Imagination is what lifts the human spirit. It is the catalyst to what we all are, as well as being the on-board fuel that promises an uncertain, although hopefully exciting, future.
Life, as John Lennon once mused, is what usually happens while we are making other plans and it is this core unpredictability that weaves colour into all our journeys. Few journeys, of course, are as unpredictable as a European Tour season. This remains a vibrant romp across and through much of the planet, a golfing odyssey that twists and turns, blows hot and cold, and features everything in between.
Nowhere in 2006, it should be stressed, was the action hotter than The K Club in Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland in September. As it happens, few places were as wet and windy either but when it is The Ryder Cup, the weather does not matter much, the occasion simply overwhelms everything else.
Of course, this was the stage for one of the most dominant displays by a European Team, one captained by Ian Woosnam and featuring a group of men taking their lead from the now established European tradition of enjoying themselves. The detail of this great occasion and of Europe’s record-equalling victory can be found elsewhere in this publication, but the sheer joy of the occasion is illustrated by any one of a thousand laughing images of players and crowd gloriously joined together.
Ten months before this great celebration of game, three men set an early template for success that proved central to Europe’s progress. Step forward please, David Howell, Paul Casey and Colin Montgomerie. It seems a long time ago now, but their individual victories in the Tour’s opening three tournaments may now be set in a context that suggests here, actually, was the required kick-start to Woosnam’s valedictory captaincy.
Howell’s imagination, on top of some serious focus in the final round of the HSBC Champions tournament at Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China, allowed him to become one of the very few players to resist the challenge of Tiger Woods. Woods, to be fair, recognised this and led the applause for his final round opponent at the end of a thrilling week. Inspired by this success Howell endorsed his own curriculum vitae by winning the BMW Championship at Wentworth Club, Surrey, England, a supremely prestigious victory achieved in simply splendid style.
A fortnight after Howell’s win in Shanghai, and still in China at the Shenzhen Golf Club for the Volvo China Open, another young Englishman began a sequence that would see him return to his best form and then get even better. Casey’s win came after a difficult year during which his form reversed but we now know that all this muscular golfer needed was a serious confidence boost. What he took away with him from China was affirmation that his is indeed a special talent.
It was no surprise then that he built on this, lifting the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in the shadow of The Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, Scotland, in June before a career-impacting victory in the HSBC World Match Play Championship staged, as ever, across the West Course of the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England. This, in a field that included the World Numbers One and Two in Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk, was some feat. The timing could hardly have been better either, coming as it did the week before The Ryder Cup.
But let us return to the beginning and our third man. This time, a Scot. No ordinary Scot, however, for this was Colin Montgomerie who took the third tournament title available on The 2006 European Tour International Schedule when he won the UBS Hong Kong Open at the Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling. What everyone, especially Woosnam, learned from this success was that the now middle-aged warhorse was still up for it, still heading forward, still hungry for success despite a career record that trumpets so much already achieved.
If The Ryder Cup will forever be the glittering cornerstone of the 2006 season, the four Major Championships remained elusive from a European Tour perspective. Phil Mickelson was an assured Champion in the Masters Tournament at Augusta National, Georgia, USA, and indeed could have added the US Open Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, New York, USA, had he not suffered a breakdown on his final hole when all his previous careful consideration suddenly turned strangely panicky. It was a similar scenario for Montgomerie who had his best ever opportunity to win a Major but whose stuttered seven iron approach to the 18th green left him frustrated again. Instead Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy was the pleasantly surprised victor. Ogilvy had four months earlier won the WGC - Accenture Match Play at La Costa Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, California, USA, to establish his credentials.
Meanwhile, Woods was lurking. He was distracted at the Masters Tournament by his father’s terminal illness and was still grieving Earl Woods’ subsequent death when he played in the US Open Championship three months later, understandably missing his first cut in a Major as a professional. It was, of course, a different story when he competed in the 135th Open Championship when the great week returned to Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Cheshire, England, for the first time since 1967.
This was a glorious return both by the Championship and by Woods who was back to his dominant best, the field ultimately kneeling before him, the local crowds unstinting in their admiration for a supremely gifted performer whose dismissal of such worthy foes as Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia when he partnered them on Saturday and Sunday respectively had to be seen to be believed.
