quantumofsport.com

Sport: an era without eras

We are living in a time in which the sun is setting on some mighty eras of sporting dominance. Several great champions whose achievements have dominated the record books year after year have now had their day, or at least their best days appear to be behind them. All the while, mythical epochs of the past in which earlier legends reigned supreme are becoming an ever more distant memory, leaving us to grapple with the uncertainties of the present. This, at least, is the conclusion I am coming to as dusk descends on this grand summer of sport. And, with big stars on the wane, I am wondering whether we might become disoriented...

Why Tiger Woods should watch the snooker World Championship

There is an astonishing statistic in golf. It is possibly the most astonishing statistic in all of sport: Tiger Woods has never won a major championship when trailing going into the final round. This is a remarkable situation for a player who has been such a dominant presence for more than a decade and one who should be more than capable of a last-day charge up the leaderboard. If you are in disbelief, you need merely consult the following headline on the 2010 Masters (won by Phil Mickelson): Woods’ major wins when trailing? Zero. Still not convinced? Try this, from another Masters piece: “Woods has never won a major when trailing after 54 holes, although the 14-time major champion made a mighty run... clad in his traditional last-round red shirt”.

We have all seen plenty of Woods over the years but perhaps our brains were not tuned in to the conundrum that would only later become apparent: why isn’t Woods winning this one? Do a swift google for ‘tiger woods never won major from behind’ (a fine investigative device if ever there was one – ed) and you will find plenty of references to the statistic in question, but in-depth explanations are not immediately apparent. So what bizarre set of circumstances can help unravel this mystery? What if anything is Woods doing wrong?

Sports calendar: The Big 10 for 2010

Having taken advantage of one or two quieter moments over the festive season to scour the schedules for the year ahead, quantumofsport.com is proud to present its brand new “Sports calendar 2010”. As ever, it will be a busy 12 months in the world of sport, with a range of top events competing for our attention. The calendar represents our (non-exhaustive) selection of what to look out for. We’ve also picked out – here below – ten of the biggest sporting occasions of the year, restricting ourselves to one entry for each sport we cover on a regular basis: it’s The Big 10 for 2010. Let’s hope there’s plenty of drama in store…

Feb 6-Mar 20, Six Nations rugby (for N. hemisphere fans at least!)
Feb 12-28, Winter Olympics, Vancouver, Canada
Apr 17-May 3, snooker World Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
May 16, Formula 1 Monaco GP (or any other between Mar 14 and Nov 14!)
Jun 11-Jul 11, soccer World Cup, South Africa
Jun 21-Jul 4, Wimbledon tennis
Jul 3-25, Tour de France (starting in Rotterdam and Brussels)
Oct 1-3, Ryder Cup golf, Celtic Manor, Wales
Oct 3-14, Commonwealth Games, New Delhi, India
Nov 25->, Ashes Test cricket series Australia v England

For the full calendar, click here.

Snapshot: Tiger Woods - not the only golfer in the world

© Miltudog | Dreamstime.com

Tiger Woods announced, in view of his recent personal difficulties, that he would be taking an “indefinite break” from golf. This is big news for the world of sport and the culmination of a sad episode. But should you be hearing reaction along the lines of “this is a serious blow to the game of golf”, feel free as far as this author is concerned to dismiss it as a fallacy. Yes, he is significant commercially, but golf does not need Tiger Woods. This is not to pass judgement on him, and it is to be hoped that he can get things back on track. The fact is that there have been golf tournaments without Woods before and there will be again. No one player is bigger than his/her sport – and it will ever be thus.

Golf: a word on Watson

We couldn’t let the sporting weekend come to a close without a mention for Tom Watson, the 59-year old who today came within a putt of a remarkable win at The Open golf championship. Had the American triumphed, it would have been one of the greatest, most incredible sporting achievements ever seen - arguably perhaps the greatest. As it was, as Watson’s challenge ultimately ran out of steam in a play-off with fellow American Stewart Cink, it can still go down as one of the greatest sporting achievements of the year - of many a year in fact.

Watson’s performance does raise questions. There will be those who say it is a sad indictment of the modern game that a man of such advanced years was able to come within a whisker of reclaiming golf’s greatest prize. There may even be those who sneer that golf, after all, isn’t really much of a sport if the level of physical effort required is such that an ‘old-timer’ of nearly 60 can hope to win a tournament of this magnitude.

For this columnist, such arguments don’t cut much ice. Golf is a brilliantly simple proposition: you have a few clubs and a ball, and you have to get round a set of obstacles hitting the ball fewer times than your opponents. And a certain level of physical stamina is part of the game. Watson, for four rounds of regulation play, was playing as well, and thinking as clearly, as anybody else out there. Had he been able to close it out at the finish, he would have fully deserved a fairytale victory. Have younger players spent too much time learning their trade on manicured fairways and cosy greens, unable for whatever reason to adapt their games to the wilder, more blustery conditions of links golf? If so, that is their failing, rather than a failing of the game of golf itself.

Now is not the time, though, for lofty analysis or to dwell on exactly how the last four days of golf unfolded. Congratulations are due, certainly, to Stewart Cink. But the fact is that Tom Watson achieved something truly remarkable at this year’s Open. And, for that, we salute him.