It’s only Sunday and, uncharacteristically, I’m already pondering my blog topic for the Friday that this missive will be posted.  I have a busy week coming up, you see, and a wee trip to Norn Iron to fit in, so time for blogging will be very short indeed.

I can hardly believe that next week will be the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.  I have to admit that having the men’s four majors crammed in to a twelve-week period doesn’t sit well with me.  In a mere nine days time that’ll be the meat of the season over for me as far as men’s golf is concerned – and nine months to wait until we once again get a peek behind the scenes at arguably the most exclusive club in the world, Augusta National, when they host the 2027 Masters.

And don’t get me started on the women’s majors!  There are five of them in total.  The last scheduled tournament on the LPGA tour was the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the third of the five.  This week is the Amundi Evian Championship and in a couple of weeks  the AIG Women’s Open is at Lytham.  That’s three majors in a run of four tournaments – it’s just bonkers.  Scheduling gone awry in my opinion.

But back to Birkdale – always one of my favourite courses to play and commentate on.  There have been so many marvellous Open Championship moments there from Justin Rose’s scintillating fourth place finish in 1998, marking his swansong in the amateur game, to Jordan Spieth’s electrifying finish in 2017 of birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, par which completely demoralised the hapless Matt Kuchar.

However, my all-time favourite, unsurprisingly, was the 2008 edition when Padraig Harrington retained the Claret Jug that he had swiped out from under the nose of Sergio Garcia the previous year at Carnoustie.  The genial Irishman arrived at the Lancashire venue nursing a wrist injury and his practice rounds consisted of walking round armed only with a notebook, a putter and a few golf balls.  I was allocated his group on the Thursday morning when he was off really early and we all arrived at the course not knowing if he was going to be able to tee it up.

Believe me when I tell you there were gale force winds blowing and it was hard enough navigating the links with a microphone never mind a set of clubs.  I think that played into Harrington’s hands as the entire field struggled, with knock-down, windcheating half-shots being the order of the day, thus giving the defending champion an extra day of not too much pressure being put on his balky wrist.  His opening round of four over par, 74, did not leave him too far adrift thanks to the conditions and no one could touch him over the ensuing 54 holes.  The standout shot, of course, was the five-wood into that horror of a 17th green that set up an eagle and, ultimately, a four-shot victory.

Royal Birkdale always provided a great test for the best women players as well and it was there that a Swedish superstar laid down a marker that led to an outstanding career which included five LPGA wins, sixteen Ladies’ European tour victories and eight Solheim Cup team appearances.

I’m talking about Sophie Gustafson’s win in 2000.  I played in that championship and remember Sophie being aghast at the thought of the prizegiving and having to deliver a winner’s speech.  She suffered from a chronic stammer and the thought of speaking in public at that time paralysed her with, not just fear, but abject terror.  She enlisted the help of her pal, the talented Italian professional Federica Dassu, to deliver her words for her, which greatly surprised the waiting galleries as Sophie’s speech difficulties weren’t widely known at that time in the UK.

Over the unfolding of her marvellous career Sophie ceased shying away from public speaking, even doing a long one-on-one television interview to show fellow sufferers what was possible.  Talk about the mantra of “face your fears and do it anyway.”  Sophie walked the walk – and more importantly, in this case, she talked the talk.

Fourteen years later the diminutive Mo Martin of the United States won her only major with one of the most spectacular of shots.  At the closing hole she hit the pin with her three wood second shot from some 240 yards away setting up a winning eagle.

“I could hear it hit the pin from the fairway,” she said. “That was a pretty fun feeling. I think I still need to be pinched.”

I remember the shot for two reasons.  Obviously, it was because it was a brilliant golf shot under the circumstances but there was another reason as well.  I was in the commentary box when that shot was on its way and we were viewing it from a camera from behind the green.  I could see the lone figure of a photographer fifty yards or so directly behind Mo with his lens trained on her as she took her shot.

It was the one and only Dave Cannon – one of the most famous golf photographers in the world.  Think of the iconic picture of Seve celebrating his 1984 Open win at St Andrews – that was Dave, always going the extra yard to get that one picture, that one winning moment that no one else would think of.  He was the only one of the snappers to capture this 2014 championship-winning shot and swing – the others were following Suzann Pettersen and Shanshan Feng who ultimately finished an hour later in joint second place, one shot behind.

Later on I asked Dave why he was where he was. He replied that after all the years of traipsing round at championships he had developed a very acute radar of where he felt he needed to be at pivotal moments.  Sometimes, he said, it didn’t pay off but more often than not it did.

How cool it was to watch simultaneously two people at the top of their games in two different professions.

I wonder what Royal Birkdale has in store for us this year.

