had to be way better than good to beat him. All-time greats Ben Hogan (1953), Peter Thomson (1954) and Arnold Palmer (1961) were the men who most cruelly denied Rees his biggest lifetime ambition. Which is not to say that 1946 at St. Andrews, where he shot 80 in the final round when 74 would have won the claret jug, was not most painful.

Amid those lingering disappointments, Rees also did plenty of winning, his penchant for the rough and tumble of match-play obvious.

“My method in match play has been always simply to play against the course rather than against my opponent,” he wrote in his 1968 autobiography, Thirty Years of Championship Golf. “And to anticipate his performing great feats rather than hoping he will commit vast blunders. I have never minded losing a match, provided I have played well. If someone has outplayed me, he is welcome to victory. I always try to go boldly for the correct shot, rather than easing up and playing safely.”

It is a philosophy that worked well enough for long enough. Winner of the British Matchplay Championship on four occasions between 1936 and 1950, Rees remained good enough to reach the final in 1967 (where he lost to Thomson) and in 1969. He travelled well, too. In 1958, Rees won the South African Matchplay title, beating Harold Henning and Gary Player along the way.

He wasn’t too shabby with card and pencil in hand either. In 1973, one year after the establishment of the European Tour, Rees came close to adding to a cosmopolitan list of career victories that included the Irish Open, Swiss Open, Belgian Open, New South Wales Open, South African PGA and the PGA Seniors Championship when he was runner-up in the Martini International … at age 60.

Throughout all of that commendable longevity, Rees was (in)famous amongst his peers as a man who never hit a poor shot. Any fault wasn’t his; always, some outside agency caused his misfortune, a feature of the Rees game that future Ryder Cupper Ken Brown saw up close during his European Tour debut at the 1975 Irish Open.

“I was 18; Dai was 62,” says Brown with a smile. “We were out early on the last day, the youngest player in the field and the oldest. I remember him as a ‘chirpy chappie,’ but highly competitive. I instantly picked up that he was determined to beat me. It was in his genes. On the first hole at Woodbrook, a par 5, we were both 130 yards or so from the putting surface after two shots. The green was a little elevated, so the approach was slightly uphill.

“He hit first. The pin was on the left side. But Dai pulled his shot. It landed on a slope just off the green and shot straight left. He looked at me incredulously. Did you see that bounce? he asked. I was laughing inside. The pin was left. He pulled the shot. It landed on a big right-to-left slope and kicked left. What did he expect? He had hit an awful shot that was only ever going produce one result.”

J. A. Hampton
Dai Rees driving off the first tee during a tournament at Sunningdale in 1952.

Still, for all his seemingly inexhaustible competitiveness on tour, it was for the Ryder Cup that Rees was best known. The now 67-year-old BBC Sports Personality of the Year award isn’t quite what it once was, but it remains an indication of where the nation’s interests lie. In 1957, the year Rees captained GB&I to what would be its last Ryder Cup victory, he won the public vote and remains the only golfer to have done so.

If Rees was a bonafide star, the starting point for that level of acclaim was that ’57 Ryder Cup victory at Lindrick. It was, by a distance, the high point of Rees’ 30-year direct association with the matches. Given that every other encounter was lost (often with something to spare) that is hardly surprising. But even in heavy defeat, Rees often stood out. His sound technique, based on a two-handed baseball grip, was built to last. (His nine appearances for GB&I would have been 10 but for the intrusion of World War II).

“Dai had a tremendous all-round game, and it was hard to find any weaknesses,” says Brian Huggett, the last man to captain a GB&I Ryder Cup team. “His best department was the fairway woods, which is why I think he did so well on British links courses. He would hit the green eight times out of ten with his 3- or 4-wood.”

In passing, driving of another sort was a memorable part of the six-year gap in (corporal) Rees’ golfing life during WWII. Serving in the Royal Air Force, he saw active service in North Africa and the Middle East before landing the job of personal driver to Air Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst, a senior RAF commander. In that role, Rees also drove Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (commander of Allied Ground Forces on D-Day), British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and an American General by the name of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

On separate occasions, Rees also played golf with Montgomery and King George VI, at Eindhoven in Holland. His game with the former was interrupted on the sixth green when an aide arrived to tell the Field Marshal that the Germans had launched their last big counterattack of the war, what would lead to the Battle of the Bulge. As Rees recalled, Monty reacted to the news by calmly holing an eight-foot putt for par.

Post-war, Rees soon picked up where he had left off. That final-round Open collapse in 1946 was the forerunner to a productive trip across the Atlantic. At Riviera in 1947, Rees finished third behind Hogan and Toney Penna in the Los Angeles Open at Riviera. It would have been better but for a 7 at the opening hole of the final round, Rees’ seemingly “perfect” approach mysteriously finishing 60-yards left of the green, wedged tight against a fence.

“What happened?” asked Rees in his book. “I’ll never know. Maybe the ball struck a spectator or a rock and ricocheted at right angles. Or maybe it was kicked there by some Las Vegas gambler with money on Hogan.”

Throughout it all, however, the biggest constant in Rees’ career was the Ryder Cup, in which he ended up with a commendable 7-10-1 record from his nine consecutive appearances between 1937 and 1961. In the last four of those he was a playing captain; only in 1967 did he fill that role in a non-playing capacity. Despite all that experience, Rees’ leadership was nevertheless not devoid of eccentricity.

“At my first Ryder Cup in 1961, we had three days of practice,” says Neil Coles, the only surviving British/Irish member of what would be Rees’ final appearance as a player. “Dai was captain and incredibly enthusiastic. He gave great team talks. But he didn’t always make great decisions. On the first practice day, he told us we would be playing foursomes. He put me with Harry Weetman, who was a long and wild driver. But he was strong enough to get the ball out of the rough. I spent most of that day hacking out.

“The next day we played foursomes again,” Coles continues. “And he put me with Harry again. Same story. On the third day, it was foursomes again. I was with Ralph Moffat this time. But he had a bad back and was driving badly. So it was more hacking out for me. At lunch that day, Dai told everyone to rest in the afternoon. But I went out and played by myself. I told him I’d been there for three days but hadn’t seen the course yet. So he let me go out. Then, of course, I played with Tom Haliburton in the foursomes. You have to laugh.”

Reg Burkett
After his playing career was over, Rees became the club professional at South Herts north of London, succeeding six-time Open champion Harry Vardon.

As he aged and from his long-time base at South Herts north of London (where he succeeded six-time Open champion Harry Vardon as club professional), Rees played the role of mentor to a host of up-and-coming young players. One of those was Pete Cowen, the 1976 Zambian Open champion, but now better known as swing coach to a host of major champions.

