There are a beguiling posse of adjectives available to describe the 2008 season on The European Tour International Schedule. Only one of these, however, is truly apt. That word is historic. Close second is unbelievable while unprecedented has legitimate claims of its own.
History, of a sort, is made all the time of course. Mostly, however, it is banal, forgettable stuff. However, there is nothing banal about Padraig Harrington’s imprint on 2008.
It really is historically significant to have successfully defended an Open Championship – as he did at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, Lancashire, England, in July – while his victory in the US PGA Championship just three weeks later at Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Township, Michigan, USA, was the first such triumph by a European since Scotland’s Tommy Armour won in 1930. Back then, of course, it was a match play event so, in that sense at least, this achievement is truly an historic first.
What is also relevant here, of course, is the fact that Ireland’s greatest ever golfer – some historic claim in itself – has honed his game on the worldwide European Tour, a fact celebrated by an in-depth look at this extraordinary Dubliner’s career elsewhere in this publication.
While 2008 will always be remembered as Harrington’s year on a global stage, there are others who also deserve to be selected for a place in the limelight and the attendant applause. Principal among these is Order of Merit winner Robert Karlsson whose season was highlighted by victories in the Mercedes-Benz Championship at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof, Cologne, Germany, and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the Old Course, St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, Scotland.
These victories were back-to-back successes, the former coming immediately before The Ryder Cup at Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky, USA, with the latter a fortnight later. But then Karlsson could have won several more titles with just a smidgeon of luck, such was his consistency throughout the 2008 season, a fact outlined in a detailed chapter on the Swede also within these pages.
Certainly he can recall The Ryder Cup with great personal satisfaction for even though Europe lost to the United States by 16 ½ - 11 ½, Karlsson performed heroically. The important thing to remember about this Ryder Cup is not so much the fact that the United States emerged deservedly victorious, but that once again the biennial encounter produced brilliant golf and a compelling narrative that twisted this way and that until deep into the final afternoon. The Celtic Manor Resort and the whole of Wales must be quivering with anticipation as the 2010 contest approaches.
That, however, is for then. For now we must celebrate the rest of the 2008 season and the many examples of derring-do that occurred during it. As ever we need to cast an eye firstly over the remaining Major Championships.
South Africa’s Trevor Immelman set the early pace when he won the Masters Tournament at Augusta National, Georgia, USA, in April, holding his nerve brilliantly during a final day that saw Tiger Woods chasing but coming up just short.
The World Number One looked like coming up short again in the US Open Championship two months later over the brilliant Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, California, USA. But for Woods’ wonderful, snaking birdie putt on the 72nd green, the honours would have gone to Rocco Mediate, an amiable American whose career has been resurrected following surgery to his back. Woods, of course, went on to win the play-off and then shocked us all by revealing he had done so on a dodgy knee complete with a a shredded cruciate ligament. “He’s not normal,” said Mediate, admirably smiling as he spoke.
There was a lot more smiling going on elsewhere, nowhere more obviously than the grin offered by Miguel Angel Jiménez when he won the Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club, Surrey, England. Before the cheerful Spaniard headed into what was to turn out to a brilliant last round I had asked him how he was going to prepare for one of the biggest days of his career. His answer was pleasing. “I will have breakfast and then a large espresso and a cigar,” he said. Maybe not for everyone but this caffeine-fuelled, laid-back approach certainly worked for him although he had to defeat England’s Oliver Wilson in a play-off to achieve it.
Jiménez also won the UBS Hong Kong Open at the Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling, Hong Kong, to underline his continuing ability as he works his way through his forties. Other multiple winners included Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke who returned to winning ways in the BMW Asian Open at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club, Shanghai, China, before triumphing in The KLM Open at Kennemer Golf and Country Club, Zandvoort, The Netherlands; England’s Richard Finch who claimed the Michael Hill New Zealand Open at The Hills Golf Club, Queenstown, New Zealand, and The Irish Open at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort, Co. Limerick, Ireland; talented young German Martin Kaymer who took the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and the BMW International Open in front of adoring home spectators at Golfclub München Eichenried, Germany, and in doing so became the first German player to win the tournament in this, its 20th anniversary year; Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell who won the inaugural Ballantine’s Championship at Pinx Golf Club, Jeju Island, South Korea, and The Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond Golf Club, Glasgow, Scotland; and Tiger Woods, who won the Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club, Dubai, UAE, and the World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play at The Gallery Golf Club, Tucson, Arizona, USA before his heroics in the US Open Championship four months later.
Englishman Finch’s double success was particularly impressive given that the New Zealand triumph was his first European Tour title and that only a few weeks earlier he had narrowly clambered into the safety of the top 115 players on the final 2007 Order of Merit. Kaymer, too, had not won before 2008.
