golf international - 103

THEOPENROyAL ST GEORGE'S // 10-17 JULy 2011

SEVE & THE OPEN

SANDWICH KILLERS

MARK ROE REFLECTS ON ’03

COTTON’S SCRAPBOOK

BUBBA WATSON

INTERNATIONALMAGAZINE

GOLF

9 771368 402034

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ISSuE 103 • JuLY 2011 • £4.25

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

GIRLS ALLOWED / A COTSWOLD’S GEM / MEMORABILIA / MERCEDES C63 AMG & MORE

Talking wedges with design guru Bob Vokey

Lee Westwood shares hissecrets to distance off the teeJonathan Yarwood on how todevelop a sharper short-game

Memories, photos, anecdotes & tributesto the man who transformed European golfSEVERIANO BALLESTEROS 1957-2011

Peter AllissRobert Green

Jeremy ChapmanJohn Hopkins

Tom CoxClive AgranDan Davies

Dominic PedlerDr Felix ShankThe Major!

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THE PEOPLE’S

CHAMPION

The story behind this photograph is special for many reasons – not least because it

was taken on the vast beach in Pedrena where, as a young boy, Seve famously took

his first – and we’ll have to assume anything but tentative – swings with home-made

clubs, scuttling pebbles across the sand.

It was a cold February in 1991 when I made the trip to Seve’s home on a two-day

assignment along with editor Robert Green and photographer David Cannon to shoot

a series of instruction articles for Golf World, the UK magazine to which he was

attached at the time. For the more orthodox features we toured the tree-lined fairway

of the rolling Pedrena layout to find suitable locations, although you won’t be sur-

prised to learn that the more interesting ideas came about as golf’s greatest escape

artist took every opportunity to dazzle

us with his ability to contort shots

around and over the pines.

And it was going to get better.

From the moment the trip to Pedrena

had been confirmed I’d had it in my

mind that we could not waste this

opportunity to get Seve onto the beach

to hit some balls – but would he be up

for it? “The beach, sure, why not?,” he

shot back at the suggestion. “But first I

need to get something from the club-

house.” Minutes later he emerged from

a side door carrying a net of practice

balls and a tin can. “I show you some-

thing,” he said, climbing behind the

wheel of his Range Rover.

With nothing but blue sky as a back-

drop, and on sand rendered firm by

the retreating tide, Seve kept himself warm hitting 5-iron shots, pinching each one

clean off the surface, the flight of the ball arcing like a tracer across the skyline. One

of the world’s most gifted golfers was simply in his element, happy as he could be in

his home town, doing what he loved best. The sequences were safely in the can. A

unique cover story. Job done.

But Seve had a finale planned.

“OK, now I’m going to show you how to practice putting like it is at Augusta,” he

announced, taking a sand iron and using it like an old-fashioned brace drill to dig a

makeshift hole, into which he pressed in the tin. A nearby piece of driftwood made

for the stick and, pulling a pristine white handkerchief from his pocket to use as a

flag, Seve completed the picture. “Now I show you,” he repeated, taking his putter

and a handful of the remaining practice balls and heading up the beach.

Freshly washed by the sea, the sand was perfect – smooth and firm. And Quick.

“Very fast, eh,” Seve ventured as he lined up the downhill, downwind 30-footer. “We

stay ’til I make a putt.”

And you really don’t need me to tell you that holing a putt didn’t take very long.

Kneeling to hold the small flagstick he had made, Seve gave us one last flash of that

smile. For me, David Cannon’s photograph of that single moment in time captured a

pure and lasting image of the late, great Severiano Ballesteros.

We dedicate this Open preview issue to his memory.

See you at Royal St George’s.

Editor: Richard Simmons [email protected]

Editor in chief: Robert Green [email protected]

Equipment Editor: Dominic Pedler [email protected]

Design: Tony Seagrave [email protected]

Professional Teaching Panel: Robert Baker, Tim Barter, Pete cowen, Jim christine,Dan Frost, Andrew Hall, Simon Holmes, Paul Hurrion,Stuart Morgan, Denis Pugh, Stuart Smith, DavidWhelan & Jonathan Yarwood

Regular contributors: clive Agran, Peter Alliss, colin callander, Jeremy chapman, Tom cox, Richard Gillis,Anthony ffrench-constant, Michael Flannery, John Hopkins, Tony Johnstone, kevin McGimpsey,David Purdie, Ronan Rafferty, Sarah Stirk, JayneStorey, Paul Trow & Jake ulrich

Photographers: David cannon, Peter Dazeley, Ross kinnaird, Andrew Redington, Getty Images,charles Briscoe-knight, Matthew Harris, MarkNewcombe, Eric Hepworth, Steve Read

Regular Illustrators: Peter clark, Harold Riley, Dave F. Smith, Tony Husband

Overseas correspondents: karl Ableidinger AustriaJan kees van der Velden HollandSpencer Robinson Hong kongMario camicia ItalyAndy Brumer uSA

Advertising/Publishing Director:Peter Simmons [email protected]: (020) 7828 3003 • Mobile: 07827 995 080

Advertising Director:Nick Edgley [email protected]: 07774 703 491

Advertising consultant:Ian Harkness [email protected]: 01702 558512 • Mobile: 07980 464 378

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ISSUE 103 • JULY 2011

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6 FIRST uPRichard Simmons tells the story behind one of the great images of Seve on the beach at his lifelong home in Pedrena

36 AND ANOTHER THING...The five-way race to stage the 2018 Ryder cupwas deservedly won by the French. Which, ofcourse, left four prospective venues to lick theirwounds, writes Robert Green

38 ON THE AIREuropean golf has lost perhaps the mostflambouyant character it has ever known.Peter Alliss was fortunate enough to haveknown Seve from the beginnings

40 19TH HOLEAccording to the notice board at his homeclub, Clive Agran’s handicap was ‘innactive’ –and yet it seemed to work perfectly well on atrip to compete in Ireland

104 OPEN BETTINGGi’s betting expert Jeremy Chapman with thelatest odds on what promises to be one of themost open of Opens for years

168 TOM cOXFor a whole generation, the arrival of SeveBallesteros at Royal Birkdale in 1976 was theinspiration for a love affair with golf. It certainlywas for Tom Cox

178 THE LAST SHOTHitting the jackpot – then missing the cut: inMonty and GMac John Hopkins observestwo men who have found that time-pressuresoff the course can have an adverse effect oftheir performance on it

Essential readingfrom the best in the game

12 LETTERSDo you have an opinion you’d like to share?Why not email us? You could win the latestFootJoy shoes and wind-shirts

17 PLANET GOLF19th Hole Q&A with Justin Rose...Exclusivereader competition – you could win a luxuryexperience at the Open championship...Latestequipment news...Jayne Storey and chi-PowerGolf...more advice from Dr Felix Shank...2-Minute Lesson – Stuart Morgan shows you howto ‘hinge’ and ‘turn’ for a solid backswing...TheMajor!...The Rules Office – how’s your generalknowledge?...Divots...!

90 THE AMATEuR ScENEOur spotlight this issue falls on Jack Senior, aone of the ‘Oh we do like to be beside theseaside!’ – to the accompaniment of the Atlanticsurf crashing on Booby’s Bay, the William HuntTrilby Tour Trevose, plus we bring you a round-up of amateur tournament news, while ColinCallendar reports on a Golf Foundation-backedinitiative that is bringing golf to urban areas allover the country

152 WORLD TOuRNAMENT NEWSAt the top of his game – Andy Farrell reportson the latest happenings in world tournamentgolf, headlining with Luke Donald’s victory at theBMW PGA which elevated the Englishman tothe top of the world rankings. Plus our regularround-up of results and stats

JULY 2011 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM 123

GIRLS ALLOWED / THE MANOR HOUSE / MEMORABILIA / MOTORING & MORE...

GOLF INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE JUNE 2011

Regulars ColumnsISSUE #103 // JULY 2011

52 THE PEOPLE’S cHAMPIONHis performances in the Open championship were integral to establishing Seve Ballesteros as the darling of the British golfing public, writes Robert Green

62 SANDWIcH kILLERS:TALES OF HEROES & ZERO’S Selecting his favourite Sandwich trivia, Dominic Pedler brings you an alternativehole-by-hole guide to the topographical and historical highlights of the 13 Open’s to have been staged in this corner of kent

78 kEEP cALM & cARRY ONOn the verge of his boyhood dream in 2003, England’s Mark Roe suffered one of the cruelist injustices ever seen in professional golf. Editor Richard Simmons talked to him

86 SANDWIcH SPREADThe ultimate account of Henry cotton’s 1934 Open triumph at Royal St George’scompiled from the pages of the maestro’spersonal scrapbook – bought at auction by Gi’s Dominic Pedler

92 OuT OF LEFT FIELDBubba Watson is one of the mostentertaining and engaging characters inthe world of golf. John Hopkinsdiscovered as much when he sat down totalk to him at the Players’ championship

98 THE YOuNG GuNSGi is delighted to welcome to its team of writers Dan Davies, a former editor of Esquire who hits the ground running with an assessment of six young guns likely to be in the mix at Sandwich

132 HIGH FLYERDesign guru Bob Vokey is the leading authority on grooves, grinds, ‘gapping’ andother nuances of the wedge. Dominic Pedler talked to him

132 WHOLESALER IN ONEGi’s equipment editor Dominic Pedler turns the industry sportlight on Golfsmith Europe

154 TEE TIMES & TAPASThe island of Mallorca is blessed with all the ingredients you need to create a fabulous holiday – great golf being just one of them, as Andrew Marshall reports

162 TRAVEL PAGES In association with our travel partner Your Golf Travel we bring you the very latest stay-and-play deals at home and abroad

OPEN PREVIEW

FEATURES

122 GIRLS ARE ALLOWED!Jodi Ewart laments the shortage of playing partners who share in herpassion for golf – but applauds the many schemes in place to attractgirls onto the fairways

112 A cOuNTRY HOuSE GEMIn the heart of the cotswolds, The Manor House Hotel & Golf club, is the perfect retreat. Peter Swain reports

114 MEMORABILIAAuction-room expert Kevin McGimpsey answers more of your letters

120 MOTORINGAnthony ffrench-Constant drives the jaw-dropping Mercedes-Benzc63 AMG coupe, described as ‘the finest road-going V8 in the world’

