Tee to Green

European Tour’s UK Swing offering a way back

With more than a little caution – it may take me as much as four hours to pass all the necessary requirements to enter the tournament zone this morning – the European Tour is relaunching with the British Masters this week.

“Abundance of caution” is one of the pandemic’s new collectible clichés. The European Tour have stuck to that from the start, rather than add bits as they’ve gone along like the PGA Tour, all the while proclaiming how safe and abundant with the caution they were.

What’s behind all the absolutely necessary tests and face masks once we eventually get in to Close House? A decent enough European Tour event, but unquestionably a field that is some way short of what we saw at Hillside last year, sadly.

Logistics are the issue. If you’re slated to play the forthcoming rescheduled PGA or the US Open, it’s hard to see where the UK Swing events will fit into your plans, given that quarantine requirements loom large.

However, the swing is manna from heaven for a number of tour pros who are looking to build – or even rebuild – their credentials.

Now everyone is safe from the card chase for the rest of 2020 we hopefully may see some of these young bucks from the bottom half of the Race to Dubai play freewheelingly with nothing to lose.

It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that a new Tour star may emerge from this odd era in the way Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Wallace and Robert MacIntyre did in recent times.

Equally, the toe-in-the-water the Tour did in Austria the last two weeks has already proved a massive lifeline for Marc Warren, with his Austrian Open victory. The Scot, who was edging into the World’s Top 50 not more than five years ago, was in danger of vanishing down that infernal golfing rabbit hole of no confidence, no form and no card.

All of us who follow the game in this country thought Warren was possibly the most pure talent we’ve produced in the last 20 years. Don’t take my word for it, Paul Lawrie and Colin Montgomerie both say the same.

But he’s never quite found that comfort zone of consistency in his playing career, despite four tour wins now. It’s a relief to all that he’s shelved the fleeting idea he admitted having in the early spring, that he might have to find something else to do for a living.

There are more than a few veteran figures who could use these six UK Swing events as a way back to form and titles, as Warren has.

While the absolute top names may be missing at Close House, there’s still plenty of value to be had.

“It’s a relief he’s shelved the fleeting idea he admitted having, that he might have to find something else to do for a living

A pleasant diversion, but no more

The Open For The Ages, a skilfully presented imagining of how the greatest players of the recent past might have competed against each other at their peak, was at least SOMETHING for us last week as we craved for the missing championship.

My attempt in last week’s T2G of taking you around the venues and hostelries that have been particularly hospitable didn’t fill the gap even for me. The OFTA, using archive footage to “create” a tournament, certainly took a lot more thought and might have even satisfied some.

But it didn’t do it for me. Watching this, really someone else’s fantasy, made me think mostly of the makebelieve back garden games I played as a child with my brother or on my own if we’d had one of our falling outs.

While it was beautifully presented, it was purely arbitrary – Jack Nicklaus’ “victory” coming as a result of an internet poll, I understand.

Using TV era footage brought it to life a little, but excluded other masters of the Old Course, like Bobby Jones or Bobby Locke or Peter Thomson.

As a serious examination of how the greats from different eras would have matched up, it was not successful. As fanciful fiction, it was excellent. The most pleasurable moments were clips I remembered, not least Seve Ballesteros’ laser second shot at the long fifth from the 1984 championship. As the ball goes airborne, picked up on the boom mike is the unmistakable voice of Lee Trevino, his playing partner, saying “Touch of class, baby, touch of class”.

Genius instantly recognising genius, I think is the operative phrase.

Brawn rarely as good as brains

Bryson DeChambeau’s complete domination of modern golf will have to wait another week or two after he missed the cut at the Memorial, taking 10 on a par five at one point.

Space does not allow full detail – Bryson managed to alienate the watching audience again – so I’ll direct you to LET player Meghan McLaren’s excellent online blog, where she’ll take you through it all more eloquently than I could while politely questioning Bryson’s thought process.

I’ll be a bit more blunt than Meghan – he was plain stupid several times in the space of 10 shots.

No matter how many protein shakes he devours, the “genius” has common sense issues.

Picture: PA. Lee Westwood is host at the British Masters at Close House, but it means he’ll almost certainly miss the PGA Championship.