“I spent a lot of time with Dai,” Cowen says. “We played a lot of golf together and talked a lot. If you came under Dai’s wing, he was always there to help you. He was the second man to congratulate me when I won in Zambia. The first was the local bookie. I saved him a fortune by beating Jack Newton, the big favourite that week. Dai always wanted the best for the young players. And he always looked after us. We got stuck in Nigeria once when there was a coup. He virtually took over, getting in touch with the High Commissioner, who got us out of jail.

“As far as the golf swing was concerned, Dai wasn’t too deep a thinker,” Cowen continues. “He told me, When you’re under pressure, just hit it as hard as you can. So he had no influence on my teaching. I did ask him a lot of questions about playing though. He was a great driver of the ball. Really good. And a strong iron player. But I don’t think he putted as well as the Americans. That was the biggest problem for the Brits in the Ryder Cup back then.

Maybe so, but Rees always did his best for the usually unavailing cause, his boundless enthusiasm never dimming.

“I remember hitting a 4-wood stiff on the 17th hole at Royal Birkdale during the 1969 Ryder Cup,” Coles says. “Dai ran up to me, from the green, as I was putting my club back in my bag to tell me the ball was stone dead. Then he ran back again. He wasn’t even part of the Ryder Cup that year.

Bettmann
Rees’ players carry off the captain in 1957 after the British team won the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1933.

Even after his death in November 1983 at age 70, Rees continued to exert influence. In 1985, when Europe won for the first time, Rees provided the crate of pink champagne sprayed over the cheering crowds from the hotel balcony. Purchased not long after that equally momentous victory at Lindrick 28 years earlier, he bequeathed the traditional celebratory alcohol on the condition that it was not to be opened by anyone other than the “next team to beat the Americans.”

The perfect legacy. Rees really has to be “Mr. Ryder Cup” forever. Sorry Ian.

The post The original Mr. Ryder Cup appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Four years ago, the first Olympic golf tournament in more than a century went ahead in Rio without the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, then the four top-ranked men’s players on the planet. This time round, Johnson, Adam Scott, Lee Westwood and Danny Lee have already intimated their intention not to compete for gold, silver and bronze in Tokyo. More will likely follow.

Still, one “golfer” will definitely be there, albeit he won’t actually be teeing-up during his time in Japan. It’s safe to say he’ll be tempted though. Since discovering the game during lockdown 2020, Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, world-record holder in the pole vault, has become an avid player. Already, the American-born left-hander—who represents his mother’s native Sweden in international competition—plays off a handicap of 13.

“After the 2020 indoor season ended in March last year, all my competitions were postponed, including the Olympics,” Duplantis says. “So my friends and I were looking for something to do. There were two courses open near my home in Louisiana, so we gave golf a go. Before we knew what was going on we were playing five times a week. We fell in love with it.”

Amidst this enthusiasm, it would be wrong to say Duplantis completely neglected his true vocation, one that has seen him clear the best-ever height of 6.18 meters, claim the gold medal at the 2018 and 2021 European Championships, win a silver at the World Track & Field Championship in 2019 and top the standings in the 2020 Diamond League (the athletics equivalent of the FedEx Cup). But, with his usual training facilities at Louisiana State University closed, he was forced to practice in his parents’ backyard.

Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis broke the men’s world record ?

(via @dreasduplantis, @mondohoss600) pic.twitter.com/kvFKzpchog

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 8, 2020

“Which is where I started jumping,” says the 21-year-old. “My father built a track for me, with a pit and a mat. Anyway, I went back there. It wasn’t high-quality stuff, but it was enough to keep a pole in my hands. My event is just like golf in that you have to practice a lot. It’s so specific, it needs time.”

There are other similarities between the two sports, unlikely as that may seem at first glance. According to Duplantis—who stands a fraction under six feet and weighs 174 pounds, 1½ inches and two pounds less than six-time former world champion Sergei Bubka (any taller or heavier and they would lose the agility they need for the event)—golfing and vaulting are heavy in technical challenges, both mentally and physically. And both are all about timing.

“If I’m feeling fast and strong, I have good results with a pole in my hands,” he says. “But not necessarily in golf. No matter how I’m feeling, the ball can go anywhere. Rhythm is so important. When I’m vaulting, I need to get pumped up to run faster. But that’s not really what you want in golf. On the course, you have to stay cool. You can’t get too excited by the good shots or bummed out by the bad ones. You have to find a middle ground. And you have to look forward in both sports. What just happened doesn’t matter. It’s all about the next jump or the next shot. Short-term memory is key.”

Perhaps the biggest benefit Duplantis has gleaned from his time on the course is the “one shot” nature of golf. In pole vaulting, he can have three attempts at each height; three chances for success. Golf affords no such luxury, a discipline that has given Duplantis a new sense of purpose. At the aforementioned 2019 World Championship, he cleared the same height, 5.97 meters, as the eventual winner, but lost the gold medal because he had failed once more often at earlier heights. It is a lapse he has no intention of repeating.

“Every shot in golf is like my third attempt,” says Duplantis, whose parents, Greg and Helena, met when both were on the track team at LSU. “And golf has helped me focus in vaulting. I’ve been guilty of not taking my first and even second attempts too seriously. Knowing you have a third attempt is not always a good thing. It doesn’t allow as much breathing room as you think. So golf has helped me there. Every shot matters. And now I take that attitude into every vault. I know now not to take any attempt lightly.”

As for the state of the Duplantis golf game, he has already been brave enough to put it on display alongside members of the Swedish Royal family. Invited by Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel to “hang out” last summer, Duplantis played with the latter in a Texas Scramble and performed with no little distinction. Predictably, however, the first tee was a bit of an ordeal, even for one so used to public scrutiny.

“There were so many cameras there,” he reports. “I have never been so out of my comfort zone. I can jump in front of a million people and be fine. I know what I’m doing. In fact, the more people watching me the better. But this was different. There were people lining both sides of this narrow fairway. It was a level of pressure I had never felt before. But I striped one down the middle. It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. I tried to look nonchalant. But I’m not sure I managed to pull it off.

“On the last hole the cameras were back. And I made a 12-foot putt for birdie. A little downhill slider. The Prince made a great comment: ‘I guess you just get it done when you need to huh?’ Which is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.

BSR Agency

Adam Nurkiewicz

Playing with fellow Puma spokesman Rickie Fowler (whose wife, Allison, is a former pole vaulter), Duplantis further revealed himself as typical of the relatively new golfer. The good shots can be very good. The bad shots are very bad. His short game needs work. He three-putts “way too much.” And he often “plays well but scores badly.” Through it all though, his enthusiasm for this wondrous game is palpable.

“I really do have the golf bug,” Duplantis says. “I’m an addict. It’s such a hard but easy game to love. I love competing with my buddies. We’re similar levels. So we can have four hours of fun and competition. It’s a perfect mix. I also played quite a bit in Sweden last summer. With no Olympics, the competitions were still important. But not important enough to keep me off the golf course (laughs). I played every day. And I got a lot better.

