St Will

Hang on a minute, at what ****ing point did I deride any other sports?! Read through everything I've written. Come on, where did I deride any other sports?!?!? YOU'RE the idiot who came on here and said golf isn't even a sport. I haven't said anything negative about your sport or any other sport for that matter. You're the one who started this ridiculous discussion by making a ridiculous remark, just remember that. If someone says something stupid I will tell them, if they don't like it, it's their problem. It isn't my fault people are so ignorant and pig thick that they can't even decipher what a flipping sport is. All I've done is made my point that golf is a sport and Woods is a league above pretty much any sportsman active today. Simple as. At what point did I knock any sport? Never. I claimed that Woods is more dominant than other sportsmen in other fields. That's it. I would suggest that it's YOU who knows nothing about golf, rather than me knowing nothing about kayaking, that is causing this whole argument. Because if you knew anything about golf whatsoever, you wouldn't have made your original point (in case you need reminding, "How can Woods be the greatest sportsman of all time. Totl Balderdash. It's more of a game than a sport anyway" - idiot), and you wouldn't be making the embarrassing comparison between this Richard Fox and Tiger Woods. I've been and researched this Richard Fox guy, just for the sake of proving my point to myself, if nobody else, and I still can't see how you could possibly compare the two. Woods has achieved far more, and he still has 15, 20 or even more years left in his career!! And there is no doubt that the level of competition that Woods faces week in, week out, is/was far greater in terms of talent and number of players than Richard Fox had to face.

No no, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But your opinion is completely ridiculous, so yes, you are unintelligent. And anyone else who shares your opinion is also unintelligent. HTH.

I'm staggered that people put golf in the same category as things like darts and snooker. I'm sorry, but this opinion is outdated, inaccurate, and shows lack of knowledge!!! Golf DOES require a lot of hard training. I spend at least 2 hours a day in the gym, working my arse off with intense workouts, on top of 6-8 hours practise everyday. The top guys who are obsessed with fitness spend 4-6 hours a day in the gym. Golf is no longer about guys with beer bellies going out and playing in the Ryder Cup with cans of beer in their hands like Brian Barnes used to. Fitness is very important in golf. Firstly, you need to be strong, then you need the speed to be able to use that strength as a benefit, to hit the ball further. So not only do golfers do strength training, they do plyometrics too. Then, when you're playing professional golf, when it's your livelihood and there is pressure on every shot, it's important to be able to control your heart rate. So we do cardio work too. Then there's flexibility work for range of movement, and a lot of core strength is required. I think a lot of people see golf a pastime or a game because you see all the old guys going down to the golf club and having a leisurely round of golf....and maybe you do it yourselves. In that case, how about those people who have a gentle game of tennis, or have a gentle bike ride of a bit of exercise? Or those who have a kick around in the park. Those people won't have trained hard to do those things. Does that make tennis, cycling, football, or anything else that some people do as a 'pastime' not a sport?! The truth is, you guys who think golf isn't a sport don't play golf as a sport. You either don't play it at all, or you play it as a way to relax. Which is fine. But it's a sport if you treat it like one. I don't mean to offend people, but it is simply ignorance to suggest it's anything otherwise. The most dominant and successful sportsman today is a golfer. So it's a sport. End of. To put it in the same sentence as golf or snooker as ridiculous. How many fat, drunken, darts player stereotypes did you see playing in the Open this year? None. Maybe John Daly and Mark Calcavecchia are a bit fat and overweight. But so's that guy Parkin who plays up front for Preston, and Andy Reid. The rest of the golfers are fit and in shape. Tiger, Adam Scott, Paul Casey, Johan Edfors - they're the prime examples. I tell ya what, they're fitter than those jokers who show out for our beloved team every week. Going to call football a pastime now? No, didn't think so.

Well I hardly find what you wrote to be much of an argument, and just an insult in itself. To suggest that the sport I play as a profession is just a pastime and I need to get over myself.....that's hardly a valid point made, and just insulting. And it does show a lack of intelligence because if you did have anything between your ears you'd know enough about it to accept it as a sport.

