Beef not content to be flavour of month

HAS Beef fallen victim to a golf version of mad cow disease? You might wonder at first glance given Andrew Johnston’s decision to pitch up in America this week for the first of three successive events on the PGA Tour’s reserve circuit, the Web.com tour. Why on earth would England’s cult hero do that, given there is hardly a sponsor on the main tour who wouldn’t hand him an invitation at a moment’s notice? The reason is that a player can only accept seven of those in any given year, while there are 25 precious cards available offering unlimited appearances to the top finishers on the Web.com tour. Beef (below) will leave these shores in good form too, after finishing third in the European Masters in Crans on Sunday. ‘It’s a bit of an opportunity to have a crack at trying to earn a card and give him as many options as possible to play the best events both in Europe and the US next year,’ explained Beef’s manager, Shaun Reddin. Behind the beard and the easy bonhomie, there is clearly a driven young man not content to simply accept the backslapping and being considered the people’s favourite.