 

 

Well done Viktor Hovland – a winner for the eighth time on the PGA tour.

Mind you, it took a Monday morning play-off against Scottie Scheffler before he could claim the Travelers Championship title and judging by the number of folk who turned up at TPC River Highlands for the 9am start there weren’t too many at work in Cromwell, Connecticut that morning.  Unfortunately for the crowds all they witnessed was a mere half dozen shots – two perfect drives, side by side, and then a stellar iron by world No 1 Scheffler in to five feet, followed by Viktor in to around twelve feet.  The Norwegian’s putt somehow fell in from the low right-hand side and then, rather unexpectedly, Homer nodded and we witnessed a Scheffler miss.  And that was their lot – six, no, well, five of the best.

The home crowd was naturally supporting Scottie whose fourth runner-up spot this was this season, but Viktor had his own Viking cheerleading group fresh from World Cup duty in Boston and more importantly, his Mum was present to see him win for the first time.  He’s obviously making a decent fist of being kinder to himself on the course and hopefully this result will encourage him to continue with that strategy.

As for Scottie, I don’t see anyone taking his Open title from him at Birkdale in a couple of weeks.  He’s been threatening to move up from his “B” game for a while and his timing looks good for another major.  We shall see.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Haeran Ryu opened her major account by winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship by two shots from fellow countrywoman, Ina Yoon, who notoriously served a two-year suspension from the game a couple of years back for playing the wrong ball in a tournament and not declaring it at the time.

Ryu, however, has had no such glitches in her career, stepping up with ease from being the 2023 Rookie of the Year on the LPGA to now a major champ.  Her coach’s advice, after her first round of 73 left her ten behind Yoon, was to trust herself, her swing and her caddy.  She took that to heart and it worked wonders freeing her up to play her best.

There were a number of very happy players at the conclusion of this major and, aside from the winner, none more so than Dewi Weber of the Netherlands who finished in joint third spot.  Weber joined the LPGA tour in 2022 and last week’s cheque of north of $750,000 just about doubled her career earnings.  It’s probably much too little and too late for her to catch the eye of European Solheim Cup captain, Anna Nordqvist……but the match IS in the Netherlands, so with a couple more good performances……You never know.

Canadian Brooke Henderson, who finished joint third with Weber, was equally happy – but for entirely different reasons.  Her sister, Brittany, who caddied for her on tour for more than a decade, gave birth on Thursday morning to her first child, a daughter, named Sahalee after the venue where Brooke won the  PGA title ten years ago.  That’ll be a very joyful reunion.

While we were sweltering away here in Cheshire with soaring temperatures, it was strange to switch on to the Women’s Amateur at Muirfield and see that occasionally the competitors had to don fleeces and jackets – but that’s Scotland for you.  The final, however, was played in warm but breezy conditions and what a wonderful test of golf these players faced in the changing winds.

France had their first winner of this great title since Celine Boutier in 2015 when Valentine Delon beat Spain’s Andrea Revuelta by 3 and 1 in the 36-hole final.  She is the ninth French player to have her name inscribed on the old trophy.  It is, however, France’s eleventh victory because the redoubtable Brigitte Varangot dominated in the 1960s, with three titles tucked under her belt.

Delon is no stranger to adversity, suffering from scoliosis and undergoing back surgery in 2019.  Her long-term inspiration, however, has always been former US Solheim Cup captain and major winner Stacy Lewis, who faced similar challenges yet carved out a stellar professional career.

Over the years further inspiration for Valentine has come from one of her neighbours in Chantilly, namely the legendary Catherine Lacoste who has her name etched on many trophies worldwide including this one in 1969.  How fitting that France’s newest champion should win on Lacoste’s 81st birthday.

“It’s amazing,” said Delon. “I don’t think it feels real right now but it’s just the best thing ever. I practised every day to be in this situation. It was really hard today. The conditions were really hard, but being the champion and putting my name on this trophy is amazing.”

Exciting times lie ahead for Valentine as she now receives invitations into the final two professional majors of the year, plus the Standard Portland Classic on the LPGA tour and then two further majors in 2027.  If still amateur next April, she can add the Augusta National Women’s Amateur to her list..

Heavy duty appointments for anyone’s diary but I somehow feel she’ll be equal to them.  What a difference a week makes.

The “Activity Rings” on my fitness app aren’t registering too highly at the moment, most of my activity being of the thumb-exercising variety while changing channel from one sport to the other on the remote control.  And, of course, temperatures in the mid to high thirties aren’t conducive to much more than staying indoors, out of the heat, curtains drawn, fan on, with copious bottles of cold water in the fridge.  Curiously, G’nT hour IS active – creeping earlier and earlier from 6pm to something nearer 4.30pm.  Ah, well – summer’s here.