I never said nobody else was a winner and is driven. I said Tiger Woods was more driven than any other sportsman. Pastime? Utter nonsense. Idiotic post from a, no doubt, uneducated moron, with very little intelligence.

Robsk, you're defending your sport, I'm defending mine. I'm not some fuddy duddy, I play golf professionally. I'm 26, currently actively playing my sport professionally. I've played in tournaments all over the US and in the UK and some of Europe. You've attacked my sport as well, comparing it to darts and saying it's a game and not a sport. To say you know more about golf than I know about other sports is ridiculous. I know little about watersports, because they are, as you've even said yourself, a minority sport. To grade sports on whether or not you're risking your life or not, is very silly. 'Sport' is pitching up against your fellow man or women and competing to see how well you do in a fast field of winners. It's about showing your talent, seeing how you do against other people, and trying to be the best. It has nothing to do with "well I was closer to dying, so I must be a more complete and more head strong athlete than you". I have worked with THE BEST sports psychologist in Europe, Jamil Qureshi, who works with Premiership footballers, Premiership football teams, golfers, cricketers....you name it, he's worked with them. He has said to me many times golf is the hardest game mentally. Because almost every part of golf, you have no control over what happens. And you have more time to think than in any sport. I used the example of Tiger and how much money he makes to make the simple point that golf IS a sport. You said it was a game. Tiger would not be the best paid sportsman if he played a game and not a sport. Golf would not be shown on the sports channels if it's a game and not a sport. Golf is not 'primarily skill based'. It used to be. But it's not now. Half of my tournament preparation is in the gym. Tiger's more so. He does an hour and a half's cardio at 5 in the morning, than a weights session, then all his golf, and another weights session at the end of the day. Plus flexibility work. You have to be an athlete in golf now, to be able to be powerful to hit the ball the distances required, and to prolong your career. The golf swing is the most unnatural movement you can make - the amount of injuries you can get, considering it's a non contact sport, is a joke. And let me tell you something. If Tiger wanted to be the best 400 metre runner in the world, he could have become one. He was an outstanding athlete in school and college. He's the greatest sportsman ever, in my eyes, because he's the kind of guy who would be the best at anything he wanted to be the best at. He's more of a winner than any other sportsman out there, and is, without doubt (in my eyes) more driven to be the best than any other sportsman.

Not like Spurs to buy two young British players and pay over the odds for them is it!!!

Sorry Robsk II, but what you have written about golf is the most idiotic, uneducated rubbish I've ever heard in my life. Golf is nothing like darts!!! In fact, mentioning them in the same sentence is pathetic and shows a lack of knowledge to be honest. ANY sports psychologist with any pedigree will tell you golf is absolutely THE MOST mentally challenging sport. Why? Well 95% of the time, all you're doing is thinking. Because it's not a reactionary sport, you have more time for negative thoughts, more time for doubt, more time to lose trust in what you're doing. If you've ever played golf to any sort of half decent level (which you clearly haven't), you'd know that. To say rowing or kayaking requires more skill and finesse than golf though is also completely ridiculous. Absolute nonsense. Who the hell is Richard Fox?! Never heard of him. Kayak Slaloming....that really popular sport that you always see on Sky. Hmmm.... Fitness.....well, I have been told by LaDanian Tomlinson (played golf with him in San Diego a few times), who is one of the best players in the NFL - a total athlete, and friends with Tiger Woods - that Tiger is THE most superior athlete of anyone in ANY sport. The guy's fitness and strength levels, and the amount of time he works on them, are obscene. To say that it's 'total balderdash' that he's the greatest sportsman ever, is also, again, uneducated rubbish. Redgrave and rowing?!?!?! He's bigged up and hailed as so great here in England because very few English sports personalities ever succeed on the world stage. Go to 90% of the other countries around the world and nobody will ever have heard of him. Everyone knows who Tiger Woods is. When he plays in a tournament, television ratings increase by at least a third. That's why he's the most endorsed, richest sportsman in the world. He makes Beckham look poor. He's made more money than Schumacher, Michael Jordan, David Beckham, Andre Agassi, Peyton Manning, Shaquille O'Neal....the lot. He'll be the first sportsman ever to make a billion, and he'll do it by next year. And that's not opinion, that's fact. I'm sure Nike, the biggest SPORTS brand in the world, would really pay Tiger $50million a year because he plays a 'game' and not a sport. Gatorade (SPORTS drink company) pay him $100million over 5 years. In 2008, he was the highest paid professional athlete, having made $110million from winnings and endorsements. (Wickpedia) And let's look at the achievements side of things. Tiger has won 14 majors. The majors are the 'Olympics' of golf. Yes, there are 4 every year, rather than 1 every 4 years, but Tiger has won 14. Redgrave has won 5. Redgrave hasn't done it by himself either. He's always had a teammate or teammates. Tiger goes out, by himself, and has to beat 150 players every week. He's won 68 events in America, 36 in Europe and 17 elsewhere. The guy is smashing every record in the sport, and he's not even half way through his career. Robsk II, your views on golf are outdated and inaccurate. Golf is very much about fitness and strength these days. There are the odd one or two who aren't as fit and strong as they ought to be, but they don't win very often. And I think, because of the traditions of golf, the clothing they wear often masks how athletic a lot of them are. But one thing that definitely hasn't changed about golf.....it IS a sport, and it requires a huge amount of skill, a lot of guile and finesse, and to be successful you have to be incredibly talented and have fantastic hand-eye coordination. I think your views are based on seeing old blokes going down the local golf course duffing the ball around. Professional golf is nothing like that, at all.

