Many reasonably high profile golfers, including some of our own, will find the next couple of months more difficult than they would normally be.
This is the time of year when Ryder Cup-itis starts attacking the central nervous systems of all those who are staring one of their main goals in the face.
It’s not easy getting that last £200,000 to make the team. Just ask Denis Durnian, the Manchester golfer only needed a few quid one year with plenty of tournaments still to come and never made another cut.
The nearer you get the harder it becomes and an exceptional amount of pressure comes down on those who seek to make the team. Those who handle it best will make the team and it is that type of player Bernhard Langer will need when he takes his European side to America in September.
You only have to see who the winners are and where they come from for the next two or three months to see my point. The victors in this time will be either established Ryder Cup players or golfers from the likes of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand - the ones free of any pressure.
At least it looks like Sergio Garcia will do Bernhard a favour and qualify as of right. That will allow one of the picks, unless he also comes through to make the top 10, to be Colin Montgomerie, whose affect on the team, his experience and the way he led the team last time, can not be under-estimated.
It will take something extra-ordinary for Darren Clarke not to be on the Virgin flight with the Ryder Cup and anybody interested in having a bet will be well advised to put their money on him to win in the next few weeks.
Things aren’t happening quite at the right time for him at the moment, but they will because his game is in great shape going into a very big part of the season.
Finally I would like to pay my own tribute to Scott Drummond, who pulled off one of the biggest shocks in golfing history with his win at Wentworth in the Volvo PGA Championship. His success was a testimony to the quality of coaching available to modern day players and his own mental strength.
|