Nick Westby - Teed Off

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Looking back on a marvellous decade

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:56:00 +0000

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...

Leave the NFL at Wembley as a one-off

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Sat in on Tom Brady's press conference in the bowels of Wembley following the NFL game on Sunday, I glanced to my left and recognised a familiar face.

Where do I know that face from? I thought. Have I seen him in the football press boxes of Yorkshire and what's he doing here at an American Football game in London?

Noticing me staring hard at him, the person in question returned the glance.

No hint of recognition on his face but it was bugging me.

I was just about to whisper - Brady was still opining to a packed hall on the Patriots' performance - if he recognised me when it finally twigged who it was and my blushes were saved.

It was Jake Humphrey, of the BBC. I had actually remembered him off the telly from far flung destinations, not the press box at Millmoor as I originally thought.

Not a chance in hell that he would know my face, the same face I had stuffed earlier with free half-time hot dogs.

I tell this story more to paint the picture of the massive appeal of American Football being played on English soil, our hallowed soil for that matter, and a meaningful regular season game to boot.

The media area at Wembley on Sunday was packed, the queue to get into the locker room to interview players was as long as a Josh Johnson hail mary and for the second season running I bypassed the chance to interview a naked nickelback in favour of hearing the coaches thoughts on their sides performance in front of 84,000 'new' fans.

Journalists from Florida, Boston and all across America had descended on our capital for what is now becoming a regular mid-season slot. There were also members of the media from across Europe, eager to catch a glimpse of one of the richest sports in the world out of its comfort zone and on their doorstep.

In Europe, the NFL's International Series is greeted with open arms from lifelong fans of the Packers, Jets and Browns, and members of the media curious to see what it's all about and gauge the merits of its appeal.

Opinion in America is divided as to its impact, with fans of those teams who have to forego a home game particularly against it. The teams themselves have to sacrifice a lot of practice time to criss-cross the Atlantic.

The American media have gone past curiosity and are now merely getting irritated and will be irked further by suggestions that there could be two games played in England next season, or the extension of the regular season from 16 to 18 games to accomodate games abroad, or even a London franchise in future years.

For me, the NFL deserve praise for the bold move to expand their game. It is a gamble that has and continues to pay off.

Expanding that however, could seriously damage its appeal and its relations. Wembley has sold out in each of the three years because there are enough knowledgable American Football fans who want to see a game every year. The stadium is also a big appeal, but even if it were Detroit Lions versus Cleveland Browns, NFL-mad UK and European fans would still flock to the game.

But a second game in the north of England, perhaps Manchester, as has been suggested for next season, would be a step too far. The setting would not be as grand, and indeed would not feel like playing in a Superbowl, as Brady likened Sunday's game to.

Plus the league would be running the risk of exposing the games to fewer fans pouring through the turnstiles. The media attention would also suffer if a rarity becomes the norm.

The NFL has a big market in Germany, Spain and Holland, where the shortlived NFL Europe was a success. Twin games in London and Berlin would work, but overloading one country with games, and testing the strength of a minority sport in one nation, would be a stretch too far.

There are too many pitfalls as well for a London franchise, in the logistics and organisation, particularly with the amount of travelling teams, fans and media would have to do. Would British fans still pay good money to see an English team full of American rejects lose to the Houston Texans each week? No way.

The NFL International Series in London has proved a roaring success and should be kept as it is - a one-off at Wembley, a rare treat for gridiron fans, and an opportunity for the sport to dominate the headlines in Europe for just a few days.

Do golf and rugby comply with Olympic ideal?

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:46:00 +0000

Picture the scene. The athletes village in Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2016. The Summer Olympics are in full swing and Alistair Brownlee, a triathlete from Leeds, is in the village common room flicking through the Brazilian television channels, sat alongside Tiger Woods.

They are two of the hardest working sportsmen on the planet who have earned success in equal measure, but are a million miles apart in earnings, net worth and the amount of change they have in the pockets of their team tracksuits.

For Brownlee is an amateur sportsman, who embodies the Olympic ideal. Woods is the most famous sports person on the planet, has been for two decades, and is by a long way its richest.