“I’m long off the tee,” he continues. “I enjoy that, even when I’m missing fairways. I love the good shots. It’s such a special thing and, this time, so different from my sport. You can’t just amble along and pole vault six meters. But you can hit a great golf shot, even if you’re really not that good. Maybe once in a hundred tries I can hit a shot as good as any pro. That’s what drew me in. Early on I’d shoot maybe 110. But all I could remember was the one par I made on 16. Those little victories keep me coming back.”

Fowler confirms all of the above. Or most of it at least, calling Duplantis “an impressive athlete,” one blessed with “plenty of power” that enabled him to match his professional pal when it came to distance off the tee.

“Mondo actually surprised me,” says the five-time PGA Tour winner. “I didn’t think he was going to be as good as he was. His swing is raw and athletic and generates so much speed, which is amazing in someone from a sport that isn’t really rotational. He’s a freak in that respect. We didn’t really keep score the day we played. It was just a fun round. But he made a birdie or two and plenty of pars. With a little bit of work, he could be a solid player. Not at tour level, but he could be good, especially once he plays more.”

That last bit will have to wait until after the Olympics, of course. But the signs are clearly good for Duplantis the golfer. Remember that world record of his? It was set in Glasgow, Scotland. The home of golf. Perfect.

The post How pole vaulter Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis used golf to get through the pandemic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
This is a story about proud men, men with something to be proud of. Every April, they attend one of the sports world’s most exclusive gatherings. Every April, they are allowed to don a special and distinctive green garment, one worn by only a few. Every April, as past winners of golf’s most important tournament, they can play in the Masters at Augusta National. That is their privilege, one allowed them for as long as they choose to take advantage of their bygone victory. Any discretion is theirs and theirs alone.

All good things, though, have a natural shelf life. So it is that a less attractive decision-making process represents perhaps the only disappointing aspect of that sumptuous package of Masters goodies: When to stop playing in golf’s so-called “rite of spring?”

When does the fall in performance that is the inevitable consequence of age lead to discreet retirement?

When is it time to give up the opportunity of a lifetime and get out of the way?

When does embarrassment supersede excitement?

What scores are too high, too much of a blow to that well-earned pride?

When, then, is it time to sit back on the clubhouse veranda and watch younger men perform?

The timetables and motivations may vary, but every one of those questions leads to the same destination. And the eventual conclusions, as ever, depend on who you ask. The common factor, however, is not staying too long, as 1970 champion Billy Casper did when he shot 105 in his last Masters round in 2005. Which is easier said than done. The temptation is always there. The mind of a champion can be a wondrous thing.

“I remember Gary Player coming into the locker room a few years ago,” says two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer. “He told me he had made the biggest mistake of his life. I was a bit taken aback as you can imagine. I asked him what was going on. He told me he had announced his retirement from the Masters that year but he had just shot 78 and thought he might still be competitive.”

Still, most players announce their intention to make one last curtain call and so enjoy the adulation of the patrons as they tour the hills and dales of Augusta National for a final time. Some, like Arnold Palmer, change their minds and do it twice (2002 and 2004). Others, 1988 champion Sandy Lyle but one example, simply change their minds and keep playing.

Then there is Ian Woosnam. In 2016, he was apparently done with the tournament he won in 1991. “It’s just getting really tough,” said the Welshman at the time. “That’s my last go. I am not fit enough to play with my bad back. Every time I play this course it just seizes on me, and I can’t swing the club properly. I am in pain all the way round, so it’s time to say ‘bye bye’ really.”

But he continued on. Then, three years and three more missed cuts later (his last made cut came in 2008), Woosnam basically repeated himself.

“I think this is going to be my last time playing here,” he sighed in 2019. “I’m just in too much pain. And it happens every time I get here. It must be the hills because I’ve been playing and hitting a lot of balls recently with no ill-effects. But as soon as I get on this course my back bothers me.”

Next week, Woosnam, at 63, is scheduled to make his 32nd appearance at Augusta, one he feels might be his swansong. Then again maybe not.

“I don’t know if this will be my last Masters,” he says, having skipped playing last November. “I just want to see how I go. Given the condition of my back, I can never say for sure. I know I’ve said before that I’m finished, but I also said that could change if my back improved. And it has. Plus, I don’t want to go out that way. My real objective is to get round pain-free. I would enjoy that. I’ve been in pain for the last 20 years really.”

So it’s tough to say goodbye. But with age comes deterioration. Even Fred Couples, who has recorded 11 top-10 finishes in 35 Masters appearances can see the end of the road, or should we say Magnolia Lane. The 1992 champion his missed the cut three times in his last five starts after making it in 28 of his first 30 appearances.

“This is a course I think I can play,” says Couples, 61. “If that’s not good enough to compete at a semi-certain level, I don’t want to do that. I don’t know when that’s going to be, but I’m not going to come out here and wave and tell everyone it’s my last round.”

“Each year it became harder and harder to break 80,” agrees two-time winner Ben Crenshaw, who retired from Masters competition amidst much pomp and ceremony in 2015 at 63. “I’m part of a bygone era when it comes to distance. I was beating my head against a brick wall. I just felt like I didn’t belong out there anymore. We’re all 2 down to father time. I was out of presses.”

Jamie Squire
Ben Crenshaw announced his retirement ahead of time in 2015 and received standing ovations throughout his final round.

Others wait until the eve of their last round to tell the world, “enough.” Craig Stadler (at 60), Fuzzy Zoeller (57) and Ray Floyd (66) all chose that route to retirement.

“People ask me why I don’t play in the Masters any more,” says Zoeller, who called it quits in 2009, three decades on from his 1979 victory and after missing the cut in 10 of his last 11 Masters starts. “I’m just not competitive. If I’m not competitive, I can’t do it. I don’t have an ego. And I knew it was time. Golf is a game to me, a hard game, but still a game. And there are 18 hard games on that course. On some you’ll be fine but others are going to kick your butt. And too many were doing that to me. I didn’t feel that I had a chance. That’s a terrible feeling. And the time when you know it is time to step aside and let the young guys have at it.”

The biggest factor in the demise of many past champions is the length of the examination they are asked to take these days. When Jose Maria Olazabal won the first of his two green jackets in 1994, Augusta National measured 6,925 yards. This year the course will be 550 yards longer. Combined with the fact that the Spaniard is 28 years older, chances are he’s going to struggle to keep up. Which he has. Since finishing T-3 in 2006, the now 55-year-old has missed seven cuts in 10 starts.

“Time is a handicap, no question,” he says. “Every year the course seems to get longer. Last year I hit a lot of 5-woods and 3-irons to the par-4 greens. So I have to be very sharp, especially with the short game. But it is just a matter of how you feel, whether you continue to play or not. We all have the right to do so, and I will do so as long as I don’t feel like I am embarrassing myself in front of people. The bottom line is the score. As long as I can get round in a decent number I will play.”

