Is the Royal and Ancient sport headed for revolution and anarchy? It’s the only conclusion to be drawn if the feelings of the executive director of one of the most influential club manufacturers are widely felt.
Fed up with all the restrictions that prevent his company from making drivers that propel the ball 600 yards, and the proposed ban that would effectively be the death knell for long putters, the long putter-using CEO has got his own solution: let’s get rid of the rule makers instead.
‘What needs to happen is the industry needs to come together without the USGA. Leave them out,’ said Mark King, head of TaylorMade.
The USGA is the United States Golf Association, the governing body in America for more than a century. Presumably, King would also leave out the Royal and Ancient, who lay down the rules for the rest of the world.
Now we all have our own opinions about golf’s ludicrously complex rules book (there, I have just given you mine). And, as I know from my bulging email file, the proposed neutering of the effectiveness of the belly putter is causing any amount of golfers a good deal of angst.
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But would King’s world really be a better one than life under the reigning monarchs? King says he doesn’t care what the USGA do — his company are going to continue to make long putters regardless, and he is going to continue to use one whether they’re banned or not.
When it comes to club golf, he says: ‘We need to tell golfers you can play with a 15-inch hole, with 20 clubs in your bag, winter rules, taking a gimme and saying that’s cool. It’s fine. Enjoy it.’
Enjoy it? Does that sound like a better game to you? Isn’t the pleasure for millions precisely the fact it is such a difficult game to master? Whatever happened to the old belief that golf was the sport that ‘you never had under your thumb, and you never play a round that couldn’t have been better’?
King said: ‘Here’s a prediction — the USGA will be a nonentity within 10 years, they will be a non-factor because they are choosing to be on the outside and no-one is signing up for what they represent. The industry is going to move away from them and pass them. They’re obsolete.’
Revolution it seems to be, then. The first one ever led by a King.
Tiger at Torrey is quite a storySeven titles on the biggest tour in world golf and a victory in a major championship would represent a fabulous career for the vast majority of tournament professionals.
It adds up to a better career than the 1996 Open champion Tom Lehman managed, for example, so it’s pretty good company to keep.
It is also, would you believe, what Tiger Woods has managed on a single course, as he opened his account for the season by wrapping up victory No 75 on the US Tour with a four-shot win in the delayed finish to the Farmers Insurance Open last night.
Favourite places: Tiger Woods has frequently excelled at Torrey PinesSeven of those wins have come at fabled Torrey Pines, not far from where he grew up and learned to play the game. It was also the scene of his unforgettable 2008 US Open triumph — his last one to date — which also had a Monday finish when he outlasted Rocco Mediate in a 19-hole play-off despite suffering from a broken leg and ruptured cruciate ligament.
‘I could take out of my life everything except my experiences at St Andrews and I would still have a rich, full life,’ the great American amateur Bobby Jones once said. Tiger must feel the same way about Torrey.
Quote of the week‘An enormous weight has been lifted off my shoulders with this win. I’ve seen a few mates pick up trophies on tour and it feels such an honour to join them. Now I feel like I can go on and win more.’
The general acclaim that followed Englishman Chris Wood’s maiden European Tour win in Qatar on Saturday is testament not only to a genuine talent but a genuine man. Let’s hope the 25-year-old Bristolian makes good on his promise and continues to train on.
Hailed: Chris Wood was praised as a player and as a man Colin watchThe friends of Colin Montgomerie might want to circle the second week in June 2020 and keep him under careful watch. That’s the week the US Open will return to Winged Foot for the first time since 2006, when the Scot threw away the most golden opportunity imaginable to end his career with a major, double-bogeying the last when even a bogey would have earned him a play-off. To borrow from Doug Sanders, there must be days when he goes 15 minutes without thinking about it.
More... Tiger hits top form to build six-shot lead at Torrey Pines but finish delayed by fog Wood holds his nerve at the last to beat Garcia and lift Qatar Masters trophy