good grief I hope you're 9 years old.......if not, you should be ashamed of yourself.

well I would suggest that golf is MORE of a sport than cycling!!

LOL there thousands more professional golfers in the world than professional cyclists.

Rio Secco in Las Vegas have caddies called T-Mates, they're all smoking hot women all wearing very little....glorified strippers to be honest!! I've been there a few times, as the Butch Harmon golf school is there. http://www.riosecco.net/sites/courses/layout9.asp?id=604&page=32616

I agree about Woods throwing strops....it's a little know fact he's the most fined player on the tour, and they put him on a delay on tv coverage now so that if he swears they can cut the sound out. However he is quite simply the best sportsman who ever lived. Once he sorts his golf swing out he will surpass Nicklaus' record easily. The difference in golf is you have 150 odd players gunning against you every time you play. And he wins an extraordinary amount of times. Regarding Watson yesterday, it would have been special but not the greatest ever achievement. Golf can be played to a decent level to quite an old age if you stay fit. On a links course you can dink it down there with little power and the ball can run for miles...I can see how the old boy did it. Still remarkable though.

Disappointed Furyk played so bad on the final day! Goosen hung in there....just didn't hole enough putts. If Westwood had been able to chip and hit bunker shots, he'd have won by 5, forgetting about what happened on 18. He's supposed to have been working hard on his short game with ex tour player Mark Roe - I don't know what he's been teaching him, because his bunker play technique, especially on that par 3 (15 or 16?) was truly awful. Far too steep and no follow through. Was the same all week. Major champions have flawless short games. Westwood's is not flawless. Gutted for Watson. What a story that would have been. He was punished for a fantastic shot into 18 - it got a huge bounce. Shouldn't have putted it from where he finished though - it was a lob wedge landed a yard or two onto the green all day long. Back into the wind it was just as much of a percentage play as the putter to be fair. He's got 5 more Open's than me though..... Cink. A solid player, probably underachieved so far, so perhaps he was due. I was kind of right on my prediction though....a serial top 10 finisher who has plenty of experience would come in under the radar. It was handed to him a little bit though. Shame Watson was so old he didn't have the stamina for the playoff. Enjoyed it. Didn't watch any of the Ashes at all. Although cricket bores me senseless. Doesn't matter that Watson has won 5 Open's before, he's inspired me - if an old guy like him can lead the Open walking onto the 72nd green, then at 26, there's no reason why I can't do it. I'm off to the range.

I thought he was unspectacular but didn't do a bad job....no coincidence once he went off and Lloyd James went to right back, we looked very weak at the back

My tip of Furyk is looking lovely......finished at 1 under, sneaking in under the radar. I was absolutely certain Woods would miss the cut - I'm gutted I didn't put a bet on at 16/1.