He is a professional, and therefore not exactly the target audience Pierre de Coubertin had in mind when he conceived the idea of the Olympic movement back in Paris in 1894.

The Olympic ideal has changed and evolved many times in its 120-year lifetime, largely for the better in many respects.

Professional sport has long been a part of the fabric of the five rings; in the NHL players who fill the ice hockey teams at the Winter Games, and the tennis players who fly in and out to play their matches in the Summer Games. The majority of sports are now professional in an era where money is thrown at the stars who make their name at the Olympics.

Gone are the days when Jesse Owens, the most iconic Olympic hero of all time, returned to America after the 1936 Berlin Games to seek his fame and fortune only to be ostricised by the sports national governing body for turning his back on athletics' amateur roots.

The Olympics is about sport, and therefore wishes to be all encompassing, and so today passed the law that golf and rugby sevens would become part of the global extravaganza in Rio in 2016.

But what about squash, a professional sport only for the top players, that has sought to gain Olympic recognition time and again, only to be denied an invite to the biggest show on earth, with no real reason being offered to the likes of James Willstrop and Nick Matthew.

Opposing the decision of the IOC is not my purpose, golf and rugby are sports I hold dear and I believe that rugby sevens is a worthy inductee and could be managed as football is in the Olympics, with only players under the age of 23 representing their country.

Golf shares a number of ideals and morals that strike a chord with the Olympic movement, the self-regulation of the laws of the game where a player readily disqualifies himself/herself from a tournament for the merest infringement, is its most admirable quality.

However, for me, the notion of Tiger sitting with Brownlee in the Olympic village does not sit right. A man who has trained all his life for a shot at Olympic gold against a man who has won everything and needs just one more collectable for that small space at the back of his trophy cabinet.

Not that Tiger would give anything less than 100%, but will Rio be his every thought from the moment the London Games close to mark the start of the next cycle for Olympic athletes?

Probably not. I hope to be proved wrong and that golf warrants its place at the greatest sporting spectacle on earth.

Get ready for the Yorkshire Post blog revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Hi there blog fans - yes all four of you; mum, dad, my good friend Rob McBride and some chap I met in the mess called Bernard.

After an extended hiatus from all things blogging, myself and the rest of the Yorkshire Post sports team have decided to relaunch the blog network and will be hitting readers of the esteemed northern publication and its associated website with a three-prongued attack.

It begins with the hard-hitting Matt Reeder, sports editor extraordinaire of the desk, a veteran of World Cup final coverage and Champions League semi-finals. Matt is a multi-award winning journalist and now the director of football of Tockwith Juniors Under 7s.

Try and encourage him to blog about the time that as an impartial referee he hi-fived his son for scoring a goal. He also has a 'great' story about when he interviewed David Beckham.

Next up is Dave Craven, the Yorkshire Post's latest signing who has slipped effortlessly into the role of rugby league correspondent. It's a timely appointment I'm sure you'll admit, with the Super League season set to conclude in a little over a week!

So with four months to sit twiddling his thumbs and work his backside groove into his swivvely desk chair, what better way we thought than to fill his time by making the bugger blog about the sport he loves best.

Dave has a strange fascination with the X-Factor so look out for him boring the pants off everyone as he regales us with tales of the funny comment Louis made.

And then there's myself, who after blogging consistently last summer, somehow lost the ability to do so again. I got lost in reading and re-reading my NFL post last October which I was mightily proud of and therefore mightily miffed to learn even my dad didn't like it.

The NFL will be another of the topics I'll be covering in my weekly blog, along with the other sports I cover for the Yorkshire Post, namely, rugby union, golf, the Olympics, Formula 1, stag doo go-karting and pro-celebrity javelin throwing.

So we're all back - and we reckon we might even be able to convince ice hockey and squash reporter Phil Harrison to follow suit - admittedly without a regular time slot and date at which we will be communciating to you, but with a solemn promise that amid a world seduced by such technologies as 'Facebook', 'Twitter' and 'Statellite Television', we here at the Yorkshire Post will stay true to the pioneering world wide web phenomenon of talking rubbish, and thinking ourselves intelligent as we do so. Blogging.

Fasten your seat belts, and await further updates.