Other maiden victors from this season included, chronologically: South Africa’s James Kingston in the South African Airways Open at the Pearl Valley Golf Estates, Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa; India’s S S P Chowrasia in the EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters at Delhi Golf Club, New Delhi, India; Chile’s Felipe Aguilar in the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open at the Cengkareng Golf Club, Jakarta, Indonesia; New Zealand’s Mark Brown in the Johnnie Walker Classic at the DLF Golf and Country Club, New Delhi, India; Ireland’s Damien McGrane in the Volvo China Open at Beijing CBD International Golf Club, Beijing, China; Ireland’s Peter Lawrie in the Open de España at Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, Seville, Spain; South Africa’s Hennie Otto in the Methorios Capital Italian Open at Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club, Milan, Italy; Australia’s Scott Strange in The Celtic Manor Wales Open at The Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, South Wales; England’s David Dixon in the SAINT-OMER Open presented by Neuflize OBC at the Aa Saint Omer Golf Club, Lumbres, France; Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal in the Open de France ALSTOM at Le Golf National, Paris, France; and Frenchman Jean-François Lucquin in the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre, Crans Montana, Switzerland.
Some other winners had to work even harder for their first prizes. There were 15 play-offs during the 2008 season, a record for these nail-biting occasions. The template for this was laid down in the opening event, the HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China, which was won by the then World Number Two Phil Mickelson against the English duo of Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood.
A fortnight later it was extra time again. On this occasion Australia’s Aaron Baddeley needed four additional holes to win the MasterCard Masters at the Huntingdale Golf Club, Melbourne, Australia, and so it went on. Local hero Richard Sterne won the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, South Africa; India’s Arjun Atwal won the Maybank Malaysian Open at the Kota Permai Golf and Country Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth won the Madeira Islands Open BPI – Portugal at Santo da Serra, Madeira, Portugal; France’s Thomas Levet was eventually victorious in the MAPFRE Open de Andalucia by Valle Romano at the Aloha Golf Club, Andalucia, Spain; Grégory Bourdy took the Estoril Open de Portugal, at Oitavos Dunes, Estoril, Portugal; and Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño triumphed in The Quinn Insurance British Masters at The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, England.
No play-offs were needed when England’s John Bickerton won the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, Mpumalanga, South Africa; or when the ever-impressive Jeev Milkha Singh of India won the 54 hole Bank Austria GolfOpen presented by Telekom Austria at the Fontana Golf Club, Vienna, Austria; or when Australia’s Adam Scott set the year’s low final round when he conjured up 11 birdies during a final round 61 as he won the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy at Doha Golf Club, Qatar.
Elsewhere during the course of the season, England’s Ross Fisher led on his own from start to finish as he dominated The European Open at The London Golf Club, Kent, England, to finish some 20 strokes under par. Sweden’s Mikael Lundberg went one better, actually one fewer, with his 21 under par total of 267 that won the Inteco Russian Open Golf Championship 2008 at Le Méridien Moscow Country Club, Russia, while another Swede, Peter Hanson, won the SAS Masters in his home country at Arlandastad Golf, Stockholm, Sweden, with a more conservative nine under par total of 271. Meanwhile, at the end of August, Grégory Havret kept the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland alive by winning the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles at The Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, Scotland.
As the season gathered pace towards its climax, South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel won the Madrid Masters at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Spain; Spain’s Alvaro Quiros triumphed in the Portugal Masters at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, Portugal, before Sergio Garcia rather fittingly won the first tournament he and his father Victor have hosted in tandem, the CASTELLÓ MASTERS Costa Azahar at Club de Campo del Mediterráneo, Castellón, Spain.
In between times, and completing the year’s Roll of Honour in terms of the World Golf Championships; Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy won the WGA-CA Championship at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Doral, Florida, USA; while the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational at the Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio, USA was taken by Vijay Singh as the Fijian found some serious late season form.
And so to the season-ending Volvo Masters at the magnificent Club de Golf Valderrama, Sotogrande, Spain, and the final jousting for the last Order of Merit title available before The Race to Dubai. Denmark's Søren Kjeldsen won the tournament but the big prize, of course, went to Karlsson. It was an appropriate end to 21 years of the Volvo Masters and a fond farewell to a truly great golf course. Owner Jaime Ortiz-Patiño deserves much applause, as does the popular Tommy Horton, who announced his retirement during a year when Ian Woosnam won the European Senior Tour Order of Merit, following an immense career.
Back to 2008 and, some tasty statistics to consider. There were 28 holes in one during the season and four albatrosses. The lowest cut was four under par in the Maybank Malaysian Open; the highest, nine over par, came at The Open Championship. In total, 24 players either equalled or set new course records while Robert Karlsson and Lee Westwood had the most top five finishes with nine each. England’s Nick Dougherty had the most consecutive birdies with seven, again in Malaysia, while Australian Kane Webber was the only player to enjoy two consecutive eagles, on holes nine and ten, during the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea.
Much to savour then and much to digest. A lot of what happened during the season will figure in someone’s history book but the big, most relevant pages in the game’s serious tomes are reserved for Padraig Harrington. No ladybirds for the Irishman in 2008 but lots of bouquets. It was terrific to watch.
Bill Elliott
The Observer
Reproduced by kind permission of The European Tour Yearbook 2009, available now in theEuropean Tour Shop