WIN A LUXURY OPEN EXPERIENCE SEE PAGE 25

A GOLFBUDDY GPS! SEE PAGE 117

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Learn how to play the ‘burning wedge’ shot – and a lot else besides – withJonathan Yarwood, page 106

WITHIN PLANET GOLF24 Activating the ‘core’ muscle groups – and using

them to generate rotary speed – is the secret to

effortless power. Jayne Storey continues her

series on the benefits of chi Power Golf

28 2-Minute Lesson: Stuart Morgan shows

you a simple drill to blend wrist hinge with a good

body motion for more power and consistency

48 ON THE TEE WITH WESTYOn the Tuesday of the BMW PGA at Wentworth,

England’s Lee Westwood took time out to talk to

editor Richard Simmons about the swing keys that

have made him one of the longest and straightest

drivers of the ball the game has seen. His straight-

forward thinking can help you to go out and drive it

with more authority this weekend

106 AIR TRAFFIc cONTROLWith the announcement that he is returning to the

uk to focus on developing his teaching academies

at both Donnington and Stoke Park, Gi readers will

be seeing a lot more of top coach Jonathan

Yarwood. Here he offers a terrific insight into the

way tour players think about controlling trajectory

and spin for a complete wedge game

138 HOW TO PuTT WITH PREcISION In the second part of her series, Lynn McCool

suggests a handful of drills and exercises that can

improve your accuracy on the greens – a sure-fire

way to shooting lower scores

148 SIMPLIFY YOuR SWING‘Coiling is fine with the spine in line’ – PGA Master

Professional Luther Blacklock reveals a 3-step

hinge drill that will simplify your concept of making

a sound backswing, getting you on path and on

plane for more soild ball striking

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN MURRAY

InstructionISSUE #103 // JULY 2011

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GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM NOV/DEC 2010


FAST TRACK TO GOLF’SGREATEST CHAMPIONSHIP

GOLF

There was a time in the 1950s, 60s and 70s when Royal St

George’s was off the Open rota because it was deemed inac-

cessible by car but a century and more ago the train was king

and helped make Sandwich a popular golfing destination, and

the host of the first Open outside Scotland in 1894.

And now, thanks to a High Speed Rail link between St Pancras

and Sandwich, the train has once again provided a solution for

those in and around London looking for the easiest way of get-

ting to golf’s greatest championship. The journey from St

Pancras to Sandwich will take just 80 minutes, plus a short bus

ride or a 15-minute walk to the course. Early birds will be able to

stay on their own beds (well, briefly) and still be on the course for

the first tee time at 6.30am on Thursday and Friday. (See page

25 for details of an exclusive competition with official supplier

Pilsner urquell that can have you making that journey in some

style).

www.golfinternationalmag.com


PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIC HEPWORTH

JUSTIN ROSE // STUART MORGAN // RULES OFFICE // DR FELIX SHANK // THE MAJOR... & MORE

Gi: You have made no secret of your

love of living in America – how

much do you enjoy coming home to

play?

JR: I love it – and the PGA at

Wentworth is one of my favourite

tournaments to play. Outside the

majors it is up there as the one I want

to win. I grew up not far away, at

North Hants, and it’s always good to

get the buzz of the crowd and feel

like a hometown boy again. I’ve been

coming to Wentworth since I was

about 8 years old – I’d be one of the

kids behind the 18th green asking for

a ball. It’s a sign of how far I’ve come

– and of the years rolling by! I like to

do my best to remember I was in

those kids’ shoes and that is the

future of golf coming through, which

is kind of cool.

Gi: What do you make of what they

have done?

JR: I can understand what they are

trying to achieve, toughening up the

course a little bit. They needed to do

something about the greens. In recent

years the seed on the greens made

holing a putt of any significant length

all but out of your control. But it’s

always hard to see an iconic golf

course go through the quite dramatic

changes we have witnessed. A couple

of holes, for me, they have got a little

too busy, there’s too much going on.

Having said that, I think the 18th is

probably a better hole now. The thing

with Wentworth is it’s such an iconic

course you tend to look at it as you

remember it watching the world’s

best compete there over the years in

PGA’s and World Match Plays.

Gi: You moved from Nick Bradley to

Tiger’s coach Sean Foley recently –

how is that working out?

JR: I made the switch to Sean a little

over a year ago and a lot of what I

have worked on with Sean has been

relatively easy because of where we

had got before. Nick [Bradley] and I

had done well together – he took me

to No 6 in the world. But I just

thought I was ready for a change. I

feel that Sean has ‘rounded off’ my

swing made it more of a circle, made

the plane a little better and more con-

sistent and he’s added shots to my

game. In the past I felt like I didn’t

really know how to shape a ball. I did-

n’t really understand the science of

hitting a ball right to left or left to

right, clubface versus path versus

hand angle and so on. Sean really

teaches principles based on using

feedback from TrackMan – he’s at the

forefront of teaching that way. That’s

the way golf is going right now and it

suits me because I’m a fairly analyti-

cal type of player.

Gi: Given the quality of the data

that’s teaching you can’t argue with?

JR: Sure. And the key is, it doesn’t

A two-time winner last year on the PGA Tour, England’sJustin Rose has all the potential in the world to join his con-tempories at the very top of the rankings. Richard Simmonstalked to him during his visit to London and the the PGA

planet golf 19th hOLE Q&Aplanet golf

19TH HOLE Q&A

JUSTIN ROSE

GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JULY 20118

necessarily have to look pretty in

every sense of the word, in terms of

having a swing on ‘perfect plane’ and

having hands in certain positions.

That kind of thinking is out of the

window. What Sean does is have you

think about assembling your levers

and delivering the clubface in the

most efficient way. You know, I have

no doubt Tiger is a smart guy and he

would not have made the decision to

switch to Sean lightly. I switched to

Sean after playing a lot of golf with

Hunter Mahan and Sean O’Hair, and

watching these guys hit shots that I

just couldn’t hit. They were hitting

shots that I was just not comfortable

playing, something was not adding up

and so that got me thinking. Sean is

not a guy who is all that interested in

self promotion – he’s just a serious

coach who believes in what he does. I

find him very genuine.

Gi: Do you see much of Tiger?

JR: Certainly since he’s been working

with Sean we’ve spent a bit of time

together. Talk golf technique. I’m a lit-

tle further down the road with Sean

than he is. But it’s fascinating to get

an insight into the way he thinks

about the game. They have been

doing a lot of good work together –

we saw glimpses of that on the last

day at Augusta. But with the knee

injury I think there are a lot of limita-

tions on what Tiger can do.

Gi: Your game seems to get hot in

bursts – is consistency the thing you

work towards most?

JR: Certainly a goal of mine this year

is to be in contention on a more regu-

lar basis – though perhaps not up to

Luke Donald-standards – in terms of

cuts made, top 20 finishes and so on.

I’m getting there. I need the short-

game to improve a little bit and I’ve

just started working with Mark Roe.

The long game and short game are

very different animals. You know, in

the long game I try to keep my right

hand out of the swing and yet in chip-

ping I’m looking for right hand feel

and so on. Roey is very good. I think

that when you work with someone

who is an expert, like he is, it gives

you clarity and when you have clarity

it’s easier to practice more and prac-

tice well. When you are confused

about something it’s very difficult to

practice for 3 hours and make a dif-

ference – in fact you’ll probably get

worse.

Gi: When you see the likes of Luke

and Lee at the top of the rankings –

guys you’ve grown up with – does it

give you extra motivation?

JR: I think in the past I’ve consciously

tried to do that – to get determined,

to be more aggressive and work hard-

er, thinking I’m every bit as good as

they are. But that doesn’t really help

me. What I need to do is not to pay

too much attention to what others are

doing. I work best when I focus on my

own trend lines. I am getting incre-

mentally better week-in and week-out.

That’s all I can do. I’m not really much

of a goal setter; I focus more on the

learning experience and improvement

process. If I keep on doing that I

believe some great things will happen

and I think my time will come. But it’s

only going to happen if I can keep on

improving – and that’s a hard thing to

do.

Gi: How much of a benefit has the

TaylorMade Performance Lab been

to you on the equipment side?

JR: I am a big believer in technology.

Always have been. We all have an idea

as to how the swing feels, but as every

golfer will tell you the reality of what

you are actually doing is often very

different to the reality. The

TaylorMade Matt system not only


Justin’s superlative

performance at

Muirfield Village last

year won him his

biggest title to date –

and a firm handshake

from golf’s greatest

player

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With the ball back, the hands naturally want to lean the shaft to the target – adjustmentsfor a low, punchy shot

On the Teewıth

Westy

By Lee WestwoodWWW.LEEWESTWOOD.COM • PHOTOGRAPHY: MARK NEWCOMBESHOT ON LOCATION AT WENTWORTH CLUB

When my swing is onsong I know I can standon a tee and fly the balldead straight 300 yardsthrough the air – that’swhy I’m smiling. But it’snot rocket science, andwith a few of my ideas onboard, I’m pretty certainyou can learn to hitlonger, more consistentdrives, too.

INSTRUCTION LEE WESTWOOD


“The transition? Just remember one thing: if you want to maximise yourspeed at impact, don’t be in a hurry to shift through the gears from the top”

The first thing I want you to notice in this top of theswing position is that I’ve kept my chin level to thetop, my shoulders are turned through 90 degreesand my back is facing the target. My weight hasshifted into the right thigh, it is never allowed tosway to the outside of the right foot. The right sideserves as ‘post’, if you like, that I turn and coilagainst – with just a hint of ‘lift’ in my left heel visi-ble as I reach the top. And that suspension in thelower body provides the springboard into the

downswing – my left heel returns securely to thedeck my coach, Pete Cowen, talks a lot about theimportance of ‘keeping the ground’) and my weightshifts across towards the target, a subtle but dis-tinct squat in the lower body as the knees stabiliseand lead the motion.This is a key movement that you need to work

on, and a great way to do this on the range is tomake slow-motion swings and just ‘dink’ the balldown the fairway. The worst thing you can do with a

driver in your hands is go at it too fast; jerky move-ments throw the whole sequence out of shape andyou’ll never recover consistently. So challenge your-self to slow it all down and really sense the transitionfrom the top as you shift smoothly through the gearsinto the downswing. As you get the feel you canthen gradually speed it up. Swing it slower andsmoother from the top and you will create a betterrelease of the clubhead through the ball – the trans-fer of energy will be all the more efficient.

