| TALES FROM THE BOX
Looking Forward Will Tiger finally win a 15th major? Can Mickelson claim the Career Grand Slam with victory at the US Open? Julian Tutt examines the season ahead after a brief encounter with Charlize Theron in Johannesburg ...
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AFP
It's amazing to think that world number one Tiger Woods hasn't won the Masters Tournament (opposite) since 2005. He hasn't won any major championship trophy since the 2008 US Open 32
HK GOLFER・JAN 2014
elson Ma ndela R I P. By chance, the great statesman d ied a week before t he European Tour tournament wh ic h t a ke s h i s na me. The Nelson Ma ndela Championship, the last event of the year, was brought forward by a day so as not to interfere with his funeral on Sunday 15 December. Sadly, it was a damp squib in more ways than one. Just as in 2012, the weather was atrocious, which meant an already short course had to be shortened yet further to just over 6,200 yards, with a theoretical par of 70, although realistically it was more like 67 or 68, and the tournament had to be curtailed to 54 holes. Despite a low-quality field, we had two rounds of 59 on the same day. There soon followed much debate as to whether they qualified for the record book. The fact is they are not “official” scores on the European Tour as club-length placing was in effect all week. On the PGA Tour Al Geiberger’s 59 has always stood as an official record, despite it also being achieved with placing in force. Rather like the four-minute mile, or the two-hour marathon, a 59 in golf has long stood as the next Everest to be conquered. Without wishing to demean the excellent performances of Spain’s Jorge Campillo and South African Colin Nel, I can’t accept that the mountain has been scaled. It was just too easy. A lot of us had expected it to be an emotional experience in South Africa that week, but it didn’t really work out that way. Being in Durban
we were a long way removed from where Mandela’s memorial service was taking place, and to be blunt, the live television coverage that I saw was dull and uninspiring. It’s apparent though that with Mandela’s passing, South Africa is at a crossroads and one can only hope that its leaders and its people take the right road. It is a beautiful, wonderful country. Personally the highlight for me was almost bumping into Charlize Theron at Johannesburg airport the day after Mandela’s funeral, which she had attended. She looked curiously “normal” striding through the airport on her own, with no minders, and no one apparently paying her a blind bit of attention; except me! When I finally re-united my lower jaw with my upper, I realised she does look a little like my statuesque and elegant wife, who has of late been sporting a “Theron” quiff. Sadly Alison has so far avoided the attention of the Hollywood moguls. (Talking of which can anyone explain to me how the same word came to be used to describe an empire on the subcontinent, the movers and shakers in Beverly Hills, and a small snowy hillock created by carving skiers?)
rate it, calling it “The Durban Muni”. It’s a term designed particularly to wind up Denis Hutchinson and Dale Hayes, two stalwarts of South African golf who still revere the old masterpiece. As a wind-up it works rather well. The Tour then heads north for the “Desert Swing”, which starts in Abu Dhabi where the luminaries on show will include Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, the three-time winner Martin Kaymer and defending champion Jamie Donaldson. 2013 Race to Dubai champ Henrik Stenson will also be there seeking a “Gulf Slam” having previously won the Qatar Masters in 2006 and the Dubai Desert Classic the following year, not to mention last November’s DP World Tour Championship, also in Dubai. Abu Dhabi is missing only Tiger Woods who’s playing instead in Dubai this year. Both he and McIlroy missed the cut in fairly ignominious circumstances 12 months ago, so perhaps he won’t be too badly missed. It’s always a top tournament on an increasingly demanding course that seems to bring the cream to the top. You will not find very long odds on Kaymer, one suspects, nor Stenson who has twice finished second there.
After the briefest of brief sojourns with friends and family, The European Tour returns to Durban in early January for the Volvo Golf Champions at one of South Africa’s premier cou rses, t he Du rba n C ou nt r y Club. A renowned British commentator (who for his own safety must remain nameless) doesn’t
It is customary at this festive time to make a few predictions for the coming year. My main prediction is that anything I suggest will almost certainly be wrong! According to “an informed source close to Tiger” the great man suffered a humiliation and loss of confidence rather greater than most people realised after
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HKGOLFER.COM
According to “an informed source close to Tiger” the great man suffered a humiliation and loss of confidence rather greater than most people realised after the break-up of his marriage and the associated scandal. the break-up of his marriage and the associated scandal. It’s been evident for a while that whilst he’s recovered his mojo on the regular tour, the majors are still a mental obstacle for him. He appears a shadow of his former self on major weekends. However, I am going to stick my neck out and give him the Masters Tournament. But for an outrageous piece of bad fortune on the 15th he might well have won it last year. If, and it’s a big if, (he last won the Masters in 2005) he does claim a fifth Green Jacket, then it may well open the floodgates again and bring that magic 18 majors back within range. He’ll be “defending” The Open title that he won at Hoylake in 2006 in July, and I can see a battle between him and Henrik Stenson, whose world supremacy in recent times must surely deliver a debut major. The US Open returns to the fabulous Pinehurst No 2, where Michael Campbell triumphed in 2005 and where Phil Mickelson missed out by one shot to the late Payne Stewart in 1999. Mickelson’s runner-up finish to Justin Rose at Merion last year was his sixth second place in 23 US Open attempts. Lefty’s win at Pinehurst this year (getting cocky now), in a closely fought contest with Rory McIlroy, will mean he becomes only the sixth player in history to win a Career Grand Slam, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in the record books. Mmmm. Finally to the US PGA Championship, which will be played at Valhalla in Kentucky, the scene of the Americans’ only Ryder Cup victory in recent history, when Nick Faldo’s men succumbed in 2008. Matt Kuchar was not part of that triumphant team, but he gets my vote for the title this year, in another titanic struggle with Rory McIlroy. Fifteen of the last 19 majors have been claimed by first-time winners so it will probably be Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson and Jonathan Spieth who scoop the big ones! Remember, you didn’t hear it here first. Happy New Year. HK GOLFER・JAN 2014
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