EPL should follow NFL lead

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:39:00 +0000

The so-called 39th Step which has had football traditionalists shaking their heads at the ever-changing face of the beautiful game into a global business was afforded an insight into how to achieve such a bold move at Wembley Stadium yesterday.

The National Football League (NFL) played its second regular season game at England’s famous venue with New Orleans Saints powering past the San Diegoe Chargers in an explosive and entertaining match in front of more than 83,000 fans.

It was a brave move by the NFL 18 months ago when it announced ahead of Superbowl XLII that the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins would play the first ever regular season game outside of the United States, taking the national game out of its comfort zone.

And it is a move that suggests to the FA and the Premier League that taking your brand into other growing markets can only enhance your product.

Even though the first installment of gridiron in Europe was a drab affair between the Dolphins and the Giants in torrential autumnal rain, it did little to dampen the spirits of the NFL’s governers who immediately set about a return to England for a second outing.

The enthusiasm of the British and European fans for the game was also strengthened by the fixture and they again marched in their thousands down Olympic Way yesterday, decked out in colours of all the 32 teams with shirts sporting names from the past like Dan Marino and future Hall of Famers like Tom Brady.

For fans of American Football on this side of the Atlantic, the Bridgestone International Series is the only chance they get to see the biggest league in the world up close.

So they do not care who plays who, what the score is or how many touchdowns are scored; all that matters is they are seeing the sport played by the best in the business, in the flesh.

And that is all that fans of ‘soccer’ and the EPL - which is the Premier League’s acronym according to our American colleagues - want to see; club football played at the highest level by the best players, in their country.

Fans in Bahrain won’t care if Stoke City are playing West Brom, the Sydney branch of the Everton Supporters Club won’t be put off by Liverpool v Hull City, and Cristiano Ronaldo worshippers in Singapore will still turn out in their thousands to see Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland.

One solution to the 39th Step that the Premier League continue to look into, would be a seeding system for which teams are involved in which cities.

Seeding could be based on positions a team finishes in at the end of the season, ie. with the three relegated teams replaced by the three promoted teams, and the 39th Step being matches contested the following winter. First could play second with the second and third promoted teams also playing each other on one day in say Dubai.

In another city, Tokyo perhaps, third would play fourth and 17th play the winners of the Championship, and so on...

The suggestion that English fans would miss out - which continues to be one of the concerns forwarded by clubs - is ludicrous.

Loyal fans follow their team all over Europe from Paris to Moscow, Istanbul to Oslo. Why would they not support their team in a meaningful fixture in Los Angeles or Cape Town?

The Premier League could also learn from the NFL on how to make the event an occassion and not just a football match. The Stereophonics did a pre-game set at Wembley yesterday, followed by the respective national anthems being sung to help engender an atmosphere inside the stadium.

The game itself was a cracker, and exactly what the NFL powerbrokers would want from an isolated contest charged with promoting the sport.

New Orleans and San Diego conjured eight touchdowns between them, two of the game’s most exciting young quarterbacks Drew Brees and Philip Rivers threw three touchdowns apiece, and the two teams combined for a staggering 860 yards total offence.

In LaDainian Tomlinson, the San Diego Chargers running back, NFL fans in England witnessed one of the game’s greats in action, his speed of thought and movement providing some of the main highlights of the day.

Such high-power offense begs the question of what happened to the defense. Well, they were sloppy with neither quarterback troubled and coverage in the secondary sparse, although New Orleans’ linebacker Jonathan Vilma proved the exception with some key plays.

Any NFL game that goes down to the wire is going to be exciting, and the outcome of this match was still up in the air in the final second when Rivers’ hail mary into the endzone failed to find a Chargers receiver.

The Saints opened the door for their opponents with a bizarre safety which head coach Sean Payton later explained as a well-drilled practice designed at shaving seconds off the clock.

Whatever it was, it led to an exciting conclusion.

Few British fans among the 83,000 in attendance will have left Wembley feeling short-changed by the match or the event.

I for one will be going back next year, and will be in support of the Premier League if they go ahead with the bold but beneficial 39th Step.