Fully coiled, loaded withpower; from here, the sub-tle shift of weight backtowards the target initiatesthe downswing sequence

Having ‘settled’ in the transition, thelower body stabilises (the left footsecurely planted) as the upper bodyunwinds, accelerating the arms andthe hands, and generating this ‘lag’

Make rhythm your friend as you reverse the gears and unwind through the ball


Shifting smoothlythrough the gears fromthe top gives you thebest possible chanceof ‘timing’ impact –your arms and handsdeliver the final burst ofspeed in sync with therotation of your bodythrough the ball

Looking at freeze-frame images can often be mis-leading, so don’t study impact position in isolation.Almost more important is this image – the fullrelease of the right arm/hand and clubhead throughto the target. Commit to getting here and you canexpect a lot of good things to occur through impact

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


FEATURE SEVE // THE PEOPLE’S CHAMPION


Smash hit: Seve’s game,charisma and daring won himinstant popularity at Birkdale in1976 – the start of a love affairthat would last for 35 years


THEOPENROyAL ST GEORGE’S // 10-17 JULy 2011

His performancesin the OpenChampionshipwere integral inestablishing SeveBallesteros asthe darling of theBritish golfingpublic. In kickingoff our previewsection to thisyear’s Open atSandwich,Robert Greentells the tale ofthe man whowas part of ourgolfing lives since

PEOPLE’SCHAMPION

thE

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


FEATURE SANDWICH


With its rollercoaster fairway and plateaugreen guarded by a false front and deepbunkers, the 17th is part of a notably testingfinishing stretch at Royal St George’s.

Home to the Maiden, Corsets, Kitchen andSuez Canal, Royal St George’s has some of themost colourful landmarks on the Open rotaalong with a rich legacy of tournament dramas.

Selecting his favourite Sandwich trivia, Dominic Pedler brings you an alternative hole-by-hole guide to the geographical and historical highlights.

SANDWICH

ROyAL ST GEORGE’S: TALES OF HEROES & ZEROSKILLERS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIC HEPWORTH



KILLERS

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


FEATURE MARK ROE


Sealed with a kiss: havingplayed the round of his life,England’s Mark Roe left the18th green on a high. Ten minutes later his dreamturned into a nightmare

On the threshold of realising a boyhood dream in the 2003 OpenChampionship at a sun-kissedRoyal St George’s, Mark Roe suffered one of the cruellest injustices in golf when his third-round score of 67 – a fourunder par effort witnessed by millions around the world – was disqualified on the grounds that Roe and his playing partner, Jesper Parnevik, had failed to exchange cards on the first tee. To his eternal credit, Roey acceptedhis fate with a grace rarely matchedin all of sport. He shared his memories of that eventful Saturdaywith editor Richard Simmons

KEEPCALM

CARRY ON

AND

Gi: Let’s rewind to Saturday July 19, Royal St George’s...

MR: I’d battled hard to make the cut with a 70 on Friday for a

total of 147. Funnily enough, that second round contained

signs that something special was happening. I started

3,3,3,3,3,3 – six threes out of the blocks. I think I had a putt on

the 7th for another three and I’m thinking, ‘I wonder if anyone

has ever started the Open with seven threes...’. Totally lost my

focus and missed it, obviously. But made the cut OK, and that’s

always the primary goal at the Open. I just remember thinking

that everything just felt right that week – it all just suited my

eye. I liked the way the course was running, hard and fast, you

had to land the ball 30 yards or so short of the green. The put-

ter felt good. Silly things you remember – like on the practice

green the holes just looked to be beautifully cut, inviting. I love

the atmosphere at the Open and felt good about my game.

Gi: So you’ve achieved your first goal – making the cut –

and now you’re revved up for the weekend?

MR: Absolutely. And as was typical for me I was on the 1st tee

in good time on Saturday. I always liked to have a chat with

Ivor [Robson, the starter]. After a couple of minutes I’m think-

ing ‘Where’s Jesper?’. I’ve just seen him on the putting green.

He was cutting it fine. Ivor’s given me my scorecard, which was

always the protocol on the 1st tee. Ivor hands you your card

and you exchange and so on. Anyway, Jesper eventually arrives

and it’s all a bit of a rush. ‘Sorry Roey, been to the loo.’ Ivor

announces us onto the tee and we hit. There was hardly time

to shake hands. We just banged it down towards the fairway

and we were off.

Gi: Jesper wasn’t in for the best of Saturdays?

MR: After all that rushing around he got off to a poor start – in

fact we both did, five apiece at the 1st. I have the original cards

right here [produces them from his desk]. There you go – I

made a three at the 2nd and settled myself. Jesper parred two

and three, and then the thing I remember quite clearly is that

at the 4th I knocked it on in two and three-putted and he has

missed it short and right, then pitched up to about 30 feet and

canned it for a birdie. The hole was a par-five then. I three-

putted for a par. So he’s basically up-and-downed it from the

bundi to make a four and I’ve played two great shots and

walked off with a five. Anyway we carry on...he bogeys six,

eight and nine while I birdied 7 to be out in 35, one under. I

then started to get hot on the back nine: birdied 10 and then

holed my second shot at 13, the slinging right-to-left dogleg. It

was only a sand-iron – 114 yards, one bounce and in. I can

remember standing in the fairway raising my arms and think-

ing, ‘Wow, this is now turning into something special’. I was

four under for the round. And the course is playing tough.

Gi: Presumably you're on the leaderboard by now?

MR: On it? I’m on top of the leaderborard. I pick the ball out of

the hole at 13 and see my name being put up there – leading

the Open Championship. In the meantime, things were going


THEOPENROyAL ST GEORGE // 10-17 JULy 2011

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


FEATURE HENRY COTTON 1934


HENRY COTTON’S VICTORY AT THE 1934 OPEN AT

Royal St George’s not only confirmed the promise

of Britain’s 27-year-old major hope at the very

highest level, it was a landmark in British golfing

history that also saw the claret jug recaptured after a decade of

American domination dating back to Arthur Havers at Troon,

in 1923. Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones had

been among the all-conquering heroes during that time; caus-

ing the home game to wallow in a deep inferiority complex –

reinforced in early 1934 by US success in the Walker Cup and

British Amateur.

But over the course of five days that summer, Cotton not

merely broke the spell but transformed British golf, astonishing

the world with his technique and tenacity while comprehensively

rewriting the record books.

He smashed the 18-, 36- and 54-hole Open records in a per-

formance which, in the words of Golfing magazine at the time,

“eclipsed anything that has ever been done since golf began”.

Gene Sarazen, the pre-tournament favourite and champion

two years previously at Princes, acclaimed it “as near perfect golf

as man can hope to play,” while even Bobby Jones, who had pre-

viously epitomised the concept of golfing perfection, volun-

teered: “It is difficult to conceive of the superb play by which he

achieved his victory.”

However, Cotton’s victory would only be secured after a near

collapse in the final round that turned what should have been a

procession into a rollercoaster finale. The newspaper reports in

Cotton’s scrapbook capture the drama as well as the euphoria

and sense of awe that greeted his golf that

week, starting with his qualifying rounds

which were mandatory in those days.

66: 1st qualifying round (Monday

June 25, 1934)

Ironically, for all the achievements in the

championship proper, Cotton would always

nominate the 66 he shot in qualifying as his

finest round of the week.

The Royal St George’s course record of 68

(held by amateurs E. Merton Smith and Douglas

The ultimate account of Henry Cotton’s sensational 1934 Open triumph at Royal St George’s compiled from the pages of the Maestro’s personal scrapbook

When Henry Cotton’s prized possessions were auctionedat Sotheby’s in the summer of 1996, the highlight of thesale – the gold medal from his 1934 Open triumph – wasdramatically withdrawn at the eleventh hour. As the roomhushed for Lot 176, the auctioneer announced: ‘Sold byprivate treaty to the R&A for an undisclosed sum’.

Whether the R&A forked out the £20,000 estimated at thetime they’re not saying, but they weren’t going to let the ultimate memento of such a landmark moment in Britishgolfing history slip through their fingers (even if Cotton’s twoother Open medals, Carnoustie 1937 and Muirfield 1948,went to other bidders for £9,200 and £12,600, respectively).

Meanwhile, other items of ‘Maestro Memorabilia’ underthe hammer that day included a bronze bust (£7,130); a silver trophy modelling his textbook grip (£11, 500); a presentation box of Dunlop 65 golf balls (£2,185); his1953 Ryder Cup Team Captain badge (£1,610); and Cotton’s own personal album of newspaper cuttings documenting every detail of the drama of the 1934 Open.

The album was bought by Golf International writer, Dominic Pedler, who recounts the extraordinary events at Sandwich that summer.

SANDwICh

SPREAD

Smash hit: Seve’s game,charisma and daring won himinstant popularity at Birkdale in1976 – the start of a love affairthat would span five decades.



Grant) had stood for 20 years, with George Duncan’s 69 at the

1922 Open being the lowest professional score. But Cotton beat

both these scores three times in three days (and on a newly

lengthened layout), starting with a display of shot-making which

the Daily Telegraph described the following day as “Flawless to

the point of tedium”.

On a course measuring almost 6,800 yards, Cotton was out in

31 and back in 35, without a five – or a single dropped shot – on

his card. He was twelve under the official ‘bogey’ of 78 and six

under the ‘strict’ par.

Most incredibly, he achieved it with a positively generous 33

putts, the longest being a 15-footer for birdie on the 3rd which

helped him play the first six holes in 20 shots. Elsewhere, he

lipped-out three times and often tapped-in nonchalantly with the

back of his hickory-shafted Braid Mills putter.

Cotton’s extraordinary length off the tee was well document-

ed: George Greenwood of the Daily Telegraph reported drives

well past 300-yards “on several occasions”, most notably at the

370-yard 2nd hole, where a “tiny chip” secured his first birdie of

the day; and at the 520-yard 14th, ‘Suez’, where he was “pin-high

with a driver and spoon” before lipping out for eagle.

Sceptics who assume that course and wind conditions must

have been favourable, should note that Sandwich suffered tor-

rential rain the previous night, making the greens receptive but

the fairways slow, while several accounts describe how Cotton

played Suez against a light wind.

