Looking back on a marvellous decade

Ok, so I warned you the blogging could be sporadic, and after a 10-week hiatus it's proved just that.

But here I am again, with a spare half-hour in an action-packed day at journalism's coal-face, attempting to entertain and educate in equal measure.

Happy New year to you all first and foremost, and although it's a little late, to kick-off the blog in 2010 I thought I'd look back on some of my fondest memories of the past decade.

I'll go with a top five and if I miss the obvious, feel free to correct me. All this is from memory, and avoiding chekckng Wikipedia to put facts right.

So here it is, my top five sporting moments of the Naughties, in no particular order...

1) Goran Ivanisevic wins Wimbledon in 2001. It was sport that brings a tear to the eye and I had just started out on my journalism career and had to watch it in the office on a small portable telly with the sound turned down.

Ivanisevic was one of tennis's great characters, and it's great losers. He may as well have been British he lost in that many semi-finals and finals. But after a rain-lashed fortnight the final against Pat Rafter spilled into Monday and the fans wearing their red and white Croatia shirts and their gold of Australia made it a colourful and memorable spectacle.

Ivanisevic getting down on his knees and praying in between match points just made the hair stand on end and when he finally clinched victory and fell to the floor in tears, a lifetime of sweat and toil just poured out of him. A fantastic moment.

2) Spain v Yugoslavia, Euro 2000 group game, Holland. "I've got a funny feeling we're going to be in for a cracker," said John Motson as this final group game kicked off. How right he was. Seven goals, end-to-end attacking and a dramatic late fightback from Spain that saw them eliminate the watching Bulgaria and progress themselves.

It was national football at its best and when Alfonso scored the winner in stoppage time, Motson screamed his name in delight at the perfect finish to a phenomenal 90 minutes.

3) Kelly Holmes, Athens Olympics, 2004. Just pips Usain Bolt in Beijing and Berlin and Great Britain's men's 4x100m relay team in Sydney, and again its like Ivanisevic in that her career before then had been plagued by injury and heartache.

Then she won the 800m Olympic final and a few days later her a late decision to take part in the 1,500m paid off as she defeated her long-time rival Maria Matulo to win the gold. The commentary from Steve Cram was another to put a lump in the throat. "Kelly Holmes, you are the double Olympic champion!"

4) Michael Phelps, 100m butterfly, Rome, 2009. One of the few I was fortunate enough to attend. The World Championships were dominated by swimmers in soon-to-be outlawed polyurethane suits who set 43 world records. Phelps, the greatest swimmer of all time, stuck to his basic speedo suit.

His great rival in the 100m butterfly was California-educated and controversial suit-wearing Milorad Cavic of Serbia, who set the blue touch paper by winning his semi-final in a quicker time and then telling the assembled media that he would beat Phelps in the final.

At 50m, the big-talking Serb led the final from Phelps, and did so with 25m to go. But the American dug into his reserves and in the space of three strokes he pipped Cavic to the line. When in that desperate full flow at the end Phelps looked like he was eating water as he bore down on Cavic.

When the race was won, Phelps turned to the packed stands at the Foro Italico and grabbed his vest, so proving his point that it's all about the swimmer and not the suit they are wearing.

5) Ernie Els wins the Open, Muirfield, 2002. If Colin Montgomerie had have found the fairway with his approach to the 72nd green at Winged Foot in 2006 and won the US Open, that would have made the top five, but as it was, the finest golf moment of the decade was Els' dramatic Open win at Muirfield.

The Big Easy led by two with five to play but as I followed his gallery over those closing holes, listening to John Inverdale jinx it by interviewing his family on my Open Golf radio, Ernie attempted to throw it away. He earned a reprieve by making birdie on the par five 17th and then he and Thomas Levet knocked out Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby in the four-hole play-off.

Els though prevailed with a sumptuous bunker shot on the fifth extra hole, played with one foot in the bunker and his knee on the bank. I saw him hole his winning putt through the narrowest of gaps in the 10-deep gallery at the side of the green and then be embraced by a great show of sportsmanship from the graceful Frenchman.

So that's my top five, and there was plenty knocking on the door; Federer v Nadal at Wimbledon, Jonny Wilkinson's drop goal in Sydney and Europe's Ryder Cup win at the K Club.

Let me know what you think...

Ryder Cup captaincy should return to Ian Woosnam

Passion doesn’t necessarily win you a Ryder Cup, but it goes a long way.

America had it at Valhalla, had it in bucketfulls, embodied by the energised rookies Boo Weekley, Anthony Kim and JB Holmes.

