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Thinking Will Tiger finally rediscover his Major-winning form? Can McIlroy seal his career grand slam? European Tour commentator Julian Tutt makes his predictions for the season ahead.
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What lies in store for 2015? Can Woods rekindle the magic at St Andrews, home of this year’s Open, and can McIlroy earn the grand slam with victory at Augusta? 38
HK GOLFER・JAN 2015
c cord ing to my learned colleague Denis Hutchinson, g o l f i n t h e We s t e r n Hemisphere is dying on its feet because there are too many feet in a course. In other words, courses have got too long and difficult for the average club player, so the average club player has taken his ball and gone cycling. According to a survey I read recently, in the UK in 1997 there were twice as many golfers as there were cyclists. That position has now just about totally reversed. Neither sport is cheap, although it's possible to cycle at a basic level a lot more cheaply than it is to play golf. Cost may be a factor in golf's decline but one suspects it's not the main reason. Denis is undoubtedly right that for some, and particularly the more senior brethren, the game has become too difficult. But t hat ca n not be t he whole stor y. Equipment has apparently made the game much easier to play in the last twenty years, albeit it doesn't help the "average" player as much as the skilled top enders who generate the clubhead speed necessary to really compress the ball and launch it into a dangerously high orbit. My own belief is that while these are contributory factors, it's the pace of play that is the real killer. Just before Christmas, my wife, a one-handicapper, and a companion strolled
round Bath Golf Club in two hours and thirty minutes. Strolled. Without impedance they were able to hit the ball, find it and hit it again, taking 70-something shots apiece. For most people nowadays though, a round of golf is at least a five-hour experience. Who can afford to do that on a regular basis? Ah yes, the professionals. What a lot they have to answer for. If golf is to survive its current serious decline, radical steps must be taken to dramatically reduce the time a round takes. The aforementioned Denis was on the commentary team for the final tournament of 2014, the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek beside the Kruger National Park, where a plethora of exotic animals were on display. Scatological proof of the presence of nearby giraffes was provided by Ken Brown who tested the commentators with a number of different examples of excrement during the broadcasts. For some reason Denis stumbled on the giraffe poo. Former European Tour player Tony Johnstone, commentating for Sky TV, provided all the natural history expertise in a hugely impressive display of "bush" learning. I really had no idea that so much foliage passed through an elephant in a 24-hour period. One of the few animals missing was the Tiger. Not a native of South Africa in recent times of course, but golf fans around the world will be HKGOLFER.COM
hoping to spot the wounded big cat making a triumphant return in 2015. The 14-time Major champion is trying to go back in time with his new “swing consultant”, Chris Como, who has been selected to guide Tiger into a longer more fluid action; just like the one he used to know. The first big test will come at Augusta in April where the world's current number one will be seeking a career grand slam. Since his debut in 2009, Rory McIlroy has finished in the top 20 only twice at the Masters, including his best, a tie for eighth last year. Tiger Woods didn't play in 2014 as a crumbling body took its toll, but prior to that had only finished outside the top six once in the previous nine Masters. It's an impressive record, but surprisingly this year will be the 10th anniversary of his last win there. At a time of year when we love to make predictions, I'll go for Jason Day becoming only the second Aussie to own a Green Jacket, seeing off McIlroy in a play-off. The US Open goes to a new venue, the Robert Trent Jones Jnr-designed Chambers Bay outside Washington. It's a pay-and-play, public, links-style course on an old gravel quarry that once echoed to the sounds of motocross. It's therefore in marked contrast to the perennial Augusta, and leaves tipsters starved of previous form. Peter Uihlein did win the 2010 US Amateur Championship there, but he's yet to be assured of his place in the field. Looking for yet another first-time winner I'm plumping for Rickie Fowler, who's shown impressive form on British links courses recently, to edge out McIlroy in another gripping denouement. The Open is back at HQ this year. If – and it's a big qualification – Woods has found his correct release point, remembered how to chip, re-found his old putting touch, re-learnt how to play on Sunday, and his re-built back stands up, then St Andrews is clearly a place which could inspire. However, I've always been a big fan of Louis Oosthuizen's game, and he just loves The Old Course. I'll take him to repeat his 2010 victory to once again become "The Champion Golfer of the Year", narrowly holding off McIlroy in the process. The US PGA Championship returns to the giant Whistling Straights in Wisconsin. Hopefully they will clarify the rules this time as to what constitutes waste ground and what is a bunker. Grown men might cry if Dustin Johnson were to repeat his "grounding" error of 2010 and allow Martin Kaymer to go on and win again. McIlroy, the season’s nearly man, though will surely come through and claim a fifth major on a course that's made for his length. Of course the young Holywood star could just as easily be gunning for a season's Grand Slam. Then again … Have a very happy 2015. I'm off on my bike. HKGOLFER.COM
For most people nowadays, a round of golf is at least a five-hour experience. Who can afford to do that on a regular basis? Ah yes, the professionals. What a lot they have to answer for.
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