I said predicting winners in a competitive sport like golf was a mug's game (Wide Open Indeed, 18 July). And predictably I was a mug.
My first pick, world number one Dustin Johnson, affectionately called "cokehead" by Mrs H (Johnson took several months 'voluntary leave' from the USPGA tour in 2014 amid rumours of a failed drugs test which Golf Magazine said was his third, all for recreational substances) didn't bring his 'A' game. Maybe he'd brought other stuff with him in his luggage.
Rickie Fowler remains the best current player not to have won a major. I said he had blown hot and cold this year and he illustrated that perfectly by blowing hot and cold in the tournament.
Henrik Stenson had done well in his previous tournament, the US Open but I noted he hadn't played since and wondered if he was saving himself. If so it didn't work - Stenson did ok but never threatened the leaders.
Tommy Fleetwood had one outstanding round but turned in a performance as scruffy as his appearance on the final day, though he was by no means the only one to feel disappointed with how they handled the breezier conditions in the pressure of an Open Sunday afternoon. After all, Jordan Spieth, who has won a lot of bets for me over the last couple of years, had a poor final round, summed up by his agressive if not bizarre choice of club - a 3 wood (yes, I know they're made of metal) - after pushing his drive into the crowd on Carnoustie's 6th hole. His ball disappeared into a gorse bush and Spieth collapsed from being favourite to win and become the first man under 25 to win consecutive Opens since the 19th Century to finish tied 9th. I normally pick Spieth and was kicking myself on Saturday night, but felt I'd got that one right by the time of the presentation. Fleetwood's day will hopefully come, however. After all, he's a good lad - Everton fan!
I rejected Justin Rose as, while consistently excellent, he hasn't done really well at the Open for a long time. And it looked the same again until he scraped past the cut on Friday with a second round birdie on the last hole. He followed that with an outstanding third round of 64 and good final round to finish tied 2nd while never quite looking as if he might win. His day in the Open may also yet still come. As my mate Dan had picked him, this time he cost me a sleeve of 3 golf balls.
I said the biggest story would be if Tiger Woods won his 15th Major. And it really did look like he would, as he took the lead more than half way through his final round. There were more than glimpses of the old Tiger, though there were also glimpses of the frailties that are normal even for top players but seemed almost totally absent when he was in his prime. It was notable that, having hit a poor shot into the crowd on hole 11, he followed it up with another weak shot and then a third fairly weak one, dropping two shots to par on the hole. I can relate to hitting three poor shots in a row as I do it all too often, but Woods at his best probably never did that. For reasons I've gone into before I personally don't want Woods to beat Jack Nicklaus's record of 16 wins in the Majors, but I'd love him to win a 15th or even a 16th to keep the story bubbling. It could still happen but this was probably his best chance.
One of the reasons it probably won't happen is that the younger players, while having enormous respect for Woods, aren't intimated by him like their predecessors were. And so Francesco Molinari, playing with Woods, held his nerve and won with a superbly composed final day performance. Molinari was the only player out of 79 who didn't drop a shot to par on any of the 18 holes on Sunday. I thought the BBC TV news damned him with faint praise, showing him scoring par after par while others dramatically gained and lost shots, implying it was a bit boring, when some of his par saves were outstanding. And it wasn't just Faldo-esque as he bagged two birdies in the closing 5 holes to seal the deal. (Nick Faldo famously parred every hole in his final round on the way to winning his first Major in 1987).
But not only that, Molinari was one of Mrs H's two picks for the tournament. The other was Ian Poulter, her favourite golfer who she always picks. While appearing to have her head down in her books and puzzles while I watched golf stuff, she had obviously absorbed that Molinari was playing really well this year and I said "good call" when she picked him on Wednesday. When she asked what her prize was and I told her it was 3 golf balls I thought she said something about addressing them, the term for preparing to take a golf shot, which would be odd as she doesn't play golf. I then realised she hadn't said "address" but "a dress"....
Anyway, respect is due to both Francesco and Mrs H, who obviously knows more about golf than me.
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