Europe used to have exclusive rights to Ryder Cup passion - it’s what drove them to three successive victories from 2002 to 2006.

That was stripped of them at Valhalla, and now it must be restored, not on the first tee at Celtic Manor in two years time - but now.

The decision of who will succeed Nick Faldo, as captain and hopefully as a more inspired leader, will occupy the agenda when stalwarts like Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke join 13 other Tour officials at St Andrews to begin discussions over the new captain.

The sooner the better.

Three names top the list - Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle and Jose Maria Olazabal.

For me, the man to do it is Woosnam.

I know the days of a player captaining the side more than once are over, consigned to history after Bernard Gallagher’s victory over the States in 1995.

But Woosnam engendered a real passion in the European team at the K Club two years ago, building on the platform of unity begun by Sam Torrance at the Belfry and by the quiet authority of Bernhard Langer two years later.

He showed great leadership, inspired his rookies, leant on his elder players and utilised the huge well of sympathy for Clarke, whose wife Heather had passes away just three weeks before the match.

Clarke responded with three points from three as Ireland adopted Woosnam as one of its own.

One other factor is that Woosnam is Welsh and with the competition in his homeland, the former Masters champion and World No 1 will generate huge support in the valleys.

The Welsh will help whip up a storm of passion on the undulating fairways of Celtic Manor.

Lyle is Woosnam’s likely challenger to the crown, and Woosnam may yet withdraw himself from the race.

The amiable Scot won major championships at home and across the pond, and would bring the same degree of quiet authority Langer commanded at Oakland Hills.

If Lyle misses out again though, he will rightly consider himself to have been overlooked harshly by the Tour committee who looked favourably on the other members of Europe’s big five who transformed the Ryder Cup in the 80s and were rewarded with their shot at captaining the team - Seve Ballesteros (1997), Langer (2004), Woosnam (2006) and Faldo just last week.

Olazabal continued Europe’s renaissance in the 90s and with his two major wins coming in America and making much of his living on the PGA Tour, he would be a better choice to lead the team at Medinah in 2012.

Olazabal’s playing days may be numbered as fatigue ravages his body, but reports coming out of the team room at Valhalla in the aftermath of Europe’s defeat cast a new light on the quiet Spaniard.

As Faldo’s only assistant, it was according to rookie Oliver Wilson, Olazabal who led the passionate rallying calls in the team room.

With Montgomerie almost certain to captain the side at Gleneagles in 2014, Europe can at least be confident that passion will be restored with the next men to take the hotseat, particularly if Woosnam retakes the mantle in two years time.

Americans running scared

Reading American golf websites, you would be forgiven for thinking the Ryder Cup was not happening at all next week.

The biennial match is supposedly the biggest golf tournament in the world, certainly from a team perspective, and the Americans should be hell-bent on revenge after three morale-destroying defeats at the hands of the unheralded Europeans.

One would expect the furore whipped up over the ensuing battle to be full of George W Bush style war rhetoric from columnists on partisan American sports websites like PGA Tour.com and ESPN.

While these two websites are always informative, entertaining and often controversial, the only Cup they are focussing on this week is the FedEx Cup, not the Ryder Cup.

Vijay Singh and Camillo Villegas dominate the golf news agenda Stateside, despite there being only eight days until the first tee shot at Valhalla, Kentucky.

The Fijian and the Columbian, along with Kenny Perry and Antony Kim who will make their Ryder Cup debuts next week, are chasing the enormous pot of gold at the end of the FedEx Cup rainbow, four tournaments that offer prize money of $10m.

Money talks in sport, and with only pride on offer in the Ryder Cup, the American media are licking their lips at race for millions.

But it is not just the FedEx Cup’s scheduling just days before the Ryder Cup, that has knocked the Ryder Cup out of the headlines.

It is also because the Americans are running scared.

There’s no Tiger Woods this year because of injury, and for the first time in living memory they go into the Ryder Cup without a reigning major champion.

Here in Europe, after a major drought spanning eight years, we now have the best golfer in the world on present form, Padraig Harrington, winner of three out of the last six majors.

The American media are also embarrassed by their form over the last decade of Ryder Cups, and have sought to smear the good name of the famous old trophy.

Following a record equalling 18.5-9.5 win at the K Club, concerns began to emerge over here that Europe’s dominance in recent years - winning five of the last six matches - could be a double-edged sword.

As well as Europe plays, as united as they become in the face of such overwhelming favourites they share the first tee with, it only serves to diminish the interest shown in the competition by the American galleries, and the people who fuel their conspiracies, namely the American media.

