It’s 34 years since the Ladies’ European Tour was last able to announce a 27 tournament season, but that is exactly what happened last week when the schedule for 2021 was revealed..  That was the number of times available for me to tee it up in 1987, my second year on tour – oh, those heady, heady days of looking for spaces in the diary to take a break from the tournament grind.  Since then, however, it’s been a grind of a different order with recessions, bank crashes, questionable appointments of personnel and a pandemic all contriving to apply the last rites to a tour many said would not survive.

So far the lows have outweighed the highs but a 19 million Euro prize fund for this year will go a fair way to redressing the balance.  Beginning with the South African Women’s Open in mid-May, the LET, so ably led by CEO Alexandra Armas (above), will offer their membership 23 consecutive weeks of tournament golf, which includes nine new events as well as the Solheim Cup and the Olympic Games (all being well, pandemic permitting).

The upswing in the tour’s fortunes began in earnest in 2019 when the Europeans decided to grasp hold of the lifeline thrown to them by the other big hitters in the golfing arena, namely the LPGA, the European Tour and the R&A.  The realisation that a healthy LET was important, and indeed beneficial to everyone, encouraged the harnessing of their collective will, contacts and commercial nous to mount a rescue package.  Underpinning this success was the unwavering doubt that the product they were selling was, and had been for some time, absolutely first class.  Despite the regular exodus of top players to America, Europe had enough strength in depth to deliver a winning Solheim Cup team at Gleneagles under the captaincy of Catriona Matthew.  Thankfully even a Covid-impacted 2020 season didn’t derail the best-laid plans and so I’m not the only one to welcome this record-breaking 2021 schedule with impatience, hope and yes, a fair degree of pride that the LET is still standing.

Another on the comeback trail is Jordan Spieth who has led the last two tournaments in the US after 54 holes.  His last victory was in the 2017 Open at Royal  Birkdale – (remember his off-the-planet tee shot on the 13th followed by an electrifying finish?) – but since then he has found himself in the doldrums.  He didn’t manage to convert either advantage into a victory but his joy at being back in contention is evident.

Back in 2015 Jordan could do no wrong.  The 22-year old wunderkind won the Masters, the US Open and three other tournaments.  That same year I was out on the course commentating on his final round in the Open at St Andrews as he was bidding to win his third consecutive major.  I was close enough to hear his conversations with his caddy Michael Greller and gain a fascinating insight into a steely competitor in the midst of battle.  At one hole on the homeward stretch he left himself short left of the green with cruelly rumpled terrain between his ball and the hole.  He charged up to his ball, assessed the unappetising shot and announced to Michael, “This is doable.”  He proceeded to lip out.  It was a wonderful example of the physical and mental being perfectly attuned, perfectly aligned and I’ve never forgotten it.

At that time Jordan seemed almost bulletproof so what led to his drastic change in fortunes a few short years later?  Never the longest hitter he announced he was going to work on gaining a few more yards and that appeared to derail the rest of his game.  If you recall, it was a similar story with Luke Donald.  He ascended to the No 1 world ranking in 2012 – and then set off in pursuit of more length almost as if he needed to justify that weighty tag around his neck.  Subsequent injuries (not necessarily related to the search for more power) set him back even further and Donald is now trying to work his way back from a world ranking of 528.

There seems to be a very thin dividing line between self sabotage and striving to be better, a knife edge, in fact.  Part of the DNA of a successful person in any walk of life is the relentless pursuit of perfection yet one push too far to attain the unobtainable can send the whole body of work crumbling like a house of cards.  Some make it back, many don’t.  Lee Westwood and Paul Casey are two who suffered slumps of epic proportions, yet are now producing their best golf in their forties.  Ian Baker-Finch and David Duval are two who tumbled down the pecking order never to rise again.

So, having watched Jordan for almost four years handle endless interviews with grace and honesty, never shirking his media responsibilities, it’s a welcome sight to witness his upward trend.  As a nation we do seem to like our heroes to suffer a bit – we don’t want them to have things all their own way.  We value them more when we’ve witnessed them being vulnerable and have watched them displaying grit and tenacity over a period of time.

In their own separate ways both Jordan and the Ladies’ European Tour have displayed tremendous courage and no end of positivity in the face of doom and gloom.  These green shoots of recovery are a welcome sight.  Here’s hoping they flourish and thrive.

