No Champion Golfer Of The Year This Year.

There will be no Open Championship this year, for the first time since World War II. Consequently, Rory McIlroy (among others) will not be able to pursue another Claret Jug in 2020.  So, let's harken back to less difficult times, to an earlier post in The Golf Album Blog:

Rory McIlroy’s official title as winner of the 2014 Open Championship is “Champion Golfer Of The Year”.  (If you don’t believe me, check here.)  This quaint title is derived from the Claret Jug itself.  Don’t you know, the Claret Jug has a formal name.  The Claret Jug’s proper name is the Golf Champion Trophy.  The Golf Champion Trophy dates back to 1873, when the original silver Claret Jug was hallmarked.  Ever since then, the Champion Golfer Of The Year has hoisted the trophy at the conclusion of the Open Championship, perhaps none more proudly than Ireland’s son with a few of his friends this year.  Champion Golfer of the Year, indeed, perhaps Champion Golfer of a new era as well.

Champion Golfer with a few friends

Copyright R.E. Kelly 2012-2020

AMDG

We'll Tak' a Cup o' Kindness Yet, for Auld Lang Syne

I have posted about this special topic before, but forgive me if I beg your indulgence once again. It bears repeating as we leave one decade behind and move forward to a new one. And remember to take  a cup of kindness while you are it.

Whether the world knows it or not, a large swath of humanity pays homage to Robert Burns, the poet laureate of Scotland, when celebrating the New Year.  His poem and song, Auld Lang Syne, written in 1788, will be sung at midnight by hundreds of millions of people around the globe, and I would guess that only a minuscule percentage of those revelers will know who wrote it and what it means. (The phrase Auld Lang Syne can be roughly translated as “old times” or “days gone by”.)

While I could find no reference to Robert Burns playing golf during a quick trip through the Internet, I believe he was a sportsman, as he was a member of the Royal Company of Archers in 1792.  And Burns was born in Ayrshire, home of several of the world’s greatest courses (Royal Troon, Turnberry and Prestwick Golf Club, the home of the first Open Championship).  

The best-laid schemes...

While the game of golf predates Auld Lang Syne by centuries (the first documented mention of golf in Scotland appears in a 1457 Act of the Scottish Parliament, an edict issued by King James II of Scotland prohibiting the playing of the games of golf and football  as these were a distraction from archery practice for military purposes) it’s hard to imagine a true Scotsman who does not (and for many centuries did not) have golf in his blood.  So give a passing thought to Rabbie (not Rabbi) Burns when you drunkenly warble his melancholy tribute to days gone by at midnight tonight, and dream later of making memories in the future from rounds of golf shared with family and friends.

Here are the original words to perhaps the world’s most famous poem:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne.?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stoup!
and surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak' a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae run about the braes,
and pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
sin' auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
sin' auld lang syne.

Happy New Year!!

Copyright R.E. Kelly 2012-2021

AMDG

Phil Phasts to Make New Phireside Chat...

...  and to make the Cut at Royal Phortrush. Stay out of the rouph, Phil!

watch at SI.com here

Copyright R.E. Kelly 2012-2019

AMDG

The Royal & Ancient Goes Buggy

John Daly and his golf cart (or “buggy”, as golf carts are called by our British cousins across the pond) have been in the news a great deal lately.  First Daly  took a great deal of heat for riding a cart at the recent PGA Championship at the famed Bethpage Black course on Long Island.  Despite several articles explaining Daly’s  qualifications for using a cart pursuant to the American Disabilities Act, predictably the reaction mostly failed to recognize his disability. In addition,  there was the usual snark from the most recent sports recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The bottom line was that John Daly just wanted to compete in a major tournament that he had won in spectacular fashion 28 years previously and which had changed his life forever.  Who can blame him?

Then, on the eve of the 148th British Open being held in Northern Ireland for the first time in 68 years, as reported by the Associated Press, the Royal and Ancient adopted ancient views and refused a request by former champion  Daly to use a golf cart at the championship in Royal Portrush this week.
Daly had applied to use a cart because of the same disability which qualified him to ride a cart in the PGA Championship. 

Turn The Cart Around!

