Russell’s World Cup old pals’ act is a step too far
FOR Russell Knox to select his friend, Duncan Stewart, to represent Scotland at next month’s World Cup goes against the grain of professional sport.
To pick a player from the Challenge Tour ahead of more senior players on both the PGA Tour and European Tour doesn’t sit right.
This is not a golfing holiday where you get to play with a pal. This is a prestigious event with plenty of history.
Look at the former winners. Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Woods, Ballesteros, Faldo, Els. That shows its importance.
Playing for a prize fund of $8 million on one of Australia’s great courses in Kingston Heath makes this a very worthwhile week.
Yet for one man to qualify for the event, and then have the right to pick his partner, undermines the seriousness of it.
The organisers talk about the leading player needing to have a partner with whom he feels comfortable for the format of two rounds of fourballs and two rounds of foursomes.
I’m sorry, that is one gimmick too far.
Golf is a meritocratic game where you get what you deserve. Every week, players are looking at World Ranking points and money lists to measure where they are.
That’s why there should be a qualifying system for the World Cup. People need to earn the right to represent their country.
However, I am not blaming Knox for his decision. He has exploited a rule that should not be there in the first place.
He grew up playing golf with Duncan Stewart and they went to college together
It’s a wonderful opportunity for Duncan, though. The most money he has ever won at a single event is just £29,000.
If he won in Australia, he would walk away with over £1 million, and that would be a fantastic rags-toriches tale.
It’s a nice gesture on his friend’s part.
But is he more deserving than Martin Laird, Marc Warren or Richie Ramsey – the Scots who are above him in the World Rankings? I don’t think he is.
I was lucky enough to play in the World Cup five times, and it’s a disappointment that I never won it.
It’s something I would have loved to have done for the pride of playing for my country. We flew around the world for comparitively little money.
It was a great moment for Scottish golf when Colin Montgomerie partnered Marc Warren to win the event for the only time in 2007.
Two of the stars will be Danny Willett and Rickie Fowler, playing for England and the USA.
They haven’t picked old pals with low rankings. They’ve gone for Lee Westwood and Jimmy Walker respectively.
The current World Cup system is flawed. I just wish we weren’t the country to expose it.