That is a common theme. As is motivation. As is the depressing thought that the limit of an aging past champion’s ambition is to make the halfway cut. One who rebelled at that notion, even while feeling like he is capable of making it to the weekend, is O’Meara. The 1998 champion made his Masters bow in 2018.

“My last good Masters [2015] was when I was 58 years old,” he says. “I made the cut when the course was dry. I tied for 22nd. After that, I missed every cut. I’d shoot in the mid-to high-70s. So when I turned 62 I felt like that was going to be it for me. I wasn’t enjoying it as much. I didn’t want to go out there and have to play my tail off just to make the cut. I didn’t want that to feel like something special. It just felt like my time had come and gone. I didn’t make a big statement about it. I was tired of finishing on Friday and having the media ask me if I was done. I didn’t say anything at the Champions Dinner on Tuesday evening. I just walked away.”

Jamie Squire
Jose Maria Olazabal says that as past champions age, they have to get more creative in the way they approach playing the course.

OK, let’s talk specifics. Are there holes that have become just too long, just too tough, for men who are routinely 60-70 yards behind their younger brethren off the tee? A few come immediately to these experienced minds.

“The seventh hole is a classic example,” Olazabal says. “I used to hit a 3-wood or a 1-iron off that tee. Then have an 8- or 9-iron to the green. Now I am hitting a solid drive and still having a 4- or 5-iron left. To a green that is elevated and very shallow for those clubs. It is virtually impossible for the ball to stop on the green. That is a great example of how the course has changed for us over the years.”

Other holes stick out, too.

“The 11th, 14th and 17th are also very difficult for us now,” says 1987 champion Larry Mize, who shot an eye-opening 70 in last year’s first round at age 62. “The tees have been moved back so far. I’m hitting a long iron or a hybrid into both now. Last year, I hit a 5-wood into 17 on Day 1. We are hitting right into the hill off the tee. The kids fly over that and get some roll. But our drives hit and stop.”

The fifth is yet another brute. In 1993, when Langer won for his second time, the par 4 measured 435 yards. Last year, when the then 63-year-old German became the oldest man to make the halfway cut, it was a whopping 495 yards. Every day, he needed a 3-wood to reach the green with his second shot.

“I am hitting a lot of 2- and 3-hybrids on holes where the younger guys are hitting 8- and 9-irons into the greens,” Langer says with a smile. “So it’s a big challenge for me.”

Not an insurmountable one though. In the final round last November, Langer was paired with the longest hitter on the PGA Tour, Bryson DeChambeau—and out-scored him by two, 71-73.

Rob Carr
Despite Bernhard Langer being 36 years Bryson DeChambeau’s senior, he was able to outduel the U.S. Open champion, 71-73, in the final round at Augusta last November.

“There is a definite advantage from playing that course 100 times or more,” Langer says. “I know how all the putts break. I’ve seen all the pin positions. I understand what each means. I know that when the pin is in position X, I can’t miss in position Y. Sometimes it is better to be 20 yards short than three feet above. I know too, how certain winds affect shots. I’ve seen. I’ve watched. And I’ve experienced so much. Add it all up and it is a definite benefit.

“It often comes down to a matter of inches. When I was paired with Bryson he got very frustrated. He made mistakes you just can’t make. He missed in the wrong places. More than once he almost hit a good shot, but it wasn’t. Then he would make bogey and sometimes double bogey.”

So experience counts for a lot around Augusta National, maybe more than anywhere else in the world other than the Old Course at St. Andrews. In turn, the more senior members of the Masters field have begun using a common refrain when describing their course strategy, noting the need for “intelligent missing.”

“I have to think about where I am going to miss, about where I will have the best chance to get down in two more shots,” says Olazabal, the owner of one of golf’s most potent short games. “It doesn’t matter how aggressive I was when I was at my peak, these days I am standing over shots knowing I have virtually no chance to finish close to the hole. So I think of the best area, the one where I will have a relatively easy chip-and-putt. Or two putts. I think more about making pars than birdies.”

All of which sounds a lot like hard work. But still these old champions keep coming back. There is, after all, much to enjoy about a week at Augusta National when you don’t have to worry about such things as making the cut, breaking 80 or reaching an increasingly distant par 4 in fewer than three shots.

“Mentally, I approach the Masters differently now. I go there knowing that making the weekend is already a success,” Olazabal says. “But I go there for many reasons. Every time I set foot on the property I have so many positive memories. Just being part of the tournament is fantastic, with things like the champions dinner. Being able to watch the new generation and how they play the course is a fascination for me. So many positives, although it is hard to think of those things when you are struggling. But it is part of life. And the game prepares you for that in the sense that, even at your peak, you are successful only a very small percentage of the time.”

Jamie Squire
Larry Mize knows that at age 62, he’s down to his last handful of Masters starts.

The last word, however, belongs to Langer, whose T-29 last year represented a phenomenal feat for a man in his 60s. While he has no immediate plans to quit playing, the 41-time PGA Tour Champions winner knows that day will inevitably arrive. He is just happy that he—along with his fellow champions—is allowed to leave on his own terms.

“Last year I asked the chairman how long I am allowed to compete,” Langer says. “I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if there was an age limit. [The club briefly instilled one in 2002 at 65, but scrapped the plan before it went into place in 2004 after blowback from fans and past winners.] But he told me I am welcome to play as long as I like and that I will know when to stop. That was reassuring. My plan is therefore to play a few more years. When I can’t reach par 4s, or when I’m shooting high numbers, that will be the time to stop playing.”

Until, then, of course, we get to enjoy these proud men, who can still give us a taste of a time when professional golf was more “smooth” than “smash.”

The post When should a past champion call it a career at Augusta National? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Every working day since April 14, their routine has not changed. Promptly at 7:45 a.m., six men sit down for a 45-minute “scheduling meeting,” mostly via video conference. Keith Pelley, European Tour chief executive, is “in the chair,” surrounded by the tour’s chief operating officer, Keith Waters, deputy COO Ben Cowen, deputy CEO and Ryder Cup director Guy Kinnings, head of championship management Richard Atkinson and communications director Scott Crockett.

The one-point agenda also hasn’t altered in the last three months. As the coronavirus laid waste to the European Tour’s well-established tournament schedule, filling the steadily increasing number of gaps in the calendar—empty since the Qatar Masters in early March—became top priority.

In that respect, and starting basically from scratch, this ad hoc committee has done an exceptional job. Following a pair of tournaments co-sanctioned by the second-division Challenge Tour in Austria, this week’s start of the six-event “United Kingdom swing” heralds the return of what is almost a full tournament slate (without fans at the outset) for the European Tour. Even after the recent postponement of the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits (rumored to be “replaced” by the Irish Open), only six blank weeks remain between the British Masters, which begins on Wednesday, and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai that will conclude Dec. 13.