Fingers crossed for Richard Finch and Simon Dyson

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:40:00 +0000

What a refreshing joy it was this afternoon (Friday) to log on to the European Tour website to find Yorkshire’s two leading golfers at the top of the leaderboard.

Richard Finch and Simon Dyson share top billing at the time of writing in the Castello Masters, the penultimate event on the 2008 European Tour schedule.

Both are amiable chaps, easy to talk with, eager to help to the press and of course dedicated and determined golfers on the course.

They have had mixed fortunes this year, Finch breaking through from relative obscurity to win in New Zealand and Ireland, while Dyson has dropped from a status among the top 25 players in Europe to the middle of the pack.

Both need a good week in Spain, Finch to secure a place in the top 30 on the Order of Merit - he is currently 19th - to earn a spot in next year’s Open, and Dyson to book a tee time at Valderrama next week for the season-ending Volvo Masters.

Dyson lost in a play-off in the same event last season, but the fact that he has not recorded a finish as strong in the following 12 months underlines his loss of form this season.

However the 31-year-old has shown glimpses of what he is capable of with some sterling rounds this year, the 65 at Sunningdale that booked his place at the Open, and Thursday’s 66 that put him two shots off the lead in Spain.

“It’s the best I’ve ever played tee to green,” he conceded. “It was nearly a perfect round.

“I gave myself a lot of chances and I didn’t ever feel there was a danger I wouldn’t make par.

“My putting was good - the greens were immaculate. I’ve been playing well all season but haven’t been putting well. I’m trying to be more positive and it’s done me some good.”

This time last year, a seventh-place finish at the Mallorca Masters - the Castello tournament’s predecessor - saw Finch, 31, break into the top 115 on the Tour and secure his card for this year.
It set in motion a memorable year that included a maiden win at the New Zealand Open, a victory at the Irish Open and then a major championship debut at Royal Birkdale.

But with success comes greater expectancy, from the media, the galleries and the player himself, and Finch has failed to live up to that tag since his triumph at Adare Manor in May.

Like Dyson he has shown glimpses of what he is capable of, particularly when he stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the Mercedes Benz Championship in Germany last month.

Fingers crossed both men can stay on top of the pile at Castello this weekend and earn their respective rewards of a top 20 spot for Finch and top 60 for Dyson, which would see him return to Valderrama next week.

So when we log on to the website on Sunday afternoon, we’ll find Finch playing Dyson in a play-off for the title.

Ryder Cup captaincy should return to Ian Woosnam

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:06:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:39:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:34:00 +0000

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.

Bidding farewell to a pioneering legend

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:31:00 +0000

The game of golf bids farewell to one of its greats this week.

A professional in every manner of the word, who elevated the sport to a new level with a period of dominance unmatched by rivals.

A player who transcended boundaries, but who always had the utmost respect to the regular paymasters on a Tour she made her own over the past decade.

Women’s golf will be forever indebted to Annika Sorenstam who retires at the end of season. She departs the major scene in which she triumphed 10 times, at the Ricoh’s Women’s British Open at Sunningdale this week.

The 37-year-old is leaving golf for a career in business and to spend more time with her family.

No doubt she will be successful in both, having been a dedicated, determined and pioneering golfer on the course.

Born in Stockholm in 1970, the blonde-haired Swede had a similar impact on the women’s Tour to that of Tiger on the men’s tour.

She elevated women’s golf from poor relation to respected equal.

Her dominance of the sport for more than a decade enhanced the quality of golf on show. She raised the bar that others since have tried to reach.

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Sorenstam split her time between playing in America and forging the reputation of the Ladies European Tour on her home continent.

In 1995 she gave notice of her intentions with victory in the US Women’s Open.

It was the first of 10 major titles, including the career grand slam which she completed in 2003 with the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and the Weetabix Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham, her only triumph in Britain’s main event.

Sorenstam won three LPGA Championships in a row and helped cement the Kraft Nabisco Championship as the womens game’s fourth major with another trio of titles in 2001, 2002 and 2005.

Her major-winning career came full circle in 2006 when she won the US Open at Newport for a third time, making it a grand 10 to her name.

