GARY PLAYER
Gary Player is a true legend of the game. The South African is one of only five players to have won a career Grand Slam of all four Majors. He has won a total of nine Majors and nine Senior Majors, among 167 Tour events worldwide.
I'm Delighted for Darren
WHAT a fascinating Open Championship this has been, mainly for Darren Clarke’s wonderful victory and also for all the other happenings during the four days at Royal St George’s.
It was a truly amazing triumph for Darren to become the third Ulsterman to win a Major Championship over the past two seasons but for his manager at ISM, Chubby Chandler, to have three Major winners, plus the World No.1 for 22 weeks, Lee Westwood, in his stable together is quite something.
South African Louis Oosthuizen started the run by winning The Open at St Andrews last year, then Lee hit the World No.1 spot in October, another Springbok, Charl Schwartzel, won The Masters in April, Rory McIlroy triumphed in the U.S. Open last month and now Darren is the Open Champion – four Major winners in 12 months and all three Major Champions so far this season.
Father Figure
Chubby is more like a friend and a father figure than a manager to his players. He’s certainly got an eye for talent but he knows the game well enough, having played himself on The European Tour, to appreciate that success in golf can take a mystical route.
I wrote in my Column in Worldwide Golf last month that I was so pleased to see Darren winning again after a three-year drought on The European Tour. His victory in the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca, Spain, was his 13th win on The Tour and it often happens that a long-awaited win can suddenly spark a surge of confidence and bring more victories.
Darren is one of the nicest men in the game and he’s done so well to overcome the tragic loss of his wife, Heather, through cancer. He’s taken good care of his two sons, Tyrone and Connor, and now engaged to Alision his life is now looking good again. His mother and father, Hetty and Godfrey, have been a huge support to him and Darren was quick to thank his family and Chubby for all their support over the years.
It was typical of Darren that after his win in Spain, on the flight back from Mallorca on budget airline, Easyjet, he bought every passenger on the plane a drink to toast his success. I suspect the celebrations after The Open were a little more expansive than that.
The fact that European Tour players currently occupy the first four places in the Official World Golf Ranking and currently hold all four Major trophies is a great thing for the game globally.
They have broken the dominance previously enjoyed by the Americans, which is encouraging youngsters to compete and make a career of golf.
It was wonderful to see 20 year old Tom Lewis play so well in The Open. To shoot an opening round 65 to tie the lead with Thomas Björn and go on to win the Silver Medal for being the leading amateur was a huge achievement. To have the honour of playing the first two rounds with five-time Open winner Tom Watson is also something he will always remember.
It was an achievement in itself for Tom Lewis, the 2009 British Amateur Champion, to finish three shots ahead of the 2010 U.S. Amateur Champion Peter Uihlein, sharing 30th place with Anders Hansen and Tom Lehman, who put in a fine performance ahead of playing in The Senior Open at Walton Heath a few days later. Apparently, his golfing parents named Tom Lewis Tom, after their hero Tom Watson, so it was an even greater occasion for young Tom. To play so well in front of such huge galleries at Royal St George’s will stand him in good stead for his forthcoming professional career. I wish him luck.
American Potential
The professional game is in a healthy condition and it’s encouraging to see so many talented young players coming to the fore. America has potential Major winners in Dustin Johnson, the colourful Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim, Nick Watney, Gary Woodland and Hunter Mahan and the rest of the world have an increasing band of twenty-something-year-olds who are already winning Majors like Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer and others such as Alvaro Quiros, Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero.
After all the drama of The Open I’d like to resurrect a long-time campaign of mine against long-distance golf courses. We really have got to start creating shorter golf courses. It’s the opinion of most people in the golf industry that we’ve got to find a way of taking up less time to play a round of golf, so shorter courses must be part of the answer.
Reducing the flight of the golf ball for professionals has to be another goal. Darren’s playing partner in the final round, Dustin Johnson, driving the ball with a 340-yards carry and more, which took most of the bunkers out of the equation. It’s all right for amateurs to use the existing long-distance balls and clubs but we should limit the distance for the Tour pros. I’ve said many times before but it is more and more the case that our most treasured, old-established Championship golf courses around the world, which have difficulties in moving tee boxes backwards and greens forward, will soon become redundant if the Pros can continually blast their way out of trouble.
People seem to have less and less time for golf these days so we need to take note of how the game is changing.
We’ve had a lot of excitement in the world game already this season with the Major successes of Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and now Darren Clarke so it will be all eyes on the US PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club next month. Will it become a Major clean sweep for The European Tour?
Apparently, his golfing parents named Tom Lewis Tom, after their hero Tom Watson, so it was an even greater occasion for young Tom. To play so well in front of such huge galleries at Royal St George’s will stand him in good stead for his forthcoming professional career. I wish him luck.
