The Wonders of ESPN Classic

After coming home from university in early December I sat down and simply watched the most entertaining rugby union match I'd ever seen, it was the Barbarians v New Zealand at Cardiff in 1973. I'd sampled the delights of ESPN Classic before, enjoying the likes of Bob Willis bowling at the Australians and Muhammad Ali fighting Joe Frazier but I had never seen anything like this before. If anyone has seen this match you'd know what I'm talking about.

Swashbuckling, daring, fearless; those are the words I'd use to describe both sides as these amateur players scythed through defenses. Forget Quade Cooper, if you really want to know how to sidestep watch this. Did I mention the first Barbarians try is widely regarded as the best try ever?
I don't want to go on about it but basically if you're a fan of rugby this game is a must-see!

I've attached the link just to be nice, enjoy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwCbG4I0QyA&feature=player_embedded

Great end to a great year

Great final performances from Woods and Quiros but an Englishman dominates going into 2012.

Firstly, a win for Tiger Woods. His first win in over two years, his 83rd worldwide, a win that could turn out to be the most important of his career. At his own tournament, the Chevron World Challenge, he finally performed to his ability and pulled it out bag. It was a long, long dry spell for one of the best players of all time but I think he's back and professional golf is about to get a whole lot more exciting.

The European Tour ends with the Dubai World Championship at the moment and will host the last event another 3 years. With a purse of no less than $7.5 million, the championship is a massive game changer in terms of the European money list/Race to Dubai. This year's championship was won by the effervescent Alvaro Quiros, the fiery Spaniard is nicely racking up his number of European tour wins. Quiros led going into the final day by 2 shots and during the final round Paul Lawrie put immense pressure on him but his attack dwindled towards the end. Quiros reached the 18th a shot clear of Lawrie and on the par 5 18th played an outrageous 3-wood approach to the green whilst everyone else was laying up; apparently there's no word for lay-up in Spanish. He eventually sunk his birdie putt and came away as champion, and $1.2 million richer.

Through all the extravagance of Dubai and middle-eastern hype, one man shone among others, and that was Luke Donald. The pressure was on 4 days ago when he was on the cusp of becoming the first man to come top of both money lists either side of the Atlantic. Rory McIlroy stood in his way but unfortunately for McIlroy a unknown virus had taken hold and he just didn't have the energy to compete.

It was absolutely typical of Donald to perform like he did in Dubai; staying in the hunt in the first 2 rounds then moving into the weekend with 2 awesome rounds of 66 to push him into contention, or at least into the top 10. He finished in 3rd in the championship and clearly number 1 everywhere else.

His consistency has been the key and even though he hasn't bagged his first major yet he is at last showing signs of the mentality of champions, the mentality so pivotal to great golfers. No one else has come close during 2011 and its incredible that he is the first man ever to come top on both tours. Now all that's left this year is the Sports Personality of the Year award, if Luke doesn't win i'll eat my Titleist beanie!

President's Cup stays in the USA's hands

The President's Cup added a bit of spice to this year's golf calendar especially in the wake of more headlines regarding Tiger Woods and his former caddie Steve Williams. Speaking of that, what were the chances of Tiger going up against Adam Scott and Williams in the first pairings? Not sure whether the captains had any idea about that but it made for an intriguing first round which Woods and Stricker consequently lost 7 and 6, Woods' biggest matchplay defeat of his career.

This year's competition was anticipated as being the best contested in years due to the strength of the International team especially since it was another exposure to big team golf events for youngsters Jason Day and Ryo Ishikawa, Day especially looking experienced beyond his years. Stalwarts in Ernie Els and Retief Goosen are continually playing high quality golf to qualify for the team.

The contest lit up as the International team managed to come within 4 points of the USA on the final day of singles. Of which in the end both sides recorded 6 victories a piece but not enough for the Internationals to win. Someone that did have a great tournament was Jim Furyk who finished off with 5 victories out of 5 matches, the fourth player in history finish up with those scores. Good news for Woods fans though; he won his singles match on the final day, playing a solid round to beat Aaron Baddeley 4 and 3. Tiger looks to be playing more consistently at the moment, especially after a good result at the Australian Open a few weeks ago. But overall a good performance from a dominating, yet understated American team.

Definitely didn't need those dark sunnies in Wales last year.. 

Martin Johnson keeps his reputation unlike the RFU

Martin Johnson's resignation came as no surprise to those of us that follow rugby. He left the press conference last week a forlorn figure, but a dignified one. I don't think anyone could criticise him for his decision after a tumultuous world cup where the players continually let him down.

Johnson can't be blamed for his performance as England manager, mainly because he was not given the right structure. Yes, he was chosen to manage the team with no previous coaching experience at all, but surely Rob Andrew or whoever takes control of that area (because I don't know anymore) should have given him the coaching support he needed? Instead Johnson was pretty much left out in the cold, struggling to juggle coaching duties with the management of players and the senior team. 

Rob Andrew, the RFU's Director of Operations, gave a confusing performance at the press conference, one which gave us more questions than answers overall, like what is his actual role and whether he we should trust him to find a replacement for Johnson. The RFU has been going through a tough time in the last 6 months, its reputation arguably in tatters, but it must regroup and someone must take charge of the situation. The last few months sound like there have been too many cooks in the RFU kitchen and no one has taking responsibility for their actions, least of all Rob Andrew apparently. 

His appointment was a political gamble that didn't pay off for the RFU. Rugby teams needs guys in tracksuits and whistles demanding discipline and trust, England got none of that and it showed on the biggest stage of them all. It all sounded rather exciting when Johnson was named as manager but realistically what were we expecting?

