Pond Scrum: No division on whether we have a suitable new No. 1
Hes half-Scottish, half-English and married to an American lass he met while attending college in the United States.
The latest guy to man the top spot i both in terms of his DNA makeup and the defining hallmarks of his game.
Undersized and underpowered compared to the mashers of the modern era and often lampooned over the years for an inability to win, Luke Donald upended reigning Lee Westwood in a playoff Sunday at the BMW PGA Championship outside London, an important event that produced quite a 1-2 punch by any definition of the term.
Donald, who last fall was named to the Ryder Cup as an at-large pick because he didnt qualify through either of the points systems, has proved this season that consistency, if not outright constancy, sometimes wins the race.
In an incredible run that began in Atlanta at the Tour Championship last fall, Donald has finished outside the top 10 only once in his past 15 worldwide starts at events earning world-ranking points, amassing two victories, three seconds, two thirds and a pair of fourths in that span.
And for one of the rare instances since we began our weekly Pond Scrum crossfire in January, our two anointed experts are in complete agreement, crooning and swooning in stereophonic praise and Transatlantic harmony, about Donalds rightful ascendance to the top.
As for almost everything else on their global hot list, European Tour correspondent John Huggan and CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling are locked in the same syncopated step and arrhythmic annoyance as ever.
All hail the new king. Luke Donald supplants fellow Englishman Lee Westwood as world No. 1, winning an exceedingly rare duel between the two top-rated players in the rankings. Any idea how long Donald holds on to the top spot?
Elling: Englishmen finished 1-2-3 on the leaderboard at the European Tours signature event. I bet you Scottish folks are conflicted as heck, eh? In London parlance, I suspect they will be tracking Donalds tenure by glancing at Big Ben. No, thats not an indictment of Donald, but a realistic comment on the turnover this year. I mean, were not even out of May, and weve had three different world No. 1s already. Some fans love the extra plotlines when the world ranking is on the line, but its getting downright confusing to track the scenarios, which evolve from day to day. “Huggan can move up to No. 1 if Elling skips lunch and Huggan eats no more than three cookies for dessert.” I have effectively stopped trying to track the day-to-day permutations, really.
Huggan: I have no problem with the half-Scottish Luke Donald ascending to the throne. And I must admit to being wrong about how far young Luke was going to go in this game. If he wins a major soon, in fact, I could not have been more wrong. “Good but not great” was my assessment a couple of years ago. Good on him, I say. And yes, the mathematical permutations of the rankings are not worth worrying about … look at the new list every Monday morning and go from there.
Elling: The best part of the BMW PGA Championship was that nobody can quibble about his ascension to the throne anymore. He beat the top dog, . As it should be. I loved the theater. The stage itself, not so much.
Huggan: That part of the event was surely exciting. Shame about the course though. The combination of the redesign and some very silly pin positions made the whole week a bit of a grind for all concerned.
Elling: It felt sort of medieval. Two guys going at it with dueling swords. Until Westwood fell off the bridge and his ball got eaten by grumpy old trolls.
Lee Westwood was ultimately done in by a seemingly good shot that ended up bad. (AP) Huggan: The way it finished pretty much summed up the week, really. Westwood hit a perfectly good shot to the 18th green and it finished in the water. Ridiculous.
Elling: Was anybody with the official world ranking office in London ever able to determine whether Nos. 1-2 had ever been involved in a playoff for all the marbles before?
Huggan: I cant believe that has ever happened before. Not in Europe anyway. Which brings me to another gripe. How can Donald win such a prestigious event against such a brilliant field and not be guaranteed a spot in next year does get assured a spot at Augusta next year. U.S. bias?
Elling: Wait 10 minutes. The four governing bodies that administrate the majors keep changing entry requirements almost daily. I admit, its exclusionary and inconsistent, and yes, for decades there has been a U.S. bias at three of the majors. Using FedEx points to determine major fields? Are you serious? But we digress.
Huggan: I keep going back to Seves first Masters win in 1980, when there were three Europeans in the field, one of them an amateur.
Elling: Personally, I find some innate personal satisfaction that Donald has climbed the ladder. Hes not a bomber. He doesnt overwhelm a course. Hes a thinking mans golfer who plays three-shot par-5s. Not that Westwood was a mutant monster off the tee, but you get the gist.
Huggan: Actually, Donalds performance was at times very un-Donald like. He was more like Seve actually. I suspect Luke has a better short game than we give him credit for, and a long game that isnt quite as good as it looks.
If one measure of a good course is how it helps define top champions, how can anybody complain about the guys atop the board at the Wentworth Club on Sunday? It seems like Ernie Els, a Wentworth resident who has redesigned parts of the course three times, can do no right, yet the two top players finished in a playoff.
Huggan: I dont blame Ernie so much as the guy who owns We than did Els. But Ernie is stuck with the task of defending what is almost indefensible.
Elling: I have never set foot on the Wentworth grounds. But that shot Westwood hit into the water on the 18th did not seem fair. It was dry by 30 feet, then spun into the water? Pete Dye must have been laughing.