The AP reported that the R&A statement indicated  it was declining Daly’s  request because “walking the course is an integral part of the championship and is central to the tradition of links golf.” It said it was important to “ensure that, as far as possible, the challenge is the same for all players in the field.”
The governing body stated that Portrush in Northern Ireland was not suited to “buggies”, and was concerned that “some parts of the course, where there are severe slopes and swales, would be inaccessible.”

The R&A statement also said that "We have carefully considered the request from John Daly to use a buggy at The Open," it said in a statement Saturday. "We appreciate the difficulty John is facing and have full sympathy for him as this is clearly a serious, long-term condition. Having considered all of the relevant factors, the Championship Committee has decided to decline his request.
The R&A also said the terrain at Royal Portrush "is not suited to buggies" and isn't permitted by the club.

"This is not a decision we have taken lightly but we believe it is the right one for The Open," the R&A said. "John has a special place in our hearts as a Champion Golfer and he will always be welcome at the Championship both at Royal Portrush and in future."

Trivial sidebar:  Courtesy of US Today Ryder Cup Trivia, In the last 50 years, name the only two-time major champion to never play in the Ryder Cup when eligible?  John Daly.

Although most  of us will never hit enough good shots to merit playing (or even riding) in one of golf’s major championships , we all do hit that one shot that’s memorable.   

It’s that one shot that brings you back, isn’t it.  You’re having a lousy round, but that last iron shot to within five feet for a makeable birdie to salvage a disastrous round on the final hole always brings you back.  What a tease. 

I lived it.  The one time I played the Old Course at St. Andrews, many moons ago, I had a hellacious day.  As a portent of things to come, on the first hole I striped a 7-iron from the fairway after a middling tee shot, nice and high, perfect for a midlands course, a disaster for a links course.  The ball flew straight into the teeth of a strong wind (or zephyr, as the locals call it)   that never relented the entire round.  My ball sailed high and straight and after a long, beautiful flight landed about 25 feet in front of me.  Oh boy, an elephant’s ass if there ever was one (high and stinky.) 

On the way out on the front, the wind blew across from left to right out to the Firth of Forth, taking every one of my shots hard right with it. I played out of the right rough the whole way out to the turn, waving to the happy bathers out on the strand on every hole, who were blissfully ignorant of my frustration at every shot. 

Then, after the turn, heading in, the wind blew hard right to left, again taking all my shots with it.  Ugh.  I loved hitting from the adjacent fairway on every hole, since I hadn’t hit one from that fairway the entire way out from the clubhouse.  And don’t ask about the Road Hole.

But  on the last hole I drove over the Swilcan Burn, and, staring the Valley of Sin right in the gob, I put an iron shot 10 feet from the hole, pin high,  and two-putted for par.  The sun reflected brightly from  the craggy face of the iconic R &A clubhouse, with a bagpipe playing somewhere in the old town behind us (true!), and despite the fact that my score for that round resembled a bad blood pressure reading, I was already looking forward to the next round of golf.  I was ready to turn the cart around. 

Original lyrics:  Shattered, by O.A.R

Composers:	Gregg Wattenberg Marc Roberge
Lyricists:	Gregg Wattenberg Marc Roberge
Date:	2008
Publisher:	EMI Music Publishing

Copyright:       EMI April Music, Inc., G WATT Music

                        and Old Man Time Music, Inc.

In a way, I need a change
From this blasted game

Another chunk, another putt, another lousy score
But it's always back to golf

Fumble left and right
At the driving range
Got the cart, sat and thought
There's more I need
It's always back to you

But I'm good without ya
Yeah No good without you
Yeah, yeah, yeah

How many times can I swing til I stripe it?
way out of bounds, can't decide what’s the matter

I always turn the cart around

Give me a break; let me make a good swing plane
All that it takes is some time
Yes I'm shattered
I always turn the cart around

I had no idea that the round

Would take so damn long
Took it out, on the path

While the putts don’t fall
Push it right again

But I'm good without ya
Yeah No good without you
Yeah, yeah, yeah

How many times can I swing til I stripe it?
way out of bounds, can't decide what’s the matter

I always turn the cart around

Give me a break; let me make a good swing plane
All that it takes is some time
Yes I'm shattered
I always turn the cart around

