The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Playing politics with golf–Steve Scott’s Tee to green column
Welcome back, Rors! Even if you’re a bigot and a fascist!
Of course he’s not. But some of the twitterati think the mere act of playing golf with President Trump last week pigeonholes Rory as being one small step short of jackboot and swastika.
Like Ernie Els some weeks before, Rory got a late call from Trump’s people to fill out a fourball. Like Ernie, Rory is some way from being a fan of the new president, but when the POTUS calls and asks you to play golf, you kind of have to go.
“If it had been President Obama or President Clinton, I’d have played,” said Ernie. Rory said similar things in a statement in his own defence which said that the event had nothing to do with his politics.
Sport and politics should not mix. Aye, right. Of course they do, and for good on many occasions, for example the role of sports boycotts in destroying the appalling stain of apartheid in South Africa.
And Rory is finding out what the R&A are experiencing. Whether he likes it or not, playing with Trump is going to be regarded as a political act. Because at the present moment in time, there’s no more political figure on the planet than the POTUS.
This is why I read Martin Slumbers’ comments last week of the R&A wishing to keep the Open out of politics meaning there’s no way they’re going near Turnberry in the near future.
If you’re trying to avoid politics, you don’t go near the most political person there is. Given the new president’s predilection for playing – every weekend of his tenure so far, he looks like playing three times as much as Obama, who was heavily criticised for his love of golf – then a lot of people are going to have a tough decision when Trump’s people come on the phone.
Anyway, Rory’s back!
Ribs rested, McIlroy returns to action this week at the WGC-Mexico, the event that used to be at Trump’s Doral resort until sponsors Cadillac grew tired of being upstaged by their host and pulled their support.
It was with delicious irony given Trump’s stance on Mexicans and “the beautiful wall” that the highest bidder to take it over was Group Salinas, a conglomerate of companies in Mexico City happy to have it played beneath a banner for their whole nation.
As has become usual, this is the first event of the year where just about everyone who matters in the world rankings is present. Dustin Johnson defends his world No 1 ranking for the first time.
The only notable absentee is Jason Day, who has a double ear infection and flu. The super slow Australian former world No 1 is making a bid to supplant Tiger Woods as the most injured or ill golfer in recorded history.
Oh, and Tiger wouldn’t have been there even if he his still spasming back had allowed him to. He doesn’t qualify from 711th in the world, even though he’s won this event a record seven times.
Of course this being an event somewhere in the golfing world there simply has to be a Carnoustie connection. This time it’s that the original designer of the Club Golf de Chapultepec was the great Willie Smith, one of the famous Carnoustie family of professionals, and the US Open champion in 1899.
Willie, however, fled the place in 1910 with the project barely started because of the little matter of the Mexican Revolution and died in 1916. Brother Alex, a two-time US Open champion, finished the job for the opening in 1921.
A basic element of golf
Sticking (vaguely) with Trump, the self-proclaimed biggest fan of the new president on tour is Pat Perez.
The player of Mexican descent made headlines last week by proclaiming what many people are thinking – that Tiger’s career is now effectively over.
Having been so vocal about it, he backed off – “nobody wants him to come back more than me, I’m his biggest fan” – but it did serve to mask his twice hitting wayward tee shots during the Genesis Open at Riviera the previous weekend and not shouting “fore” resulting in unwitting spectators being hit.
This is a practice now getting out of hand. Rickie Fowler and Tyrell Hatton, in the final group in the weekend’s Honda Classic, were both guilty of blandly watching their mis-hit ball head straight for a gallery without a word of warning.
It’s a basic, primary part of the etiquette of the game. A golf ball can seriously injure someone. It should be entrenched within the rules review currently under way.
Jock is worth twice the tribute
Finally, a personal note. My great friend Jock MacVicar, golf correspondent of the Scottish Daily Express, received his second lifetime achievement from Scottish Golf at their awards in Edinburgh last week.
It’s OK though because Jock, who is 80 next month, has done at least two lifetimes of work in his distinguished career over 55 years. “The Doyen” is still as sharp and respected as ever, a friend to three generations of Scottish golfers.
And he’s also the most courteous and nicest man you could hope to meet.
If you’re trying to avoid politics, you don’t go near the most political person there is