With that victory she tied her great friend Tiger Woods on 10 major championship wins. Woods has since gone on to add four more titles, while Sorenstam slid down the rankings, overtaken by the new crop of American players like Morgan Pressel, the influx of players from the Far East and the growing dominance of Mexican Lorena Ochoa, who has strode out from the long shadow cast by Sorenstam, to dominate the sport in a similar fashion.

For years pundits drew hypothetical parallels as to who was the greatest golfer, Tiger or Annika?

In 2003, she got her chance to put that theory into practice.

In a landmark for women’s golf, Sorenstam became the first LPGA player to compete on the men’s tour at the Colonial tournament in Texas. Her inclusion in the field polarised locker room opinion, Vijay Singh the loudest voice calling for her to stick to her own tour.

Sorenstam missed the cut, largely due to her lack of length off the tee and from the fairway when measured against the men.

But when it came to her short game she was than a match for her temporary peers, and at the end of two emotionally-draining days she broke down in tears, showing a human side that tugged on the heart strings.

There may be tears at Sunningdale again this weekend, whether she crowns her career with another title, or whether she fades into the field and makes the walk up the 18th fairway out of contention.

One thing is for sure, women’s golf has lost its greatest player and its greatest ambassador.

Birkdale wind separates men from the boys

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:56:00 +0000

Watching Greg Norman roll back the years yesterday afternoon was the highlight of the opening day at Royal Birkdale.

Having set off from home at 5am, and then got drenched following Simon Dyson for four hours, getting the chance to witness a legend like Norman complete his round and then entertain the media, made it all worthwhile.

The two-time Open champion spoke of his appreciation of the course, giving the under-fire R&A a perfect ally in the battle against those who doubted the set-up of some of the par fours. Men like Sandy Lyle, a legend in his own right, who gave up halfway round.

Admittedly, Norman got the better of the conditions, with Lyle, Dyson and the rest of the morning starters playing in weather akin to the storms and gales of the third day at Muirfield six years ago.

My over-riding memory of that Saturday in 2002 was Ernie Els.

While everyone was cowering for cover and being blown off course – Tiger Woods shot a major-worst 81 – the big South African gritted his teeth and marched into the eye of the storm, producing a solid effort that effectively sealed his first Claret Jug the following day.

Typical links weather really does separate the men from the boys. The wind whips in off the course, buffets off the sand dunes and swirls around the tee boxes.

Common occurrences at an Open Championship is a player hitting a drive, watching it sail off into the deep rough, and then turning to his caddy with a shrug of the shoulders before ripping up a clump of grass and throwing it in the air.

More often than not, that wind has changed direction in a matter of seconds.

With the weather on this Friday morning in West Lancashire being similar to yesterday, if not as
severe, it is going to be another day when the men rise above the boys.

The wind is already howling, bringing with it a damp sea mist off the North Sea.

Scores will be high again today. Anything around 72/73 will be a good effort.

An Open Champion does not only have to prove he can master a championship course, but that he has the measure of the weather as well.

Open excitement

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:55:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:50:00 +0000

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.

Fond farewell to World Matchplay

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:58:00 +0000

The decision to move the World Matchplay to Spain and end a 44-year association at Wentworth is a huge blow to English golf fans.

One of the country’s most popular tournaments has been revamped after losing HSBC as the sponsor after five years.

No other company came forward to bail it out - perhaps one of the biggest prize funds in golf putting off prospective sponsors - so England loses it’s richest tournament.

After a one-year break, the tournament will return to the European Tour schedule at the end of the 2009 season under the new benefactor of Volvo.

It has been a tournament on the decline for a number of years with a large contingent of the leading players from America not bothering to cross the pond, even for the vast sums of money on offer.

Tiger Woods only played in the tournament twice.

Jeff Maggert contested the event a couple of years ago, took a sound hammering from Retief Goosen in the first round and hopped on a flight later that day with $60,000 in his back pocket.

Not bad for half a day’s work, and yet the World Matchplay has consistently failed to attract the big names.
An entry system centred around the top four players in the majors became confusing when major winnners dropped out, leaving wildcards and former champions to get late invites to the tournament.

But despite this muddled strategy, the World Matchplay has always had a big named winner.