Woods went on to win his 12th Major, the US PGA Championship at Medinah Golf Club, Medinah, Illinois, USA, before continuing a remarkable run of stroke play successes that included the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, USA, and the WGC-American Express Championship at The Grove, Chandlers Cross, Hertfordshire, England. Back in March, of course, he had also won the Dubai Desert Classic staged once again at the Emirates Golf Club, Dubai, the man he pushed into second place after a play-off being Els.
This remained a commendable effort by Els, however, who suffered a career-threatening injury to his knee in the summer of 2005 and who had prematurely suggested he was fully recovered when he won the fourth tournament on the 2006 schedule, the dunhill championship at Leopard Creek, Mpumalanga, in his native South Africa.
A week after Els’ victory the home fans were cheering again when their other favourite son, Retief Goosen, won the South African Airways Open at Fancourt Golf Club in George, South Africa. Like his fellow countryman, however, Goosen never quite managed to stride the high plateaux of achievement each of these gifted competitors more usually strolls. His win at least assured him of the title of the man currently with most consecutive winning seasons on The European Tour – eight, since 1999.
Normal play was then interrupted in January for the staging of The Royal Trophy at the Amata Spring Country Club in Bangkok, Thailand, a relaxed but compelling match between Europe and the best of Asia. In a portent of things to come, the Europeans won 9-7.
This was followed by the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club and the year’s opening first-time winner on The European Tour, Chris DiMarco, a New Yorker who is, arguably, his country’s most obvious and committed competitor. This seemed to set a trend but first, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson confirmed that he is one of the best golfers to emerge from that prolific golfing country in recent years, when he won The Commercialbank Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club, Qatar. Six months later Stenson added the BMW International Open at Golfclub München-Nord, Eichenried, Munich, Germany, before segueing significantly into The Ryder Cup.
For a time in February and March, however, it seemed that if you were not winning on the Tour for the first time then you were not winning at all. Kevin Stadler, son of ‘The Walrus’, Craig, began this sequence with a sensational success in the Johnnie Walker Classic at The Vines Resort & Country Club, Perth, Australia.
He was followed by: Charlie Wi of Korea in the Maybank Malaysian Open at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club, Malaysia; England’s Simon Dyson in the Enjoy Jakarta HSBC Indonesia Open at the Emeralda Golf & Country Club, Indonesia; Singapore’s Mardan Mamat in the OSIM Singapore Masters at Laguna National Golf & Country Club, Singapore; and then Sweden’s Johan Edfors in the TCL Classic at Yalong Bay Golf Club, Sanya, Hainan Island, China. At this point, a name from the past made a welcome return.
Jean Van de Velde may have some critics but he has far more supporters in the game and everyone was pleased when he won again after a 13 year hiatus, this time in the Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos at Santo de Serra, Madeira, Portugal.
Other first time winners in 2006 were India’s Jeev Milkha Singh in the Volvo China Open at the Honghua International Golf Club, Beijing, China; Italy’s Francesco Molinari in the Telecom Italia Open at Castello di Tolcinasco Golf & Country Club, Milan, Italy; Austria’s Markus Brier in the BA-CA Golf Open presented by Telekom Austria at the Fontana Golf Club, Vienna, Austria; Argentina’s Cesar Monasterio in the Aa St Omer Open at Aa Saint Omer Golf Club, Lumbres, France; Scotland’s Marc Warren, who won the EnterCard Scandinavian Masters at Barsebäck Golf & Country Club, Malmö, Sweden, a victory which helped him win The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award, and, finally, Alejandro Cañizares of Spain who took the honours in The Imperial Collection Russian Open at Le Meridien Moscow Country Club, Moscow, Russia.
While the majority now anxiously await their second, consolidating victory, Edfors has no such worry. The Swede was so pleased at the taste of his first victory that he quickly bit into this most delicious of fruits again. Not once, but twice – firstly in The Quinn Direct British Masters at The De Vere Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England, in May and then in The Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, Glasgow, Scotland, in July. As follow-up victories go, this brace is almost as good as it gets. Dyson, meanwhile, also battered his way through the same door twice when he added The KLM Open at Kennemer Golf & Country Club in Zandvoort, The Netherlands, to his maiden win in Indonesia.
