You're never too old, but can you be too young?

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In light of a few impressive age related feats in recent golfing news, I thought I would write a little something about them.  Most recently we have Tom Watson’s election as captain of the US Ryder Cup Captain for the 2014 event.  He will be the oldest captain of either side in the history of the event, turning 65.  Of course he is no stranger to age related feats, coming tantalizingly close to claiming a sixth Claret Jug at the age of 59 back in 2009; losing in a playoff to Stewart Cink.  Tom Watson is quite remarkable, a powerful force on the Champions Tour while still regularly making cuts on the regular tour, he relishes the opportunity to tee it up with today’s young stars and show them that he still has it.  Tom Watson, when he captained the side in 1993 also made another record when he gave Raymond Floyd a wildcard, making him the oldest ever Ryder Cup player ever a the age of 51.

            Staying with the older side of things, one of my favourite European golfers, Miguel Angel Jiminez, became the oldest winner of a European Tour event at the Hong Kong Open last month at the age of 48 years and 318 days.  He overtook previous record holder Des Smyth by 284 days and personally I can’t see why he couldn’t win again.   As I’m sure we are all aware people are all getting older, 50 is the new 40 and as this trend continues,  we will see more and more older golfers continue to win (this is definitely in Tiger Woods’ favour; if he is ever to beat Jack Nicklaus’ records, he will need all the time he can get. ) 

            Moving on to the younger side of things, Jiminez’s new old age record was only a week after Matteo Mannasero became the first teenager to win 3 European Tour titles after he claimed the Singapore Open in a playoff against Louis Oosthuizen.  As well as people getting older and still competing, it seems as though at the other end of the field, some of the competitors seem to be getting younger.  This is most evident in the story of Tianlang Guan who despite still be an amateur, will become the youngest ever competitor in the Masters next April at the extraordinary age of 14.  I think this is too young to be honest; there is a certain pressure that comes with paying in front of huge crowds and media and I don’t think a 14 year old should be allowed to be subjected to that even if he has some experience in big amateur comps and other mini Tour events. 

            There is obviously no age limit that prevents older golfers from competing and I don’t personally agree with the restriction to Major Past Champions invitations because more than anybody this will affect Watson who appears to want to play in the Open forever but there should definitely be a restriction at the other end of the scale.    Matteo Mannasero was only 16 when he burst onto the scene but that should be the limit and even t 16 it takes something special (which obviously Matteo has) to cope with Tour life.  

            Finally, I would like to say that the agelessness of this great game is what makes it so great. You can take up the game at 6 and have fun, make a living ( if you’re good enough) for 30-40 years, play it with your business associates, old School friends ( even if your wife if you’re desperate) and you can play it just for some fresh air when your 85 years old, how many sports can boast that?  Don’t see to many 80 year olds playing tennis do you?

Have fun growing old and playing golf!

FF  

Congratulations Tom Watson! But what about Woods?

Congratulations to Tom Watson, the oldest man ever to Captain the US Ryder Cup Team.  He will be 65 when the US attempt to claim back the Ryder Cup against Europe in 2014 in Gleneagles and claim their first victory on European soil since Watson captained the side in 1993.  Watson has said how he hopes he can produce the best out of 14 time major Champion Tiger Woods whose Ryder Cup record is perhaps not what we would expect from a player of his quality.  However, I think Tiger will be much more focused on claiming a 15th Major having gone Majorless for 4 seasons now.  In a previous blog I have explained why I think it will be difficult to reclaim his dominance of this sport but if he is, it will be by concentrating on Majors and not Glengeales.  I think Tiger's poor Ryder Cup record is an indication that he is just simply not a team player, we all know that this a very individual sport but with many players the chance to compete for their continent instills such a team atmosphere during the biennial event and they all tend to feed off each other.  With Woods, he struggles to find any momentum and doesn't build on the atmosphere of the event  or the crowds with quite the same effectiveness that other players do.  This was especially evident in the European camp in September who attribute their amazing comeback to the spirit of Seve, something that I don't think Woods would quite be able to take full advantage of.  While I am skeptical about Woods' ability to perform in the Ryder Cup one thing that I am sure of is that Woods is going to be one to watch in 2013, after 3 victories in his comeback year in 2012 he will be itching to add to his Major tally.  I think 2013 is going to be a fantastic year for watching Pro golf; so much talent, great events and unless the likes of Woods or McIlroy really make a charge, its gonna be anybodies year!   
FF

2014 US Ryder Cup Captain; the Contenders

With the US set to announce their 2014 Ryder Cup captain on Thursday of this week, Europe’s emphatic comeback is back in the minds of the golfing world; but who are the main candidates to take over the mantle and try to lead the American side to a much needed victory? 

