Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Right to play shouldn’t just be served up on a plate
THE DECISION to offer invites to this week’s Nedbank Bank Challenge is wrong.
There’s a lot to get excited about as Sun City plays host to the penultimate event of the lucrative Rolex Series.
But I disagree with Thomas Bjorn, Louis Oosthuizen and Padraig Harrington playing on invites in South Africa.
Nothing against the individuals; I’ve a lot of respect for all three and it’s always great to see them tee it up wherever they play.
But the policy is misguided. It makes a mockery of the process and undermines the integrity of a tournament that is being billed as a shootout for next week’s season finale in Dubai.
Bjorn has received a starting slot as Ryder Cup captain, while Harrington is one of five major winners in the field.
Oosthuizen is another, yet he is no longer a member of the European Tour. The fact he’s local made him an attractive proposition for organisers.
I understand he’ll add to the profile of the tournament, but the fact remains – should any one of Oosthuizen, Harrington or Bjorn win, they won’t be playing in Dubai next week. That can’t be right.
It’s about time European Tour chiefs devised a proper blueprint for access to the series, because at the moment it’s unfair on those guys down the list.
As things stand, the Race to Dubai doesn’t have the same buzz as the Fedex Cup shootout and guys being handed invites for the penultimate tournament doesn’t help.
On a brighter note, Harrington produced his best finish of the season to claim a fourth place finish at last week’s Turkish Open. Unfortunately, a frustrating Sunday cost Shane Lowry, after the Offaly golfer slipped to T8th after being co-leader after 54 holes.
Credit to eventual champion to Justin Rose, who is really back on track – he also won the previous week’s WGCHSBC Champions – after suffering a post Masters hangover. Form can be so fleeting in golf. You can do all the right things all season and be rewarded by little more than frustration.
At the weekend, Rose walked through the door Lowry has been banging on all season.
The margins are slender, but Shane should take a lot of positives from his golf over the first three days in Turkey.
Rose is also proof that belief and lady luck can change your game in an instant.
Lowry still has two huge weeks ahead of him and he has the potential to produce the goods.
Five top-25 finishes in his last seven outings suggests momentum is with him heading to Sun City.