Admittedly, the smaller 1.62 ball was in operation in those

days but it still makes sobering reading for those who believe

that modern equipment has made such a ruinous impact on the

game.

Cotton was never in a bunker and only once in the rough with

his only bad shot of the day – a hooked approach to the 13th

from which he recovered instantly with a chip and a 7-foot, par-

saving putt.

‘A record smashing achievement immaculate in its execution,’

said the Daily Telegraph; ‘One of the greatest rounds ever

played,’ claimed many others ranging from the Yorkshire

Observer to the great Henry Longhurst.

75: 2nd qualifying round

– at deal (tuesday June 26)

In the excitement it was easy to forget that Cotton’s 66 was

‘merely’ a qualifying round. Indeed, when the 8-1 hot favourite,

Gene Sarazen, who had started his 36-hole qualifying at neigh-

bouring Deal that day, was greeted with the news of Cotton’s

score he teased that “while it is spectacular, it is wholly unneces-

sary” and would be soon “wiped from the slate” as the champi-

onship proper began.

As if heeding Sarazen’s words, Cotton turned up at Deal for the

second qualifying round the following day and matched the mod-

est 75 that Sarazen himself had happily posted 24 hours earlier.

The Times saw this as a welcome calm before the storm. “It

Scraps of inspiration: presscuttings tell the story of HenryCotton’s extraordinaryexploits during the 1934Open at Sandwich, a week inwhich a second-round 65 setone of several new scoringrecords

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


FEATURE BUBBA WATSON


All his own work: there is nothing ‘textbook’ about theway Bubba goes about hisbuisness – and golf is richerfor his unconventional style



OUt Of

He is afraid of the dark yet loves the limelight.

Sometimes he aims right and hits the ball left

and sometimes he aims left and hits it right.

His swing is a mass of different movements yet it

repeats itself as regularly as a Swiss watch. He was

christened Gary yet is known as Bubba. He loves chil-

dren yet has none of his own. He has won millions of

dollars this year alone yet has little idea what is in his

bank account. He once bought a Lamborghini and sold

it shortly after his wife rode in it for the one and only

time. “She didn’t like it,” he said simply.

Meet Bubba Watson, as idiosyncratic a man and

golfer as there is in the game at present. Few hit a golf

ball so far or manoeuvre it as well as he can. This

combination of exceptional vision, unusual power, a

vivid imagination and very rare hand-eye co-ordination

make him to be one of the longest hitters on the US

tour and have contributed to his winning three tourna-

ments and playing in the Ryder Cup in the past year,

and as a result, to climbing to 11th in the world rank-

ings (as at May 30.) Add to this that he is relentlessly

restless, has a child-like enthusiasm, tweets continual-

ly and possibly suffers from attention deficit disorder

(ADD), and the picture emerges of one of the most

unusual men in professional golf.

At Royal St George’s this July Watson, 32, will be

playing in only his third Open. And if it is easy to

guess why he lasted only two rounds at St Andrews

last year (he couldn’t get his putter going) it is more

difficult to work out why he missed the cut at

Turnberry in 2009. The answer is, having arrived on

the Sunday before the Open, he was immediately quar-

antined in his hotel room, suspected of having swine

‘flu. He had to stay there until Wednesday afternoon.

“Not much time for practice,” he said, smiling wryly.

Not a normal excuse, that, is it? But there is precious

little that is normal about Watson, a man who has never

had a golf lesson in his life, once won a junior tourna-

ment by 42 strokes, doesn’t drink or smoke, drives very,

very fast cars to the legal speed limits and no faster, has

an average clubhead speed of 128mph, a 44 1/2 inch long

driver and a registered ball speed of nearly 200 mph

(nearly 30 mph faster than the average on the US tour)

and is happiest when in the company of children. “He

loves his toys,” Amanda Ausink, a member of Watson’s

management team, said. “He has every one known to

man and the biggest child of all is Bubba.”

Watson was born in November 1978 in Bagdad,

Florida, “a two-stop light town outside Pensacola,”

according to Jens Beck, his manager. He was a hefty

baby, weighing in at more than 11 lbs (which is two lbs

less than Peter Alliss was at birth). Seeing the size and

weight of his son, his father nicknamed him “Bubba”

and Bubba he has been known as since. The name on

his birth certificate is Gerry, which in the US is pro-

nounced Gary.

“What strikes me about Bubba’s character is his

integrity,” Angie Watson, his wife, said. “He won’t tell

even a white lie if he can avoid it. He has a heart the

size of Texas. If it wasn’t for me poking my nose into

our bank account every so often he would have given

away our money to children. Kids love him. We were in

Seattle recently and it was 36 degrees outside and there

was Bubba out there with the kids playing basketball.

“He is witty. He makes me laugh. He is fun to hang

out with. When he plays tennis he hits a lot of drop

shots. He spins the ball all over the place sometimes

so the ball bounces back at him. He likes wake surfing,

wake boarding. He will go at 70 mph on jet skis. He

never ceases to amaze me. We play golf together a lot.

To watch Bubba Watson strike a ball is to witness the jaw-dropping genius of a man who defies all convention. And around the top-10 in the world rankings, there’s more to the big-hitting Floridian thanmeets the eye, as John Hopkins discovered when hetalked to him at the recent Players’ Championship

LEftfIELD

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


There has been much talk of a new world order in

golf since Tiger Woods’ private life became

mired in controversy and his game fell off a cliff,

and a fair chunk of it has focused on the shift

away from the US as the centre of the golfing

universe.

Going into the US Open at Congressional, all four major

championship trophies were in the hands of what our friends

across the Atlantic might refer to as ‘international players’.

Then, added to the success of South African Charl Schwartzel

at Augusta this year, and the Grand Slam victories of 2010

earned by his fellow European Tour members Graeme

McDowell (US Open), Louis Oosthuizen (Open Championship)

and Martin Kaymer (USPGA Championship, the bragging rights

as the world’s top-ranked player have variously belonged to

Europeans: Lee Westwood, Kaymer and Luke Donald.

But it is not only a geographical shift that’s getting commen-

tators excited (or as the case may be across the pond, wringing

their hands), there is a generational aspect to consider, too.

Kaymer, the seemingly consumate heir to Bernhard Langer,

came out of the pack to claim his first major title at Whistling

Straits aged just 25, while Schwartzel was only 26 when Phil

Mickelson helped him into a green jacket. To get there he’d

cruised passed 54-hole leader Rory McIlroy (22) before holding

off the strong finishes of, among others, Australian Jason Day

(23). Kaymer or Schwartzel were both established winners of

European Tour events by the time they made their career-

changing breakthroughs.

Seasoned observers have put forward the theory that the

young players now appearing at the business end of leader-

boards around the world have broken into the elite level in the

‘post-Tiger’ era. Unlike the preceding generation that included

Ernie Els, they have not been scarred.

It should be pointed out Tiger has been 0 for 10 in the

majors before now (2002-2005) and subsequently bounced

back to win five of the 14 in his collection to date. Whatever

your thoughts on whether Tiger will reach his goal of overtak-

ing Jack Nicklaus, or even get a single major closer to it, the

argument for the untrammeled potency of today’s best young-

sters is gaining momentum.

While Tom Morris Jnr’s record as the youngest-ever Open

champion (17 years, 5 months and 3 days in 1868) will not be

in danger this year at Royal St George’s, it is conceivable that

the places directly below him in the record books (Willie

Auchterlonie – 21 years, 24 days in 1893) and Severiano

Ballesteros – 22 years, 3 months and 12 days in 1979) will need

revision come Sunday July 17.

There are now so many accomplished golfers in their 20s

who could feasibly win at Sandwich that for the purposes of

this assessment we have restricted our runners to players aged

25 or under who have yet to win a major. There are more in

with a shout than you might think. In the first Open

Championship after the death of Seve, who first emerged as a

dashing 19-year-old challenger at Royal Birkdale 35 years ago,

how appropriate it would be if we got to witness the emer-

gence of another bright young star on the greatest stage of

them all.

MATTEO MANASSERO, 18The Italian who is being hailed as the heir to Ballesteros will

still be only 18 when he tees it up in his second Open

Championship at Royal St George’s. In 2009, Manassero quali-

fied for Turnberry by being the youngest-ever winner of the

Amateur Championship, beating England’s Sam Hutsby in the

final at Formby, having led the strokeplay qualifiers and set a

course record over the arguably even more demanding links at

neighbouring West Lancs.

In Ayrshire a month later, he partnered Tom Watson in the

first two rounds of, drawing praise from the five-time champi-

on (and leader for most of the tournament) for the quality of

his play and clarity of his thinking. “When he was playing with

FEATURE THE HOT SHOTS


Six of the world’sbest (and youngest)players:Top: Jason Day camevery close at Augusta;the future looks like ayes for NohMiddle: headgearapart, Rickie Fowlerlooks the real deal;Ryo is no longer raw;Matteo Manassero isalready a multi-winnerin EuropeBottom: Surely glorybeckons for Rory, eventhough it’s only twowins to date

YOUNGWe seem to be enteringthe post-Woods era,with a host of youngplayers who have neversuffered the scars ofbeing mauled by Tigermaking the headlines.As Dan Davies reflects, it would be fitting if, as the gamecomes to terms with theloss of Seve Ballesteros,one of these young lionswere to win the Open

LIONS

FOR FULL ARTICLE...



INSTRUCTION

Your body language playsa huge part in determin-ing the flight of the ball –this fully ‘released’ finishbeing the conclusion to ahigh-flyiing wedge shot

By Jonathan YarwoodWWW.GOLFJY.COM • PHOTOGRAPHY: KEVIN MURRAYSHOT ON LOCATION AT THE CONCESSION GOLF CLUB

Understanding the way set-up can influence strike and spin is the key to working on your repertoire of attacking wedge shots

controlAirTraffıc

To become proficient in the pitchingarena requires that you learn to con-trol the flight, spin and trajectory ofyour shots in the critical scoringrange, anything from 20 yards or soto a full wedge shot. And that boilsdown to the way in which youadjust the ball position, the angle ofthe clubfaceand indeed your pos-ture prior to making your swing.Nowhere in the game of golf isexperimentation with these variablesmore important than in theseapproach shots to the flag.As the images above illustrate,

ball position and clubface angle arerelated. Play the ball back in yourstance, opposite the inside of theright foot, and you automaticallyclose down the face angle and leanthe shaft towards the target (pic 1).a more neutral position would seethe ball just back of centre, wherethe majority of tour players have itfor a standard wedge shot, the face

square (pic 2). Moving it forwardfrom there suggests that you arelooking to play a higher shot, forwhich you might also open the club-face a little (pic 3).There is another key considera-

tion here, too: the position of the lefthand on the grip. For a lower,punchy shot, a lot of players thesedays strengthen their left hand grip –i.e. turning the left hand to the right –to expose three knuckles beforeadding the right hand. As the handwill naturally want to return to a neu-tral position at impact, this adjust-ment helps you to keep the closedown the clubface through the ball.Conversely, weakening the left

hand grip is the adjustment youwould make to accentuate an openclubface and play a higher, floatingshot (right). In both of these exam-ples you would pre-set the faceangle before adding the left handand then completing your grip.

