BMW Masters/Shanghai
There was an incident right at the end of the BMW Masters that I found a disturbing breach of golf etiquette and one of the reasons why golf does not televise well.
Kristoleff Broberg and Patrick Reed were the club house leaders at -17. The remaining three on the course were playing the 18th, Byeung An, Thongchai Jaidee and Sergio Garcia. The first two hit respectable drives and second shots into the green with possible birdie putts to make the play-offs too. Garcia put his drive into the water and his next shot too. He had no chance of the birdie and his tourney was over. On the previous green he had three-putted. He had lost his mojo. There must have been good 5 minutes as he deliberated where the ball landed before dropping into the drink. This was unfair to the other two who had to wait on the green. It made for dull televison and spectating as we all wanted to see the denouement. Both Jaidee and An missed their putts by a whisker and finished -16 and out of the play-offs. Garcia had not breached the rules of golf but,in order to make golf more watchable, slow and inconsiderate play like this should be penalised.
Broberg went on to win the play-offs. After Reed eagled the 15th, sinking a 100 yard bunker shot, the tourney seemed his but he bogeyed the 17th and missed his birdie chance at the 18th. At the play-off hole he recovered well from a bunker to make par but Broberg sunk a a long putt for a birdie and his maiden victory.
Once again Jeremy Chapman in the Racing and Football Outlook out every Tuesday showed what a proficient analyst he is. He had amongst his picks Patrick Reed and Paul Casey whose final bogey put him just outside the top five . The IOL Mayakloba Classic in Mexico did not attract the big stars who either passed it or entered the BMW with its lucrative $7m purse. Chapman had advised McDowell, who is winning, and Jason Bohn, presently 3rd, for this. Due to bad weather and light the final round has to be resumed at 8 am this morning. After my fiasco last week when I noted Justin Thomas as a Chapman prediction, the eventual winner, but backed Tony Finau twice I was more careful this time. There are good and bad gamblers, lucky and unlucky ones, but I classify myself as an incompetent one which is why I impose my £10 ceiling.
With all the talk last week in the Rust of Neil Rosen’s Bond poster going up 5 times in value in 6 months I did say to our resident investing expert Bob Tickler I wonder if you started with a tenner and reinvested it on Jeremy Chapman’s predictions in the golfing year how much you would make. Bob said with banks paying 0-5% interest on deposits, the property market uncertain with stamp duty, mortgages hard to find and buy-to-lets losing their appeal with the closing of tax breaks – and the FTSE in the doldrums – the clever investor, by this I assume he meant himself, should look at such alternative markets.
