Texas Children's Houston Open

Memorial Park Golf Course



The Loop

To naysayers of pro golfers wearing shorts: ‘Have you seen John Daly’s uniform?’

January 23, 2016

Stories of interest you might have missed…

Players were allowed to wear shorts in the pro-am at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship this week, launching a debate as to whether they should be allowed to wear shorts during competition. “The naysayers will point to the erosion of standards and the abandonment of tradition,” James Corrigan of the Telegraph writes. “What a load of complete and utter balderdash. Have you seen John Daly’s uniform nowadays? Fine, it complies with the rules, but to any sense of sartorial etiquette it deserves punishment. And as far as tradition goes, that smug bunch who believe themselves to be its greatest supporter are confusing it with pomposity. Golf is never in a worse light than when it is cast in the smog caused by tradition being mixed with pomposity.”

Lee-Westwood-Abu-Dhabi.jpg

Getty Images

Dottie Pepper, in this story at ESPN, makes a strong and passionate case for golf as an alternative to contact sports and that it ought to be introduced in schools. “The caddie yard was once the training ground for many golfers,” she writes in conclusion. “But the game has changed. Let's have the schoolyard be the place to train future generations. In light of new knowledge about the severe risks often associated with other contact sports, risks that can literally leave the brain choked off from normal neuropathic function, the opportunity for golf seems greater than ever.”

European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke has taken a shine to England’s Andy Sullivan, both on and off the course. “We have both got a similar sense of humour and he just enjoys taking the mick out of the short, fat guy,” Sullivan said in this story by John McAuley in the National. Sullivan will return the banter in kind. “He’s got ‘60’ on his ball and on the first tee I said ‘I didn’t realise you put your age on there,’” Sullivan joked. “We just try to have a bit of to-ing and fro-ing out there.”