IT’S A SET-UP: Create the stance & ball position that gives you the perfect shot

Strengthen lefthand grip for lower,punchy shots

Weaken theleft hand toaccentuate loftfor higher,softer shots


JONATHAN YARWOOD

With the ball back, the hands naturally want to lean the shaft to the target – adjustmentsfor a low, punchy shot

A more neutral position,ball just back of centre,shaft lean comfortable,clubface square

For a higher shot, ball forward, clubfaceopen, the shaft nowalmost vertical

control

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


Jack Senior may live in the north of England but

the Heysham Golf Club member knows how

Londoners feel when they are standing at a bus

stop for 30 minutes in the pouring rain and then

four double-deckers come along at once. Until this

time last year the 22-year-old had not won a single

amateur event, and like Padraig Harrington at the

start of his professional career, had a string of

high finishes without getting his nose over the line

in front. Then all of a sudden he couldn’t stop the

flood of trophies heading his way.

Last July, his career took off in the classical

comic-book style. At the South of England Open

Amateur Championship at Walton Heath he was

off the pace to the tune of eight shots and hoping

for another steady closing round and the satisfac-

tion of a respectable finish.

Just 62 blows later he was handing in a score of

ten-under par to land the title by five shots on a day

when only three other players managed to get it round

in under 70 and his career was up and running.

That is some way to claim your first title and

the Egyptian Amateur crown, when he beat Eddie

Pepperell in a play-off, soon followed, as did a

place in the England team for the European Cup

of Nations, this year’s New South Wales Amateur

Championship, the Hampshire Hog and the

Lytham Trophy – his biggest title to date.

Many players have tried to win their first title

from the top of the leaderboard and the list of last

day collapses would fill this entire magazine so

you are probably better off breaking your duck by

flying through the field in the fourth round when

AMATEUR

28 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM JULY 2011

On the back of a scintillating performanceat Walton Heath last year and competitivewinter training ‘Down Under’, England’sJack Senior has his sights set high thissummer. Adam Hathaway reports

In a Senior position

Muswell Hill’s Tara Watters and 14-year-old

Ashleigh Greenham shared The Hampshire Rose

when both finished one-under par for 36 holes at

North Hants.

In only the fifth tie in the history of the event

Greenham led with a first round 73, level par, to

Watters’ 75 but the two-time English championship

runner-up had a best-of-the-day 70 in the afternoon

to snatch of the title. The pair were eight shots clear

of Rachel Drummond in third.

Leading finishers: 145 Tara Watters (Muswell

Hill), Ashleigh Greenham (West Essex); 153 Rachel

Drummond (Beaconsfield); 154 Lauren Horsford

(Wimbledon Park), Daisy Dyer (chigwell), Samantha

Giles (St Mellion).

Hertfordshire’s Lucy Williams (above) claimed

the English Women’s Amateur Championship at

West Sussex beating Charley Hull on the 19th

hole of a nail-biting final.

Williams was one down after 16 but a run of

birdie, eagle, birdie saw her take the title ahead

of the 15-year-old Hull.

This was Williams’ first time at the event which

previously clashed with school and university

commitments but having finished her degree she

is taking a year to concentrate on golf.

Results (from ¼ finals): Quarter finals:

Charlotte Wild (Mere) bt Holly Clyburn (Woodhall

Spa) 3&2; Charley Hull (Woburn) bt Lisa Hall

(Matfen Hall) 3&2; Charlotte Ellis

(Minchinhampton) bt Jerry Lawrence (Rochester

& Cobham Park) 6&5; Lucy Williams (Mid-Herts)

bt Rachel Drummond (Beaconsfield) 1up: Semi-

finals: Hull bt Wild 2&1; Williams bt Ellis 5&3:

Final: Williams bt Hull at 19th.

Redbourn’s Nick Ward emulated Sir Nick Faldo

when he secured a rare double adding the

Hertfordshire Boys’ championship to the county

championship he won last year.

The 15-year-old claimed the boys’ title at Porters

Park, winning by three shots from Niclas Bay

Jenson from Batchworth Park after carding a two-

over par total of 144.

Ward adds the title to the county championship

he won last year at Sandy Lodge and joins Faldo,

who achieved the double in 1975, and Peter

Townsend, who did his 1964, on the list of players

who have managed twin triumphs.

Ward (pictured above), was Herts u-14 champion

in 2007 and Scottish u-14 champion a year later,

the England Boys' u-15 champion in 2010 and is a

member of the England u-16 squad.

However, it seems unlikely he will be able to

defend his county championship crown – he was

its youngest ever winner at 15 – because of a clash-

ing GcSE examination at school.

Rhys Pugh (pictured below) became only the

second Welshman to win in the 119-year history

of the Irish Open Amateur Championship when

he beat Scotland’s Gordon Stevenson by four-

shots in a play-off at Royal Dublin.

Pugh emulated Craig Smith in 2004 as he

made the fewest mistakes in the three-hole play-

off and watched Stevenson drive out of bounds

on the 17th to virtually guarantee him the title.

The pair had finished on 294, six-over par, a

shot ahead of Dutchman Daan Huizing who had

looked a likely winner until dropping four shots

on the final two holes.

Paul Dunne (Greystones) carded a brilliant

closing 72 in tough conditions, and but for his

10-foot par putt on the 18th grazing the hole,

would have made the playoff.

THE AMATEUR SCENE


NEWS IN BRIEF...AMATEUR SCENE...NEWS IN BRIEF....

continued on page 116

TO

M W

AR

D

there is a bit less pressure.

Senior, who revels in the nickname of ‘The

Bear’, certainly thinks so.

“Getting that first win lifted a massive bur-

den,” Senior told Gi as he made final prepara-

tions to his game before heading to the Amateur

at Hillside and Hesketh. “I was eight shots down

going into the last round and won it by five. The

hardest place to win is from the front. You see

guys up there week in week out and even the

top players in the world find it hard. You have

all the pressure on you with the guys lurking

behind with ten of them on your tail.

“It was good to get my first win like that and

I did exactly the same in the Lytham Trophy

where I came from miles back. This time last

year I had not won a significant amateur tour-

nament, now I am in much better shape. I’ve

won five times in the last ten months.”

Senior spent six weeks in Australia over the

winter, thanks to the generosity of the EGU,

and that helped him to get his game nicely into

shape in time for the start of the new season.

Many British sportsmen have come back from

winters down under broken men but for Senior

it was invigorating.

“I had a couple of good results in Australia,”

Senior adds. “And as a result of that regular com-

petition, great courses and great weather I was

well into the groove coming into this season,

rather than trying to get into gear from a stand-

ing start. Guys who had not had the opportunity

were not as well-prepared.”

Senior had better be prepared come the

autumn when, after hopefully an appearance in

the Walker Cup, he will have his third crack at

winning his European Tour card at Qualifying

School. In the last two years he has dropped

out at the second stage of what is one of the

most nerve-shredding things a sportsman can

go through.

Before that however he will attempt to

become only the second Brit, after Richie

Ramsay, to win the US Amateur in 90 years at

Erin Hills in Wisconsin.

Having seen the foreign invasion of British

amateur tournaments recently, Senior is deter-

mined to experience life on the other side of

the pond while still being in awe of some of the

courses he gets the chance to play on.

Senior adds: “At the St Andrews Links

Trophy my dad told me there were 64 overseas

players playing. That’s half the field. I have

made the decision to try and play the US

Amateur and have a look at it from the other

side. Richie won it but before that a British

player hadn’t won for ages which shows how

difficult it is. The American players come over

here and don’t perform massively well. We play

a lot of links golf and they play a lot of college

golf on parkland courses. They can stand on

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GIRLS ALLOWED / THE MANOR HOUSE / MEMORABILIA / MOTORING & MORE...

GOLF INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE JULY 2011

WITH A SCENIC 18 HOLES MEANDERING

through the rolling Cotswold countryside, a sensi-

bly priced but still sumptuously appointed 48-

room hotel dating from 14th century and

Michelin-starred food, the Manor House in the

time-warp village of Castle Combe in Wiltshire is

something of a hidden gem.

After playing the Peter Alliss and Clive Clark-

designed set-up recently, Luke Donald said: “The

Manor House Golf Club is a truly stunning course

and I will definitely be coming back.” My game

may not quite be on a par with the world number

one’s, but after visiting the parkland club in June,

I’m inclined to agree.

Having first played here 10 years earlier, I was

pleasantly surprised that, even in these recession-

ary times, the condition of the course is still


Manor House golf & Hotel CASTLE COMBE, WILTSHIRE

England’s green and pleasantland has umpteen boutiquecountry house hotels withrather ordinary courses, andconversely, any number ofexcellent clubs associatedwith mediocre but expensivehostelries. For Peter Swain,both course and hospitality atthe Manor House Hotel andGolf Club tick the quality andvalue tee boxes

A Country House Gem

immaculate. And the Pecorelli family, who own

the establishment, are constantly investing in

improvements, starting at the 1st.

Instead of a dogleg round the trees, the tee

shot now requires a 220-yard carry over water

and what was once a mott and bailey fortification

to reach the fairway. Easy enough on, say, the 8th,

but it’s something of a buttock-clencher as the

first shot of the day right in front of the mem-

bers’ terrace.

