74
(^) Daily Mail, Tuesday, March 3, 2020
D e r e k
L aw r e n s o n
Paul’s zinger just masked
the uncomfortable truth
[email protected]
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘I don’t know what to say other than it will follow him for the rest
of his career. I wouldn’t even call it polarising. I don’t see too
many people on his side of the argument. I mean, ‘There is no God’
was my first thought after he won last week.’
Television analyst David Feherty issues a withering condemnation of
Patrick Reed and the cheating scandal that continues to shadow the
American. if there is any good to come out of Reed’s egregious act of
improving his lie in the sand last December, it must be the clear
determination of the vast majority not to go down the route of
virtually every other sport by considering cheating acceptable
if you can get away with it.
IS thIS year’s European
Ryder Cup team going to be
the oldest of all time?
Captain Padraig harrington
thought he’d be filling his
roster of vice-captains with
40-somethings, but there seems
every chance they will be filling
his team instead.
the Lee Westwood revival has
already inspired a victory for
Graeme McDowell, while Luke
Donald showed some welcome
form in Florida last week. then
we’ve got team staples — Justin
Rose, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter,
henrik Stenson and Paul Casey.
Bearing in mind that every
captain sides with experience
when naming his wildcards,
how many of these players —
all the other side of 40 come
September — will make it
alongside the three certainties,
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and
tommy Fleetwood?
Never mind Dad’s Army. this
might be the year of Pad’s Army.
PerhaPs no american golfer in
the past 35 years has had the
ability to rub europeans up the
wrong way quite like Paul azinger.
It started way back at the ryder
Cup with a number of rows and
he was at it again at the honda
Classic in Florida on sunday with
s o m e p u e r i l e , c o n d e s c e n d i n g
remarks in his role as a television
analyst.
Taking aim at Tommy Fleetwood
and Lee Westwood, azinger played
the role of the ugly american to
perfection, with his lofty dismissal
of what they have achieved in the
big, wide world outside the land of
the stars and stripes.
Focusing on Fleetwood in par
ticular, he commented: ‘a lot of
pressure here, you’re trying to
prove to everybody you’ve got
what it takes. These guys know,
you can win all you want on that
european Tour, or in the interna
tional game and all that, but you
have to win on the PGa Tour.’
how insular can you get, topped
off by the sneering ‘that’ for good
measure. Cue predictable outrage
all over europe, from players
such as Ian Poulter to fans and
critics, with Westwood summing it
up deliciously on Twitter: ‘Oh dear,
oh dear.’
at least azinger was being true
to form. as the man who said
Francesco Molinari was ‘facing the
biggest putt of his career’ when
trying to win the arnold Palmer
Invitational last year, eight months
after the Italian had won the Open
and five months after claiming five
points out of five at the ryder Cup,
we shouldn’t be too surprised.
and yet, when we’ve finished
poking fun at azinger’s good ol’
boy ignorance and making the
obvious point that, for anyone with
an ounce of worldliness the careers
of Westwood and Fleetwood stand
on their own merits, there was also
an uncomfortable truth buried
deep in his sentiments.
We shouldn’t become cheer
leaders for the other side and be
blind to the fact that, when you’re
as good as Fleetwood, you do have
to win on the PGa Tour at some
point. Over the past four years,
we’ve all taken great pleasure in
watching the humble Merseysider
show emphatically he has what it
takes, with his rise from the nether
ranks to win in four different
countries, become a ryder Cup
hero, go close in a couple of majors
and take his rightful place in the
world’s top 10.
But, as the 29yearold would be
the first to admit, there would
always be regrets if he got to
the end of his career and had never
won in america (he finished
third on sunday, behind Korea’s
Im sungjae). Look at Colin Mont
gomerie, who never won a PGa
Tour event. he can win as many
times as he likes on the Champions
Tour for the over 50s, but looking
back, there has to be a pang at the
glaring omission.
If azinger could bring himself to
acknowledge what the europeans
h a v e a c h i e v e d w h i l e m a k i n g
such points, and get rid of his
condescending tone, he’d be a
powerful voice alongside the best
in the business, sir Nick Faldo and
Paul McGinley.
sadly, long experience tells us
we’re way past that point.
