The Wentworth no-shows must look to classy Spieth
ONE can only imagine the gloomy mood that must have collectively descended on the European Tour’s headquarters at Wentworth last week when reading about the acts of selflessness of the new Masters champion, Jordan Spieth.
Shortly after being presented with the green jacket, the man who has rapidly become everyone’s favourite Texan flew to New York and gave 25 interviews over the course of 24 hours. Then, despite the obvious fatigue, he flew to South Carolina to keep his promise to play the Heritage tournament — his fourth event in a row — because, well, they were good to him on the way up and he wanted to pay them back.
There was more. What about two tournaments coming up next month in his home state? Yes, I’ll be playing because they’re ‘hometown events’, he said. He also committed to the Cadillac Match Play Championship in San Francisco next week because it is a WGC event, and the Players Championship in Florida the following week because it is the tour’s flagship competition.
Now, by way of stark contrast, let’s return to the European Tour and their flagship event, also being played next month when the BMW PGA Championship is staged at Wentworth.
Given that Europeans won an unprecedented three majors last year plus the Ryder Cup, not surprisingly they wanted to put on quite a celebration.
Only trouble i s, three of the high- profile members of t hat winning team at Gleneagles will not be present. Local favourite Ian Poulter, world No 3 Henrik Stenson and world No 10 Sergio Garcia have decided not to play.
In the past all three have made no secret of the fact they don’t care for Wentworth and all three have poor records in the event. Doesn’t that make it an obvious event to cut from a busy schedule? You can see the argument. But, equally, as Spieth at the age of just 21 is effortlessly showing, sometimes i t’s simply about doing the right thing.
Yes, Poulter and Stenson, in particular, can put forward persuasive cases as to how they do their bit for European golf.
Poulter is doing plenty behind the scenes to ensure the relaunched British Masters at Woburn in October will be a great success; Stenson plays more tournaments round the world than any other top player and the nasty bout of flu that ruined his chance at the Masters was a sure sign he needs to cut back. All the same, the feeling lingers this admirable pair have got this one wrong.
BMW have done a fabulous job with this tournament. It has grown to become an integral part of London’s sporting summer.
The prize fund at €5million is handsome and the players are treated regally, with a top- class players’ lounge and free accommodation thrown in at the five- star Coworth Park hotel in Ascot.
Equally, they don’t do this as an act of benevolence. They do this on the presumption that everyone will turn up. So imagine how they must be feeling.
Yes, it will still be a great event with world No 1 Rory McIlroy and Masters runner-up Justin Rose competing, while American Patrick Reed is making his debut.
But they could be forgiven for looking at the revived Irish Open the following week featuring just as many star names for less than half of their investment and taking place on one of the world’s great golf courses in Royal County Down to boot, and questioning their largesse.
Pleasing all tournament sponsors is, of course, an impossible task, even if Spieth appears determined to try. But there are some events where players ought to feel an obligation to play. Their own flagship event is surely one.