Start ’em young, says Yorke
Former Manchester United star talks, football, cricket and golf
THERE are more than just a few folks who advocate that professional footballers often make for good golfers. Looking at the numbers of those who walk the fairways these days and do so with decent single handicaps, it is difficult to disagree. This week, in Kuala Lumpur we have one such example in our midst – Dwight Yorke.
A key member of the treble-winning Manchester United football team of 1999, Yorke plays off a two handicap. And after taking a bow in the Maybank Championship ProAm tournament at Saujana Golf & Country Club in Subang, he spoke passionately about understanding what it takes for the world’s leading golfers to make it to the top.
“Some of these guys on the golf course are just phenomenal. I’ve been up close with some of them and when I see how they play, I’m left in awe,” said the former Trinidad & Tobago football international, who finished his career with 74 caps and 19 goals.
“What I’ve noticed is that these top golfers train with conviction and don’t just go to the driving range and hit a few hundred balls. They practice as if they’re out there and execute the practice shot just as they would want to in tournament golf.
“It’s like football. When you practice you got to practice the right way and do the right things.”
Speaking of the recently revamped Palm course at Saujana, the venue of the US$3mil Asian and European Tour event that ends today, Yorke said he liked the tract and found it challenging.
“I have doubt the (pro) players here this week are finding it a challenge too, although I also expect them to go low with some good scores. But that in part is because they are really good.”
Touching on his Caribbean homeland, Yorke said golf was “pretty popular and big” but added that there were not too many chances for up-and-coming players to get breaks.
“The talent is there,” he said, “but because of the mechanics of how the system works the young players don’t get too many chances to breakout and make it.
“These days quite a few of them pursue scholarships in American colleges, where they stand a better chance to move up the ladder and get into the professional game, which is very competitive.”
On cricket, another favourite of his sports, Yorke conceded that their (West Indies) Test team was not as good as they used to be, but he pointed out they had become a force to be reckoned with in the shorter format of the game.
The reference was made to the West Indies being champions in the men’s, women’s and under-19s Twenty20 World Cups.
“It’s obvious the attraction has changed for the younger generation with the shorter formats enjoying better support and success,” said Yorke. “This has no doubt been driven by a faster and more exciting game with the players going in to only slog, and that’s what the fans want too.
“There’s also a lot of money now in the Twenty20, principally the IPL (Indian Premier League) and the top players all want to get in on the act,” he added.
Turning the sport he loves the most and which made him a household name in the English Premier League and Europe, and earned him a fortune, Yorke said “domestic football enjoys a bigger following than cricket in the Caribbean, but there is an exception when the international games are played.
“So far as the development of the sport goes, it’s similar to cricket and golf. If you start the children playing when they are young and are taught the fundamentals from an early age, it will hold them in good stead as they get older and progress through the ranks.”