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Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Ryder Cup heroes honoured
By Ray Scott
AT THIS time of year even the top professionals are enjoying a little break from the game. With the globalisation of golf, the close season is getting shorter and shorter as TV specials and celebrity events are being squeezed into the calendar after the end of the regular tour season.
And it is inevitably the time of year when awards are given out. Here in Ireland is no exception and the Irish Golf Writers Association has announced its list of winners for the year.
In conjunction with O2, the annual awards dinner next month will honour those professional and amateur golfers who have excelled themselves this year.
The Association makes awards in four categories professional, amateur male, amateur female as well as a distinguished services honour. In 2004, the IGWA has decided for only the second time in its history to honour a group of players in the professional of the year category.
Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley will receive the award as a group following their extraordinary exploits at the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills in Detroit. It is the first time since Ireland won the Dunhill Cup in 1990 that the award has been shared.
In retaining the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills in September, the three Irish players made a significant contribution to Europe’s record winning margin of 18 1/2 points to 9 1/2. McGinley, who had performed heroically over the summer months to claim an automatic place in the team, won two and a half points from a possible three; Harrington won four of a possible five, and Clarke won three and a half from a possible five.
MCGINLEY’S FIRST IGWA AWARD
Uniquely, the contribution of the three Irish players to Europe was greater in terms of points won than any other nationality.
This is McGinley’s first time to win a professional award from the IGWA, having previously won the amateur of the year award back in 1991. Clarke, who won last year, is receiving his sixth professional award, while Harrington is receiving his fourth professional accolade.
In the amateur category, Brian McElhinney’s victory in the Irish men’s amateur championship as well as some superb performances in the other major domestic championships was enough to see him take the Men‚s Amateur Award.
McElhinney was also the winner of the Willie Gill Award for topping the Irish Order of Merit in 2004 having tied with Stackstown’s Mark Campbell on 115 points but his victory in the Irish Close proved to be decisive in securing the title.
This follows on from his superb season in 2003 when he won the European title as well as the North of Ireland championship.
Another excellent season saw Cork’s Claire Coughlan sweep the boards. She was the winner of the ILGU Order of Merit by a long way as well as being the sole Irish representative in the Curtis Cup that was played at Formby in June.
COUGHLAN IN FINE FORM
During that excellent week, Coughlan defeated American teenage sensation Michelle Wie not once but twice!! On the domestic scene she was in fine form too with a number of top fives as well as losing just once in the Interprovincials and helping Ireland to retain their home international crown at Royal Porthcawl.
This is Claire’s third time to win the ladies award having taken it in 1999 and again last year.
The award for Distinguished Services will be presented to Cecil Whelan, the Secretary of the Links Golfing Society which has raised over €13 million for various charities since it was founded in 1966 and over €5 million since 2000.
Whelan, a member of Hermitage, has been secretary since its inception. The awards, sponsored by O2, will be presented at a dinner in Elm Park Golf Club on January 13th.
The Golfing Union of Ireland will introduce a clause limiting the ‘springlike’ effect of driving clubs to its Condition of Competition for all its leading National and Provincial Championships, effective from 1st January 2005. This follows similar action by The R&A, and the men’s three Home Unions in England, Scotland and Wales.
For most club competitions and recreational play there will continue to be no limit on ‘spring-like’ effect until 1st January 2008 when the new rule will be introduced.
A list of driving clubs which have been tested and found to be contrary to the Driving Club Condition of Competition is published on the R&A website.
The R&A’s interpretation of a “driving club” is that it is a club with a loft of 15 degrees or less. However, The R&A will continue to monitor design innovations of all clubs in respect of spring-like effect and, where appropriate, any club, regardless of loft, may be subjected to further testing prior to a conformance ruling.
BE WARNED!
The GUI’s National and Provincial Championships that will be governed by the new rule from 1st January 2005 are: Irish Amateur Open Championship; Irish Amateur Close Championship; Irish Boys‚ Amateur Close Championship; Irish Youths Amateur Open Championship; Irish Seniors‚ Amateur Open Championship; West of Ireland Amateur Open Championship; East of Ireland Amateur Open Championship; North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship; South of Ireland Amateur Open Championship; All Provincial Boys‚ Championships; All Provincial Youths‚ Championships; All Provincial Seniors‚ Championships.
The GUI has also decided that the rule will be introduced in 2006 for the Cups and Shields and all other National and Provincial events.
This Condition, which will be clearly stated in the entry form and the Conditions of Competition, will limit the characteristic time of driving clubs to 239 microseconds, plus a test tolerance of 18 microseconds.
You have been warned!!
PGA CHANGES
The PGA of America has announced a major shake up of the points system that is used to select the US team for the Ryder Cup.
Following their disastrous showing at Oakland Hills, the changes are meant to ensure that the team that takes to the course at the K-Club will be at the top of their game.
In the past, the US team was selected on the basis of a performance over a two year period.
A superb season in year one of qualifying could secure a spot on the team but poor form in Ryder Cup year would be overlooked. Hence a player might not be in the right frame of mind for the event.
There will no be more emphasis on major championships, with an extra 75 points for PGA TOUR victories and quadrupling points for top-10 finishes in Ryder Cup years.
“The goal was to make sure that in a Ryder Cup year the performance of the players is rewarded,” PGA president Roger Warren said. “The new system rewards the game’s hottest players.”
What prompted the change was the Americans’ worst loss in the 77-year history of the Ryder Cup which gave Europe the cup for the seventh time in the last 10 meetings.
But even Warren said a new points system might not be enough to stop European dominance.
“You do the best you can to get the best players,” he said. “They have to play better than the other team. We wouldn’t be looking at the process if we had been more successful.”
It is the biggest change to the points system since 1993, when majors were given extra credit and points were weighted toward the current year.
Now the points are weighted so significantly that someone would have to have a phenomenal season in 2005 to lock up a spot on the ‘06 team.
Tour victories in the last two months of 2004 and all of 2005 will be worth 75 points, with points gradually decreasing to 5 for 10th place. That’s how it was under the old system.
But in 2006, points will be worth four times as much, with an extra 75 points for the winner. That means 375 points for first place, down to 20 points for 10th.
Previously, a Tour victory in a Ryder Cup year earned 150 points.
A major victory will be worth 450 points, up from 225, in 2005 and will increase to 675, up from 300, in 2006.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said Scott Verplank, who finished out of the top 10 last year and failed to make the Ryder Cup team. “It rewards a guy playing well at that time.”
Left intact were two criteria that some players wanted to see changed. The PGA treats every Tour event that isn’t a major the same. The PGA also stuck with its system of awarding points only to the top 10, even though one stroke can be the difference between sixth place and 11th place, and the Tour has more international players than ever so in some cases some US players may not receive points.
Warren said the PGA looked at both cases, but decided to stick with giving points only to those in the top 10.
“Even with the increased performance of foreign players, we wanted to reward the top performances,” he said. “And we valued majors and winning. That’s where we wanted the focus — not ranking or evaluating other Tour events.”
Points will be earned right through to the 2006 PGA Championship due to be played at Medinah Golf Club in Illinois in mid August.
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