How’s
this for a lamentable state of affairs? Picture Tiger Woods, from the depths of
his current world ranking of 172nd, beginning the long march back with a good
finish at the Memorial tournament in Ohio this week.
So it continues, step by
agonising step as he inches back inside the top 20, until he captivates the
entire sporting world with a victory at The Open at Royal Troon next year for
his 15th major championship.
A fortnight later, another blistering
finish at the USPGA leaves Woods looking up at only Rory McIlroy at the top of
the rankings as the sport re-enters the Olympics.
Former world No 1 Tiger Woods is currently ranked 172nd in the world after a succession of injuries
Too good to be true as the
build-up to the race for a gold medal? You can say that again. But not because
of the reason you might think — that Tiger’s not up to it anymore.
It cannot happen because the
qualifying period for golfers to represent their country in Rio in August next
year just happens to conclude on the Sunday before the 2016 Open begins.
No, it’s not you. I had to read
this several times as well to make sure I had got it right. You mean to tell me
that Tiger could win The Open next year and the US PGA but if he was ranked
outside the world’s top 15 before both events were staged he would not be in
Rio? Yep, that’s the strength of it. How stupid would golf look in those
circumstances?
There is every chance it will
look foolish in any case. Let’s fast forward just over a year and imagine the
current world rankings are in place as we head to Troon.
Under the qualification rules,
players as good as Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood
and Jamie Donaldson could win the 2016 Open and still would not represent their
respective countries.
Imagine a young gun like Danny
Willett or Tommy Fleetwood, now inside the world’s top 50, making the major
breakthrough and then being denied an Olympic place?
Woods has a lot of ground to make up after playing just 11 tour events in the past 18 months
Who came up with this
ridiculous piece of nonsense — a tennis fan, under the impression only six
players can win Grand Slams?
The Open is the golf
title that resonates above all others in terms of its worldwide impact. The
idea that its champion, and not a freak winner either but one with real
pedigree, could be denied a spot in Rio defines inequity.
No one I approached at
the Royal and Ancient Golf Club was keen to comment and to be fair, having
lobbied so hard for golf’s inclusion in the Olympics, what could they say?
But they must be deeply
disappointed that the qualifying period cannot end a week later. As if golf’s
inclusion was not controversial enough, we now have this real danger to the
credibility of its gold medal award, and for what? An extra week to measure up
uniforms and carry out paperwork?
Rory
McIlroy looking road-weary
Two missed cuts in a row
for Rory McIlroy and the Americans are in full cry, pointing out how his record
in this department pales alongside that of Tiger Woods.
And as a statement of
fact it is undeniably true, while few would disagree with the general consensus
that McIlroy lacks that intensity Woods possessed when things were going awry.
But nowhere did I read what I would consider another fundamental reason for the
glaring discrepancy.
Rory McIlroy has just played two tournaments in Europe after three events in America
Woods played 23 or so
tournaments every year and 20 or 21 of them would be in America. Between
February and October the only time he would travel abroad would be for The
Open, and he would never dream of putting himself out to play four tournaments
in a row, let alone five.
Contrast that to McIlroy, who has
just played two in Europe on top of three in America. Now it’s back to the
States, then back to Europe for The Open, then back to America for six events,
then off to China and the Middle East before the year is done.
Travel the world to play all
sorts of courses in all sorts of weather, with the added factor of mental
fatigue, and inevitably it’s going to affect consistency.
Now who would have thought the
Americans wouldn’t consider something as obvious as that? Not an insular lot by
any chance, are they?
Fans watch Eddie Pepperell chip towards the 18th green during the play-off at the Irish Open
Quote of the week
‘To the 106,906 people that attended this week, thank you. Truly
some of the best golf fans anywhere in the world.’
Hard to argue with this lovely tweet put out by the European Tour
following a special week at the Irish Open at Royal County Down.
The weather was garbage, the leaderboard bereft of superstars but
honestly, did anyone care? This was golf in its purest form and sport in the
raw — and the blessed day when the biggest Open of all returns to Northern
Ireland is one that cannot come soon enough.
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