On the par-three 2nd, you discover what a fine

piece of golfing topography this is. From an ele-

vated tee up in the woods, you look down on a

smallish green surrounded by the Bybrook

stream and bunkers. It’s only 151 yards long, but

the 100-foot drop and a swirling wind make club

selection exceptionally tricky.

Not particularly long, the design of this set-up

calls for accuracy and skillful course manage-

ment. Without planes, trains or cars to interrupt

the birdsong, the five par-3s and five 5s provide

good variety, and a couple of the shorter par-4s

are reachable for long hitters.

I like the 498-yard par-five 12th, which

demands a good 3-wood off the elevated tee to a

plateau fairway, followed by solid hybrid or 3-iron

over the wooded valley up onto to the other side.

The small two-tier green, protected by six

bunkers, deters all but the most determined

approach shots.

The handsome 18th, with an Eisenhower tree

on the fairway and a skinny green flanked by

water, makes for a great finishing hole. A USGA-

spec driving range and short game area, halfway

house, refreshment cart, new electric buggies and

a friendly clubhouse complete the exemplary

package.

Close by the 18th green, the new Waterfall Lodge,

which sleeps eight, provides an ideal base for a small

THE MANOR HOUSE / WILTSHIRE


Situated in the picturesque Bybrook valley min-

utes from thetime-warp village of castle combe,

the Manor House course enjoys an undulating

parkland setting over which the design team of

Peter Alliss and clive clark created a fabulously

challenging test of golf. The hotel itself is the defin-

itive country retreat with its stylish furnishings,

exposed beams and grand four-poster beds.

FACT BOX: Manor House Hotel & Golf Club

Where: Just off J17 of the M4, near Bath

How much: In Waterfall Lodge, from £109 per person for 36 holes, bed, breakfast and dinner in the clubhouse. In the hotel, from £155 per person, based on two sharing, for two rounds with dinner in the Bybrook. Green fees from £59.

contact: 01249 782982,manorhousegolf.co.ukpart of Exclusive Golf

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


At the risk of sundry friends immedi-

ately insisting on a hastily booked

appointment with a button-backed

Harley Street sofa, I must confess to

never having had much truck with

the cult hit that is the clutch of Mad Max movies.

Albeit undeniably decorative, Mel Gibson really

isn’t my type, lacking each and every one of the

feminine attributes that might otherwise keep me

clamped, rapt, to the tip of the Kia-Ora straw.

Moreover, the Australian outback boasts all the

cinematographic appeal of a close-up plate cleared

of a particularly sloppy spaghetti bolognaise then

left, unwashed, in the sun 24 hours.

The dialogue rarely transcends Gloucester Old

Spot levels of articulacy, and the plot lines – most

notably when she of vibrating thigh and larynx,

Tina Turner, is called upon to fulfil the role of

baddie – generally prove about as gripping as the

handshake of the unfortunate thug whose arm

Max towed clean off early in the first episode.

Invariably far better viewing after an evening in

the pub, then, that first film did, however, at least

have the benefit of one vaguely respectable motor

car; a somewhat ratty, all-local-carwashes-out-of-

order concoction with faux Hot Rod bonnet pro-

trusions and an entirely agreeable sound track,

that some soon-to-be-slaughtered casual

bystander described in awe-struck tones as ‘the

last of the V8 Interceptors’.

And I mention this because I believe I’ve just

driven the very same, in the form of the Mercedes-

Benz C63 AMG Coupe. I have, in fact, been lucky

enough to share various Mercedes bodyshells with

AMG’s extraordinary, 6.3 litre V8 over the last year

or so, but nowhere has it impressed me quite so

much (not even in the deliciously retro’ SLS) as

when shoehorned into the front of the new C-

Class Coupe.

After a day spent with diverse, ‘cooking’ ver-

sions of the car, I decided that there’s absolutely

nothing wrong with the new Mercedes except for a

gentle lack of distinction about the exterior styling,

a distinct lack of adult-sized accommodation in the

back and a baffling lack of correlation between

model classification and engine size; both the

C200 CDI and C250 CDI sport the same 2143cc

turbodiesel, and both the C180 and C250 make do

with an identical, 1796cc powerplant. Go, as our

American cousins would have it, figure…

After a day spent with the C63 AMG, on the

other hand, I decided that I simply had to have

one; £56,665 being easily the least you’ll have to

pay to acquire a brand spanking variant of a V8

which, quite rightly, won the Best Performance cat-

egory of the 2010 Engine of the Year awards

hands down.

This is a sublime powerplant; mercifully unfet-


MerCedes-BenZ C63 AMG COUPE

In the form of the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe, Gi’s motoring correspondent Anthony Ffrench-Constant believes he has driven theworld’s greatest road-going V8 – in this case boasting an unburstable6.3 litre powerplant with a performance that will blow your mind

Merc engineers a driver’s dream

tered by the unwarranted stresses of turbocharg-

ing, it feels utterly unburstable. And what really

impresses isn’t so much its healthy 451bhp, but a

whopping 443 lb.ft of torque, some 370lb.ft of

which is available from just 2000rpm. Via a 7-

speed automatic gearbox with steering wheel pad-

dle manual override, 0-62mph comes up in just

4.4 seconds. Far more significant, though, is the

C63’s ability to thunder to 100mph in under 10

seconds. And quite what terminal velocity might

be were it not limited to a spoilsport 155mph is

anyone’s guess.

It’s amazing how quickly you become attuned

to a car’s performance to the extent that, even in

the likes of Porsche’s fabulous Cayman R, you

increasingly find yourself hankering for more. But

familiarity steadfastly fails to breed contempt on

this occasion, and the C63 remains relentlessly

fast throughout.

Barking into life with an unsolicited, and occa-

sionally faintly embarrassing, prod of throttle,

the soundtrack proves equally intoxicating; a

mellifluous menagerie of growl, roar, rumble and

snarl allied to – best of all – the intoxicating

‘ooof’ of the out-of-condition bully punched in

the stomach when you lift off after a bout of full

throttle. My only criticism is that perhaps slightly

too much of this glorious din seems reserved for

the innocent bystander rather than the owner…

Then again, the gentle application of the ‘mute’

button must make the C63 far easier to live with

in the long term.

As discussed in the context of other recent

AMG offerings, the C63 incorporates a range of

switchable transmission modes and a ‘Sport’ sus-

pension setting. Happily, the two are not shackled

together, as is so often the case, so maximum per-

formance and optimum comfort may be simulta-

neously conjured. Not for long though, because

the undercarriage’s softer setting, albeit remark-

ably comfortable in such a breakneck machine,

elicits just a tad too much roll through the bends,

calling on every inch of the sports seats’ formida-

ble lateral support to prevent you sloshing to and

fro like a pea in washing up water.

Combine ‘Sport’ suspension with ‘Sport +’

transmission, then, and everything falls perfect-

ly into place. In this setting, rather than leaving

you thumping into a bend in an inappropriately

high gear with no engine braking, this gearbox

comes down through the gears, unsolicited, as

you lift off.

Now, that should obviate the need for flappy-

paddle finger aerobics. But this is also a rare

example of an automatic saloon in which you

won’t just play with the manual override a bit to

show off to chums when you first buy the car and

then never touch it again. The paddle shift works

smoothly, effortlessly and quickly and, of course,

is accompanied by automatic throttle blips on

down changes to bring out the superhero in even

the most ham fisted.

Handling is also a vice-free revelation, with the

traditional hint of Mercedes stodginess that has

always steered the enthusiast towards the BMW

showroom utterly vanquished. The helm is a

masterclass in accuracy and carefully considered

weight, and even flung about, the C63 always

feels entirely composed and solidly planted on

the road.

But, somewhat uniquely to Mercedes’ AMG

offerings, what really gets under the skin is the

MOTORING

JULY 2011 GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM

On board the C63 blends luxury and refinement with a full package of sports optionsto make driving this extraordinarily compact machine a gripping experience – and despite theelectronic trickery at your fingertips the result is direct, instantaneously responsive andinexhaustively entertaining

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


Having sold an incredible seven million units of his signature wedges

since joining Titleist in the mid-1990s, design guru Bob Vokey is the

leading authority on grooves, grinds, gapping and other nuances of the

wedge: the most versatile club in the bag. Dominic Pedler talked to

one of the golf industry’s most colourful characters.

HighGi How did you first get into golf club

design and engineering?

BV: My dad was a good golfer and a tool

and die maker, so I would often tinker with

golf clubs in his workshop in the garage.

Being canadian, I was actually more inter-

ested in hockey and I also played baseball

and football. But in my 20s I had a girlfriend

in southern california and I got a job there

with TaylorMade. I got to know Lee Trevino,

who would always be adjusting his clubs

and I learnt a lot from him when I started as

a technician on tour. I worked on drivers,

irons and fairways as well, but when Titleist

asked me to specialize in wedges I got

behind the grinder and away I went.

Gi: How does the challenge of designing

wedges compare to that of the other

clubs in the bag?

BV: I used to think wedges were just ‘get

out of trouble’ clubs, but when I saw how

players like Trevino, Dave Stockton, Bruce

crampton and Lanny Wadkins used them, it

transformed my way of thinking. The versa-

tility of the wedge and the need for design

creativity is so much greater than for other

clubs – it has to work in a whole variety of

situations. And because of the loft, the play-

er sees so much more of the face at

address which alone requires an extra ele-

ment of craftsmanship. It’s the most unique

club in the bag and the toughest to design.

Gi: To what extent did the rule changes

on grooves, which came in for tour pros

in 2010, affect you in terms of both

design and player fitting?

BV: It was a difficult time to say the least.

We had some 600 players to convert to

conforming grooves in about six months but

first I had to test and get feedback on some

16 different combinations of proposed new

grooves. Some of the early comments from

players familiar with the old higher spinning

grooves are not printable! Even when we’d

chosen the best new grooves, there was a

follow-on effect in that players now required

different grinds and lofts to create an appro-

priate trajectory that best compensated for

the lower spinning grooves. For several

months I had my team of grinders working

10-hour shifts.

Gi: Would you agree that it was partly

your own success in creating high-spin-

ning groove designs over the years that

prompted the authorities to rein back

spin in the first place?!

BV: certainly my grooves designs back in

the early 2000s did get a lot of publicity.

With the incredible control that players were

getting from the rough the phone was soon

ringing off the hook. I guess wedge design-

ers did help create the monster and the

uSGA then wanted to control that monster.

