Wednesday October 14
Harrington hammers on
...Padraig Harrington’s fondness for waxing lyrical about golf is well known but when he came into the media centre for his preview press conference, he asked us if it could be “kept short”. Some 49 minutes later he was still talking and seemingly in no rush to stop, but as Lee Westwood had been waiting for 20 minutes for his turn in front of the golfing press, we had to wrap it up. One answer alone took 12 minutes – hate to think how long a press conference would last if he didn’t want to keep it short!
European Tour or ATP Tour?
...Golfers are not the only sport stars to be staying at the luxurious Tivoli Victoria hotel next to the Oceanico Victoria Golf Course, where many European Tour staff are also lucky enough to be residing. The Cameroon football team – known as the Indomitable Lions – were also there, having played a friendly against Angolo on the Algarve on Saturday in preparation for the African Cup of Nations in January. Tennis was another sport taking place at the Tivoli Victoria - although it didn’t quite match the levels produced by its golfing and footballing counterparts - when the tournament’s two press officers, recorder, secretary, greenkeeper, weather forecaster and referees descended onto ‘centre court’ for some mixed doubles match-ups. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal needn’t worry too much, although there was some impressive ‘net dominating’ from a certain Scottish press officer, who didn’t let a spot of man-flu get him down.
Thursday October 15
Never mind the baggage
...European Tour staff often judge tournaments by the food on offer and it is safe to say the Portugal Masters definitely comes out near the top of the leaderboard. With an endless supply of custard tarts in the media centre, we may be charged extra by Easyjet on the way home for exceeding our weight allowance.
On a more serious note....
A number of players took part in the ‘Putts for Charity Pro Challenge tonight, organised by Genworth Financial to raise money for their charity partner SOS Children’s Villages, and the generosity of Ross Fisher, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood, Thomas Levet, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Jose-Filipe Lima and Francesco Molinari should not be underestimated. Too often sports stars are criticised for the amounts of money they earn, but their fundraising efforts and donations are sometimes overlooked. After each player had taken their turn to putt at this particular event on the putting green of the Oceanico Victoria Golf Course, the total reached was €23,000, some €17,000 short of Genworth’s target. The players decided one name would be pulled from a hat, and if that player holed the putt he would donate the shortfall. So congratulations and thanks are in order for McDowell for handing over in a few seconds what many people earn in an entire year.
