This is the arm of Scotsman Stuart Birrell who spent £210 for a tribute to Seve. I have to admit this isn’t too shocking to me as I have a friend who is so devoted to The Beatles that she has the faces of the Fab Four all over the backs of her legs. Her picture made page 15 of The Times once. Anyway, Mr Birrell has had a picture of Steve’s 1984 Open victory salute, Seve with the Ryder Cup and two famous quotes.
“They say I get into too many bunkers. but is no problem. I am the best bunker player”
“I look into eyes, shake their hand, pat their back and wish them luck. But I am thinking I am going to bury you”.
Mr Birrell’s next tattoo will be a collage of legends – Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson
Found this interesting documentary recently. I well remember the day Payne Stewart’s plane went down. I was working in a press office with television screens banked all around and there was no escape from watching this story unfold over the course of several hours. He was a larger than life character, I remember seeing him outside the Turnberry Hotel one year waiting for his courtesy car, even when he thought no one was watching he was still performing practising his swing in his distinctive plus fours and flat cap. He had such presence and distinctiveness. It was very odd that he completed his life as reigning US Open champion at the peak of his powers and stilled the warring over the Brookline Ryder Cup with his passing. It shocked the entire golfing world and brought everyone to their senses. A final gift from Payne Stewart to the sport he loved.
Sir Nick Faldo has announced the first Major Champions Invitational for junior golfers to be played at Bella Collins GC Florida March 12-14.
The concept is for major champions to inspire and mentor the next generation of golfers and make an impact on the growth of the game. A field of up to 100 young golfers, boys and girls, will compete under the nomination of a major champion who has hand picked them. It is for young people who want a career in professional golf.
Major champions currently committed to the tournament are Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Annika Sorenstram, Henrik Stenson, Jerry Pate, Adam Scott and John Daly and the list is growing. Look out for Rory’s protégée Tom McKinnon who has won the Junior Honda Classic and played in the Irish Open under his support.
The phone call from Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjorn has got to come. Rory McIlroy described Tommy Fleetwood’s winning performance at Abu Dhabi this weekend as “incredible. To shoot 65 under those conditions, 6 under on the back nine was seriously impressive”
Fleetwood successfully defended the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after being five shots behind the leader Ross Fisher with nine holes to play. He produced six birdies to complete the closing holes in just 30 strokes, defeating a field with 6 of the world top 20 in it.
Last Year he won the Race To Dubai order of merit just 18 months on from being ranked 188th in the world. Extraordinary competitor and technically a wonderfully sound game.
With the change in Ryder Cup Qualifying – more points are earned at the later stages of qualifying and the eight Rolex Series events having enhanced status and prize money, even players of the calibre of Tommy Fleetwood will have to keep going all year to avoid having to rely on one of the four captain’s picks.
Here’s a photo of him, before he looked like Jesus.
The third round of what has been called the Careerbuilder Challenge for the past 10 years is under way. But I’m beginning to feel like a dinosaur… I can only think of these famous tournaments as how they were called when I first started in golf. it made it all the more glamorous that these tournaments had the names of famous entertainers in front of them. The tournament at Pebble Beach was the Bing Crosby, Glenn Campbell had the Los Angeles Open, Sammy Davis Jnr had the Greater Hartford Open and the most showbizzy of all was the Bob Hope Desert Classic the film above celebrates. The current PGA tournaments have some hideous names, thanks to the need for millions of tournaments invested by sponsors, the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Farmers Insurance Open being amongst the least glamorous. One tournament name which I think will never change will be the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but that to me will always be Bay Hill, just to be awkward.
Tiger Woods opened the debate again a couple of months ago when he said “we need to do something about the golf ball – 8,000 yard courses would be a problem”. Chambers Bay GC was the controversial host of the 2015 US Open, a course of 7,900 yards. Gary Player has said that the modern equipment is not only taking the skill out of the game, it is costing millions of dollars to alter courses. Mike Davis of the USGA is concerned saying it is affecting all golfers in a bad way. Bridgestone is developing a shorter flight ball for tournaments but it has to be approved by the Rand A and USGA.
Dustin Johnson, who probably hit the shot of the year in Hawaii two weeks ago has put an alternative view. “it’s not like we’re dominating golf courses. I don’t understand what the debate is about because it doesn’t matter how far the ball flies it’s about getting it into the hole”. He then explains that his 433 yard drive at the 12th hole in Kapalua wasn’t that much of a big deal. “There was a lot of luck involved. There was a 30mph wind behind me, a downhill lie and a firm fairway”. Perhaps, but only a magnificent athlete like him could have hit the shot like that. And I tend to agree with him about putting any limitations on the game’s equipment. It is taking away our freedom and repressing the game from developing as it should.
As a young person I was taught to play golf by a former tournament professional. When he was on tour he was so wary of the media that his press conferences were something else “driver, 5 iron, 2 putts” he recounted each hole that he played, refusing to disclose anything personal or of interest and the journalists tried hard to stay awake. Rory McIlroy is the opposite, speaking openly and naturally so that things sometimes just slip out.
In a recent interview with the Daily Telegraph McIlroy just revealed that playing in China 18 months ago he had picked up a virus which had left him with a thickened left heart ventricle. This revelation caused a media flurry around the world. I would personally say that every heart condition is serious but McIlroy took to his Instagram account to tell everyone to chill. “I touched upon a recent finding from a routine health and wellness check slight heartbeat irregularity called a flat or inverted T Wave. it’s really not that big a deal and nothing to worry about …there shouldn’t be a big reaction in the media. I’m fit and well and healthy.
