The sporting weekend

There was no USPGA tourney this weekend and on the European Tour Ashan Wu narrowly defeated Chris Wood who bogeyed the 18th. Eddie Pepperell’s top five finish saved me.

I had backed Sussex Sharks at 7-1 at the outset of the T20 Vitality Blast and felt quite confident after their resounding semi-final victory over Somerset. Somehow they never got going in the final against Worcestershire Rapids. Moeen Ali showed his all-round shills encompasses captaincy too.

Jim Furyk, the American Ryder Cup  skipper, has picked Tony Finau in preference to Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson for the twelfth place.

It’s the type of wide thinking that Thomas Bjorn cannot muster. Finau has had a poor background, his father died in a car accident and he worked in all-night store. When he started as a golfer he sometimes went hungry

His road to success has been so different from the college route of many on the USPGA  circuit and reminds me of Tony Jacklin, son of a Scunthorpe miner.

I had an interesting discussion with my son-in-law , an assistant pro, in the spike bar of his club.

I argued that the five greatest English post-war golfers were Sir Nick Faldo, Tony Jacklin, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald.

The criterion was majors won though Westwood was world number one for two years which cannot be ignored. I can see him as a future Ryder Cup captain. They like players in their forties who choose their chums

The problem of the Britain and Europe side is the number of out of form players – Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stensen, Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey and the omission of two in exellent  form – Matt Fitzpatrick and Matt Wallace.  I can foresee Britain and Europe holding its own in their first two days in fourballs and foursomes but blue all over the board in the final singles day.