Holywood Ending

It was the standout performance of August for many sports fans, including this one. Rory McIlroy was awesome winning the PGA. Three shots behind at the turn, other players would have panicked & pushed for too much or folded a la Greg Norman. Could he beat the records of Woods or even Nicklaus ? While he will be a hot favourite for the Masters, those records are still a long way off and injury, continued motivation & the emergence of new players have to be reckoned with. Certainly the other players must now fear him as Woods was once feared. The Ulsterman has a good chance to overhaul the record for most majors won by a European.

Roger Federer has showed signs he’s back to his best form this year. Victory in Cincinnati was his first Masters title for two years. This time last year he had just one win with seven losses v top 10 opposition, this year is a much healthier 12-4. Coach Edberg has encouraged more net approaches & so less baseline coverage for those 33 year old legs. The same game plan could also work for Andy Murray, who has not yet reached his former level since his back surgery.

A word for Mk Dons. A 3^rd string Man Utd side perhaps for the League Cup tie, but still a massive upset.

Rule Britannia

2012 was a high point for widespread British sporting success. 2013 is not shaping up too shabbily either. The Lions, Murray, Froome, the Ashes, Justin Rose. Hamilton got in on the act on Sunday at the Hungaroring.

Andy Murray has not been doing too badly lately. 2012 Wimbledon runner-up. Olympics singles gold, & mixed doubles silver. US Open champ. Runner-up Australian Open 2013, & now Wimbledon champ. Famously the gap since Perry won was 77 years. There aren’t many title droughts in sports to beat that. Two of the longest are in baseball: the Chicago Cubs haven’t won the world series since 1908, & it took the Red Sox 86 years to lift the so-called ‘curse of the Bambino’.

It pains me to say it, but with recent results Federer  looks finished as force as the top level. He has lost to players ranked outside the top 50 in three straight events. It’s even possible, if his current poor from continues, that  he may not qualify for the year-end top eight finals.

Chris Froome dominated the Tour de France. Only on the last Alpine stage did he concede time to his major rivals. His Sky team slowed up behind the peloton on the Champs Elysees to cross the line together, losing 40 seconds, otherwise his margin of victory would have exceeded five minutes. Froome showed his class both in the time trials and the mountains.

After  three  rounds at the Open an Englishman topped the leaderboard, but a certain Californian lefty claimed the claret jug. Mickelson has never been ranked world no. 1, but that’s due to playing in the same era as Tiger Woods, having been in the year-end 2^nd spot four times.

Performance of the Month

Harsh not to give it to Murray for ending that long wait, but Froome shades it.

Honourable mention:
The Lions for that rare series win.

Hymns & Errors

March was for me the best month of sport since the Olympics: Man U-Madrid, Barca-Milan, Man U- Chelsea, both legs of Spurs-Inter, Wales-England. Spectacular matches & all on terrestrial TV.

Barca responded to two Classico defeats & losing the first leg of their round of 16 match to Milan in emphatic style. It’s hard to look beyond them or Madrid as winners now, especially as Bayern only scraped past Arsenal. Perhaps Dortmund could spring a surprise.

Wales lost seven on the bounce in the autumn, & at half time in their first  6 Nations game were down 30-3 to Ireland. The turnaround was completed in the title decider in Cardiff, as England and Owen Farrell were shown to be fallible, Wales in the end winning by an emphatic scoreline.

Andy Murray is up to world no. 2 after winning Miami. In this BBC interview (link below) Lendl made a refreshing point about a more favourable draw made possible by a higher seeding. Normally players give the standard line that they don’t look at the draw, all matches are tough, you have to beat the best to win, etc. Lendl instead was saying it would be preferable for the big four players to play each other, hopefully in gruelling matches before facing Murray. A dream scenario for the French Open, with Ferrer 4^th seed & Rafa 5^th; would be Djokovic(1), Nadal(5) and Federer(3) drawn in the same half.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/scotland/21967941

Performance of the Month

Wales.

Honourable mentions:

Rafa Nadal, won a record 22^nd Masters title in Indian Wells

Tiger Woods, back at world no. 1 after a three year hiatus

A 39th Step Too Far

Tiger Woods

ESPN.com recently ran an piece titled 'Is Tiger Woods the most dominant athlete ever ?' (link below)
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3263383

Woods won the WGC Match Play in Arizona last week. He has now won seven out of the last eight events entered ( his one blemish to a perfect record was a second place). When you think that one bad hole can cost you a round & a tournament, Woods winning run is astonishing. Clearly Tiger is the best player, but opponents have also admitted to being intimidated by him. Perhaps they over press by trying too hard to beat him, too. Woods focus & determination would seem to be the main reason for his dominance.Ominously, Woods said after his latest victory 'you can always get better'.

Champions League

Liverpool will be favourites to win their last 16 tie v Inter after the 2-0 win at Anfield. The trend for good European results but domestic inconsistency continues. How did a team who lost at home in the FA cup to Barnsley inflict the first defeat in five moths on the Serie A leaders ? Playing against ten men for an hour helps though- and both Materazzi's bookings looked a bit harsh. Arsenal may have missed their chance against Milan. Chelsea & Man U should win their home ties against Olympiakos & Lyon. In fact, I would be surprised if there was no English team in the final. If one of the Premiership sides does reach the final it will be the fourth year in a row-as you might expect from the richest league in the world.

Haye v Maccarinelli

These two massive punchers meet next Saturday. Haye's only loss (20 wins) was by stoppage to Carl Thompson in his 11th pro fight. Macca has also only one loss on his pro record from 29 bouts. Haye has arguably faced tougher opposition, and was impressive in knocking out Jean-Marc Mormeck in seven rounds in November, winning the WBA & WBC belts (traditionally the two most prestigious of the 'alphabet' titles). Haye by 10th round KO.

A 39th step too far

I share the delight of many footy fans that Richard Scudamore's plans for a 39th Premier League fixture abroad now seem to be dead in the water. Apart from it being just a cynical money-spinner which shows complete disregard for the fans, what about the sporting implications ? Imagine needing to win the last game of the season to stay up, & having to play a team going for the title. Hardly fair. The whole point of the league is that all play all home & away, and every team follows the same programme. Tacking on an extra fixture distorts the league competition. Instead of looking at more ways to generate revenue, the Premier League should be spreading more of the wealth from the TV contracts etc to the lower leagues & grassroots.