Huggan: Most of the course is fine, although the last four holes all need some work. The 17th green is actually my favorite in that it is so silly as to be almost unbelievable. Which is a shame. The course took away too much attention from what should have been a great event. In the end, it was more grind than great.
Elling: How is it, John, that a course can end on consecutive par-5s and nobody can reach in two shots? Thats real dramatic, huh? Guys hitting wedges from 90 yards for a million dollars.
Huggan: Exactly, the last hole was 5-wood, 9-iron, wedge for many players. Very silly and very dull. The risk-reward balance is way out of whack.
Elling: One of the broadcasters on the Golf Channel feed actually said of one of the fairways bunkers at the dogleg on the closing hole, “I hate that bunker.” Wow. Unusually frank. So, Ian Poulter was right? He often is, you know.
Huggan: Ive always hated the last two holes. The 17th should be two holes, really. A straight drive for someone who cant hit over 300 yards means having to hit a snap hook for the second shot. If you mean the bunker on the right at the dogleg on 18, then the commentator was correct. All it does is eliminate any incentive for a really good player to attempt sliding the ball round the corner. Hence the 5-wood from the tee.
Elling: Honestly, using railroad ties and bulkheads to “fix” a hole seems like a bad idea.
Huggan: I suspect Poulter will be hearing from Ernie in due course. If it gets physical, bet on Ernie.
Elling: Speaking of tense moments, Ernie once uttered one of the greatest quotes ever, after Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh were paired in the final round of the Masters a few years ago, three days after they had had exchanged terse words in the Augusta locker room. I asked him who he thought would have won in a fight, if it had come to that. “Vijay,” Els laughed. “Because I think he would fight dirty.”
Huggan: Id still take Ernie against anyone, although Darren Clarke would run him close. Phil couldnt beat my Auntie Joan.
Five of the last six events on the PGA Tour have been decided by a playoff. Is that fluky circumstance or indicative of some sort of trend? It was the 10th playoff of the year already.
Huggan: The PGA Tour had a tournament this week? Bring me up to date will you?
Elling: The PGA Tour event was decided in a playoff when a guy shockingly pulled an approach shot into the water on the first playoff hole. Lot of that going around. As for the diverse list of winners, its about as fluky as the turnover at the top of the world rankings. Theres a thin line between hero and also-ran. In other words, parity has swallowed the tours.
Huggan: I think the course setups play a role in that too. If everyo then it gets harder for the superior player to separate himself from the rest. Hence all these playoffs. In other words, there is too much rough and not enough fairway. Therefore not enough imagination. Therefore people like me fall asleep when watching.
Elling: Wow, I had not heard that theory espoused before. Honestly, as the broadcasters try to find ways to explain the rotating cast of winners in the States, including three rookies already this year, it seems pretty s have one win in the past year. So there are lots of titles up for grab. This trend, it aint going backward, either.
Huggan: Sadly, I think you may be right. The tours do seem to be run by people lacking in any kind of flair and imagination when it comes to the actual playing of the golf. I discussed the setup of Wentworth last week with David Garland of the European Tour. He didnt have much to offer other than he wanted it to be “hard and fair.” He could have added “dull” to that list.
The commitment deadline has passed for the Memorial Tournament with no Tiger Woods and no Rory Sabbatini. Anybody surprised?
Elling: Nobody should be remotely surprised that Woods elected to stay home and heal, but the Sabbatini deal was a surprise. According to the Memorial Tournament website, Sabbatini withdrew Tuesday. He claimed last week that it was because he has already qualified for the two upcoming majors, but come on. The guys not going to play all summer except at the U.S. and British opens, events not run under the auspices of the PGA Tour. The best part of the whole scenario is that people continue to speculate on whether he has been suspended. Stories continue to be written. The next time he contends, and the way hes playing, that could be at Congressional, he will get pestered about his status. The PGA Tour deserves this distraction for having the most outdated disciplinary code this side of a parochial school using a headmasters paddle. Rory ought to just fess up, make amends, and get it over with.
Huggan: Not this observer. Sabbatini has clearly been told to stay away for a specific period of time. I must agree with you regarding the PGA Tour and their childish and pointless secrecy. One of these days Finchem, et al., are going to disappear completely up their own backsides. They certainly should be telling us who is getting fined for slow play. Name and shame the snails. And Tiger? What did I tell you last week? Get back to me about him when there is something new to say.
Elling: Come on, John, theres something new every few days for Tiger, if not every few minutes. Last week, his agent was basically put on waivers by the only sports agency Woods has ever known, IMG. While some have wondered about its effect, the only math it potentially changes is in his bank account, not his scorecard. Like most, I dont see Woods breaking with Mark Steinberg, his agent for the past decade-plus. Steinberg stuck with Woods through thin and thinner last year.
Huggan: Cant believe Steinys passing will make much difference to El Tigre. Hell follow his lap dog and all will be as it was before. Theyll both still be lying a lot, for sure.