Gi: How much less spin do 2010 con-

forming grooves generate – and is that

figure meaningless if the world’s best

players can adapt their technique to

achieve almost as much control as

before?

BV: As a general rule, the new grooves spin

some 30-50% less out of the rough. From

the fairway there is really no difference at all.

But with those 50-75 yards shots from the

rough, players initially found a big difference.

But once they worked at it, many adjusted

surprisingly well – even if it meant changing

their technique. Players like Robert

karlsson, Ross Fisher and Webb Simpson

also commented that slightly less spin actu-

ally helped them reach those back-right pin

positions that were previously so hard to get

to. Like they say on the commercial—

“these guys are good”.

Gi: To what extent is the ability to adjust

dependent on the type of player and his

swing?

BV: The quickest to adjust were what I call

‘trajectory biased’ players. Guys like Scott

Verplank, Zach Johnson, Tom Pernice and

other feel-based players who naturally vary

their trajectory according to any situation. It

was amazing how well they coped even

from day one. But even the more spin-

based players, like Rickie Fowler and Rory

McIlroy, who have grown up relying more on

spin, have also adjusted by visualizing a

wider range of trajectories and allowing for

the extra release.

Gi: How have the groove changes dictat-

EQUIPMENT


Titleist’s mas-ter wedgedesigner BobVokey (right)has been apioneer ofequipmentexcellenceover threedecades.

ed other wedge specifications?

BV: It’s mainly about trying to compensate

for the higher launch angle resulting from

the new grooves which, having less bite,

cause the ball to roll up the face a bit more

making it harder to control. Some players

have moved to lower lofts than the 54° and

60° combination that was very popular.

Geoff Ogilvy is an example of a player

who moved into a 58° for his highest loft.

Other players have preferred a change in

the bounce and sole grind. At the start of

last season Ian Poulter found the ball slip-

ping up the face too much and I gave him

more bounce with a wider flange. He took it

to Tucson the next week and won the tour-

nament (WGc Accenture World Matchplay).

But, generally, players are reacting more to

what the ball is doing by tweaking their tech-

nique rather than their equipment.

Gi: Turning to average players, what are

your key tips on wedge fitting?

Gapping is crucial. A lot of players don’t

know what the loft gaps are in their set,

especially at the short end where pitching

wedges have got steeper over the years.

They used to be 51° but have come down

to 47° or 46° but the sand wedge has

stayed the same at 56°. A gap wedge of 52°

can really help a player achieve consistent

distance gaps. I encourage 4° to 6° loft

increments to help you avoid those dreaded

half-shot and quarter-shot situations. Of

course, you can simply adjust the loft on

your existing wedge – but be careful as that

has a direct effect on the bounce angle on

the sole of the club. Lie angle is also impor-

tant for dispersion and control. Too upright,

for example, and you’ll be hitting too many

shots left.

Gi: What’s your view on the lob wedge of

60° or more – should average golfers be

playing them?

BV: The lob wedge can be a great club but

it takes a lot of time, practice and confi-

dence to be able to play it properly.

Because of the high loft it’s especially diffi-

cult to make consistent contact. One minute

you’re hitting 60 yards, the next minute 40

yards. And average players with a typical

‘over the top attack’ are often going to lose

trajectory and spin. Even many tour players

are struggling now with 62° and 64°

because of the way the ball slides up the

face with the new grooves making it launch

higher anyway.

Gi: To what extent does the choice of

BOB VOKEY


FOR FULL ARTICLE...


By Luther BlacklockPGA MASTER PROFESSIONAL, WOBURN GOLF & COUNTRY CLUBPHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW HARRIS

Let me share a handful ofeasy drills that will transformyour concept of making – andrepeating – a powerful swing

Over the last thirty five years I have been teaching golfers of all

abilities to improve their game; a combination of swing theory

and improvisation of all the required shots. Basically it breaks

down into three familiar areas:

• The address position

• The backswing movement

• The throughswing movement

I am determined that every golfer I teach ends up with an exem-

plary set-up – it’s just a question of me gently and persistently

bullying them until they do it! Most pupils come to me with a

strong sense of through-swing and generally have above aver-

age hand and eye co-ordination. So, most of my working day is

spent with pupils majoring on the correct backswing movement;

be they novice, established amateur or tour professional.

This article is designed to give you a concise understanding

of how to go about building your most consistent and func-

tional backswing. And I’m going to start by asking you a very

important question: “What is the purpose of the backswing?”

If you are not sure then how can you clearly tell yourself and

your body what to do?

The worst possible answer to my question would be to say

‘to get in a good position at the top of the backswing’. This

poisonous thought is one of the things that keep me in busi-

ness: how can it possibly be about getting in a certain position

when you have 13 long golf clubs in your bag?! You would

have to learn 13 positions, one for every club; then there’s half-

shots, making 26 positions, three-quarter shots making 39

positions and so on.

The fact is, there never was a ‘position’ in the golf swing

until somebody photographed the movement of the swing. So

let’s be absolutely clear – the purpose of the backswing is to

create power!

If you will utilise a sound set-up routine and then create your

most powerful backswing, I promise that you will automatically

be in the swing “position” that we both wanted. An orthodox

How to

yoursımplıfy

swıng

INSTRUCTION LUTHER BLACKLOCK


By Luther BlacklockPGA MASTER PROFESSIONAL, WOBURN GOLF & COUNTRY CLUBPHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW HARRIS

In the inset photos above I am holding my second

favourite teaching aid – a nylon comb. (Obviously I

had to borrow it as this demonstration doesn’t work

with a sponge.) If I hold the straightened comb at

the bottom with my left hand and at the top with my

right hand, I am demonstrating the correct posture

of the spine at address. I am in readiness to twist

the top of the comb through some 90 degrees

Similarly, here I am holding a 6 iron across my

shoulders whilst inclining from the hips. Like the

straight comb, my spine is in line, a neutral posture

from the top of my head right down to my tailbone. I

am inclining forward towards the golf ball in an

attempt to imitate the angle of spine for a 6 iron; we

must lean forward more for a wedge swing and less

for a driver swing. (Your understanding of this will be

enhanced if you are able to refer to my article

“Addressing all Angles” in Issue 99.)

When I twist the top of the comb through 90

degrees, notice how evenly the load of twisting is

spread along the entire length of the comb (inset

top right). The stress of rotation is dispersed evenly,

this ensures that no kink or stress occurs in a single

place. It is this neutral alignment that safeguards the

spine: the forceful nature of Tiger Woods’ swing has

not caused injury to his spine thus far because of

his perfect posture at address.

By coiling my shoulders through 90 degrees in

the same manner, the exertion of the coil is spread

evenly down my entire spine. The beauty of this

principle is that it makes understanding the back-

swing very simple: if the spine is in line everything

from your neck down will work automatically!

And thus you set in motion a chain reaction –

coiling the shoulder line through 90 degrees ignites

the following:

• Your torso coils and loads

• Your hips will turn between 30-45 degrees

• Your right knee will move back a hint yet retain

For the modern tour player regular work-

outs in the gym are part and parcel of

the daily routine – and, for the sake of

posture and the coiling motion generally I

would urge all of you who are serious

about improving your golf to work on

basic levels of ‘core’ fitness. It’s easy to

fall into bad posture if your core muscles

are in poor shape and you are liable to

become fatigued towards the end of a

round. And it takes only a minor slump to

wreak havoc in your backswing and

jeopardise your lower back and neck.

Ouch! At far left I am illustrating a typ-

ical fault – a slumped posture with the

spine clearly arched and out of line. And

look at how this minor kink deteriorates

into a weak ineffective coil. The ‘loading’

that is normally created by coiling the

shoulders becomes concentrated into

one place. No longer is the massive load

of shoulder coil spread evenly along the

full length of the spine (or comb).

As a result of the dramatic deteriora-

tion in the backswing movement, we

become weak in 5 areas:

• Shoulder coil is less than 90 degrees

• Hip turn is reduced

• Legs become static

• Almost zero weight shift

• Head liable to lateral sway

This clearly demonstrates the dam-

age done to the spine when all the force

of the coil becomes focused in one

‘Tip from the hip’ when taking your set-up position andcreate this distinctspine angle

All is then fine whenyou rotate with yourspine in the right line!

REMEMBER, THE SPINE ANGLE PROVIDES THE AXIS TO YOUR ROTATIONWork on your posture to create the angles that help you make a good coil

IS YOUR GOLF IN A SLUMP?Rounded, lazy posture destroys dynamics

A kink in thespine leads toineffectivecoiling...

...as the load isspread unevenlyalong the length ofthe comb

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


TRAVEL


MALLORCA

Good enough to stage a EuropeanSeniors tour event, Son Gual is one ofthe island’s ‘must-plays’; after your game,don’t miss a stop at Jamon & Jamon, oneof several venues on Palma’s weeklytapas crawl ‘Ruta Martiana’


The island of Mallorca is blessed with all the ingredients you need to create a fabulous holiday – great golf being just one of them Andrew Marshall reportsWORDS: AnDReW MARShAll • PhOTOS: PAul MARShAll

Tee Times & Tapas

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


often tell people that the main reason I fell in love

with golf was the 1988 US Masters, but that’s not

strictly true. Sandy Lyle’s victory at Augusta that

weekend might have introduced me to my new

green religion, but following that came a kind of trial period, where

I probably could have gone either way. As a youth of little attention

span, I’d spent the previous three years wearing out sports like

cheap socks. Watching Lyle notch up a second Masters (the British,

this time) at Woburn drew me in a little further to golf’s tangled

web, though Nick Faldo’s play-off with Curtis Strange at the US

Open a few weeks later at The Country Club in Brooklyne felt a bit

too much like hard work.

I came to the 1988 Open as a Faldo fan: mainly because I’d been

rooting for him to win at The Country Club, I’d heard he was an

only child, like me, and I’d been told by someone he was quite sim-

ply the golfer you liked in 1988, if you were British. But by the

beginning of day four, at Royal Lytham, my loyalties had shifted. I’d

never really been properly exposed to Seve in full flow before, and it

was immediately apparent that he was a far different golfing beast.

You could tell that from the moment the two of them settled over

the ball: Seve did it like he was a jungle cat, waiting to pounce;

Faldo, meanwhile, as deliberate and charismatic as the ‘Geometric

George’ shapes on his Pringle sweaters. Not only that, Seve seemed

to enjoy golf so much more. Also, he made Peter Alliss, in the com-

mentary box, whisper, and it was clear that you had to be an excit-

ing player to do that.