After losing a third straight Ryder Cup 24 months ago at the K Club, certain sections of the American media suggested the President’s Cup, where the US team take on a Rest of the World team packed with major winners like Singh, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Mike Weir, had overtaken the Ryder Cup as the principle team golf game.

Team Europe, with no major winners from 1999 to 2006, no longer held the right to be considered worthy opponents for the mights USA.

No doubt the players themselves did not feel that about Samuel Ryder’s trophy, steeped in tradition.

What those three consecutive defeats did prompted a change in attitude from the American golfing authorities, with 2008 captain Paul Azinger immediately announcing on taking office that he would increase his wild card picks from two to four.

Not the biggest of alterations to the format, but a revolutionary move nonetheless, and one that showed the America team, regardless of the media, are serious about winning back the Ryder Cup and restoring faith to their own game.

Nick Faldo’s team Europe go to Valhalla in unknown territory, as favourites. The Americans, who declare winners of their own sports like baseball and football as world champions, aren’t used to being the underdogs.

No doubt next week, after Villegas, Singh or some other fortunate walks off with enough money to feed a small country, the American media will shift focus to the Ryder Cup, but it won't be with the same inspirational rhetoric as before.

That's because Team Europe have earned the right to dictate the golf headlines.

Wildcard race reaches boiling point

Paul Casey, Darren Clarke or Ian Poulter?

Those three names will have Nick Faldo’s head spinning this week as he tries to determine which two he should make wildcard selections to complete the European team for the Ryder Cup match at Valhalla, Kentucky next month.

They are three big names, all with their merits for being selected, who have left their Ryder Cup fates in the hands of Faldo, the six-time major winner, and no slouch in the Ryder Cup neither having won 11 caps against the United States.

Seven players are already assured of selection through either the world or European points lists.

They are: Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington, the Irishman who has elevated his game to such an extent that with three major titles out of the last six contested, he is now the leading contender to Tiger Woods’ dominance.

Those at Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles seeking to still play their way into the three remaining spots are Justin Rose, Soren Hansen, Oliver Wilson, Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty.

Only a catastrophe can prevent Rose making a belated Ryder Cup debut, and it is to be hoped that this fierce competitor finally gets a chance to get stuck into the Americans.

It would also be good to see Martin Kaymer join the party after two wins this year that have shown what a promising talent this young German is.

That leaves one of Hansen, Wilson, Fisher or Dougherty to make up the qualifying 10, all of them potential rookies but with experienced campaigners like Harrington and Westwood to feed off, that shouldn’t be too much of a concern.

One man who could still have played his way onto the team was Poulter, until he elected to stay in America and play in the second leg of the FedEx Cup play-off series.

That could prove a foolish move even for a man who showed potential Ryder Cup temperament by holing a 15-foot putt on the 72nd green at Royal Birkdale just last month.

Ignoring the chance to play his way in might tip the balance in favour of Clarke, who a month ago was considered a long shot, but now after his runaway victory at the Dutch Open, is considered the man in form.

Casey has shown considerable improvement in recent weeks and while he remains winless, his role in Europe’s record equalling victory at the K Club two year ago was inspirational and passionate.

One name missing of course is Colin Montgomerie, or field marshall Montgomerie as he should be known in the Ryder Cup.

It’s unlikely he will make it onto the slip of paper Nick Faldo issues to the press on Sunday evening.

The proud Scot, whose Ryder Cup record is used as a leveller against those who have won the majors that have so often eluded him, has struggled all season with his game, and not even a win in his native land this week would elevate him into the top 10.

It might make Faldo think though. Let’s hope so, because no-one encapsulates the Ryder Cup spirit better than Monty, Europe’s on-course general, who has led from the front in past Ryder Cups, notably in 2002 when his resounding victory over Scott Hoch at the top of the singles order set the tone for Sam Torrance’s side’s narrow victory and the subsequent years of unprecedented dominance for Team Europe.

So who would my picks be, and who do I think Faldo will go with?

For me, it should be CASEY and CLARKE, but I think the captain will go with CASEY and POULTER.

Open excitement

Having spoken to Yorkshire golfers Simon Dyson and Richard Finch over the past few days to find out how much they’re looking forward to the Open Championship next week, I find myself desperate for someone to ask me the same question.

Because I’m unbelievably excited.

I’ve been to Opens before, as a spectator from 2001 to 2006, but this will be my first as a working journalist.

