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Rory Takes The Road less Travelled

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Alistair Tait

5 days ago

Rory Takes The Road Less Travelled

You won’t get many golf fans unhappy at Rory McIlroy ending the season as European number one, winning the Harry Vardon Trophy for a fourth time. However, Rory’s never had to work less to climb to the top of the European tree. He did it in just 10 tournaments out of the 43 on this year’s European Tour schedule, a participation rate of just 23.26% compared to 25% when he topped the 2015 Race to Dubai, 28.75% in 2014 and 33.33% for his 2012 achievement. The way things are going

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Alistair Tait

Nov 16

Where Golf Dreams Die?

The former Ryder Cup player played the 18th hole at San Roque the way I might have played it. Badly. Obviously not because of lack of talent, but due to a more insidious intangible: bottle. That last word is key at the European Tour Qualifying School, which ends today at the Infinitum Club in Tarragona, Spain. Those 25 players who earn cards for next year’s European Tour are the ones who’ve had the ability to make pars when it matters, not birdies. As anyone who’s been around

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Alistair Tait

Nov 1

Has Valderrama Said A Sad Adios?

Remember when LIV Golf had no players, no tournaments, no courses, and seemingly no hope – that didn’t age well, did it? Now, as I hinted at in a recent post, it’s on the verge of acquiring one of Europe’s most historic venues. Is Valderrama and the Estrella Damm N.M. Andalucía Masters the first in those European Tour dominoes to fall in the seemingly losing battle the European Tour is waging with LIV Golf? It appears so. I wonder what the “strategic alliance” reaction will b

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Alistair Tait

Oct 22

Why Mini-Tour Golf Matters

So farewell PGA EuroPro Tour. After 20 years it is no more. Now what for future aspiring tour professionals hoping to gain a footing on the European Challenge Tour? Let the record show that Englishman James Allan won the final tournament, the MatchRoom Tour Championship, at Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. His 5-under-par 211 gave him a one-shot victory over Welshman Jack Davidson and a £25,000 cheque. More importantly, he, Davidson, Scotland’s Michael Stew

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Alistair Tait

Oct 14

If One DP World Tour Domino Falls...

I wonder if European Tour sponsors are currently checking contracts, thinking it might be a good idea to jump ship and dump the old world circuit? Ditto for long term Euro Tour venues. Are they thinking: why do we bother getting our courses in great shape, inconveniencing members and guests for weeks/months when we now can’t get many stars to come and play? Is the appeal of a certain tour run by Greg Norman becoming a bit more attractive to some? Take this week’s Estrella Dam

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Alistair Tait

Oct 6

Selling Off European Golf's Future?

Here’s a thought: Imagine Sir Alex Ferguson when he was Manchester United manager agreeing to reward some of his best young players by giving them to a rival club – say Liverpool – because they’d excelled during the season. How about New England Patriots coach Bill Belicheck saying to 10 members of his squad: “You’ve played well this year, so well I’m giving you to the Miami Dolphins." Madness, right? Why would any organisation, sporting or otherwise, readily give away promi

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Alistair Tait

Oct 1

No Trickle Down For EuroPro Golf

It just got an awful lot harder for young British and Irish men to graduate to the European Tour. Welcome, boys, to what young British and Irish women have been experiencing for years. The demise of the PGA EuroPro Tour spells a setback for many dreaming of playing on what is now called the DP World Tour. As of this month, the EuroPro will be no more after 20 years. The 2022 season-ending Matchroom Sport Tour Championship at Lough Erne, 19-21 October will serve as the swan so

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Alistair Tait

Sep 22

Fanciful French Open Feelings

Italian golf officials luxuriating in the success of last week’s Italian Open might want to check out this week’s French Open. It might give them a wee reality check. Securing the Ryder Cup does not guarantee strong fields in future. Or even rich sponsors. So much for a Ryder Cup legacy. Four years ago, Le Golf National (pictured) witnessed the best players from Europe and the United States fighting it out for Samuel Ryder’s prized chalice. World top 10/20/30 players were tri

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Alistair Tait

Sep 12

The European Dis-Union

Shane Lowry won the BMW PGA Championship, pipping Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm to the title. They weren’t the real losers of the European Tour’s flagship event. The European Tour suffered a heavy loss last week. Remember that great intangible – camaraderie – that carried Europe to victory in so many Ryder Cups? It’s gone. That much was obvious from the toxic atmosphere floating over Wentworth's West Course amid the leafy suburbs of affluent Virginia Water. European Tour stalwart

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Alistair Tait

Sep 3

Time To Right A Rankings Wrong

The strongest men's professional tournament being contested this weekend features 12 major champions with 22 trophies from the tournaments that really matter. Thirteen of the world’s top 50 players are teeing it up. Collectively, the field has so many other tournament wins it would need a calculator to count them. Those 12 major champions? Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Brooks Koepka, Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick

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Alistair Tait

Aug 25

Yet Another Strategic Alliance Setback?