Ernie Els, who won what will be the final World Matchplay to be staged at Wentworth when he defeated Angel Cabrera last autumn, has made the championship his own in recent years.

It helps that he lives just a lob wedge away from the 14th hole on the Wentworth estate, but winning the tournament a record seven times is still a remarkable achievement.

Over the past 20 years the World Matchplay at Wentworth has been one of the biggest titles to win, it’s roll call of champions illustrating the high esteem in which it is regarded by players of this continent.

Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood have all claimed one of the European Tour’s grandest honours.

They have honed their Ryder Cup skills in the fierce matchplay environment at Wentworth.
From personal memory, I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon strolling the magnificent Surrey course in 2003.

Thomas Bjorn was in the middle of a character-defining spell having two months earlier thrown away the chance to win the Open Championship.

I watched him defeat Mike Weir in an early round, the Canadian who had won the Masters at the start of the year, having no idea how to stop a European marching to yet another matchplay triumph.

Bjorn reached the final, scored a hole-in-one on the back nine, but lost out to great friend and Wentworth neighbour Els.

It was a memorable duel, one of many to be contested at Wentworth, and one that we will look back on fondly in years to come when the World Matchplay has established its new home in Spain.

Goosen's gaffe

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:17:00 +0000

How much of a fool must Retief Goosen be feeling right now?

Not a player you’d usually associate with shooting his mouth off, the South African this week chose to question the extent of the pain Tiger Woods was feeling every time he winced in agony at the US Open at Torrey Pines.

It took Woods 91 holes to finally end the challenge of plucky veteran Rocco Mediate, and Goosen about 91 minutes to give his views.

The question was asked of the two-time US Open champion whether he thought Woods had been ‘faking’ the knee injury.

Goosen replied: “I think so.

“You see when he made the putts and he went down on his knees and shouting ‘yeah’, his knee wasn’t sore.

“Nobody knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured, and I believe if he was injured he would not have played. But it was a great win.”

Goosen then retracted his statement the following day, saying: “I was being light-hearted.

“No one but Tiger knows how badly hurt he was. But if he was really badly hurt, he would have withdrawn wouldn’t he?”

Now though we all know the real extent of Tiger’s injury.

Out for the rest of 2008 while he undergoes reconstructive surgery on his Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

It has even emerged - after Goosen’s gaffe - that he won the US Open not only on a dodgy knee but also with a double stress fracture of his fibula.

He’d not played competitively since the final round of the Masters, and while the gamble on his fitness paid off in the short term, it could be damaging in the long term.

But what an amazing competitor - to still claim victory in one of the toughest tournaments must rank as one of the greatest sporting achievements of all time.

And what an amazing mistake by Goosen.

He must be looking for the nearest beach to bury his head in the sand.

Whether Goosen was being light-hearted - as he later stressed - or not, he can considered himself ostricised from Tiger Woods’s Christmas card list.

Woods - who will be an irreplaceable loss for the sport over the next six months - does not suffer fools gladly.

Butch Harmon was the coach who guided him through his early years of world domination, but one small criticism on television saw the Sky Sports pundit out of a job.

Other players have crossed Woods and regretted it.

Woods is the kind of competitor who uses criticism to his advantage, it gives him yet more of a psychological edge over those he already has the beating of before he steps up to the first tee.

Goosen beware - and all those who doubted him.

Tiger will be back in six months, better than ever, and out for revenge.

Another chance for England's 'future' stars

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:17:00 +0000

ENGLAND’S young pretenders get another chance to axe the word ‘future’ from the prefix they are always labelled with, when the US Open tees off in a few hours.

Luke Donald, Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter are four men who have carried around the tag of ‘future major champions’ for long enough now.

Each of them has put themselves in a position to win, or at least challange down the stretch in one of the game’s grand slams, but each time they have faded away.

Add Lee Westwood to that group and you have a man who has won 29 times worldwide and is one of the continent’s greatest finishers, but even he falls short in the majors.

Perhaps adding Poulter to that list is a little ambitious considering he only has one top 10 in 23 appearances in the majors, but the fact that he has missed the cut only three times speaks volumes for his consistency.