By this point, I’d heard the golfing old guard citing Rudyard

Kipling’s line in his poem If about being able to “meet with triumph

and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same” as a

summation of what it took to be a great golfing machine, but that

sounded kind of boring, and didn’t appear to apply to Seve at all.

This was eight years after his first victory at Lytham, when he had

charged after his shots seemingly before he had hit them, but golf

still seemed to pull his body and mind off in myriad different direc-

tions, and this was much of the fun of watching him.

Plenty has been made of Seve’s “car park shot” on the sixteenth

in that 1979 tournament, but it’s his approach shot on the same

hole in the final round in 1988 that has made an even more lasting

imprint on my brain. A nine-iron that actually grazes the hole after

landing, it’s a stroke that looks to have been willed: proof that

there’s an alchemy of touch and spirit to great golf shots; that

they’re not just a matter of perfect yardages and robotically correct

shoulder turns. The chip that Seve hit from

the side of the 18th green forty minutes

later is another, perhaps even more memo-

rable, example of the same thing: grazing

the hole, again, it’s a shot that somehow

seems to deserve to go in the hole more

than the swinging, tradesman’s entrance

final green putt that had won him his second Open, at St Andrews,

four years previously.

It seems strange to me now remembering the fact that my par-

ents didn’t have a video recorder in 1988, since over the next six

months I feel like I rewatched that shot endlessly, so many were the

times I replayed it in my head. I didn’t have a sand-iron, or even a

wedge, but my nine-iron – together with an early 20th century 7-

iron, a putter, and a driver with a hole in its face and its whipping

hanging off, one of the three clubs I owned – became Seve’s gleam-

ing club, and every time I chipped I heard Seve’s ball being pinched

off the turf and the cameras clicking, just as they had that day at

Lytham. What a sound that shot had made. I’d been a little bit

obsessive about Aston Villa in the years leading up to that, but from

that moment on, they – and the inferior game they played – became

an afterthought. You could spend all day messing about with a foot-

ball, but you could never make a noise as good as that.


LITERALLY GOLF

A cavallier approach to the game made Sevethe player we all willed to win, while his empathywith the common man made him the golfer wetook to our hearts. Tom Cox was among thecrowd at the 1988 Open

TOM COX

I

Royal Lytham 1988: for Seve, the love and support of the Britishpublic was like having a15th club in the bag

PH

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Crowd pleaser

JULY 2011GOLFINTERNATIONALMAG.COM 43

Seve might not have been what you called a hellraiser, but he

subverted virtually everything I’d been told about golfers: that they

didn’t dress well, that they were all middle-class, that they were

non-flamboyant, dull. “It’s a pity that I didn’t find any cars on the

16th fairway this time,” he said in his victory speech at Lytham.

“The R&A should park their cars on the fairway.” This was hardly

Woody Allen, certainly, and it perhaps doesn’t look all that witty

written down, but for a victory speech, from a golfer who still didn’t

speak the world’s clearest English, it was pretty damn sharp, espe-

cially when you introduced the Spanish accent to it. “Will you be

watching this later on News At Ten?” a reporter asked Seve earlier

that week. “News At Ten?” he replied. “I will be sleeping by then.”

Later, when assigning pro names for ourselves in our after-school

friendly fourballs, my friends and I at my Midlands golf club gener-

ally let Steve – the half-Spanish one amongst us – be “Seve”. In

truth, though, we all wanted to be him: we learned our wristy chip-

ping actions from him, our facial expression when we hit a bad

shot. When really going for a drive, it wasn’t a Greg Norman or

Mark Calcavecchia follow through we mimicked; it was The Seve

Twirl. No wonder we’ve all ended up with back problems by the

time we hit 25.

That Open set the bar too high: normal Major Championships did-

n’t go on five days, feature three of the very best golfers in the world

playing their best golf of the year, and end with the world’s most

charismatic player shooting 65 to win. It was a hard lesson to learn

for me, and – unthinkable as it was at the time – Seve would never

win another major, or even come all that close to it. Some had even

said he was in decline before that, wasting chances to win the 1986

and 1987 Masters. Which makes me wonder: how Seve-crazy would

my friends and I have been if he had lived up to his potential in the

following few years? A year later, in 1989, at the PGA at Wentworth, I

and a group of other autograph-hunting teens virtually ignored Faldo

as he came out of the scorer’s tent, then, a matter of minutes later,

charged after Seve. To this day, he remains the only five time major

champion whose back I have enthusiastically mounted.

Was I partly responsible for the back problems that contributed to

the demise of Seve’s career in the early-to-mid 90s? I really hope not.

I’m sure he also had plenty of other enthusiastic adolescent fans

jump on his spine during his years in the limelight. None of us liked

watching Seve burn out so quickly, but there is also a slight, guilty

feeling that to watch his career ending was no less sad than it would

have been to watch him half-succeeding into his forties and fifties.

I fully egged on the Seve who won the PGA at Wentworth in

1991, but, with his irons off the tee, and somewhat ragged victory,

he wasn’t quite the same Seve I knew existed. His golf and persona

for the first decade and a half of his career burned so bright that,

FOR FULL ARTICLE...


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WORLD NEWS

At the top of his gameOpening his account at Wentworth with an astonishing 64, Luke Donald gave notice of hisintentions on the world No. 1 spot. In the end, it took a playoff with the man who started theweek at the top of the rankings, Lee Westwood, to seal the deal. Andy Farrell reports

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WORLD NEWS

At the top of his gameOpening his account at Wentworth with an astonishing 64, Luke Donald gave notice of hisintentions on the world No. 1 spot. In the end, it took a playoff with the man who started theweek at the top of the rankings, Lee Westwood, to seal the deal. Andy Farrell reports

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EDITED BY ANDY FARRELL

FOR FULL ARTICLE...



Montgomerie’s life had become so hectic post Celtic Manor that he

could not find the right balance. “I’m so very busy,” he said just

before leaving the Wales Open. “You think you’re just a tournament

golfer but there’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes. It’s busy,

busy. Don’t get me wrong. It’s good being busy but it takes your toll

as you are trying to compete against guys that are only doing this and

that and guys who are less than half my age.

“I want to try and play a little more than I have and try and play

my way out of the way I’m playing. I played OK last week but that

was once in a bloody blue moon.

That’s not enough to write home

about and then you’re back to

square one with a bump.”

Consider also Graeme McDowell.

2010 was McDowell’s year of years,

the year he won the Wales Open, the

US Open, beat Tiger in a playoff to

win the Chevron Challenge and,

memorably, the point that got

Europe home in the Ryder Cup.

The start of 2011 was different.

Missed cuts in three of his first four

events on the PGA tour in the US

were a portent. Third in the Abu

Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship

was encouraging and he came 9th

and 5th in the two match play

events in the first half of the sea-

son. Then he was joint leader after

54 holes at The Players in the US in

May and one stroke behind the

leader at the halfway stage of the

Wales Open in June.

But in the last round at

Jacksonville he slumped to a 79,

seven over par. And in Wales, where

he was the defending champion, he

had an 81 in the third round. He dropped eight strokes in the first

seven holes and then ran up an 8 on a par four. “By then my head

was gone,” McDowell said. “The first seven holes were the craziest I

have played in a long time.”

And the reason? McDowell, like Montgomerie, was doing his best to

maximise his publicity and play golf and the one was probably affect-

ing the other. Few people in history have been so accommodating as

the affable and intelligent Irishman. “We’ve had hundreds of requests

for him to do things and we grant perhaps 10% or 15%,” Colin

Morrissey of Horizon Sports Management, McDowell’s agents, said.

“Graeme has realised his responsibilities brilliantly. Because he gives

honest answers, he is more and more in demand. It’s not just the

pure golf media it’s travel magazines, airline magazines, radio sta-

tions in the US.”

nd the hardest thing in golf is? The long bunker

shot? Winning the first major championship? Then

winning a second and third to show that the first was

not a fluke and that you are not a one-major wonder?

How about the difficult balancing trick of playing

excellently and winning big tournaments, major championships even,

and then sustaining that level of play while coping with the extra

demands on your time that have arrived because of your outstanding

golf and increased prominence in the game?

Take Colin Montgomerie for exam-

ple. No one deserves his place in the

spotlight more than the Scot after

leading Europe so well in the 2010

Ryder Cup. Montgomerie and his

manager have a fiduciary duty to

cash in on that success. It will last

only until the next match after which

it will be the turn of Jose Maria

Olazabal, the captain in 2012, turn to

cash in, win or lose. So in the weeks

that followed Europe’s victory it was:

“Colin, could you endorse this prod-

uct? Colin, could you give a clinic in

Holland? Colin, would you design a

course in Thailand, compete in a

tournament in Sicily?” Montgomerie’s

response was almost always the

same: “Great. Of course. Super.

Thank you.”

Then your golf begins to go off.

Just a stroke or two each round ini-

tially and then three or four. Next

come one or two high scores on an

individual hole followed by high

scores over 18 holes.

Montgomerie’s first six months in

2011 have pretty much followed this

pattern. Nine events played, one top

ten finish, 88th in the Race to Dubai.

Insult was added to indignity in the

SAAB Wales Open in June. Eight

months earlier Montgomerie had

been Lord of the Manor. Now he was Last at the Manor. Rounds of 78

and 79 for a total of 15 over par were his worst as a professional on a

European Tour event since an 80, 81 at St Mellion in 1991. “It’s

awful,” Monty said, shaking his head and adding for effect: “Not just

not playing at the weekend. I’m one of the last names on the board.”

Montgomerie’s attempts to qualify for the Open emphasized his

dilemma. One year earlier he’d had a 62 in pre-qualifying at

Sunningdale and swept magisterially into the Open for the 21st time in

a row. This year his rounds were 71 and 74, last of those who finished.

LAST SHOT

It takes disciplined time management to juggle the demands that inevitably follow success with the effortnecessary to maintain performance where it matters most – out on the course. Just ask Monty and GMac

Hitting the jackpot – then missing the cut!

JOHNHOPKINS

A

Monty’s stock has never beenhigher off the golf course; on itthe game has become onelong struggle

PH

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