“The challenge was all about having back-up plans,” says Pelley, who calls the last few months the most demanding of his professional life. “When we started to see tournaments disappearing, we knew we had to react and take over the running of events ourselves. We had a tournament development fund we could draw on. But we had no other revenue streams. So we put a team together to look at our options. Our chief medical officer, Dr. Andrew Murray, led us in that. He told us that our best chance of success was to minimize travel. That’s why we have had two events in Austria and now six events in the U.K., followed by three more in Spain and Portugal. Air travel has been kept to a minimum.”

Lessons also have been learned from the recent experiences of the PGA Tour. Pelley and his U.S. counterpart, Jay Monahan, have been in contact multiple times weekly since the virus struck.

“The PGA Tour has done a terrific job,” says Pelley, who claims relations with Monahan and the four major championships have been permanently altered—for the better. “They have shown us a level of respect with regard to our scheduling issues that is much appreciated. But, at the same time, we are a different country. Or countries. So we can’t compare like with like. It’s all about planning. Which is why we have multiple scenarios in place. If the U.K. government says to us we can have 5,000 fans on-site, we are ready to go.

“Over the last five years we have been a momentum-and-growth business. We have been building and building, driving revenue. But that stopped overnight. Now it is all about getting back to being a growth business. And it looks like that will take at least until the end of 2021.”

Given that time frame, Pelley remains wary. The experience of the last few months has shown him how rapidly things can change. Plans are modified on almost a daily basis. So, while the schedule is solid through the end of October, the tour already has back-up plans in place—two more possible “swings”—that are ready to step in if some of the events at the end of the year don’t come to fruition. Next year is taking shape, too. The U.K. swing will return in 2021, this time with five events, one of which will be in Scotland.

Before that, however, the “new normal” that encompasses all aspects of post-virus life means many things are going to look different on what was golf’s second-most lucrative circuit. Field strength for one. After a fortnight in Austria that featured no player ranked inside the world’s top 100, only one player from the top-50—tournament host Lee Westwood—will tee it up at Close House in northeast England. That depressing fact isn’t likely to change much in the coming months. Nearly all of Europe’s leading lights are already feasting at the PGA Tour’s rich table, with an even more appetising diet of majors and World Golf Championships beckoning.

Ross Kinnaird
England’s Lee Westwood will serve as host during this week’s British Masters, as he did at Close House in 2017. He also will be the only player among the World top 50 in the field.

It’s not a fair financial fight of course. At least initially, prize money in Europe is paltry by comparison. Both events in Austria “boasted” €500,000 purses—roughly $575,000 for all players. Four times that amount is on offer at this week’s British Masters, with the five other events in the United Kingdom all paying €1 million.

What both sides of the Atlantic do have in common is dealing with the medical and safety aspects that have become the overriding concerns at every major sporting event. And a good beginning has been made. Although three people (not players) reported COVID-19 symptoms before traveling and so were denied entrance, no one on-site in Austria tested positive for the virus, a tribute to the protocols in place. Even the bananas the players ate during rounds were individually wrapped.

“Overall, it was a good experience,” says Nicolas Colsaerts, a former Ryder Cup player who played the first week back at the Austrian Open. “We were sent a test called ‘let’s get checked’ about a week before the tournament. That was the first step towards returning to the tour. It was compulsory. I sent the swab back and got the result two days later.”

Once at the tournament venue, each golfer took a CRP (C-reactive protein) test. “The result came back 2-4 hours later,” Colsaerts said. “But before that I was given an orange necklace. It allowed me to enter the outside parts of the venue—the range, the putting green—but not any buildings or the players’ lounge. Once I came back negative, I was free to go wherever I wanted. But I still had to wear a mask when indoors. And I still had to practice social distancing.”

Brian Nilsson, Colsaerts’ caddie, was another impressed by life inside the Austrian bubble.

“The tour staff were very strict,” says Nilsson, an Australian, who travelled from his home in Thailand to work for his long-time boss. “If you got a little close to any of them, they would take a step back. So they were leading by example. And the tour threatened to close the lounge when a few caddies and players didn’t self-distance. On the course was normal, but only one caddie touched the pin per hole. There was sanitizer on every tee box. And every player was marking his own card.”

So far so good then. But bigger challenges lie ahead, as Murray is quick to emphasise. Murray is a consultant for the University of Edinburgh, the SportScotland Institute of Sport and the Scottish Rugby Union. He is a former ultra-marathon runner (he once completed seven inside a week) who has won races in places as diverse as the North Pole, the Antarctic and the Gobi Desert. And he is just as tough away from what he once did for fun.

At Murray’s instigation, athlete education is mandatory for all players, caddies and anyone else on-site at tournaments—including the media. A video details the most important aspects of fighting the virus, how to recognize it and what to do about it. Then there is a quiz. Anyone failing is not allowed in.

“A new start is always exciting,” Murray says. “But we had a really good collaboration with the Austrian government and the local health authority. It involved the things that will be entirely appropriate at every event for the foreseeable future. Social distancing. Enhanced standards of hygiene. Symptom and temperature checks for all participants. On-site testing. Copious supplies of hand sanitiser [750 liters in all].”

Andrew Redington
Players will be asked to practice social distancing measures to help keep themselves safe during the restart.

All of which is standard practice. But there are complications and challenges ahead. Because of the global nature of the European Tour, Pelley and Murray must deal with a variety of governments and health authorities, not all of which are moving at the same speed when it comes to dealing with the virus.

“One of the things we are proud of is that Formula 1 and ourselves are the only two international events currently taking place,” Pelley said. “It’s not like we are a domestic tour; we are international. As a result, governments look at us differently. And all of them have different regulations in place.”

As a consequence, tour policy is not just about what has to be done at and around events. It’s about how everyone gets to events.

According to Murray, three factors are in play:

• What are the regulations? If a government or public health authority does not think it is safe or reasonable to have spectators, then the tour won’t allow them.

• What does the tour think is the right thing to do? The restrictions in Austria were less than they will be in the U.K. But going spectator-free was felt to be the right thing to do so many people are arriving from so many different parts of the world.

• What do the players think? “We spoke to them and worked out what they think is right,” Murray says. “Then we came to a collective decision.”

All of which begs an obvious question: Are all players, regardless of nationality, going to be subjected to the same frequency of testing?

“The frequency of testing will follow the level of the virus in the country where the event is being held,” Murray says. “But for those coming from overseas countries where COVID is more prevalent, it is more likely that we will test them more often. It’s just more likely that they might have it. But it will all be based on government advice. If they want people from country X tested more often, that’s what we will do. Right now, for example, those coming from, say, Brazil or America will be tested more. But every day everyone will be asked the same questions as they come on-site. It’s all about making on-site a low-risk environment—more than going to the shops or playing in the monthly medal. We want the players to be free to focus on getting the ball in the hole.”

That’s a nice thought, one everyone will be hoping can come to fruition over the coming weeks and months. But human nature being what it is, even the best laid plans can go awry. At least one tour caddie has doubts.