There’s always a feast of golf on at this time of year, from professional majors to elite amateur events to club championships to captains’ days the length and breadth of every country.  One happy chappie will be the, now double, US Open champ Wyndham Clark who triumphed last weekend at shiny Shinnecock.

Vilified for his behaviour at last year’s event at Oakmont where he vented his frustrations by murdering a century-old locker, Clark was most definitely not the fan favourite.  Cries of “get in the bunker” and the cheering of poor outcomes of some of his shots led to the eviction of several members of the gallery who made it clear that Scottie Scheffler was their guy.

Contrary to the widely-held belief that the fans were against him because of last year’s behaviour I suspect there are two other factors at play here.  The New York fans, for reasons best known to themselves, revel in and love the tag of being the toughest crowd in sport.  For them that seems to unilaterally open the door to boorish, loud-mouthed, off-putting behaviour that is inevitably fuelled by a huge alcoholic intake.  Their own mothers would disown them and it’s disgusting that we are moving towards acceptance of this in our sport.

It’s not a one-off either – remember the Ryder Cup?  And the mild-mannered Scheffler suffered some final round abuse last year at the Open at Portrush.  It broke my heart to hear that and I felt ashamed.

Who wants to be a favourite of those sort of fans?

The second item on my radar and one I think may prove a dangerous catalyst for increasingly unsporting behaviour is the proliferation of betting on golf.  Back to the US Open for a minute.  I’m sure many fans had money on Scottie to win and were therefore cheering him on and I also wonder how many had hefty wagers on him to complete the career grand slam?  This surely led to more anti-Clark behaviour.  The opportunity for a carefully timed shout or comment to alter the result in golf is massive and I fear an outside intervention, somewhere, sometime is inevitable.  If we don’t want that to happen we need to do something – perhaps the banning of the sale and consumption of alcohol would be a good start.

On this occasion, however, Wyndham Clark stood strong, like a sea wall, repelling all those who attempted to whittle away at his six-shot lead entering the final round.  In the end he won by a shot from Sam Burns and Scheffler slipped down to tied fourth, on level par, thus sparing us a load of syrupy commentary on the Texan completing the career grand slam on his 30th birthday and on Father’s Day to boot – as if Scottie is the only one in the world who has, or is, a Dad.  Moving on………

In the group a single shot behind Scheffler was Joaquin Niemann of Chile.

A good performance, you may say, but remember, this is the player who momentarily thought he was up in Braemar at the Highland Games and tossed his club a good fifty yards as he was making a horlicks of the 6th hole (his 15th of the day) in the first round.  Arriving on that tee level par for the championship he watched in dismay as his first two tee shots sailed out of bounds and his third came to rest in a tangle of stuff which prompted him to seek relief from a potential fire-ant nest.  This was declined and he hacked his wedge back on to the fairway having played six.

At this juncture darkness caused a suspension of play but not before Niemann had launched his club as far as he could, although he sensibly ensured there were no spectators in the vicinity.  He returned the following morning and finished the hole in three more shots pencilling in a nine.  And that, he thought, was that.

Not so fast.  That 9 turned into an 11 after he was informed he was being penalised two shots for violating the tournament’s code of conduct.  It all added up to an opening 78, fourteen shots adrift of first round leader and ultimate champion Clark.

My initial reaction to this yarn was that this was all a little harsh but on reflection, I think the players should indeed be held to a high standard of behaviour.  There are many more youngsters in the game today than there have ever been – thanks to monumental efforts from governing bodies, junior organisers at golf clubs and pros going in to schools and spreading the word.  We don’t want these boys and girls learning that this behaviour is all ok.

Niemann himself said,”I mean, it’s their decision, and I feel like, yeah, I wouldn’t be happy seeing players throwing clubs and behaving that way, so yeah, I mean, I agree.”

In the 2019 rules revision, committees were granted the authority to penalise players for unbecoming conduct.  This year, however, is the first time that the organisers of the four majors – the Augusta National Golf Club, the PGA of America, the USPGA and the R&A – have agreed upon implementing a code of conduct.  I applaud them but am uncertain as to how they will implement this in a fair and equable way.  Who will police the behaviour and issue the penalties?  Multiple referees may lead to multiple standards.

Niemann’s closing three rounds of 65/72/66 eclipsed anyone else’s and the Chilean says he has learned his lesson.  I suspect we are attempting to stuff the genie back into the bottle, however, as the professional tours will not be quick to follow the lead of the other organisations.  In my opinion this is a shame – especially when we are demanding better behaviour from those outside the ropes.

Golf continues to be in a tricky place.

