| It didnt really matter when the injury to the wrist was announced - whenever
the excuse was public it was inevitable that it would be used as a reason
for not winning. I personally dont believe that it had much to do with the
result in the end primarily because I think that Nick is no longer at his
peak. I have to admit that he did well to finish where he did, but lets face
it he is lacking driving skills and almost exclusively teed off with his
irons.
Furthermore I suggest that Nick is not as sharp as he was last year. and
I am sorry to say uses go-slow tactics to avoid declines in his game. I call
to witness the Volvo PGA championship where he hit a bad slide in the third
round. The only way he could recover was to double the time he spent using
practice swings before and after hitting the ball. This caused a queue of
players on the holes behind him (at one point 4 groups were caught on one
tee waiting to tee off!). It might help Lord Faldo to repair his game, but
it sure as hell puts those behind him off their's. The PGA is not the only
tournament this year where Nick has used more than his fair share of time
to rectify his errors. If the course judges were a little more exacting on
time requirements I am sure we would see less of Nick in the top 5 players
in tournaments.
Having said all that I do hope that Nick makes the Open - I would
love to see Sandy Lyle or Ben Crenshaw win at St Andrews, and I would hate
for that to happen without either of them beating NF fair and square, just
to show that good guys can win!
[definition of good guys = players who take their bad breaks, bad shots, bad
scores in their stride, and still smile along the fairway]
|