Global Golf Post - October 24, 2011

On The Money

Luke Donald
Sergio Garcia

Golf went all retro on us last week. And as
blasts from the past go, it included a fast cast.
In the U.S., there was a good old-fashioned
fight-to-the-finish for the year-end money
list. This used to be a big deal before the
WGCs and the FedExCups obscured the top
spot. Luke Donald dramatically birdied six
straight holes on the back nine in Florida
to outduel Webb Simpson in a must-win
situation. In the process, world No. 1 Donald
cemented his credentials for PGA Tour Player
of the Year.
In Spain, former boy wonder Sergio Garcia,
31, went to great lengths – he won the Castelló
Masters by 11 shots – to prove rumors of his
demise had been greatly exaggerated. This new,
smiling, (see: Page 2 photo) adult Sergio 2.0 is
a vast improvement on the pouty manchild into
which he had devolved while failing to win in
almost three years.
On the management front, Rory McIlroy
put the boot to boutique when he abruptly
defected from Chubby Chandler’s ISM agency.
Insiders are saying McIlroy needed higher
maintenance. Or that ISM had become too big
for its mission statement. Or both. Maybe the
savvy Chandler will take the hint and return
his firm to its good old charmingly collegial
days. Maybe he is well rid of an increasingly
ambitious McIlroy.
The nostalgia of Yani Tseng winning for
the seventh time on the LPGA, this time in
her homeland Taiwan? That’s easy: Women’s
golf has returned to its glory days of having a
dominant player.