That 16/1 on Tiger missing the cut....I knew that was a good bet. Damn it. His driving is just completely appalling. Now +2, playing his 4th on a par 4 having just lost his ball (which he could have done 2 or 3 times already this week), with the cut looking like +3 or +4. Time to call Butch, Tiger.

Completely agree. Some people aren't happy unless they're picking out the negatives and moaning about something. For the position we're in, it's a great appointment. I'm all for people having an opinion, but some people only ever have negative opinions....I guess they're too gutless to think positively just in case they're let down. Far more easy on them if they think negatively and are then surprised if things go well. How about not being cowards and pick out the positives and go to games expecting the best. COYR and all the best Alan Pardew. I'm delighted you're on board. Hopefully the negative, moaning, whinging people will keep schtum and we can have a positive feeling around the place this season. We're going to need it.

Can you imagine if we somehow manage to get Beckford and Lita in?! I would wee myself a little with excitement.

Hate to say I told you so, but Tiger is playing awful. He has to sack Hank Haney after this. His golf swing is awful right now. Laid off at the top, bowed left wrist, losing height on the way down, club stuck behind him.....blocks and hooks all day. He's even just fatted a 3 wood. Missed every fairway he's got driver out on, and 2 or 3 when he's hit iron off the tee. 1 over at the minute (6 behind a 59 year old) and will be lucky to finish within 5 or 6 of the leaders after the first day. If the wind gets up he'll be forced to hit more drivers and that'll mean he's chopping out of the hay even more. He's been incredibly lucky to be 1 over to here too, he's found a reasonable lie every time he's hit driver off the tee into the rough. Still like Stricker and will be interested to see how Furyk does.

Jermaine Beckford, first thing Monday morning [-o

There we have it, 3rd hole and already Woods is in the chin high rough having got the driver out. No chance this week.

And mine! I'm still full of youth though...26

His Mrs totally wears the trousers in their relationship too....she'd kill him if he didn't leave!!

It's a while since I heard the story, but the TRUE story isn't the one that gets branded around in the press apparently!! He was playing a tournament in America, I think on the Nationwide Tour, and he got into a playoff and turned up late for his flight, which took him over the time he was allowed to stay in the country for on the visa he had. So he got into a lot of trouble with US immigration. His wife is Canadian...he became a Canadian citizen and moved to Calgary, and because he is now Canadian, it clears up a load of legal issues with immigration, visas and the right to play on the PGA Tour. Back to good bets for the Open, I've just heard Harrington saying if you drive it well you've got a chance - I think that rules Tiger out to be honest. Having said that, the course is only 7200 yards so he can hit a lot of irons and fairway woods off the tee. Everyone said the rough is up though, and if you hit it wide enough, you can't even get it back on the fairway. Woods can win the Open round St Andrews because it's wide open and is a putting contest...a tight course like Turnberry isn't suiting his wayward driving. I think there'll be a lot of wasted money on him this week, I'd like to be wrong though - I'm excited to see him equal and beat Nicklaus' record. 16/1 on Tiger to miss the cut.....that HAS to be worth a £10 punt!! If you're looking for good drivers, Lucas Glover leads total driving (that's fairways hit and distance combined) on the PGA Tour. Kenny Perry is high up on that list. Sean O'Hair wouldn't be a bad shout either - I think he's potentially a major winner, although maybe a bit soon for him yet. I don't like Poulter's chance at all. You can't go far wrong if you go each way on players like Furyk, Goosen, Perry, Casey and Ogilvy.....all serial top ten finishers in big events. Hunter Mahan and Soren Hansen have been mentioned. Mahan is a good shout for a top ten, but can't see him winning, and Hansen doesn't inspire me really. No to Graeme McDowell....he's playing steady but not at the top of his game, which you obviously need to be for a major. Watney, Ames, Dougherty and Robert Rock (300/1!!!!) are my outsider tips, and for the win, I'd go with someone with a good all round game.....Furyk.