The golfing weekend
Once again Jeremy Chapman teed up the winners, recommending Matt Fitzpatrick and Lucas Bjerregaard who finished first and second in the European Masters at Crans and the probable eventual winners in the BMW USPGA event in Philadelphia.
I say ‘probable’ as a deluge of rain wiped out the fourth round in which another couple of Chappers’ picks, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy, lead. With another monsoon forecast as likely as not Rose will be the winner after 54 holes. A good weekend betting wise then, marred only by the ref chalking out the England equaliser, depriving me of the draw.
And now to Thomas Bjorn’s Ryder Cup picks which left me deflated.
Being 45, Bjorn is bound to go for his mates he played with not the so called rookies like Matt Wallace or Russell Knox, both of which I would have taken and – in Sergio Garcia – picked a golfer who has missed the last 5 cuts in Majors and did not even bother to compete in the Made in Denmark.
This made me think he was tipped off already by Bjorn and Matt Wallace’s victory achieved in the match play of a play-off irrelevant.
The very notion of calling a world class player like Tommy Fleetwood a ‘rookie’ is absurd.
Besides, from the 20 year old Bernard Gallacher beating Lee Trevino 4 and 3 in 1969 to Tom Pieters last time winning the most number of European points, the rookies have not let us down.
Matt Fitzpatrick, an underplayed debutant last time in which Lee Westwood was the unfortunate old boy choice, won yesterday in a play-off too and is very much in form.
My only consolation is that the Americans picked a turkey in Phil Mickelson.
As for the first two-day pairings I would go by nationality: Ian Poulter /Justin Rose; Joe Rahm/ Sergio Garcia; Alex Noren/Henrik Stensen; Tommy Fleetwood/Tyrell Hatton. Add to the mix Francesco Molinari and Rory McIlroy, giving accurate iron play and drive length, and my confidence begins to rise. When I think of the formidable Americans lining up in the singles on the final day my confidence drains: USA by a narrow margin is the bet.
