Pargie’s sporting Sunday
It began at 7-30 with a serendipitous moment. I switched onto Sky Sports for the coverage of the Federer/Nadal final. In long haul television I prefer to avoid the build up, too much flannel, and I can only take the Ray Winstone betting advert so many times.
However the station was profiling Tom Watson as a sporting great. We watched the famous Duel In the Sun at Turnberry with Jack Nicklaus when’the two severed themselves from the rest by round two and fought a matchplay tourney. It went down to the 18th when Jack Nicklaus’s drive hit a very bad lie. Tom Watson hit a more direct iron and another took him to 3 foot from the flag. Nicklaus hit a magnificent shot to the green from his unpromising lie and duly sunk his 30 foot putt. Tom Watson had to sink his putt which he duly did to win the Open. The question was posed by Nick Price as to how a golfer from Kansas could so dominate the Open. The answer is that Watson was a great player, probably the greatest, in bad weather conditions such as you find in Kansas or an Open links course.
Over breakfast we listened to Radio 5 and presenter Gigi Salmon who went over the top in hyping up the final. Experience shows that a much-vaunted final in any sport is just as likely to be a flop as memorable. In fact it was memorable though I thought Roger Federer was always in charge. I did not have a tickle as tennis and my lack of knowledge of it does not inspire me.
The missus and I listened to David Beckham on Desert Island Discs.
I am a bigger fan than her as I believe that, for all the razzamatazz of his lifestyle, he is still a decent guy and this shows. To earn a few brownie points I made the Sunday roast of gammon.
It shows how the FA Cup is so devalued that Fulham were evens to beat premier Hull who were 3-1. Fulham were one of the few teams to field a proper side and their fans can tune in expectantly for the draw.
I bet Newcastle fans travelled in their droves to Oxford to witness a 4-0 drubbing. Time was – when the Magpies lost to Hereford – it was front page news. Now the giantkilling- the very essence of the F.A. Cup -is no more as weakened teams are fielded.
Jeungchen Wang provided me with my first golf win of 2017 when he took the Qatar masters in a play-off with Jaco van Zyl and David Lagergren.
His game is rock steady. The South Korans have long dominated woman’s golf but now I am sure their male counterparts will be winning many trophies too.
Michele de Vacri, glowing after Nice’s 3-1 win over Guincamp, advised tha Monaco could get a point at Paris St Germain. The odds of 5-8 were tasty for a lay against PSG. I was cursing the Gods when Cavani put the Parisien side a head from a penalty in the 80th minute but Silva equalised in injury time. With Pat Perez finishing 4th for me in the Farmers Insurance I consummated a thoroughly enjoyable and productive Sunday.