“I’ve heard a few guys saying they don’t like the idea of being ‘in jail’ for the U.K. swing,” he says. “They prefer to wait for Spain/Portugal, when they can stay in any hotel and go where they want for dinner. The first week in the U.K. will be good to see everybody for the first time in a while. But week two or three surrounded by players, caddies and staff in the same hotel? That’s going to be hard work.”

As it already has been for the sleep-deprived scheduling committee. Now though, for the European Tour, it’s time to play.

The post Back to work: How the European Tour is approaching its return to golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Last month, Rory McIlroy was a guest on the McKellar Golf Journal podcast. During what turned out to be a fascinating 90-minute conversation with the world’s top-ranked golfer, one of the hosts—OK, it was me—was banging on about/bemoaning the rise of science and the relative demise of artistry in the game at the highest level.

“You are right about that,” McIlroy said. “But the artist will always win.”

It was a great point and a reassuring response. But courtesy of Bryson DeChambeau’s recent physical transformation, concerns remain. When, for example, did you last hear or read what used to be one of the biggest compliments you could pay any course?

“You need every club in your bag to play there,” used to be a common refrain in print and on television. No more, though. Judging by the ever-expanding DeChambeau’s recent driving distances, he could get by with maybe half a dozen of his 14 sticks.

Which is not to say that Bryson’s strategy is not without merit; most definitely it makes sense. He has done what any professional should do. He has identified the part of the elite game that is most advantageous to his prospects of winning and has done whatever it takes to improve his “numbers” in that area. Good on him. There is no blame to attach here. His was a smart move.

RELATED: After a positive player test for COVID, where does the PGA Tour go from here?

I also have no wish to take away the reasonable advantage long hitters have always had in golf. That makes sense, too. Launching the ball farther than one’s competitors is a legitimate talent, one deserving of reward. Just not too much of a reward. The edge over the others has become, at least to these eyes, disproportionate.

There is, of course, nothing new in DeChambeau’s tactics. He is merely continuing a trend that stretches back to the beginnings of the game in Scotland. It is just that things are getting out of hand. John Daly was a recent example. When he burst on the scene with victory at the 1991 PGA Championship, Long John was a novelty, something different. But not for long. Today, Daly’s style of play is increasingly the norm. Give it a few years and the same will be said of DeChambeau.

The danger is obvious. More and more, distance off the tee is going to be an absolute prerequisite for anyone with ambitions to win tournaments at the highest level. On fewer occasions over the course of a season will those not physically blessed with turbo-charged clubhead speed be able to harbour even small hopes of the ultimate success. More and more, the golf played on the professional tours will be a one-dimensional blast. Creativity. Imagination. Strategy. All three will be less important.

This is not a good thing. Think about it. How can a game that all-but eliminates those who play with the artistic style of a Seve Ballesteros or a Lee Trevino be said to be improving?

This contention, I concede, might have something to do with my imminent 60th birthday—but golf at the highest level just isn’t as interesting to watch as it used to be. I also plead guilty to a level of snobbery here. To me, the game is at its best when it features a high level of the aforementioned creativity, imagination and strategy. In contrast, a glorified long-driving contest holds little appeal, even if it does attract the casual fan. “Mashed potatoes” is not my favorite dish.

So it is that the current group of star names are each a product of their environment. Though their talent is not in doubt, swings are more and more homogenous. Shots increasingly lack variety of shape and flight. And the game at the top level is closer to one-dimensional than it has ever been.

I’m thinking of Jason Day. Or Justin Thomas. Or Brooks Koepka. Or Adam Scott. Or Dustin Johnson. Or Sergio Garcia. Or Henrik Stenson. Or Justin Rose. Or Patrick Reed. Or Louis Oosthuizen.

These guys have much in common, other than their elite status. All are long off the tee. Far more than for their work on and around the greens, all are renowned for the high quality of their ball-striking between tee and green, which is not a coincidence. The application of coldblooded science (definition: a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe) to the full swing through computer analysis, TrackMan data and ever-more in-depth analysis by ever-more informed coaches has produced a generation of almost copycat “flushers.”

All of which is not necessarily a bad thing. I love watching all of them hit and marvel at their consistency. It’s just that it comes with a downside. Lost amid all the facts and figures is the ability to make direct historical comparisons. Was Jack Nicklaus really greater than Tiger Woods? Was Trevino a better and more versatile shotmaker than Bubba Watson? Did Seve or Phil Mickelson have the better short game? While acknowledging the subjectivity of those arguments, we’ll never know. Not really. Because the game played on tour today is so far removed from that of even 25 years ago.

A few years ago, I played in the pro-am preceding the World Cup of Golf at the wonderful Kingston Heath course in Melbourne, Australia. As it turned out, I was the only amateur in the group, alongside Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, former European Tour player Mike Clayton and Su Oh, who plays on the LPGA Tour.

Phil Sheldon/Popperfoto
In the age of players trying to squeeze out every last yard of distance, tour pros who played the game like Seve Ballesteros are becoming fewer.

On what is normally Kingston Heath’s par-3 fifth, Su hit a hybrid club through the wind that was quartering against and from right to left and onto the green. Mike hit a 4-iron. So did I. And Nicolas used an 8-iron. What was more depressing than the disparity between those clubs was the type of shot the gifted Belgian hit. Knowing the ball he was using was not going to spin much and thus not “balloon” into the air, he simply smashed it toward the target.

Seeing that, we challenged Nicolas to play a “proper” shot with a 6-iron. Which he did. There is no question he has the skill and technique to flight the ball in any conditions. That is obvious. Yet the little punchy hold-up shot in the right-to-left wind isn’t one he’d much think about hitting in a tournament. For him, the “proper” way to hit the shot was using force, not finesse.

I leave with one last thought. And a shot many fans may have seen on social media in the last couple of months. During the 1984 Open Championship at St. Andrews, the ultimate artist that was Ballesteros drove down the middle of the fairway on the par-5 fifth. The ball finished on a downslope, making the second shot over the dip in front of the slightly elevated green maybe 9-out-of-10 on the difficulty scale.

Seve pulled it off, though, his ball finishing maybe 12 feet from the flag. He made the right swing, not the same swing. And it was a magnificent strike, one immediately followed by a breathless tribute from his playing partner, Trevino. “Touch of class, Seve, touch of class,” said the six-time major champion, himself one of the most creative players in golf’s long history.

Rory assertion was right in 1984—Seve did go on to win that week—but is he still correct today? I would argue less and less so. Discuss.

The post The downside of the Bryson DeChambeau experiment appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
On the European Tour, the scorecard for the 2019-’20 season makes depressing reading: Played 11, postponed 10 (if you include the Olympics), cancelled seven. Tournaments that is. Stalled since the Qatar Masters in early March, the next scheduled event on professional golf’s second-largest circuit is the British Masters at the end of July.