The better half is off motorbiking all over Europe with pals at the moment so I nipped up to the highlands of Scotland to have a bit of R and R with some longstanding friends of my own.  By happy coincidence the Curtis Cup was being played at the amazing Bel-Air in Los Angeles and Suzanne Cadden, Gillian Stewart and I, all former Curtis Cuppers, had a lovely few evenings glued to the box watching the matches unfold.  Admittedly the eight-hour time difference meant we’d a bit of catching up to do in the mornings but it was a wonderful focal point for the start of our week together.

Ah, the Curtis Cup………the vehicle for so many friendships down the years and the 44th playing last week left me inspired and feeling slightly amazed that I should have even the teensiest connection with this incredible event.  At the heels of the hunt the American team triumphed by 13 points to 7, a comfortable enough looking scoreline on paper, but there was a squeaky hour or two for them during the singles when it looked as if the visitors might just possibly cause an upset of epic proportions.

Seven points to five down with the eight singles to be played, GB and I won the opening two matches to level the score with the remarkable Patience Rhodes overturning a four-hole deficit after seven holes in the top match.  Ever resilient, however, the American team dug in, winning all six remaining matches, three of them on the final green and two on the 17th.

Catriona Matthew, the GB and I captain and Meghan Stasi, the American captain had faced each other in the same roles two years ago at Sunningdale and both were rightly proud of their teams.  This time it was Meghan who wore the biggest smile.

“Cannot describe it.  Just so proud of the girls, their fight all week.  It’s just been so much fun to watch the last couple of years and just so proud of them.  What a day.”

And what a week for Farah O’Keefe who clinched the winning point and became just the fourth player to win all five matches since the event went to a three-day affair back in 2008.  She joins Stacy Lewis, Kristen Gillman and Bronte Law in a very select band and my feeling that she (along with a couple of others) might run out of steam after the gruelling test of a US Women’s Open the previous week was unfounded.

Hats off to them all.

The tentacles of the game reach long and far and sometimes into the most unexpected of places when golf is farthest from your mind.  One of the days of our Highland odyssey saw us visiting the delightful little village of Findhorn and our local guide, i.e. Gillian, took us to a coffee place down by the water’s edge.  It was nice enough for us to sit outside so we sent Gill in to grab the refreshment.  It wasn’t coffee she returned with, however, but one of American golf’s most famous names – Charlie Yates.

Charlie’s father, Charlie senior, was a golfer of note, winning the Amateur Championship at Troon as a 25-year old, beating Rosses Point legend Cecil Ewing in the final.   Charlie also played in and captained his country in the Walker Cup and was a good friend of Bobby Jones.  He was involved with Augusta National Golf Club from its early days and was a long-standing member, an association carried on by Yates junior who told us with some pride that he has attended 64 straight Masters tournaments.

Charlie senior enjoyed a great friendship and rivalry with Cecil, Dad’s idol as a young boy and visited the west of Ireland course on many occasions.  Senior was the low amateur in the Masters on five occasions and I met him first through Patricia and my late brother-in-law Dai when Charlie was the main link for all visiting press to the Masters each year.  Indeed he provided the tickets for my first visit to the Masters back in 1991 – the year wee Welshman Ian Woosnam triumphed.

What an unexpected treat to have an “ordinary” coffee turn into an extraordinary meeting like that – and all because of a shared passion for this ridiculous game.

A few days later one of our famous July club members, Sandra Ross, joined us for a wee jaunt and we decided to drop in on a gem of a nine-hole course called Covesea, pronounced Cow-sea, along the coast.  Not even our local Scots had played it – but what a setting!  Stunning golf in the raw and a welcome to boot from Angela Burnett, who with husband Andy spearheads the whole operation, family built and run.  If I were still playing golf this is the sort of place I would return to time and time again.

Realising at this stage that we were only a few miles away from Lossiemouth, I just had to pop in to the Moray golf club where my paternal grandmother, Helen McIsaac, had been a member in her youth before marrying an Irishman and moving to the west coast of Ireland.  Back in the day she was a six-handicapper – a feat I can hardly imagine with the equipment available to her – and I was chuffed to locate the board declaring she was the 1915 Moray Golf Club Ladies’ Champion.

Dad spent many a boyhood summer golfing in Lossie and staying in the family home there and he’d have been delighted we were enjoying the place under cobalt blue skies and, once out of the wind, lovely temperatures.  I’m grateful the girls indulged me with that visit.

Of course, I’d love to still be playing this game and enjoying a few rounds with friends, discovering and playing new little places like Covesea and not just walking around it.  I have, however, come to realise something on this trip.  It is more than possible to enjoy the richness of this game in different ways – and yes, you can take the girl out of golf after a lifetime of involvement, but you can’t take golf out of the girl.

My fears have proved unfounded.