What a finish to the U.S. Open! At that level it makes no difference how you hit the ball. If you don’t hole the putts you can’t win. Mickelson played a fantastic last round until he three putted from five feet at the 17th, but Goosen just holed everything. However, the big winner was the Shinnecock Hills Golf Course and the big loser was the reputation of the USGA who ‘tricked-up’ an already difficult and magnificent golf course through lack of watering on the greens.
It made great television and for the first time I didn’t mind the adverts on Sky, as I could turn over and watch Portugal against Spain in the Euro 2004!
Of course, in the next Portugal match, England lost on penalties. Not the best time to work in Portugal, especially as my assistant is Swiss and his uncle refereed the match! However, all things considered Portugal did play better on the night. Since then, France have gone out to Greece and the new favourites, the Czech Republic, are on a plane home after they also lost to the Greeks. Now Portugal have played Greece, and the surprise finalists managed to go all the way.
Scary monster
In our latest Blue Monster Tournament, António Sobrinho demonstrated his exceptional ability, shooting a course record equalling 65 in difficult conditions at Pinheiros Altos.
His fine form continued when he won the P.G.A. of Portugal Pro-Am at Morgado.
This superb new course situated in the beautiful foothills of Monchique has very fast undulating greens, which combined with the windy conditions, made for difficult scoring. António’s three under par 143 (73 – 70) was good enough to win by four shots from Alan Sweeney, who performed well in his first P.G.A. of Portugal event. Yours truly could only manage fourth, but I thought it deserved a mention!
The British Open is coming up soon and I’m off to Northern Ireland to play in the British Seniors at Royal Portrush. I’ll keep you informed.