Other than that, the news from the tour’s Wentworth base in England is that there is no news. Unlike the PGA Tour, which hopes to re-start without fans as soon as June, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley has had little positive to say to his membership. There have, for example, been no re-scheduling announcements, only a memo to players earlier in the month warning of a “radically different” look to tournaments when play resumes.

“The reality is, the pandemic is going to have a profound impact on the tour financially, as well as many of our partners, both in sponsorship and broadcast areas,” Pelley spelt out.

And with the United Kingdom currently under lock-down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, chances are the British Masters will soon be the latest event to be cancelled or postponed.

Still, it is difficult to be too hard on any administrator in the current and unprecedented climate.

“If I was Keith, I would have done exactly what he has done so far,” says former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley. “I’m a great believer in ‘under-promise, over-deliver.’ He has set the scene for what will be tough times when we come back. He has lowered expectations and made people realise that the world is going to be very different. The economy is going to be devastated over the next few months, if it hasn’t been already. In the tour’s case, that is inevitably going to lead to a reduction in prize funds. When the tour does resume, the players are going to be under no illusions.”

All of which leaves questions to be answered with regard to the future of golf’s most international and cosmopolitan circuit.

• • •

Why has the European Tour been so slow to announce plans for the future?

“One of the biggest problems Keith Pelley has right now is that he deals with so many different countries and governments,” says Nicolas Colsaerts, a former Ryder Cup player and member of the tour’s tournament committee. “Every country has been thrown into our current situation at slightly different times, so it is difficult to know what is going to happen in those places. Planning anything with any certainty is almost impossible. There are so many different scenarios. While you may be able to play golf or start to play in one place, you might not be in another.”

Rest assured, Colsaerts says, the European Tour has a plan in place, but nothing official yet. “We are waiting for the governments to tell us what we can do. Or can’t do,” he said.

Despite this, Pelley’s silence does seem to underline the notion that just about any information he has for his members is only going to deepen the prevailing downbeat mood. Which is not to say players are not understanding.

“I think Keith has actually made a lot of good decisions,” says European Tour veteran Lee Westwood. “In contrast, the PGA Tour’s plan to play in June is very ambitious. No one has ever seen anything like this. So we have to be so mindful of what is going on in the world. Forget about golf. Yes, we’d all like to have live sport on television, but is that really so important compared with what is going on in society worldwide?

Westwood believes that by holding out on announcing a formal plan, what Pelley and the European Tour have done is give themselves a bigger window of time to assess the situation and give integrity to what would remain of the season. “There is an opportunity to schedule events at the end of the year,” Westwood says. “The longer you wait, the more chance you have of actually making things happen. And I look at the biggest events and think, if you have to hold them, do it 100 percent. Do them right, or not at all.”

• • •

Does the European Tour’s scheduling strategy actually make sense?

According to one source, representatives from the four majors (Augusta National, USGA, R&A and PGA of America), PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan and Pelley have been in regular conversation about scheduling for the rest of this year. The group has talked at least twice a week for the last month.

To no one’s surprise, first on the agenda was mapping out the majors. Everyone was pushing for them to get played with only the Open Championship ultimately being cancelled for 2020. They were the priority, so getting them aligned would then allow the other tours to build schedules around them.

That the PGA Championship and U.S. Open landed in August and September rather than later in the year (the Masters finding a home in November), provides a surprising opportunity for the European Tour, says McGinley.

“The further down the road [events] are scheduled, surely the more chance they have of being played,” he says. “The closer we get to December 31, the more chance they have of happening.”

As things stand, the European Tour is free to take the later dates this year, right up to Christmas. It is easy to imagine tournaments in Dubai and South Africa in the lead-up to holiday season, events that potentially have way more chance of actually being played on time than those scheduled for August and September, which could still encounter additional delays.

• • •

How has the relationship between the European Tour and its main broadcast partner, Sky Sports, been affected?

From a business perspective, for the European Tour to come out of the pandemic with hope of eventually returning to normal will require keeping its broadcast partners happy. “The television money is huge,” says Iain Stoddart, founding partner of the Bounce management company, which represents former Ryder Cup player Stephen Gallacher and 2019 European Tour rookie of the year Bob MacIntyre. “So it will come above every other priority.” That includes playing tournaments without fans in order to make sure there are events to televise.

Both Pelley and Jason Wessely, the head of golf at Sky, declined to be interviewed for this story, perhaps an indication that agreement has yet to be reached on exactly how their long-standing association is going to look going forward. But it would be strange indeed if Sky were playing financial hard-ball with the tour to the extent that it could go out of business. Clearly, that would make no sense for either side.

“We are looking at innovative ways to get things moving,” says one tour insider. “And we are talking to Sky. The tour has great relationships with Sky, Rolex and the Dubai royal family. They have all been supportive rather than demanding. Sky are looking to maintain the partnership. There is no point in them cutting our legs out from under us. They want the product to come back. So the tour is not going to be cash-starved.”

That “great relationship” still has to exist within a business environment though. As many have pointed out over the years, business and friendship are two very different things.

“Sky will be putting pressure on us to play,” says Robert Rock, a tour player and swing coach. “Contracts are in place. We have to deliver, for example, a certain amount of U.K.-based events. If we don’t, there are penalties. Or at least we don’t get the same money. Still, you’d think that Sky will realise that severe financial penalties would put us in real trouble. So I hope we are working together.”

• • •

Are players going to be forced into premature retirement because that simply can’t afford to continue?

With no events to play in for several months, and Pelley’s warning of less prize money to be had when tournaments resume, it’s natural to believe that players will be worried about their financial futures.

“During my first few years out there I struggled to keep my card,” Rock says, using his example to explain a tour pro’s predicament. “I was earning around €200,000 on the course. But after expenses and taxes I wasn’t making a lot of money. Things were not super-tight, but it was a lot of work to clear around €40,000. Playing the tour is a big financial risk. There’s a lot to play for every week but a lot to pay for too.

“Those who have been on tour for a while and have done all right; they will be OK,” Rock says. “I’m 43 now and close to finishing. And I’m fine. But younger lads and those who have over-spent early on might be struggling. I can see the ‘teams’ that work with players getting smaller. Players will make cuts to their expenses if the prize money falls.”

Luke Walker
Rock envisions some players needing to reevaluate how many members of their ‘team’ are need to help keep expenses down.

“Financially, the European Tour needs tournaments to be played sometime this year, especially the Ryder Cup,” says former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher, a 10-time European Tour winner. “Even if it means playing behind closed doors. Otherwise, I fear many of the staff at the tour will lose their jobs [as many as 60 have already been furloughed]. And many of the players on the main tour, senior tour and challenge tour will be lost to the game forever.”

• • •

Can the Challenge Tour and Senior Tour survive? And what about the tour school?

Logic dictates that, if the European Tour is struggling financially, the Challenge and Senior circuits are likely to be in an even deeper economic hole.