England no.1? Who'd have thought it!

After one of the best test performances England fans have seen in a long time against India last week Andrew Strauss's men are now the officially number 1 ranked team. It's not often we can celebrate being the best in the world and we are similarly not very good at it.

Traditionally the British aren't good at being the best, we love the decent trier, the one who puts his heart and soul but doesn't quite make it. Andy Murray is the classic example and splits opinion with his confident, aggressive nature, after all  Murray Mount has not quite eclipsed Henman Hill yet. Team sports, however, have always gained more popularity in this country. Rugby and cricket, two sports ingrained in our old public schools and village greens have always been held in high esteem whether the teams have been world beaters or not.

The advantage this England cricket team has is the immense amount of team spirit and collective effort, something that has been highlighted against a masquerading Indian team. Past dominating sides like the West Indies of the 1970s or Australians of the 1990s have had this quality but have also possessed great individuals, the Shane Warne's and Michael Holding's of this world. England don't have these 'great' individuals but every player plays for each other, similar to the mentality of a rugby team some could say. Although a couple of players in this present England side, Alastair Cook and James Anderson in particular are producing performances that are looking more and more in that 'great' category. 

The string of performances of this England team is magnificent and if they can maintain this level of excellence with the bat, ball and field then they will keep that number 1 spot for a long time as South Africa are now the only team close to the quality of England. But there is no doubt that the present team are popular with the public and the team spirit that we all love to see but is often missing in our other national teams is abundant here.

England hold down Sri Lanka to take series win

Alastair Cook's ODI side won a thrilling match at Old Trafford to seal the series 3-2. A tight match with some decent innings' from Cook, Kieswetter, Trott and Morgan for England and Mendis and Mathews for Sri Lanka made for a fitting end to a challenging and tight fought series in both ODIs and test matches. 

Encouraging performances in the one-day series from Tim Bresnan and Eoin Morgan have showed that England are no slouches in the short form of the game anymore, Bresnan particularly giving the England attack the control and accuracy every good one-day team needs. Eoin Morgan looked in decent touch, giving impetus in the middle order we expect almost every time he gets to the crease. The only criticism being that he never carried on to make the big hundred. 

Talking of big hundreds, Alastair Cook continued his great form into the one-dayers and showed exactly why the selectors trusted him with the captaincy. He more than answered his critics with a fast paced century in the first match and then followed with assured contributions from the top of the innings, utilising the powerplays very well with Kieswetter who looked like the break from international cricket had done him some good.

However the real test starts when India land on the English shores, the number one ranked team in the world, world champions etc etc. This will be where this England test and one-day team show their mettle. I believe they have the skills and experience in the test arena to beat India, with Anderson using helpful English conditions to unsettle the Indian batsmen and an in-form batting line up to match. 

All the talk will be of Tendulkar getting his 50th test century at Lords, a name still not engraved on the honours board yet and of course we would all like to see the little man's bat held aloft, but I have no doubts that Strauss's men will not be distracted from the task at hand. India have strength in all departments and although Tendulkar may get the initial headlines but I would not be surprised if Gautam Gambir, Zaheer Khan or Rahul Dravid perform better.

 

Well the final day of this year's US Open looks to be a straight forward one in many people's eyes. Rory McIlroy defied most expectations by destroying his competition and this long and difficult Congressional course, in the process breaking US Open records, no one had ever got to 13 under par in this competition before McIlroy.


We all knew he had the makings of major winner, and his last 6 majors have shown that he was near to getting one in the bag. McIlroy, who was third at the Open last year and third in the last two USPGA Championships, has now held the lead in six of his last seven rounds in majors. 


Not one player has kept up with his majestic stroke-play in these first 3 rounds, YE Yang has shown glimpses of a charge, as has the inconsistent Sergio Garcia, but Lee Westwood and Jason Day look to be in the best, but unlikely position of catching McIlroy at the top of the leaderboard. Lee Westwood especially coming in hot with 3 birdies and an eagle on the back nine holes.  


In the absence of Tiger Woods, McIlroy's masterclass was reminiscent of his boyhood idol's domination of the 2000 US Open when he won by a record 15 shots at Pebble Beach. Had Tiger been playing I'm sure he would of seen glimpses of his own relentless self in the younger Irishman.

US Open 2011!

It's Thursday and its the 1st round of the 111th US Open at Congressional, Maryland.... Who are the front-runners? How will the tournament be affected Tiger Wood's absence?  

Graeme McDowell returns to the US returning to form after a frustrating few months on the European Tour, but the big news, of course, is the lack of Tiger Woods from this year's competition. How will this affect this years players and who are the contenders? The dominance of European golf I'm sure will make itself heard with Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari among the players in great form. Not forgetting Rory McIlroy who will want to right the wrongs of the Masters in April, his pre-tournament visit to earthquake-ravaged Haiti perhaps giving him a new perspective on things. 

Luke Donald, however, is in the form of his life after recording 8 top-ten finishes in 9 tournaments, including a win at the WGC-Acenture Matchplay and leads both the European Tour's Race To Dubai and the PGA Tour's FedExCup ranking. He is surely tipped for a top 3 finish.

The lack of Tiger Woods will clearly affect the viewing ratings but the ups and downs that he brings to the golf course, especially major championships, will mean he'll be sorely missed; no one can quite raise the crowds like Tiger Woods. 

Nevertheless, this year's US Open looks to be one of the most up-for-grabs in years with the experienced likes of Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker battling it out with exciting European and Asian talent like Matteo Manassero and Ryo Ishikawa... should be for a breathtaking tournament!