After a solid performance in Australia last week, Tom Watson put himself forward.  The victorious 1993 captain, despite his age of 63, is surprisingly in touch with the current tour and will have no problem seeing who is in form during the closing weeks of qualification when that time comes.  His prolific Open record also makes him a favourite in Scotland, where the Ryder cup is to be held and he is very popular on both sides of the Pond.  His fantastic 2009 Open challenge cemented his place as one of the games all time greats and this relatively recent success places him fresh in people's minds too. I think it is always important to have a player who can still compete at a certain level and it helps to have someone with a solid personal Ryder Cup record.   

While Tom Watson seems like a good choice and has obviously stated his desire for the position, the bookies have David Toms as a firm favourite.  The 2001 USPGA Champion is still very much a force on the PGA Tour, maintaining a ranking inside the Top 50 and the most recent of his 13 PGA Tour victories coming at the Crowne Plaza Invitational in 2011 following a 2^nd place finish at the Players Championship.  David Toms comes across as a very friendly player on the Tour and he has his fair share of supporters in Europe but I wonder whether his attitude is not quite suited to captaining the side just yet, he could quite easily still get a playing position of course as well.  Don’t get me wrong, he definitely deserves to be captain one day but with the events of this September still fresh I think it’s fair to say that the American side are itching for another crack at the Europeans and personally I don’t see Toms as a the man to lead them to a much sought after victory.  On the other hand the Ryder Cup has been known to bring out the competitiveness in both captains and players; I think we can all agree this was the case for Ian Poulter this year.  Who is to say the same won't happen  in David Toms.

Perhaps an equally important question is whether this decision will affect the choice of the European captain.  At the moment the bookies are favouring Darren Clarke who, like Watson has enjoyed recent Major success which has put him in the limelight but also Paul McGinley who famously holed the winning putt in the 2002 Ryder Cup.  However there is also some speculation that with the Cup returning to Scotland, the talismanic Montgomery who captained a victorious side in 2010 should be reinstated.  Personally I think that Montgomery should be given the captaincy but am also pretty sure that the decision process is well underway and whatever decision is announced tomorrow by the US should not affect this. 

Can’t wait for 2014 already, surely it can’t top this years events though!       

FF

Did McIlroy just call Belly Putters Cheating?

McIlroy’s Tweet

Following the decision by golf’s governing bodies that anchoring putters will become a breach of the rules in 2016, Rory McIlroy was one of the first to express his views tweeting “it will be a level playing field in 2016”.  But it’s not really an advantage right now because anyone can use them and I’m sure that in reality pride and principle are the only things that prevent the whole professional game from using them.  It’s not new for Pro’s to call Belly Putters cheating; it was for example Freddy Couple to first coin the term cheating sticks, despite using one with great effect on the Champions Tour but McIlroy wasn’t the only top Pro to voice their opinions on the proposed ban

Other Players views

The decision on the belly putter has been widely contested in the golfing world for quite some time now, Woods and McDowell for example, have been staunch proponents of its ban whilst Simpson and Bradley have expressed very strong views as to why it should not be banned, no doubt because they owe quite a large proportion of their career earnings to its invention. Ernie Els, the latest major winner to use one takes the rather ironic standpoint by using one and yet often referring to them as “cheat sticks”.  If the latest golfing news is to be believed, Keegan Bradley- who used a belly putter with great affect at the end of last year to seal his maiden Major title- has said he may sue if his preferred putting method is outlawed, a rather drastic measure.  Webb Simpson quite rightly said that the decision should come based on evidence and not an “ideal view of tradition in the game” and has argued that actually there is no advantage according to the PGA Tour stat: strokes gained putting.  Many people have come forward as saying that this rule change comes too late and that they are only doing it because people have started winning Majors with them and I am sure there is some truth to that. 

The Verdict

As I mentioned in my last piece on the subject of belly putters, I feel it is unwise to outlaw them for amateurs as well but unfortunately the R & A and USPGA have not taken this view point, despite Peter Dawson highlighting the quite unnecessary affect it would have on some of the games older generations.   A ban on anchoring the putter would prevent some older people, who suffer from the “yips”, from competing at a level they feel they should be and I don’t think it is a ridiculous claim to say that a fair few people would give up.  Rob Lee, the famous SkySports pundit, in his latest article has also stated a similar view; that while being firmly against putters, he would have no issue with the rule change only applying to the Professional game. While this debate will no doubt continue to rage in the upcoming weeks and maybe the governing bodies will amend their stance slightly but until such a time, it is unlikely that we will see quite how much this will affect our great game.  I for one, and I’m sure there are more out there, think that given the next three years golfers everywhere will be racking their brains to find loopholes and new putting techniques that cure the yips and have the same effect as the belly putter.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

FF