Vanity?

strassenwolf

Thought this might be worth showing to the golfing enthusiasts. It's from the London TIMES a couple of days ago.

---

Long goodbye now more an exercise in vanity than a celebration of history
By Matthew Syed
Nicklaus and Co are turning their swansong into a dirge


RUMOUR has it that the Royal and Ancient Golf Club brought St Andrews forward a year in the annual rotation so that Jack Nicklaus could bid farewell to the Open Championship at the Old Course. The great man said that he would shed a tear. Others will be crying with boredom.

How many final bows do these ageing champions need to take? Every major that Nicklaus has played for the past decade has had a touch of the valedictory about it. In April, he milked Augusta’s limitless sentimentality, waving his way through a succession of ovations en route to yet another missed cut. At St Andrews five years ago, he told us that he was playing his last Open, pausing on the Swilcan Bridge in what we thought would become the enduring image of his final round at the Old Course. Yet here we go again.

Most other former champions are similarly disinclined to depart gracefully. Arnold Palmer told us after the 2002 Masters that he was retiring, only to come back in 2003 and 2004, thus achieving the dubious distinction of 21 missed cuts in succession.

Billy Casper was at it again this year, tottering around the azaleas en route to a round of 106 before being disqualified for failing to hand in his card. It was the worst score in the history of the tournament. It would be no less ridiculous to have Rod Laver on a Zimmer frame serving a succession of double faults on Centre Court.

Nicklaus and Co are guilty of a serial abuse of the arcane rules governing the major championships. The Open grants an exemption to former champions until the age of 65, while the Masters and the US PGA Championship allow past winners to return for life (the US Open, more sensibly, grants a ten-year exemption). To take advantage of these invitations is an exercise in vanity, masquerading as a celebration of history. As you watch Nicklaus crying tears of self-pity on the 36th hole, do not forget that he has denied a younger, poorer man the opportunity to play in the Open.

It is not as if old players have nothing else to do. Golf is unique in that its over-50s tour is only a tad less prestigious than the real thing. Sure, tennis has a seniors tour, but it is all very tongue in cheek, with players hamming it up for the audience. In golf there is never a hint of self-parody. And who can blame them? Craig Stadler has more than two million reasons to take himself seriously after topping the Champions Tour money list in 2004. The total prize- money for the tour is a whopping $50 million (about £28 million).

So, while most sportsmen have to endure the trauma of leaving the pinnacle of one profession to start on the bottom rung of a new one, golfers simply need to survive until 50 and are then born again. It is the greatest antidote to the mid-life crisis to be invented. You would have thought that this lucrative homage to old golfers would have provided a loud enough swansong for the likes of Nicklaus, but still they insist on their toe-curling visits to the majors.

The irony is that the Augusta National, that bastion of Southern conservatism, changed the rules a couple of years ago to limit the exemption. It swiftly ran into stern opposition from — yes, you guessed it — the ageing champions. Nicklaus and Palmer sent severe letters to Hootie Johnson, the chairman of the committee, who swiftly overturned one of the few progressive decisions that the club has taken.

Johnson said that past winners had agreed to stop playing when they were no longer competitive. “We will count on our champions to know when their playing careers at the Masters have come to an end,” he said. Palmer promptly entered the championship for the next two years, collecting finishing positions of 90th (in a field of 92) and 92nd (out of 93).

After Augusta’s policy about-turn, Palmer thanked Johnson “for retaining this important Masters tradition”. Important to whom? It might be appropriate to heed a warning from Spinoza, the 17th-century philosopher: “A vain man may become proud and imagine himself pleasing to all when he is in reality a universal nuisance.”

These elder statesmen have never become aware of their nuisance value, largely because of the sentimentality of the golfing public. They leave competitions with the tumult ringing in their ears, but fans should not indulge them. Spare a thought for Luke Donald, paired with Nicklaus and Tom Watson for the first two rounds at St Andrews, who will be attempting to steer a course through a tidal wave of misplaced emotion. There is nothing disrespectful about insisting that players qualify on merit. Golf needs to grow up — and its former champions need to let go.

---

I think he's absolutely right. Now if we could only get rid of Martina Navratilova from Wimbledon....

Wigertoods

some quite stern comments and I would have to agree with most of them.
If tradition is to be upheld why can't these "old timers" be drawn to play
alongside each other for the first 2 days play,meaning that they don't
bother (for want of a better word) the true championship contenders.

stringy

or just let them play in the pro-am or other novelty competitions that take place on the course pre tournament. It's still nice to have the old master present, they don't have to play.

there is a huge amount of suitably qualified amateurs that could play in their place and put up some kind of challenge, gaining some experience and making a name for themself

bucks73

Definitely these past champions who can not compete should do the honourable thing and allow someone more capable to play.

Olly would not be there challenging for the title if Seve didnt pull out. And Seve would probably have missed the cut.

It definitely affected Donalds game on Friday having to put with all the standing ovations and applause on every hole.

GreeBo

but Nicklaus only missed the cut by 2 shots, he was not exactly making up the numbers!
I agree that Palmer dinking one down the first at Augusta is crazy, but Nicklaus can still play and play well.
Should we only let people play who *we* think can win?
He thought he could win.
Hands up who thought that Monty would be 2nd before it all started?

TheDoc

I wouldnt put my hand up if you said monty would make the cut. that guy has to be golfs biggest underacheiver and dissapointment ever. And he is so English not Scottish, speaks like an upper class brit. Yet the crowd in Andrews love him. I dont like him he comes across as just a whiner.

I had my money on Sergio and looknig at him on the final day before he started I said " This is it, you are due a big win" But once again he underachieved. Had about 6 birdie chances in first 8 holes and missed i think 5 of them all within 14 feet. He is another under achiever.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.