When compared with Rose, Casey and Donald he has never really threatened to take a big title.

Rose was crowned European No 1 last October thanks largely to his performances in the majors.

He stood on the 17th at Augusta last year needing a birdie-par finish to force a play-off with Zach Johnson. In those circumstances you have to go for it, he did and unfortunately ran up a double bogey, but in doing so showed he had the bottle to at least put his game on the line.

He finished 10th at the US Open - he was fifth on his US Open debut at Olympia Fields in 2003 - and 12th at the Open and US PGA, a fine accomplishment that saw him as one of only seven men to make the cut in all four majors last year.

One of those was of course Tiger Woods, but Rose was in good company, Westwood, Poulter and Casey being the others.

Casey finished 10th in both the Masters and US Open last year, and has led majors before. At Augusta two months ago, he called a penalty on himself when the ball moved less than a milimetre, a decision that effectively ended his chances, but showed the character and sportsmanship a golfer possesses.

Donald is undergoing something of a slump having not won a tournament since the Honda Classic in 2006, and not challenged in a major since finishing third to Woods at the USPGA at the back end of that year.

However, all five of those Englishmen have the sort of game you need to excel in a US Open, accuracy and putting.

They’ve all had a sniff of what it’s like to contend, they just need to grab the chance.

Also working in their favour is that at 1.14pm west coast time in America, Poulter, Casey and Donald all tee off together as a threeball.

For the first two days they can relax in each other’s company, shut out the tournament rhetoric, the clatter of the huge leaderboards being changed and the smell of the catering vans, and just concentrate on playing some good golf.

And who knows, this time next week, one of them might have erased the word ‘future’ from their title.

Don't be fooled by Tiger's boast

noreply@blogger.com (Nick Westby) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:45:00 +0000

Don’t be fooled when Tiger Woods dismisses his chances of making the US Open next week as: ”No big deal. I’ve won tournaments like that before.”

Make no bones about it, every sinew of the world’s leading golfer will be straining to be fit enough to tee it up alongside his peers at Torrey Pines next Thursday for the US Open.

“I’ve won tournaments like that before,” is a rare boast from golf’s superstar, who is of course referring to the 13 Major championships he already has in his collection.

You don’t reach a tally as remarkable as that with a laissez faire attitude.

You reach that by being hungrier, more talented and more determined than anyone else.

All characteristics that embody the Tiger.

Can you imagine even a 75% fit Tiger Woods not competing at the year’s second grand slam, foregoing the chance to continue closing in on Jack Nicklaus’s 18 Majors?

The US Open is the only one of the big four Tiger doesn’t already have in his pocket.

The Masters and the USPGA he has won four times apiece, and even after it appeared he could only win The Open at St Andrews, he went and triumphed at Hoylake two summers ago.

No, the US Open is the Major that appears least on his enviably long cv.

He blitzed the field at Pebble Beach in the first leg of the Tiger Slam in 2000 and then kept the leading players of the time like David Duval at arms length at Bethpage two years later.

But since then it has been a case of close but no cigar for the Tiger.

He pushed Michael Campbell to the wire at Pinehurst in 05. He even threatened to make Angel Cabrera sweat last year, but not even the presence of the game’s most fearsome competitor could make the sweat beads form on the big Argentine’s forehead.

Cabrera dealt with the rampaging Woods by nonchalently lighting a cigarette.

Sandwiched in between those was the US Open of 2006 which saw Woods miss the cut, a rarity in itself, but something that owed a lot to the passing of his father just weeks before.

Woods has shown he has the shot selection and discipline to compete at a US Open, with it’s tight fairways, punishing rough and lightning fast greens.

Plus Torrey Pines in San Diego is a course he has romped to victory at no less than four times, the last coming in January.

However, the course will play a lot tougher next week, the USGA will not be keen to see a repeat of the 19-under-par total Woods achieved five months ago.

And at the back of his mind, the knee injury that has kept him off the golf course since the final round of the Masters could threaten to prolong his wait for a third US Open title.

But he’ll be there next Thursday, teeing off alongside the best players in the world, hungry and determined.

The last thing he’ll be thinking is that it’s ‘no big deal’.