Give it up, give it up Baby
Can’t give it up, give it up no how

How many times can I change  my damn putter?
Can’t find the line, can't decide left or right lip
I always turn the cart around

How many times can I swing til I stripe it?
way out of bounds, can't decide what’s the matter

I always turn the cart around

Don't wanna turn that cart around
But I gotta turn this thing around

Composers:	Gregg Wattenberg Marc Roberge
Lyricists:	Gregg Wattenberg Marc Roberge
Date:	2008
Publisher:	EMI Music Publishing

Copyright EMI April Music, Inc., G WATT Music and Old Man Time Music, Inc.

Copyright R.E. Kelly 2012-2019

AMDG

Argentina Cries For Roberto

Argentina has lost a legend.  Roberto De Vicenzo, the country’s greatest golfer and arguably one of the greatest golfers of all time, has passed away at the age of 94.  De Vicenzo won the most professional golf tournaments ever, and by a large margin:

1.  Roberto De Vicenzo                       230 wins

2.  Gary Player                                  165 wins

3,  Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki                 111 wins

De Vicenzo won tournaments all over the globe, as did Player.  Ozaki won 110 tournaments in Japan, one in New Zealand, the New Zealand PGA Championship in 1972.

De Vicenzo was the first Argentinean to win the British Open, winning  at Hoylake in 1967.  He also won the first United States Senior Open.  He remains the only South American to win the British Open in its 145 years of competition. 

But he is most famous for  a clerical error which may have cost him the Masters title in 1968, and resulted in the greatest sports quote of all time.

As  The Guardian tells the story:

The perils of signing [a scorecard]for an incorrect total were demonstrated by the Argentinian golfer Roberto De Vicenzo, on one of the biggest golfing stages of all – the Masters at Augusta in the US – who thereby lost the best chance he ever had of winning it. De Vicenzo, who has died aged 94, experienced his misfortune on the event’s final day in 1968. Having made a birdie at the par-four 17th to put himself in contention with the American Bob Goalby, he finished the round on 65 – seven under par – and waited for Goalby to finish. Goalby arrived with a 66, tying the two of them in first place on a four-round total of 277 and setting up a play-off for the title.

That, at least, was how it seemed. But De Vicenzo’s playing partner, Tommy Aaron, who was responsible for marking the Argentinian’s scorecard, had mistakenly recorded a four at the 17th instead of a three. He then failed to notice his error even as he added up the total at the end of the round and handed the card over for verification. Distracted by the declamatory hullabaloo of the crowd and media, De Vicenzo gave the score only a cursory glance before scrawling his signature against it.

The officials were a degree more attentive, and when the card arrived in their hands they quickly confirmed that De Vicenzo had signed for a higher total than he had actually registered. Although everyone in the golfing world knew his real score, the rules state that if you sign for a higher total, then the higher total has to stand. De Vicenzo therefore finished one shot behind Goalby, blowing his chance of a play-off and handing the American the title.

When notified of his mistake, a crestfallen De Vicenzo famously cried out, in English: “What a stupid I am!” His anguish was justified: he was by then 45 years of age and he never came close to winning the Masters again. But his plight attracted a worldwide outpouring of sympathy and affection, heightened by his measured and sporting reaction. De Vicenzo’s name thereafter became synonymous both with sporting bad luck and with dignity in bitter defeat…

A wise and compassionate man, De Vicenzo remained sanguine about his Masters debacle, but beneath the surface the events of that final day in 1968 still rankled. At one point a group of sympathetic fellow players had a Masters green jacket specially made with De Vicenzo’s name sewn into the lining, and presented it to him as if he had been the winner. Although he was touched by the gesture he could never bring himself to wear the garment.

So, Argentina mourns one of its greatest sports heroes, and the golf world should too.  As great and famous as his “What a stupid I am” is, De Vicenzo should be remembered for his WGHOF status and his all- time accomplishments, a record, Like Jack’s, that will never be broken.  So, despite the admonishment of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, his beloved home country should shed more than a few tears (with apologies to Maradona and Angel Cabrera) for its greatest sports hero.

AMDG

Copyright R.E. Kelly 2012 - 2021