Puerile talk: Azinger geTT y iMAges
WORLD
OF GOLF
ROOT BULLISH AFTER IndIA FLOp
T
h e s e d a y s ,
M a r t i n J o h n s o n
r a r e l y f e e l s t h e
need to stick his
head above the
parapet. he is happier
riding his bike around the
Leicestershire countryside
than seeking the spot
light, so when he does
have something to say
it is usually worth
listening.
W h a t d o e s h e t h i n k
a b o u t s k y s p o r t s
taking...
‘Terrible,’ he interjects,
before the question has
ended.
With the same authority
as his performances in
2 003, england’s World Cup
winning captain shoots
down the prospect of
sky sports taking over the
six Nations broadcast
rights in an instant.
‘The six Nations has got
to be on terrestrial TV,’ he
adds. ‘I have a lot of
friends who don’t watch
any other rugby but they
love the six Nations. It’s
part of their sporting cal
endar. There are certain
things that are very tradi
tional, that people have
watched all their lives.
‘It would be disastrous
to take the six Nations
off terrestrial TV. There
would be very little rugby
left on terrestrial TV.
Yo u g e t b i g v i e w i n g
figures for these games —
millions of people.’
T h e B B C c o v e r a g e o f
France versus england on the
opening weekend peaked at
seven million viewers. In contrast,
sky sports struggle to reach an
audience of one million for their
annual coverage of the autumn
internationals.
a motion to keep the six
Nations on freetoair TV was
tabled in Parliament yesterday
and Johnson believes the sport
would lose future generations of
fans if the move goes ahead.
‘The TV coverage of the six
Nations is the first thing that got
me into rugby,’ he adds. ‘It’s a
massive shop window. My first
memories are watching rugby on
TV when I was eight.
‘It’s the same now with my little
boy. You figure out who all the
teams are and who all the players
are. You could feel the atmos
phere coming out of the TV and
INTERVIEW
by Nik
Simon
you thought, “Oh my goodness,
what’s this?” It was gladiatorial.
There is something very emotive
about it that just grabs you.
‘They were more than just
games — they were massive occa
sions and they still are. People
build their weekend around it.
Club rugby wasn’t like that. It
didn’t have the same energy and
excitement. To put the six
Nations on satellite TV would be
a huge mistake.’
such proposals have been
fuelled following investment in
the game by private equity firm
CVC. Profiteers are looking at
ways of shaking up the existing
structure to seek cash returns.
While talk of promotion and
relegation to reach out to the
likes of Georgia has been going
on for years, the latest suggestion
is f o r s o u t h a f r i c a t o b e
fasttracked at their expense.
‘The six Nations is a european
tournament,’ said Johnson. ‘Why
change things that work? The six
Nations works and people love it.
They love the tradition of it.
There’s always someone wanting
to change things.
‘Maybe it’s money. south africa
joining? I don’t think it works. It’s
EnGlAnD left for
Sri lanka last night
with captain Joe Root
insisting the World Test
Championship had
been ‘thrown wide
open’ by India’s heavy
defeat in new Zealand.
India still lead the
table despite their 2-0
loss but England — who
sit fourth, just ahead of
Pakistan — can reduce
the gap by taking the
120 points up for grabs
in Galle and Colombo,
with the first Test
scheduled to begin on
March 19.
The top two at the
cut-off point on
March 31 next year will
contest the inaugural
final at lord’s in June
- Australia are
second in the table,
64 points behind India,
with new Zealand a
distant third. ‘India
being turned over
twice throws things
wide open,’ said Root
at Heathrow ahead of
England’s departure
for the two-Test series.
‘With these matches
and then six Tests at
home in the summer,
this feels like a great
opportunity to give
ourselves a chance of
pushing for one of
those top two spots.’
Jack leach travelled
with England after
recovering from theillnesses that ruled him
out of the 3-1 victory in
South Africa, even
though Sportsmail
revealed last week
that he is suffering
from a calf injury.
‘It’s been a really
frustrating winter for
Jack because of illness
and picking up this
niggle,’ added Root.
‘He’s been working
with the physios in
loughborough and we
are confident he will
be back strong.’CRICKET
By PAUL NEWMAN
Cricket Correspondentv1