The Spike Bar: Tiger Woods shows cowardly streak

When Woods hid from the police who made three visits to his house it looked as though he was on the run, a 21st century Butch Cassidy or Ned Kelly. In his continued refusal to talk to the police did not appear a man exercising his legal right so much as a man trying to hide something.

Admittedly, he made the Florida Highway Patrol look like the Keystone Cops. It was quite funny and if we had heard that the police cars had crashed into one another as they arrived at his property or run out of petrol it would have been even funnier.

Yet all the time that Woods thought he was doing the right thing, he was actually doing the wrong thing.

He thought that if he lay low behind the barricades that surrounded the estate on which he lives and said nothing, the reporters would have to turn their cars around and head home. He thought that if he kept silent the scrutiny would dwindle slowly until by the time he made his first tournament appearance of next year, he might be forgiven if not forgotten.

How wrong can you be? He should have owned up immediately, made a public admission perhaps on television. His first statement did nothing to clear the air. In fact, it created the scenario that came to pass, one in which several women came forward to acknowledge their involvement with him, which, in turn forced Woods to make another statement that did little to limit the damage caused either.

Woods has not made many mistakes in his life and I dare say that if Earl, his father, had been alive, he might have handled this episode with greater tact, common sense and humility. But this time, he has been caught out by his own vanity, by the belief that because he was Tiger Woods he deserved special treatment.

But he was wrong and he is going to have to live with the consequences, one of which could be that it will be more difficult for him to overtake Nicklaus’s record of victory in 18 major championships. Woods has lost a year, for most of which he has been bad tempered, and at the US PGA he lost his record of always winning major championships that he led after 54 holes. Even gamesmanship didn’t help him. YE Yang beat him fair and square.

Woods’s image has been tarnished, the air of aloofness that he has cultivated has been diminished. As he strives to exceed Nicklaus’s record, he has to deal better with what he has suffered these past few days, namely the pressure that comes from being famous and successful in the US.

Woods said his doctors advised him not to make the trip from Florida to California to compete in the Chevron World Challenge, his own event, where he would have given a press conference on Tuesday. His doctors? His medical doctors? Hardly. His spin doctors more like.

Omega event under watch

Rumours are circulating about the future of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup held in China last month. Tenniel Chu, the son of Dr Chu, the owner and developer of Mission Hills, had a rant the other day about the poor quality of the team entered this year by the US. Other issues are: will Omega remain as sponsors? Will the event be staged next year? Or might it miss a year and return in 2011 when it will be held at JeJu island in South Korea?

Mogul trumps Woods with bad behaviour

The commotion surrounding the behaviour of Tiger Woods has rather obscured the behaviour of Donald Trump, another American. While everyone is taking pot shots at Woods, Trump is taking aim at Michael Forbes, one of the men holding out against the compulsory purchase of land necessary for Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire.

Trump has a dubious haircut as well as a reputation for being brash and egotistical. The use of the definite article as in The Trump and the way he likes to speak and write in capital letters indicate he is no shrinking violet.

Is it generally appreciated, though, that he can be rude, patronising, arrogant and bullying in a way that quite takes the breath away?

Forbes owns land and a property on land that Trump wants to buy for his Menie golf estate near Aberdeen and he is being a right royal obstacle to the American. Well he would, wouldn’t he? He lives there and has done so for a long time.

In a statement released last month, Trump refers to Forbes in a series of unusually disparaging ways.

In the release Trump calls Forbes “dirty, sloppy and unkempt in his personal appearance and demeanour”. He says that Forbes is “a terrible representative for Scotland”. He describes Forbes as “...a loser who is seriously damaging the image of both Aberdeenshire and his great country”. And by way of signing off Trump calls Forbes “the local village idiot”.

Can any fair-minded person believe that Trump is doing his cause any good by being so rude, bullying, aggressive and hostile to an opponent of his? The Trump, sorry THE TRUMP, does not appear to understand the British regard for the underdog nor the virtues of understatement nor subtlety or should that be SUBTLETY? One day, and with a bit of luck, this rudeness may come back to haunt him.

Cinque Ports plan is the real deal

There were loud celebrations at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal recently at the news that the Amateur will return to this distinguished Kent club in 2013 for the third time, but only the second since 1923. It is seen as official acknowledgement by the R&A of the hard work that has been put in by so many people to get the course and clubhouse back to their former glories.

Deal hosted the Opens of 1909 and 1920 which were won, you will immediately recall, by JH Taylor and George Duncan. It was the venue for the 1982 Amateur and that of 1923 when Roger Wethered became champion having beaten en route Francis Ouimet who, seven years earlier had defeated Harry Vardon and Ted Ray to win the US Open.

Deal, then, is royalty among golf courses in Britain, minor royalty perhaps but royalty nonetheless. Yet, once a wonderful course with a wonderful history, its allure had started to fade. As plans for changes to the clubhouse began early in this decade, so Gordon Irvine, a golf course consultant, was brought in to get the course back to a truer representation of a links. The size of his task is demonstrated by his observation when he first inspected the site.

“I arrived expecting to see a links course in trouble,” Irvine said. “I found a parkland course in trouble.” He also muttered darkly about the number of lob wedges that were being bought at the pro’s shop. Lob wedges at fast-running seaside courses with firm, hard and greens with true seaside grass on them should be about as much use as a two-foot tall tee in a 30mph wind.

Other clubs should sit up and note what Deal has done and the club’s future plans. It could be an example to many, not least of the perils of overwatering. There aren’t so many seaside courses that we can afford for any to be in poor condition and certainly not ones as distinguished as the Royal Cinque Ports.

Duval shows rare humility

Spare a thought for David Duval, who was once ranked No 1 in the world and currently is battling to gain his playing rights for 2010 at qualifying school in Florida.

Duval, who finished runner-up in this year’s US Open as well as 130th on the money list in the US, would probably have received plenty of invitations to compete in tournaments next year. But he thought it the right thing to go to q-school.

“I didn’t feel like I should be in his position, but I am,” Duval said. “I decided I’m not above going to q-school like anyone else.”

There was always something extra about Duval, something that made him stand out from his peers. Now we know what it is. He does not believe himself to be different from anybody else. Such humility is rare. Good for him, and good luck to him.