Test cricket and rugby are very different sports now compared to the 1970s and 1980s but golf has struggled to evolve and as a result finds itself in a deep holeIf you stare at an image too closely all you see are weird pixels. So it is with sport. When you fixate on, say, the saga of Romelu Lukaku’s new contract, it’s easy to lose sight of a bigger picture: not least do we really now live in a universe where £90m release clauses are sane and logical?I was reminded of the larger canvas of sport – the tendency for games to change and evolve without us noticing – when I interviewed Haseeb Hameed recently. Since making his debut for...
As growth of markets and tipster columns focus attention on the sport, it seems at pains to keep the gambling world at arm’s length for fear of being compromisedContemplate the scenario: round two of an Open Championship, Golfer X is flirting with the cut line when playing his 36th hole. Cue back-to-back drives out of bounds and confirmation of an early exit. Related: If Rory McIlroy must play golf with Trump we need some juicier details | Marina Hyde Related: Pie-gate leaves nasty smell – and it’s football’s links with betting industry | Paul MacInnes Continue reading...
Rory McIlroy has faced predictable criticism for playing a round with the US president, but he can take the sting out of the controversy by telling us whether Trump cemented his reputation as a cheat on the courseOnce again, Rory McIlroy must be kicking himself that he became a top international golfer instead of a grubbing hack. If you’re a writer and you somehow wangled a round of golf with the US president, no one would blame you for going along for a gawk. In fact, they’d blame you if you didn’t. You’d be failing in your duties, and questions would have to be asked.What did you get into this game for, if it wasn’t to seize the chance of...
Golf Sixes and the European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley’s other initiatives are a hopeful sign that the need for radical thinking may be dawning on the gameIn these days in which golf and innovation are suddenly bedfellows, one wonders what might happen next. The most fascinating aspect relating to the wearing of shorts during practice rounds, music accompanying players on the driving range or potential for fireworks on tees is the level of attention these background – and not tournament-defining – elements receive. Golf’s obsession with tradition is illustrated when these elements of show business are added and onlookers report them as somehow revelatory.Meanwhile, pro-am formats such as the one used at Pebble Beach last weekend render what should...
After the problems in Rio, there is more negative publicity over the venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where women cannot become full membersIt is happening again. The wave of negative publicity which preceded golf’s return to the Olympic Games may have been offset in part by the thrilling men’s finale in Rio, but another public relations disaster has not taken long to arrive. Bulletins from Tokyo, where the venue for the Games’s tournament, Kasumigaseki Country Club, operates a policy whereby women cannot become full members and cannot play on Sundays, yet again bring golf’s Olympic alliance into question, just as it does the competence of those managing it.At a time when the International Golf Federation should be using all...