There surely has to a collective shaking of heads from European golf fans following Jay Monahan’s press conference ahead of this week’s Tour Championship. Perhaps even a sense of doom at European Tour headquarters about the future of the DP World Tour. The PGA Tour commissioner seems to have made things difficult for the European Tour, now the DP World Tour, to persuade star players with dual PGA Tour membership to play more on their home circuit in future. As Monahan reveale

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Alistair Tait

Aug 15

Maybe Sergio Garcia is right

Maybe Sergio Garcia is right: Perhaps the European Tour, now the DP World Tour, is becoming the world’s fifth best circuit. Evidence from the weekend suggests that’s a very real possibility. Well done Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson on winning the ISPS Handa World Invitational, his second victory of the season to go with the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Plaudits also to Modest Golf for staging the $3m tri-sanctioned event between the DP World Tour, LPGA Tour and Ladies European To

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Alistair Tait

Aug 4

Davies’ Dream Comes True

There was a time when Laura Davies probably thought playing the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield was just a pipe dream. That dream comes true today. Davies tees off at 11:43am in the company of Women’s Amateur champion Jess Baker and Linn Grant of Sweden. Not too long ago, Davies would have struggled just to step on to the beautiful links turf owned by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. It's hard to believe this week’s AIG Women’s Open is taking place at Muirfield cons

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Alistair Tait

Jul 28

Golf Is a’Changin’ – Finally!

Remember when there was no Women’s Scottish Open? When the Ladies European Tour couldn’t find sponsors to put up prize money to stage Scotland’s national championship? What a difference a change of attitude makes. This week’s Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links is worth $2 million, the richest women-only tournament on this year’s LET schedule outside the major championships. The purse is 33% higher than last year’s tournament at Dumbarnie Links, when American

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Alistair Tait

Jul 26

Why The Saudi Double Standard?

Maybe LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan should be put in charge of all of professional golf. There might be less toxicity and more common sense in the professional game as a result. She could certainly teach the men a thing or six when it comes to diplomacy. Asked by The Times golf reporter Cathy Harris during the Amundi Evian Championship if she would consider speaking to Saudi-backed LIV Golf about potential investment in the women’s game, she replied in the positive:

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Alistair Tait

Jul 18

Time For Dialogue Not Diatribe

Perhaps Champion Golfer of the Year Cameron Smith and European Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson’s alleged moves to the LIV Tour will force those at the top of professional golf to do what they should have done months ago: engage in constructive dialogue to come to an agreement every stake holder in the professional game can live with. Dialogue is the only way to clean up the mess that is the current world of professional golf. Not diatribe. It might even save the future of th

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Alistair Tait

Jul 13

Waxing Lyrical About The Old Course

Ah, it’s that time of the golfing calendar again. An Open at St Andrews, when the plaudits roll thick and fast from the world’s top golfers. Even from those who don’t care much for the Old Course but pretend it’s the greatest thing since... well, you know the rest. Criticise the Mother of all golf courses at your peril. Just ask Lee Westwood. We remember milestones in our lives: our first kiss, losing our virginity, our wedding day, the birth of our first child, and so it goe

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Alistair Tait

Jul 8

When Par Has No Meaning

DORNOCH, Scotland: Bobby Jones always claimed his main opponent in any round of golf wasn’t the player standing opposite him on the tee, but the card of the course. Old Man Par was always who he competed against. He wouldn’t have felt that way had been playing in this week’s R&A Senior Amateur Championship at Royal Dornoch. Par has had no meaning at times over the last few days, especially in round three when winds were gusting between 20-30 mph. Delightful Dornoch turned int

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Alistair Tait

Jul 6

How Did Golf Become So Toxic?

So much for golf being the honourable game, the royal and ancient pastime, a game for gentlemen and gentlewomen played by gentlemen and gentlewomen. All those descriptions fly out the window when we think of the current state of professional golf. Court battles, vindictiveness, death threats, name calling, players turning on one another, calling each other liars. How did professional golf become so toxic? Anyone else fed up with the whole unsavoury scene that is the LIV Golf

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Alistair Tait

Jul 1

Open Glory, Not Filthy Lucre

There wasn’t much talk of the current state/mess of men’s professional golf in Open Championship Final Qualifying at Hollinwell (Notts Golf Club) this week. No talk of astronomical prize funds or which players have been branded traitors for jumping to the Saudi-backed LIV Tour. Just 76 players dreaming of playing in the game’s greatest championship. I got the feeling the vast majority didn’t care if there was any prize money in the 150th Open at St Andrews this month. Most wo

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