Elling: Most of us longtime Woods-watchers assume the two will go it alone and forge their own management agency of sorts. I asked people out there in Twitter world last week to submit names for a potentially new business alliance for Woods and Steinberg and the runaway winner was Knee-Jerk Consulting. Think about it. I rather liked IMG-String, too.
Huggan: What was interesting was the obvious relish with which IMG ejected Steiny. I suspect they have wanted him and his outsized ego out of there for some time now.
Elling: Despite what he indicated was in the offing, Steinberg hasnt secured a new deal for Woods since the scandal hit. Not having the institutional might of IMG behind him seemingly isnt going to help, really. However, in one narrow regard, if there are smaller offers that might not otherwise have been considered before, Woods is free to put pen to paper. But for those who think Woods fixes all his pitchman ailments by winning, I just dont see it. There are people out there in the general populace who make the two of us look like apologists for the guy.
Huggan: Yes, but lets not be too hard on the pathetic pair. Dont want to be ripped by all our friends out there in comment-land.
Elling: In a weird way, since Woods never forgets any slight, real or perceived, I wonder if this impacts his traditional playing at Bay Hill, which isnt run by IMG, but by two guys with massive IMG ties, Arnold Palmer and Alastair Johnston, who technically “own” the for-profit tournament. Interestingly, Johnston took over the golf divisi in March, the tabloids said his stepdaughter was dating Woods. Egads. What a soap opera this guy lives. And I dont mean Johnston.
Huggan: Bottom line? Would you buy a product with Tigers name on it? I wouldnt. By the way, Johnston will have more time to think about golf now. Last week he was fired from his job as chairman of Glasgow Rangers Football Club.
Elling: No kidding? That didnt get a lot of play here in the States. Oddly.
Huggan: He was not a fan of the new owner apparently, and the feeling was quickly reciprocated.
The winning scores at the big events in the European and PGA tours were barely under par. Players were struggling to put up any red numbers down the stretch, then bathing balls in playoffs under duress. Is this a bad thing?
Elling: You alluded to this a moment ago. The dispatches we read all week from Wentworth suggested they wanted the course to play like a major. I guess the folks at the Byron Nelson want the same thing. Although at least with regard to the latter, it was the wind that caused most of the problems, not a water hazard. Rookie Keegan Bradleys winning score was the highest at the Nelson since Bruce Lietzkes 1-over total in 1981, and the highest at any tour event since the Players Championship in 1999, relative to par. If that keeps happening annually, theyll be blowing up TPC Las Colinas again, too. Anybody got Ernies number?
Huggan: It is not necessarily bad. But it is nearly always boring. If I want grinding Ill go to the U.S. Open. Once a year is enough. You are such a stat machine. I cant keep up.
Elling: Well, I occasionally try to produce data to support my asinine notions. The illusion of credibility. Cant just yell super loud every time and bang on the table.
Huggan: To be fair, it is a balance between making the course an appropriate test and providing entertainment for the paying public. Thats why I like winning score in the 10- to 12-under area. But, as someone once said, the easiest thing in the world is making a golf course hard.
Elling: As for the Nelson, it wasnt much fun to watch guys like Ryuji Imada making bogeys on three of the last four holes to blow a two-shot lead and lose. The tour had to assume the wind was going to blow. Its Texas. Thats like assuming guys will drive pickup trucks and run over armadillos.
Huggan: The tour would be too busy not announcing anything of interest to pay attention to the weather.
As for players who went sideways Sunday, was anybody surprised at the timbre of the criticism of Sergio Garcia by the U.S. broadcast network Sunday? In an unusually blunt comment, Nick Faldo flatly characterized Garcia as a player whose emotions often lead to poor golf shots, or whose poor golf shots often lead to emotional ruin.
Elling: The Zen of Sergio, for sure. Huggan: Well, it was either his temperament or his fingernail. You know, the one that forced him to withdraw from Open qualifying earlier in the week. The wee soul.
Elling: I am rooting for the guy, but somebody should have said that, oh, in about 1998. At high volume. With spittle flying.
Huggan: Its a shame though. One of the top-10 things to do at any event is watching Sergio hit balls. Its just a pity he is so immature.
Elling: Talk about foreshadowing. Tiger last week was asked about Sergio at his press conference outside Philly and Eldrick noted that Garcia has had several good opening rounds this year. Right on cue, Garcia went out and again flopped on the weekend, in Dallas. If only you could put blinders on a guy. And earplugs. And a gag ball.
Huggan: Actually, the biggest surprise for me is that Faldo completed a sentence.
Elling: Faldo hit this one right in the screws. Sergio needs to stop playing the victimization card. Otherwise, hes never going to win anything or revive his career.
Huggan: Then again, you can never tell what is going Padraig Harrington, who owns three major titles, has slumped to 50th in the world. How the mighty … etc., etc., as Faldo might almost say.
Elling: Harrington has other prominent guys like Furyk trailing right behind him in the drought department. You know, the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year. I guess tracking their travails this is why we have jobs, and why so many windows of opportunity have opened for players as varied as Bradley and Donald.
