Back to England for the first time this year. Without breaking from tradition, we are greeted by miserable weather at the Oxfordshire. The event has been dogged by bad weather ever since it moved from Fulford in York.
St Mellion in Cornwall, the previous venue, always seemed more suited to an Alpine trekking tournament, given the mountainous nature of the course and its propensity to snow.
That jinx was lifted last Friday afternoon. The wind dropped, the sun shone and the early Thursday and late Friday players were benefitting from the luck of the draw.
Those golfers sitting on one under par, having completed two rounds, were wishing that the inclement weather of the tournament would continue for at least another few hours, to improve their chances of qualifying. A par to one under cut moved up to a two under cut as the wind lulled and sweaters were discarded in the afternoon sunshine. Those who ground out a one under total in nasty morning conditions could feel justifiably peeved. At noon they were planning an afternoon of practice for play in the weekend. By mid-afternoon they were packing their bags and planning a trip home. The idea of having a two tee start for the first two rounds of the tournament is to try and balance out the element of chance. Likewise, going early one day and late the next should even out the advantage of playing on smoother greens in the morning. By late afternoon, some greens can look more like diced avocado than carefully prepared putting surfaces. Only the intrepid putter can feel any confidence of holing more than a three footer. The effects of over 250 caddies and players crossing the greens, together with some grass growth, can definitely reduce the late starters chances of holing putts. A common emotion in golf is to feel hard done by. Professionals are no exception. Some will tell you that they haven't been on the good side of the draw since they turned pro. They are of such a pessimistic persuasion that if you gave them 44 numbers out of 50 in the lottery, they would expect the other six to come up.
They also suffer from instant amnesia when it comes to remembering the good breaks in a round. The 40 foot putt holed over a ridge isn't as clearly remembered as the three footer missed. The leaderboard was dominated by those who played on Friday afternoon. Hopefully they remember that when they feel they have been disadvantaged by the weather somewhere else during the year. I hope there were not too many of the pessimists on the wrong side of this draw, otherwise they might start to believe that there is some force working against them. It was a homecoming for Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood. Due to a mysterious arm injury, Lee didn't start and doesn't know when he will be back. His substitute made good use of his late inclusion. A par and an albatross planted Francis Valera of Spain on top of the early leaderboard. His hot start was naturally not greeted with quite the enthusiasm that the home crowd had hoped to foist upon Westwood. It does show that the depth of the field is of such a standard that the reserves are ready to replace and compete with the best. We got a first live look at Sandy Lyle's new two-piece backswing. It is so distinctly two separate movements that all previous two-piece backswings look positively fluid and rhythmical by comparison.
With Faldo, who is more interesting to watch than when he was in his prime, you now get to watch him slash his ball out of the rough more often and chip and putt for pars. It is unusual to watch a former par perfectionist reduced to frequent scrambling. If you look at his face, it is easy to tell he is obviously not enjoying his current struggle for form.
Our third round paired us with Bernhard Langer. An outside observer would probably surmise that tee to green Turner outplayed Langer. He hit longer, straighter drives and hit his approaches closer to the pin. But on the short grass, Langer wasted nothing, unlike Turner. The final tally saw the German five shots better than Turner. In his unflamboyant fashion, Bernhard compiled a workman-like four under par. In terms of the end justifying the means, there is no better exponent. His detailed preparation and tenacity is admirable. I'm not too sure, however, if it's that interesting for the spectators to watch. Bernhard and his caddie, Peter Coleman, who have worked together for over 12 years, remind me of a happily married middle-aged couple. They are a team who work well together. On the tenth green Bernhard asked Pete which way he thought the putt broke. After contemplating the line in a casual manner, he replied "I think it's the opposite to what you're thinking." Without Langer insinuating beforehand what he thought the putt did, I was amused by Pete's reply. I suppose after over a decade of decision-making the slightest of gestures is enough for one to guess what the other is thinking.
Whatever the caddie may be pondering, you can be sure that if Langer is your boss he's thinking precision. After a team conferral over a 15-foot birdie putt, the ball rolled into the hole. But obviously Pete did not read the putt precisely enough. As Langer plucked the ball from the hole, I overheard him mumble to Pete that the ball went in the right side of the cup and not straight as he had obviously advised. It was a good two, but not a great one in German terms: the ball didn't go into the middle of the hole.
