THE pulses are quickening, the spine is tingling, the senses are growing – the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor is but a few months away. And Tiger Woods has said he wants to be there.
Music to the ears of all golf lovers, and many more besides, after months of speculation that the Tiger would not be at the Manor because of all the furore surrounding his private life.
The magical Masters revealed the best and worst of Woods, the three-putt on the final day after an unforgettable ‘blind’ approach shot to the green at the ninth on the opening day.
Whatever he may have got up to off the course, the guy is a golfing great and it will be up to the European team at the Celtic Manor at the beginning of October to bring him down to earth.
A lot more water has to flow under the bridge between now and then and Woods is going to take another break from the game, presumably to try to further sort out the tangled web of his private life.
How he thought he could win the Masters after five months out of the game and all the stresses and strains that accompanied his excesses only he knows, but equal fourth to him was more like finishing 44th.
Some people react differently under a global spotlight and Woods is clearly a flawed genius, but a golfing genius all the same and for so many to judge him now is a case of people in glasshouses...
It was no bad thing for him to return in the closeted setting which is Augusta for the Masters, but to expect him to be exposed to any and every question the world’s media throw at him is at best cruel and at worst ridiculous.
Of course it was wrong for one questioner in that pre-tournament media conference to shout out ‘What were you in rehab for?’ And Woods was so right to answer ‘that’s private.’ And as for the rules and regulations surrounding Augusta, why not? Why must everything be open house? Tradition and respect is rapidly disappearing from every aspect of life, so it makes a refreshing change for the Augusta authorities to insist on proper behaviour and decorum.
If a few rowdies don’t adhere to their rules then they should be thrown out. If Woods is abused by anyone at the Celtic Manor or anywhere else then he or she should be promptly ejected. Never allowed to return? Sounds right to me.
The Ryder Cup won’t be just about Woods of course, but he sure will be one massive drawing card. The crowds at Augusta were said to be around 30,000-35,000 every day, but compare that with the Celtic Manor when around 50,000 per day will flock there. What a magnificent spectacle it promises to be.
And almost as magnetic as Woods will be Phil Mickelson who won the Masters so gloriously and also had to battle a family misfortune when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago.
An altogether different proposition from Woods, more amenable, more in tune with everyone and everything around him, Mickelson is another golfing genius but one who enjoys a great rapport with the packed galleries.
I mention the two Americans despite the terrific effort of Lee Westwood because the pair take the game to a different level, they have a mystique about them and a kind of ethereal quality which mere mortals don’t possess.
Westwood, and for that matter Ian Poulter, are great ball strikers, accurate, highly capable golfers who leave little to chance. But Woods and Mickelson have that little extra, that indefinable quality about them.
In football terms it’s a bit like comparing Rooney and his all-round excellence with the genius which is Messi, the genius which is Ronaldo. It’s not quite the same thing.
And as a final tribute to the Masters, how gratifying that the BBC show it rather than Sky for they offer that bit more which their rivals can’t – the national treasure which is Peter Alliss, much like Bill McLaren, Harry Carpenter and Peter O’Sullevan, his relationship with Ken Brown, the excellence of Sam Torrance and Wayne Grady, it all made for a magical few days, or rather late nights.
The Celtic Manor has a lot to live up to.
But I have no doubt it will – Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in Newport, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Augusta for the Masters must be like heaven on earth for all those lucky enough to be there, but a ticket for the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor to watch golfing gods Woods and Mickelson is going to be red hot, too.
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