McIlroy took weeks off last year following a broken rib which touched a ligament where the rib attaches to the spine and caused painful inflammation in his back.
The first tournament and we’ve already probably seen the shot of the year.
The final round of the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua’s Plantation Course on Maui Hawaii was dominated by Dustin Johnson who outclassed the field. He said that he was pleased with how flush he was hitting the ball and his visualisation of every shot was accurate. His drive at the 433 yard 12th hole was a thing of wonder. His usual powerful cut at the ball made it land within inches of the hole, the closest there’s been to a par 4 ace in over 15 years. Dustin said he played as well as around this time last year when he won three tournaments in a row. He’s now won in 11 consecutive seasons, and this win is his 17th on the PGA tour.
I sometimes wonder if I had been born male which professional I would most want to be. It’s hard not to want to emulate DJ, he’s one of the most naturally gifted athletes I’ve ever seen, it comes so naturally and easily to him, I just love watching him hit the ball. However, it’s a roller coaster ride at times as he does have the same combination of accident prone (falling down the stairs before last year’s Masters taking him out of the frame) and self destructiveness (imploding at his previous last start at the WGC-HSBC in Shanghai to let Justin Rose in) that Greg Norman used to have. How can golf be boring with a World Number One like DJ? All things considered though, if I had been born male I’d want to be Stenson, formidable competitor with a charming personality. Him – or Walter Hagen, that would be fun. Wouldn’t want people likening me to King Kong.
The results of the YouGov poll this week which placed golf as the most boring sport to watch (70% agreed, well ahead of darts and cricket) was refuted by European Tour Chief Keith Pelley “Totally disagree” he said “our fan engagement in 2017 totally suggests otherwise. all sports need to modernise and we are making our professional golfers personalities. If this poll was accurate we would not be as successful at business as we are”.
England Golf Chief Executive Nick Pink called it a “wake up call to the industry to change the way it depicts the sport”.
Rory McIlroy gets to the heart of the issue “everything is so instant now, everyone doesn’t have as much time as they used to”.
So this is why Keith Pelley is the right man for the job at the European Tour, even if sometimes what he introduces seems to need a little polish, everything is being thrown up in the air and boundaries are breaking. I feel this challenge makes it the most exciting time ever for our sport.
One thing is for certain, the future is interactive. The distance between the players and the viewers is narrowing. With digital transformation phones, tablets, television can be integrated into the experience, making comments, speaking to players. As tennis has recognised, more entertainment has to be provided, sport has to be more cool to get younger people involved. It’s about improving the product, striving to reach a different demographic of people a larger audience otherwise falling behind.
It’s interesting to learn that Pelley is less concerned about the hard core golf supporters than he is in widening the base of interest in the sport, to reaching out to new audiences. He calls the business he runs
“an entertainment content company where golf is our platform”
One example of this is the inspired Awkward Reporter film
When you combine personality with skill you have more chance of engaging with a younger, different audience who haven’t experienced our great game.
But that’s just the things in between the action. He’s been working on some format changes, the next of which will be rolled out in Perth Australia from 8-11 February.
The IPS Hands World Super 6 Perth tournament (tag line hashtag, don’t crack under pressure) will be played over Lake Karrinyup Country Club – 54 holes of stroke play with cuts after the second and third rounds until 24 players are left. The top 8 players are seeded into a second round as the final day is five rounds of 6 hole matchplay. The remaining 16 players are randomly paired and any matches not decided after 6 holes will be decided by a shootout hole. After five rounds of six holes the winner will be declared.
Golfsixes was tried out at Centurion Golf Club at St Albans last year and Pelley said there was anticipation, excitement, something different. A packed, flag waving crowd, music and fireworks. In that case it was contested over two days by two man teams from 16 nations over the six holes. It was marketed as “Golf – but not as you know it” The amphitheatre style stands around the tees and greens brought the fans closer to the action and the atmosphere recreated the patriotism and passion only seen at the Ryder Cup.
The six hole format is something the Tour seems to have decided on, although Pelley says they do not want to interfere too much with the integrity of the game.
At the KLM Open in Holland in 2016 fans were offered the chance to take on professionals on a par three hole during an actual tournament round. This to me seemed to interrupt the flow of the tournament, bringing the spectators into the arena itself just to win prizes for beat the pro. Spectators, even scratch golfers, are not professional athletes with all the pressure their profession entails and it seems to me that this was a step too far to bring them into their workplace. It was making a sporting event like a piece of immersive theatre.
And then there was the Hero Challenge before the British Masters. An elimination based par three competition with very loud music, floodlights, fireworks, flamethrowers and enthusiastic television coverage which bordered on yelling at the viewers. A one hour event broadcast live on television, Facebook, you tube and European Tour TV.
“Right now there is a narrative for change, to make it quicker and more exciting “says Pelley 72 hole golf will always be part of our game but you need to reach a new demographic.. ”
During GolfSixes players are encouraged to interact with fans during play and wear microphones so conversations with caddies can be overheard. The logic for this is that people can understand why decisions are made. Polls will be offered on social media, adjusting to the fact that younger viewers are not passive and want to interact with what they are seeing. Time is of the essence, and during the tournament in Vienna between 7-10 June where every player will be on a shot clock on every shot we will see how this speeds up the tournament.
It remains to be seen if tournaments get cut to three rather than four rounds, because Thursdays and Fridays are when nothing exciting happens. I think this would be a better way forward, and having a cut after the first round.
Sport is now being driven much more by consumers – what they want to watch when and on what platform. If they are not engaged, the they will leave.
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