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Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson and a game 'still breeding decent human beings'
Keyur Khamar
Stories of interest you might have missed…
“Take a bow Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson and Renato Paratore. For different reasons, after all, the trio have done things over the past few days to make golf feel either proud of or pleased about people associated with the Royal & Ancient game.”
Martin Dempster of the Scotsman, in this column headlined, “Golf still breeding decent human beings,” explains the correlation between Kaymer’s “spot-on response” to flak aimed at Tiger Woods, Mickelson’s decision to put family before golf, and Paratore’s victory in the Nordea Masters and the expeditious manner in which he plays a game that too often moves too slowly.
The Rankings that sometimes, well, rank
The convoluted systems that rank golfers on the men’s and women’s sides produced more bewilderment this week, as James Corrigan explains in the Telegraph.
“Golf’s controversial rankings system has come under renewed scrutiny after Chris Wood withdrew from this week’s European Tour event in order to give himself more chance of qualifying for next week’s US Open - and after a day of celebration Ariya Jutanugarn was told she was not the new world No 1, after all.
“Wood’s case highlights the vagaries of the complex formula. After finishing in a tie for second at the Nordea Masters on Sunday, the Bristolian climbed to 60th in the world and believed this could be enough to win him a place in the seasons’ second major, with the top 60 earning berths at Erin Hills in next Monday’s cut-off point.
“However, the projections indicated that if Wood played in Austria and did not finish in the top 20 he would drop to 61st. But spend the week at home with his wife Bethany, and three-month old baby Jonah, and Wood, 29, is projected to remain in 60th.”