My sporting weekend

There are many fine European golfers in the up and coming generation and two did well over the weekend. Renato Paratore aged 20 won the Nordea Masters whilst Matt Fitzpatrick who won the tourney last year finished a respectable second. Alexandre Levy of France recently won a tournament too. It was strong field featuring Henrik Stensen who never really featured and Alex Noren who hit a superb 63 to win last week. One golfer who looks to have a major in him is the other runner up tall Bristolian Chris Wood who bogeyed the last. I had backed Matt Fitzpatrick to finish top five so was ahead of the game as I watched the final round of the Memorial on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course at Muifield Village Ohio.

When Jeremy Chapman recommended Matt Kuchar for the Memorial I was not so sure. He has made $39,600,000 to date with only 7 career wins. ‘Kooch’ as he is called is one of the most popular golfers on the tour, ever smiling and wholesome but he is cash machine making the cut in tourney after tourney and trousering his $5m every year. He would not be my option but in the end in a event won by Ricky Fowler he finished fourth and saved my bacon. This is his PGA profile Matt Kuchar

I fancy India at 9-2 to win the ICC Champions Trophy and was heartened to see them dispose of arch rivals Pakistan. Above you need a reliable scorer and there is none more reliable than Virat Kohli. He is world class and I would have Joe Root up there with Kane Williamson, AB de Villiers too but I wonder how these last three will respond to captaincy which has not affected the form of Kohli.

I thought Juventus would at least hold Real Madrid, whom I laid, for 90 minutes. Not so as they were blown away. That is now Juve’s seventh losing final and Gigi Buffon, one of the greatest keepers ever, will now surely never get a Champions League winning medal. Sad.