“I’M DISAPPOINTED, but it’s not something I’m going to pull my hair out over,” said Lee Westwood after The Players Championship slipped away from him last Sunday, a double bogey on the 17th ending his challenge.
We wondered, though, if Westwood’s 276 managers began removing their hair strand by strand when his wedge hit the water, hopes of their man collecting the €150,000 Golf Masters’ winner’s cheque for the bonus tournament similarly submerged.
He did at least pick up €75,300 for his troubles – ie a share of fourth – making him our second highest-earning player after five weeks of tournaments. Phil Mickelson, who won €31,500 for his top-20 finish at Sawgrass, heads that particular leaderboard, the first man to break the €300,000 earning mark in this year’s competition.
Tim Clark’s success at The Players would have created a mere ripple of excitement in Golf Masters’ land – we have 250 players on our list and only 42 feature in fewer teams than the South African. At registration time his €3.8 million price tag appeared to put most of you off, just 38 managers deciding that the richest PGA Tour player without a victory was worth a shot.
In his first four weeks he played in two tournaments, missing the cut at the Masters and finishing 63rd at the Verizon – €2,500 wasn’t, it has to be said, a healthy return for a €3.8 million investment.
It’s little wonder, then, that eight managers gave up on him, three of them last week . . . just before he ended that run of 204 USPGA tournaments without a win. “A part of me is a bit disappointed because now no one is going to talk about me anymore,” he said. “At least you had something to write about before. Now I’m just another guy with a win,” he added, rubbing salt in to the wounds of his former employers.
Fredrik Andersson Hed waited even longer for his maiden Tour victory, his triumph at last week’s Italian Open his first in 245 attempts. Considering he only cost his 84 managers €500,000 he’s already proved himself to a bargain buy, his Italian win and the previous week’s top-20 finish in Spain bringing his winnings to date to €118,550.
The Swede, though, didn’t feature in week five’s winning line-up, the bulk of Fireplace Joe’s earnings coming from Sawgrass where he had three players – Lucas Glover, Heath Slocum and Bo Van Pelt – in the top five and another, Troy Matteson, in the top 20.
Fireplace Joe’s manager is, however, known only to us as Seán, not quite enough information to stick on an envelope containing details of his prize: a fourball at Druids Heath and a Nike Golf Dri Fit polo shirt. Seán? We’ve sent you an email.
Donal Coleman, meanwhile, has gone top of our overall leaderboard, Anthony Wall (who tied for 10th in Italy) and Hunter Mahan (who took a share of 17th at The Players) his chief contributors in week five, while top 50 finishes on the weekly leaderboard have lifted Simon Feeney and Columba Gavigan to fourth and fifth.
Next up is the Mallorca Open, where five of our Irish players – Paul McGinley, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Colm Moriarty and Simon Thornton – will be in action, and the Texas Open in San Antonio.
