The true feelings of those in charge at Augusta remain hard to read but one thing is clear – locking out players is not good for businessThe air of mystique surrounding Augusta National ensures a captive audience even when there is precious little to say. It would have been major news had the host club of the Masters announced that LIV rebels would be banned from the 87th staging of the major. Instead, in somewhat grudging and opaque terms, the tournament chairman, Fred Ridley, confirmed LIV players already eligible for April in Georgia – 16 of them, to be precise – will not encounter roadblocks at the end of Magnolia Lane.The Masters is looking after itself. This is the same...
Henrik Stenson has not won since 2017 and like García, Poulter, Mickelson and Westwood is being paid on name not formSportswashing is not supposed to make commercial sense. Therein lies the reason that no normally functioning business saw fit to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a disruption plan for golf. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) can attempt to rebrand a kingdom for which the murder of a journalist and human rights atrocities are typical reference points with the benefit of an apparently bottomless pit of cash. If the PGA and DP World Tours find themselves embroiled in a commercial long game with the Saudi-backed LIV Series, they know they will be outmuscled.Events of recent days did, however,...
The schism in world golf is the all-consuming storyline, with all eyes now turning to Augusta and the 2023 MastersThe condensed nature of the men’s major championship schedule leaves an unsatisfactory pause after the final putts are holed at the Open. To be precise, 263 days will have passed between Cameron Smith holding the Claret Jug aloft at the Old Course and the opening tee shots being struck at the 2023 Masters.There is reason, however, to wonder what on earth the professional game could – or should – look like by the time it returns to Augusta National next year. Mainstream tours can wish away the LIV Series all they like and the R&A can try to divert focus on...
McIlroy made a perfectly measured start in the lead but could not find the putts he needed after Cameron Smith’s birdie burstRory McIlroy had been waiting seven years, 11 months, eight days for this opportunity, ever since he won his fourth major at Valhalla in 2014. And in the end all that time turned on one moment, at 6.30pm on the 17th green of the Old Course at St Andrews.Way ahead of him, up the 18th fairway, Cameron Smith was standing over a two-foot putt that would take him to 20 under for the championship. McIlroy, two shots back from that, knew he needed to finish with back-to-back birdies to match him, and take the 150th Open into a playoff....
Australian’s success based on solid long drives, astute selection of landing spots and spectacular puttingTalent demands a price, and great golfers know that sooner or later they have to pay for their gifts with a dip in performance that drags them back towards the field, where lesser mortals toil. Cameron Smith found himself in that Gethsemane on Saturday, but was determined not to suffer there on Sunday. And so it came to pass. Redemption and acclamation at last.What a magnificent win it was, fashioned from solid, long drives in mostly still air, astute selection of landing spots with his laser-like irons and some quite spectacular putting, his sword and shield, for an eight‑under-par 64 to go with 67, 64 and...