I’m only doing a day or two to follow Finch and Dyson’s fortunes in the early rounds, and then I’m back there on the Saturday as a fan, but I find myself giddy with excitement.

Having missed last year’s dramatic finale at Carnoustie due to funding issues, it feels like I’ve been away for far too long.

I’m so excited I’m even enjoying the working build-up to the Open; talking to the golfers, writing the previews, planning the coverage, finding the quickest route from home.

It’ll be my first Open in the media tent as well. I was fortunate enough to cover the Ryder Cup at the K Club two years ago, and the goody bag was awesome.

Free document wallet, free tie, free baseball cap, even a free mouse mat that has followed me to the Yorkshire Post.

Wearing my media credentials around the house for two weeks after returning home from Ireland was perhaps a bit too much, but you get the picture.

I’ve covered a few other smaller scale European Tour events from the Celtic Manor Wales Open to the British Masters.

At Celtic Manor the media room is in the same main building as the players’ locker rooms, so members of the press and players waiting for their tee times can mingle in the same space.

I guess it’s like that at a lot of other Tour events, giving journalists instant access to the players.

I doubt it will be the same next week, nor for that matter in two years time when Celtic Manor hosts the 2010 Ryder Cup.

Can’t imagine Colin Montgomerie reacting too cheerily to a group of hacks as he unlaces his Footjoys, shortly after duck-hooking the ball into the water on the 18th to lose a half.

Next week will be the same, the players ushered in and out of press conferences.

No matter. It’s not going to diminish my enthusiasm for the week ahead.

There’s nothing like an Open Championship as a spectator.

Stalking up and down the undulating fairways, matching players like Ernie Els stride for stride on the back nine on a Sunday, paying over the odds for a burger and chips but going back to the same catering van day after day because it’s the Open Championship and eating bad food is part of the week. Well it is for me anyway.

The Open Championship is a special occassion, one of British sport’s crown jewels, whether you’re playing, working or spectating.

And I for one, cannot wait.

Yorkshire rich with golfing success

Yorkshire golf is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance at present with some illustrious tournaments being won by professionals and amateurs.

We’ve had Hull professional Richard Finch winning the prestigious Irish Open, Rebecca Hudson of Doncaster prevailing in a play-off to win the Ladies Tenerife Open and Steve Uzzell clinching the second biggest prize in amateur golf, the Brabazon Trophy.

Danny Willett has turned from highly successful amateur into European Tour rookie but has shown no signs of slowing down with three top 20 finishes in four starts.

Rachel Bell has made a similarly impressive start to her new life on the Ladies European Tour whilst Georgina Simpson continues knocking at the door of a maiden win.

Iain Pyman teed off in the European Open at the London Golf Club in Kent today, the Challenge Tour stalwart - one of four Yorkshiremen in the tournament - making a fifth successive appearance on the main tour thanks to a third-place finish in the Austrian Open.

Simon Dyson is also returning to form after his two sterling rounds at Sunningdale clinched a spot in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale later this month.

Uzzell’s win in the Brabazon Trophy has elevated his amateur status, earning him a pair of England caps. He is currently in Italy representing his country in the World Team Championships.

A new star emerged at the Yorkshire Amateur Championship at Alwoodley Golf Club last week in the shape of 18-year-old Low Laithes golfer Richard Law.

The teenager showed great maturity to prevail against 165 players, over two rounds of strokeplay and four rounds of matchplay before eventually crushing Nigel Sweet of Moortown 10&8.

On the ladies amateur scene, Naomi Edwards, Emma Brown and Jodi Ewart continue to set records and defeat all before them both in individual competitions and whilst representing Yorkshire.

It is a wonderful tonic for Yorkshire golf to have all these shining lights raising the profile of the sport in the county through their achievements.

And long may it continue.

Finch, following breakthrough victories in the New Zealand and Irish opens, stands on the verge of a first appearance in a Ryder Cup. Another win over the next two months will guarantee him a seat on the plane to Kentucky, USA.

He makes his Open Championship debut later this month as a multiple winner on the European Tour.

Hudson finally ended her quest for a second title in Tenerife two weeks ago, rocketing up the Money List to seventh.

While the men tee off at the London Golf Club for the European Open today, Hudson begins her challenge for the English Ladies Open at the Oxfordshire Golf Club tomorrow as one of the favourites for the title.

She said: “The British love their sport and playing on home soil is always a highlight. I think there are a lot of new and established players who have a chance this week.”

Yorkshire golf fans also love their sport, and there are plenty of new and established players doing their bit to raise the standard.