A word of warning at the start:  I’ve just had my vaccination and who knows what kind of reaction there might be, so if this blog peters out halfway through, that’s probably the reason.  The possible side effects include fatigue, chills, nausea, vomiting, fever, dizziness, headaches, so who knows if I can stagger to the end?  Fingers crossed.  And don’t think that I’m not aware of those going, “Please God, make her stop now….we can’t take much more of this….”  Or, as the old-time, late lamented copytakers, rendered redundant by technology, used to say to the reporters desperately trying to make the words sing but decomposing at the end of the phone:  “Is there much more of this?….”

You had to be on the receiving end to hear the ennui and disdain, delivered with immaculate timing that would have done justice to Dorothy Parker at her most haughty and dismissive.  Ah, the good old days!

I suppose I’d better start with a bit of golf to get it out of the way.  The good news is that Mike Whan, who transformed the LPGA in almost every way in his record-breaking spell (a mind-boggling 11 years) in charge, will not be lost to golf.  He’ll be taking over as CEO of the USGA (United States Golf Association) in the summer and the world’s junior governing body, traditionally sedate and buttoned up – its idea of casual is dispensing with a tie – knows it’s in for a bit of a wild ride.

Whan knows golf but he’s not afraid to take risks and what makes him effective is that he takes people along with him.  He’s already told his future colleagues that he’ll make many more mistakes than Mike Davis, the man he succeeds but he’s good at learning and doesn’t usually make the same mistake twice.  “I’m really not that great at very many things,” Whan said, “but I’m really good at bringing people together for a common purpose.”

I hesitate to describe him as a miracle worker – I really don’t know him but he seems to be well aware of his strengths and isn’t scared to admit his weaknesses and appoint people who are better at certain things than he is – but anyone who has run a women’s tour for more than a decade and leaves with praise raining down on them from every angle (and no sharp implement in their back) has to inspire shock and, above all, awe.  Whan really will have performed miracles if his successor is appointed in a civilised manner, proves a success and stays in post for a decent amount of time, building on what are now very firm foundations.

He’s a man who doesn’t like to feel too comfortable in his job, which is perhaps something we could all learn from, especially those of us who are rather fond of our comfort zone and don’t feel the need to challenge ourselves too much.  Whan revealed that his wife Meg (I got her name off the internet so hope it’s right) knew 18 months ago that they’d be moving, she just didn’t know where.  Why? How?  Because he’d stopped waking up at two in the morning and reaching for his notepad!

“I’m taking this job because I’m really uncomfortable,” he said of his move to the USGA.  “This makes me nervous.  I know I’ve got a lot to learn.  I’m excited because of all the things I don’t know……I need first tee jitters to play my best.”  Fortunately, as he said in another interview somewhere – and I paraphrase – he’s never suffered from stage fright, he likes an audience and he likes nothing better than a bit of collaboration and persuading people that it’s in their best interests to work together.

I don’t know if the sainted Rory (well, we know he’s only human and not perfect but the blog is still a McIlroy fan) has met Mike Whan yet but it won’t be too long before he does.  Rory has been very outspoken, scathing even, about the USGA and R&A’s distance initiative and the Ulsterman has just become the first player not born in the US to be elected to the PGA Tour policy board, pipping Russell Knox and Kevin Streelman.  Rory is currently chairman of the Player Advisory Council (PAC) and he’ll take up his position on the policy board next year, replacing Jordan Spieth.  Ah.

Those of us who’d like Rory to complete the Grand Slam by winning the Masters and go on to win more majors and lots of other tournaments aren’t too sure we want him taking on more committee work and neglecting his core business, so to speak.  How much good did it do Spieth’s golf?  Perhaps it’ll suit Rory, who is not built like a Woods or a Faldo, single-minded individuals who pursued titles with little thought for anything else in their lives.  Perhaps Rory will pitch up at Augusta – soon I hope – thinking about something else, find himself playing well (goodness, that fierce, concentrated practice seems to be working) and end up wearing a green jacket. Ah well, we can all dream.

The pandemic is still playing merry hell with scheduling and events like the West of Ireland, the men’s home internationals and the Girls’ U16 Amateur Championship, have already been postponed until later in the year.  If the Walker Cup at Seminole goes ahead at the beginning of May, GB and I, most of whose players will nearly have forgotten what competition is, will have to perform miracles not to get mangled.  And once May comes, July can’t be far behind.  If the Open goes ahead this year, will any of us be allowed to be there?

Ah well, back to the jigsaws.