thelastword Home Sengs MULLIGAN Golf’s Man in the Rough With the 2014 Augusta Masters just a


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In associaon with


matter of weeks away, it is good to see that Rory McIIroy, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald are in good form as preparations begin in earnest for the first major of 2014. Most bookmakers have McIIroy as


narrow favourite to claim his first Green Jacket and become the first British golfer to do so since Nick Faldo’s third Master’s victory way back in 1996. However, breathing down his neck will inevitably be Tiger Woods who the bookies have as second favourite. Woods already has four Green Jackets in his wardrobe having won in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005. For what it’s worth, I will be putting half a crown on Australia’s Jason Day who will be hoping to emulate the 2013 Master’s success of his fellow countryman Adam Scott. Spare a thought for those golf courses


that have been seriously affected by the wettest winter this country has endured since records began in 1766. Some courses have been under water for several weeks and at Long Sutton Golf Club in Somerset green keepers have had to use a hovercraſt to navigate the course when assessing the damage. We can only hope that the worst is now over and that things can quickly get back to some semblance of normality.


In sport there are usually winners


and losers. However, very occasionally, a situation crops up where there can be no winners, only losers. In 2006, the late Severiano


Ballesteros set up the Royal Trophy, a competition contested by teams from Europe and Asia.


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Four years later, the Spaniard learnt


that the European and Asian Tours were thinking about launching a copycat event. Shortly before his death from brain cancer, Seve wrote to Tour officials urging them to respect his legacy and not to proceed with their EurAsia Cup. However, this plea was ignored and


the new Ryder Cup-style match is being jointly staged by the European and Asian Tours in Malaysia at the end of March.


When European Tour chief executive


George O’Grady recently declared that Ballesteros would ‘cherish’ the forthcoming Asia-Europe showdown, friends and family of the Spaniard were outraged with Jose-Maria Olazabal saying: “We’ve already got one match featuring Europe versus Asia and we certainly don’t need another.” However, Thomas Bjorn, chairman of the Players’ Committee, takes a different viewpoint: “The last thing anyone wants is to be seen tramping on Seve’s legacy, but just because he said something doesn’t mean it’s right. The tours had to sit down and say ‘is there value in this event’? If they see there is, then it is the right thing to do. We don’t need a battle of words between the tours and Seve’s family. There was a way of taking this forward together but it seems like that’s not going to happen.” Let us hope that, for golf’s sake, a compromise can be worked out.


Happy Hacking!


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