| TALES FROM THE BOX
Another Classic Championship European Tour commentator Julian Tutt reflects on Scott Hend’s play-off victory over Angelo Que at Fanling, considers the state of the Final Series and wonders who will replace Tom Watson as the next American Ryder Cup captain.
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rnie Els made his debut at the Hong Kong Open last month. He was suitably impressed as Club Captain Mark Roberts showed him around the Fanling clubhouse, with its impressive array of trophies and champions’ boards reflecting the quality of winners of the longrunning championship. Making all the right noises he was hopeful that he too, as a fourtime major champion, could add his name to the winner’s board. For two days he played as if it was his birthright to join the likes of Thomson, Norman, Couples, Watson, Langer, Montgomerie and McIlroy. For the next two days he played as if someone had stolen his birthright, barely able to scrape a birdie on a course measuring someway short of 7,000 yards. Carrying his bag, the worldly-wise Colin Byrne was tearing his hair out. The stubborn Afrikaner seemed hell-bent on proving that conventional wisdom is for mere mortals and that when you have descended from Mt Olympus there is a better way to get the job done. The fourth on the Composite Course is a reachable 288-yard par-4, but almost everyone lays up to leave a wedge to the green. Except Ernie. One-over-par on that hole after two rounds he told the world, in a television interview with Warren Humphreys, that he wouldn't be "going for it" again. After four days of going for it he was still one-over-par. On Saturday, on the hardest hole on the course, the long par-4 ninth, he tried to hit his drive left of the very tall paper-bark trees, down the adjoining fairway on the New Course. It was a tactic Bernhard Langer had used years ago, when the trees weren't so tall. Now it seemed madness. Even more so when he snaphooked his drive into the distant hedge and very nearly out of bounds. After a penalty drop and a "hit and hope" that miraculously found its way through the trees and back onto the ninth fairway he made a double-bogey six that could easily have been an eight or nine. The crowds enjoyed watching him though, so perhaps that's all that matters?
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At the sharp end of the tournament, the immensely likeable Angelo Que was threatening to become the first golfer from the Philippines to win on the European Tour. On the 72nd hole he was fortunate to have a second shot after his drive bounced out of the infamous lefthand trees. It was still a "middle of the green" shot though, according to my learned friend Dominique Boulet. No doubt most watchers were of a similar opinion. But Que went for it, pitching it a few feet from the hole to leave a tap-in for a birdie. Brilliant! It must be a strong candidate for Shot of the Month. Since the Hong Kong Open became part of the European Tour schedule in 2001, only one Asian Tour golfer had won it, Lin Wen-tang from Taiwan in 2008. With US-based Australian Scott Hend Que's only real challenger, that was about to change. Hend's near-miraculous sand-save from a buried lie in the front bunker to force a playoff merits another page in the extraordinary history of dramatic shots that have won and lost championships on Fanling's wonderful 18th hole. As the genuine Asian, many were hoping that Que would emerge victorious. But poor Angelo bogeyed the first extra hole and it's Hend who will be testing his mettle around Europe next season. He'll probably enjoy that more than the sociable Filipino, who would undoubtedly miss his good buddies whilst shuttling from Paris to Turin to Malmo, but nonetheless there were many who were disappointed for him. The always interesting and occasionally volcanic Hend is a worthy champion though and the former PGA Tour player will no doubt pose a serious threat, now that he has his chance to impress in Europe. With a bit of luck he'll avoid falling off his chair backwards, a fate that befell your correspondent in the middle of Sunday's commentary, taking microphone, paperwork and a box of tricks with me. For a moment Monsieur Boulet was speechless. It took me rather longer to recover! It's Final Series time. In its inaugural year in 2013 the European Tour ruled that a player must play in two of the first three events to qualify for the extremely lucrative Tour Championship, with its generous bonus pool for the top-15 in the Race to Dubai. That seemed like a very sensible precaution to ensure that the fields were of sufficient quality to keep the Tour's crucial sponsors happy. For the pampered few at the top of the world game though, that was a serious infringement of their rights as individuals and HKGOLFER.COM
Angelo Que's remarkable approach on the 72nd hole of the Hong Kong Open to set up a tap-in birdie must be a strong candidate for Shot of the Month
"self-employed businessmen". They whinged and the Tour (foolishly in my book) relented. So this year Rory McIlory, won’t play until the Tour Championship. From his point of view, he doesn't need to. He's so far ahead he's going to win the Race to Dubai anyway. But from the Tour's and their sponsors' point of view, it's a disaster and disasters have a nasty habit of seeing sponsors run for the hills. Companies such as BMW and HSBC provide the lifeblood of the professional circuit. The pampered few are taking selfishness to a new level. Let's hope it doesn't end in tears. So who will captain the 2016 Ryder Cup teams? After Phil Mickelson's outburst against Tom Watson in the immediate aftermath of this year's edition, the PGA of America has gone into backside covering mode and done what all good politicians do, namely form a committee. There are those who say the captain doesn't matter; it's up to the players to perform. Even Jack Nicklaus has come to Tom Watson's defense: "The players just didn't play well enough", he said. I've been to the last 13 Ryder Cups for various different employers and I'm convinced that assuming a similar standard of competence on both sides, which is almost a given nowadays, the captain does indeed have a very important HKGOLFER.COM
Hend's near-miraculous sand-save from a buried lie in the front bunker to force a play-off merits another page in the extraordinary history of dramatic shots that have won and lost championships on Fanling's wonderful 18th hole. role to play. Europe's only failure since 1999 came at Valhalla in 2008. Paul Azinger was arguably America's best captain in a generation or more, bringing ingenuity, guile, top class man-management and near faultless planning to create an atmosphere in the team room that encouraged his players to go out and perform to their very best. He was up against Britain's best-ever player and possibly worst-ever captain, Sir Nick Faldo. Vice Captain José María Olazábal was constantly at Sergio Garcia's side in an ultimately vain attempt to lift his fellow-countryman's spirits. Paul Casey was all ready to pack his bags and quit the show, and apparently the atmosphere in the team room was akin to Central with pollution at 10+. The result was almost a foregone conclusion. This time Paul McGinley was probably Europe's best ever captain, leaving no stone of preparation unturned. Even with a recalcitrant Ian Poulter and a few players struggling for top form, the result never really looked in question. If you doubt the value of a leader who can create a team that is greater than the sum of its parts, look no further than Derby County and Nottingham Forest in the 1970s under the legendary Brian Clough. Golf is a much more individual sport than football of course, but the Ryder Cup is a TEAM competition, with a unique set of demands on the pampered few. No doubt the PGA of America’s committee will find a brilliant solution. Woods and Mickelson to share the role perhaps? HK GOLFER・NOV 2014
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