Praise, too, for Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, whose maiden victory came in 2005 and who was that year’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year. It was a good choice, for the Spaniard, who turned professional in 2004, won again in 2006, this time in the BMW Asian Open at Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club, Shanghai, China, after a play-off that lasted just one hole against Stenson.
The following week, in April, saw another play-off, and on this occasion Niclas Fasth triumphed over John Bickerton at the fourth hole to seal the Andalucia Open de España Valle Romano at the San Roque Club, Cadiz, Spain. Bickerton’s consolation, however, came in June with victory at the Open de France ALSTOM at Le Golf National, Paris, France.
Elsewhere, Paul Broadhurst underlined his continuing class with the sixth title of a career that now spans 18 years when he lifted the Algarve Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos at Le Meridien Penina Golf & Resort on Portugal’s Algarve.
Furthermore, a classy win came for Thomas Björn when the Dane won the Nissan Irish Open across the demanding acres of Carton House Golf Club, Maynooth, Co. Kildare. It was a gritty performance, for Björn had trailed the lead by nine shots after the first round but eventually produced a birdie-birdie finish to pass everyone on the line.
Bradley Dredge, winner in 2005 of the WGC-Algarve World Cup in Portugal with Stephen Dodd for Wales, struck individual gold again when he won the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre, Crans Montana, Switzerland, the most dramatically beautiful venue of the season. His eight shot winning margin was matched only by Woods in the WGC-American Express Championship three weeks later.
Dodd was also triumphant, winning the Smurfit Kappa European Open at The K Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland. The ever-modest, ever-quiet Dodd took this latest success as modestly and quietly as you would expect and thus offered a subdued contrast to the happily chaotic and noisy scenes that were to follow at this same venue in September.
Robert Karlsson, a big and genial Swede, and Padraig Harrington were two men at the heart of those Ryder Cup celebrations. Karlsson set up his debut thanks to two victories, the first in The Celtic Manor Wales Open at The Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, South Wales, where he was a stunning 14 under par after 36 holes and then in The Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship of Europe at Gut Kaden, Hamburg, Germany.
Harrington, meanwhile, found himself inspired by The Ryder Cup when after, for him, a rather subdued campaign, he struck top form a fortnight later when he triumphed in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship across the hugely varied acres of the Old Course, St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, Scotland.
The timing of his return to form was perfect indeed for, three weeks after his victory in Scotland, he finished in a share of second place in the season ending Volvo Masters at Club de Golf Valderrama. This performance secured for him Number One position in The European Tour Order of Merit for the first time.
There was no Ryder Cup place in 2006 for Ian Poulter, but the flamboyant player chanelled his frustrations into a late season victory in the XXXII Banco de Madrid Valle Romano Open de Madrid Golf Masters played at La Moreleja II, Madrid.
Spain, as usual, also provided the setting for the final two events of the season, Fasth becoming the ninth multiple winner of 2006 with his victory in the Mallorca Classic at Pula Golf Club, Mallorca, Spain, while Jeev Milkha Singh took that tally into double figures with his superb victory in the Volvo Masters a week later, completing a successful Volvo double after his win in the Volvo China Open in April. “This is the biggest victory of my career and is going to stay with me for the rest of my life,” said Singh. “I think this is going to be big for Indian golf. I feel more sponsors will come out and more kids will try to make a career from the sport.”
No sooner, however, was all the above put to bed than everyone was up and getting dressed again for a new season and packing, along with all the other necessary stuff, their imaginations. They leave behind on the 2006 shelf an astonishing 38 holes in one and an improbable six albatrosses. For the record, 35 records were either set or equalled along the way.
In 2007, of course, everyone will do even better. You may say I’m a dreamer…..but I’m not the only one…
Bill Elliott
The Observer
Reproduced by kind permission of The 2007 European Tour Yearbook which can be purchased througheuropeantourshop.net
