Ewen Murray rights some wrongs about Luke Donald and highlights the story of Ben Barham.
Ewen looks at how the field is shaping up for the Florida Swing
As always my thanks for your comments on last week's column and since then we have had our first World Golf Champion of the year.
Despite some unseasonal weather in the Arizona desert, the Accenture provided some wonderful moments and, as we all thought, some shocks along the way.
England's Luke Donald was indeed a worthy winner and he dominated the event from start to finish. Never down in any match, a birdie approximately every three holes and he never had to play the 18th over the five days. His rise to third in the world has been impressive and beaten finalist Martin Kaymer's consolation was taking over from Lee Westwood at the top of these rankings, a position Lee had held for a period of 17 weeks.
We can, I think, be assured that there will be more changes in the weeks ahead, maybe as soon as the second World Golf Championship at Doral next week as the top 15 are separated by less than four points with only two points dividing the top five.
The success of the Accenture was highlighted by the semi finalists. Along with Europe's two, Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar were a credit to the sport and the matches over the weekend were played in true golfing spirit. There is no doubt, match play is exciting and I'm sure we enjoy it as it's mainly the format we play with our golfing pals at our own courses. The ebb and flow of the matches throughout the week was captivating and there was much to admire.
I'm pleased for Luke Donald who deserves his success. Often media and various commentators suggest Luke is short off the tee, but that is not the case. He is average in length, just not as long as those who hit their tee shots vast distances.
Many have said that he is not as ambitious as some of his peers. That is also not true. He is a quiet lad who goes about his business in a calm and serene manner preferring his golf to do the talking.
Donald won more money worldwide last year than any other player excepting Jim Furyk who of course won the Fed-Ex pot of gold at East Lake. His short game stats are way ahead of the rest, in fact of the five short game categories, he was in the top two in four of them.
There is also honesty about him. He said after his win that a few years back, he tried to hit the ball harder in an effort to add yards to his tee shots. In doing so his accuracy dipped and no doubt along with that so did his confidence. He went on to say it's taken two years to get back to his natural way of playing and in there is a lesson for all youngsters.
I interviewed Ian Woosnam last weekend, which you will see at some time during our Masters run up, and Ian went through the same type of changes after he won the Masters in 1991. Ian said: "I became too technical and lost what won me several events and of course my major tournament. I have always been a natural player and that worked for me. For some, technique and theory is the route to take; Nick Faldo is prime example of that. For some others, it's best to leave what is strong and strengthen the weak parts".
Sound advice I would say and it's worked for Ian who has had 30 years of professional competition at a high level and still playing some superb golf on the Seniors circuit. There are similarities between Woosnam and Donald, I wonder if that's an omen as the years' first major approaches?
Impressive
We have a decent European representation at the Honda this week, but it is next week at Doral that will give some indication of who will be on form at Augusta. Reports from America have said that Tiger Woods is working hard with his coach Sean Foley ahead of Doral, yet another course on which he has enjoyed impressive success down the years.
We only saw Tiger for one round in Tucson and once again, he was far from the Woods we have known over the past decade and a half. Changing a swing while competing is tough as Tiger is finding out, but what would worry me would not be the wild shots off the tee but the fact that his pitching, as it was in Dubai, is below the level he expects of himself.
The last two swing changes he has gone through did not affect his mercurial ability to get up and down from the most awkward of places. Right now, he still has the vision of what's required but it would seem, not the feel. He will know more than anyone how important the short game is at Augusta, and I'm fairly sure much of the work he has done in the last week will have been centred on that area of his game.
Phil Mickelson has laid out a hefty schedule before the Masters in an effort to hit peak form ahead of his defence next month. I've always thought some players play better after a run of tournaments and Mickelson is one of them. So far this year, his form has been patchy, so he will look to take a step up in the next three weeks. He has, of course, a short game from heaven, a truly wonderful asset to take to Georgia.
As the European Tour takes a short breather, all eyes are on the PGA Tour events and this Florida Swing represents the perfect preparation for Augusta.
Gone are the poa-annua greens of the west coast and they are replaced by the quicker, firmer surfaces of the east. Following the Cadillac at Doral is the Transitions at Innisbrook, then Bay Hill with Houston the final event before the Masters. Some players like to play the week before a major, others like Woods prefer not to and that does insure that the quality of the fields in these next four events will be top class. All of them will be live on
Sky Sports.
Tumour
Just before the Gulf Swing I played a few holes at Sunningdale with Jamie Redknapp and a tournament professional I have known for a number of years, Englishman, Ben Barham.
Ben was leading the Austrian Open going into the final round two years ago and despite shooting a 68, lost out to Spaniard Raphael Cabrera-Bello, who shot a closing round of 60 to win. Since then, Ben has had a problem with his health and having visited a freely available screening unit, a back and side pain turned out to be a tumour on one of his kidneys.
At the end of last year, Ben had the kidney removed and he is slowly building up his strength in getting ready to resume his playing career. He now represents a kidney foundation charity giving his time to encourage others as well as advice to get early screening which no doubt saved his life. He is the sporting figurehead of that charity.
A few years back, Ben devised another way of helping charities by finding sponsors that would donate a sum of money for each birdie he scored on tour. A considerable sum was raised to help others less fortunate than ourselves. I'm happy to say Ben is close to full recovery and he will restart his career from the beginning on the Challenge Tour in a few days time.
I wish him well and I'm sure he will return to the main tour at the end of this year. In the meantime, wouldn't it be fitting if in some of the main tour events he would enjoy the luxury of a sponsor's invitation? He is more than deserving of that.
My time off has been lovely with long walks on top of the South Downs with my black Labradors, Skye and Annie, but I wish it would warm up a little. I played a few holes at Walton Heath last Friday and the venue for the British Seniors is looking splendid. This famous old club hosted the News of the World match play back in the sixties, was the venue for the first European Open in 1978 and of course hosted the Ryder Cup of 1981.
By the looks of it, the Seniors will boast perhaps its strongest ever field so the middle to end of July is another date to put in your golfing diary.
Peter Oosterhuis and Bruce will be alongside me next week as we begin the Doral story of 2011. Speak then.
