Golfing weekend.

The DP World Tour – formerly the European Tour – produced two winners: Belgian Tom Pieters and me (!) as I backed the Belgian slugger at 33-1.

It was held at Abu Dhabi and the course, particularly the pin placements, played trickily.

Scott Jamieson set the early going but fell way. Pieters played the last round in par: 16 pars, 1 birdie, 1 bogey.

He held off the challenges of Rafa Cabrera Bello and Victor Dubuisson to card -10 and win by one stroke.

Pieters, 30 now, has always been a massive hitter off the tee but he also is a tidy putter with a calm temperament.

You think more of Belgium for producing Tintin, monastic ales and chocolates but in football there is the great Kevin de Bruyne and in golf Nicolas Colsaerts, Thomas Detry and Tom Pieters.

The Racing and Football analyst Jon Champion picked Pieters and I backed him at a tasty 33-1.

He never looked like letting me down

Although he has not won a Major for 8 years Rory McIlroy still seems to command media coverage and indulgence in equal measure.

He got off to a roaring start in the final round with a birdie fest and an eagle.

Then he hit waywardly into the nasty stuff.  His lie was unplayable but by attempting it left-handed he could claim relief because of  a sprinkler.

So he got a drop

All within the rules, but you might have thought he would be required to play the shot eventually left-handed.  Anyway he got within 2 shots of Pieters but fell away.

In the States, at the American Express tourney at La Quinta Hudson, Swafford won.

Jon Rahm was heard to rant about the course lay out.

Elite golfers are becoming as unpleasant individuals as premier footballers.

This week it’s the Farmers at Torrey Pines, a course where Tiger Woods was once unbeatable.

I predict his mantle will be taken over by Collin Morikawa who won 2 Majors in 2021.