First man onto the winners’’ podium was a man well used to taking that particular step, namely World Number One Tiger Woods, although this was the first time he had claimed the WGC – Accenture Match Play, a victory which saw him enter the record books once again as the first man to win all four WGC events since their inception in 1999.
Though only his third tournament after returning from knee surgery, Woods was magnificent with his putting and, until the afternoon session of the final against David Toms, at least, unerringly precise.
The final looked to be progressing straightforwardly when, after having been four up at lunch, Woods birdied the 19th to move five in front. But Toms displayed plenty of fighting spirit in being the leading American points scorer in The 34th Ryder Cup Matches at The De Vere Belfry and showed similar qualities in reaching the final, despite a night in hospital with food poisoning after the second round.
“I wasn't going to quit, that's not my nature,” he said. “We were on national television and I didn't want to embarrass myself by having it end early. It would have been easy to give in but I dug deep and having a chance to win on the back nine kept me going.”
In the afternoon, Toms birdied the second, holing from outside Woods, and then the third. Woods then dropped shots at the eighth and ninth and by birdieing the 15th, Toms was only one down. But a poor drive at the 17th proved his eventual downfall.
“This is the hardest of the World Golf Championships to win,” said Woods after completing his set of all four, to sit nicely alongside his Majors ‘Grand Slam.’’ “You have to win six matches to do it. Playing six rounds is physically gruelling but it is even more gruelling mentally because of the ebb and flow of each match. If we had to do this every week, no professional’’s career would last more than ten years!"
One professional’’s career in its tenth year is Darren Fichardt and the South African celebrated the decade with his second European Tour win in the Qatar Masters, bringing to an end the Tour’’s two week stint in the desert.
It is said that behind every good man is a good woman, and Fichardt’’s wife Natasha lent credence to the theory. Her husband was prevaricating about entering the event so she informed him bluntly he was being “a wimp” and to pack his bags and clubs and get on the flight to Qatar.
Fichardt related the tale, albeit a little sheepishly, in the euphoric aftermath of a superb victory, edging out his fellow South African James Kingston with a birdie four at the first hole of a sudden-death play-off. He added tellingly: “I’’m really pleased we came now!”
Clearly marrying a psychologist had had the desired effect on a golfer, who although extremely proficient, could be betrayed by mind games. He recounted: “I had led a lot of tournaments in South Africa but had difficulty in finishing them off. It was just down to weakness of the mind.
“Getting married to Natasha was the best thing I ever did. As well as being my caddie for several years, she has been my ‘mind doctor’’. We work on things together, listening to tapes and so on. I had never thought about working on the mind. She introduced me to that element of the game.
“We work on how to approach a bad shot and go over a round shot by shot. It takes a bit of training and it can’’t be done overnight but now when I hit a bad shot I just try to calm down and think positive. The best bit of advice she ever gave me was to stay in the present.”
Another player who did just that the week before was Robert-Jan Derksen of The Netherlands. Coming down the stretch against Ernie Els in the Dubai Desert Classic, most people’’s money was on the South African but Derksen held his nerve brilliantly to pitch and putt for what was to be a winning birdie four at the last.
Short of the water in two, he tackled his third in front of an audience who simply did not know what to expect. If ever the pressure was going to catch up with the Dutchman, it was now. It never did. “I told myself, 'You've been practising for this moment for ten years so you have to make the most of it,” said Derksen, who did.
Two weeks later, another player celebrated his maiden Tour success, this time it was Welshman Bradley Dredge who claimed the Madeira Island Open by the not inconsiderate margin of eight strokes, carding a 60 in the third round along the way.
The 29 year old from Tredegar had demonstrated, some six months after watching Phillip Price help Europe win The 34th Ryder Cup Matches at The De Vere Belfry, his own determination to continue the tradition of great Welsh golfers.
The history books resound to the great deeds of the likes of Brian Huggett, Dai Rees and Dave Thomas, although as a teenager Dredge was unquestionably inspired by the exploits of Ian Woosnam.
It was fitting then that in winning Dredge had equalled the feat of Woosnam, one of nine players to put a score of 60 in The European Tour record books. Coincidentally, Woosnam had also made his score up a mountain, in the 1992 Torras Monte Carlo Open at Mont Agel.
In 2002, one of the biggest peaks scaled was by that of the European Ryder Cup Team in their memorable victory over the United States at The De Vere Belfry. Leading the way was captain courageous Sam Torrance and this month saw the Scot receive recognition for that, when he was presented with the OBE from The Queen, to add to the MBE he received in 1996.
At The De Vere Belfry, Torrance memorably said of his team: “All I did was lead them to the water and they drank copiously.” After events at Buckingham Palace it was right that it was the Scot’’s turn to imbibe a little. Celebratory champagne, of course.
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