The senior (Staysure) tour in Europe exists largely because of the pro-ams that precede every event. As long as nostalgic souls wish to pitch up and play with the heroes of the past, it has a chance of continuing.

The Challenge Tour is a more complex entity. But Rock—via former Ryder Cup player Peter Hanson—may have a possible solution.

“I played with Peter earlier this year and he had a great idea,” Rock says. “Elevate all the national mini-tours, and at the end of the year have a final series where the top guys qualify for their tour cards. That sounds like a better option than the Challenge Tour, which is just a grind for all concerned. But British lads playing the EuroPro Tour would have way less expenses but still have the prospect of making the European Tour if they do well.”

As for the tour school, none of the news is good. Not for those wishing to play their way onto the European Tour through the three-stage and eventual six-round marathon. And not for the tour itself. Given that it is impossible to see the school taking place this year, young up-and-comers are going to have to be wait another 12 months for their chance at glory. And the tour will to do without a substantial cash cow. Last year, 1,064 players paid £1,800 each to enter the process. That’s £1,915,200 for anyone counting.

• • •

So, what will the tour end up doing, schedule-wise?

First up, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the tour’s flagship event, will have to move from its September date. As things stand, the tournament sits one week after the Tour Championship in Atlanta and one week before the U.S. Open in New York. It is also safe to assume that high on the priority list are the Irish and Scottish Opens. Significantly, both are on the “postponed” list rather than sitting alongside those “cancelled.” Although if and when either get played, they are unlikely to boast the strength of fields they would have done in the original dates.

“The Scottish Open will not look anything like it would have,” Stoddart says. “The field won’t be as good because it won’t be the week before the Open. The field will likely need to be reduced, or a two-tee policy will be in place, because there will be less daylight. It might be played behind closed doors. And the tee times won’t be set to suit the television viewers in America. There will be adjustments at every other event, too. And that might be the case until the end of 2021. There won’t be any point in thinking about what has been the norm until now. That’s history.”

Elsewhere, as McGinley pointed out, the second half of November and all of December up to Christmas is available to reschedule events. And Pelley, in his memo to players, has already hinted at some possibilities:

“We are looking at options such as, (a) multiple tournaments in the same location; (b) two tournaments in the same week, or three in a fortnight; or (c) three or four tournaments back-to-back in the U.K. with a 14-day ‘quarantine’ period ahead of that to allow players not from the U.K. to come over and self-isolate in advance, if that health requirement is still in place then.”

“I’ve heard that the Nedbank in South Africa and the DP World in Dubai will be pushed back into December,” says Eddie Pepperell, on tour for eight years and ranked No. 65 in the world, also mentioning the potential for expanding the Race to Dubai to encompass two years’ worth of tournaments. “We might also have a great run of events in the U.K. in the autumn. That would be brilliant. So there are positive scenarios. But we need to play, if only because of the financial implications of not playing. Maybe we only have 25 events next year, just to maintain a level of quality. But if that’s what we have to do, we must do it.”

The post The tricky business of restarting the European Tour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Speaking of cash, in two weeks, at the end of this year’s “race,” the top-five players will share a $5 million bonus pool, with $2 million going to the man in first place. In addition, the winner of the $8 million DP World Tour Championship in Dubai will be paid $3 million, the biggest first-place cheque in world golf.

On the other hand, although the roll call of most recent champions remains impressive enough (in the past decade, only Tommy Fleetwood has not won a major championship or been ranked World No. 1), the lure of lucre seems to be waning, at least for the leading players. Only four of the current top 10 on the Race to Dubai list—Bernd Wiesberger, Matt Wallace, Robert MacIntyre and Eric Van Rooyen—are scheduled to play in all three of the Rolex Series events that form the climax to the 2018-’19 European Tour season.

Which comes as no real surprise. In contrast to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, the Old World equivalent has never really taken off. “European No. 1” might be a nice moniker to own, but it doesn’t appear as if too many members of the tour’s elite are prepared to labour in its pursuit. “If it happens, it happens” is perhaps the most accurate summary of the prevailing mood.

This week as many as 15 of the top 70—and five of the top-eight—found something better to do than compete for a $7 million purse on Turkey’s picturesque southern coast (the late withdrawals of Andy Sullivan and Mikko Korhonen gave No. 87, Adrian Otaegui, and No. 95, Renato Paratore, entry into the field that was supposed to be for the top 70 in the Race to Dubai rankings. And next week’s $7.5 million Nedbank Challenge at Sun City in South Africa is little better. Already, the man ranked 72nd on the standings, Alvaro Quiros, is guaranteed a spot in the 60-player starting lineup.

Although a European Tour spokesperson declined to comment on the level of absenteeism, he/she did make the semantic point that this week the field was always going to be made up of the top 70 “available” players. And, to be fair, it is hard to be too critical of some of those not taking up their places at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal course. Billy Horschel, Paul Casey and Tony Finau can hardly be described as European Tour regulars. And Andrew (Beef) Johnston’s imminent fatherhood means he has things other than golf on his mind.

Not everyone is elsewhere, of course. Justin Rose, winner of the event the last two years, is defending his Turkish Airlines Open title. But even he needed a financial nudge to take part. According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Rose’s management company originally asked for the same appearance fee he received to play last year. Only when the tournament “played hard ball” did they agree to accept a lesser figure. The remainder then went to Molinari, with the current Open champion, Shane Lowry, commendably teeing up for free.

Warren Little/Getty Images
Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Bernd Wiesberger walk off the first tee on Thursday at the 2019 Turkish Airlines Open.

Even Lowry, however, seems less than 100 percent energised by the once-exciting prospect of ending the season atop the European pile. Which is perhaps understandable for one who is already “champion golfer of the year.” Whatever, next week the amiable Irishman will be sunning himself in Dubai with his wife and young daughter rather than playing at Sun City.

RELATED: Justin Rose tries for rare European Tour three-peat in Turkey

Amid all of this apparent indifference, there is some good news for European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley. The current leader on the Race to Dubai, Wiesberger, does seem genuinely excited at the prospect of what lies immediately ahead. The 34-year-old Austrian has already won two Rolex Series events this year (the Scottish Open and the Italian Open), but finishing first on the season-long points list would represent a career-high for a man who lost eight months of 2018 to a serious wrist injury.

“I have had a different mind-set, a different appreciation this year,” Wiesberger says. “To be honest, finishing top of the Race to Dubai was not on my to-do list. When I first came back, that would not have been realistic. The big thing is that I can play golf pain-free and don’t have to guess about what’s ahead. Last year, I wasn’t sure how it was all going to work out and if I was going to be competitive again. This year, I have obviously played well and I’m pleased with how I have handled myself when I’ve been in contention. And I must admit, the coin has fallen my way at times, too.”

Ah, yes, currency. A subject that is never far from the surface on the European Tour at this time of year.

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