Stars miss cut, and that's golf for you

09/02/1999


SO the stars fell by the wayside. Favourites Darren Clarke and Lee
Westwood - who finished second and third in last year's European Volvo
Order of Merit - both failed to make the cut in the US$750,000 (RM2.85mil)
Malaysian Open championship.
Out, too, after two rounds was Jeev Milkha Singh of India, in his second
year on the European Tour.
In golf, to miss the cut is normal. Making the cut itself is an
achievement.
So Westwood, Clarke and Milkha should not be chastised when they were
bundled out. Of course, the fans who had wanted so much to see them battle
all the four days were disappointed.
In fact, on the same day in Sydney, even the legendary Greg Norman
missed the cut for the first time in 23 years in a tournament named after
him - the Greg Norman International.
And look how Bernard Langer squandered a five-shot lead in the same
invitational to card a final day of 80.
That is golf for you. Nothing is certain.
But the early exit of the stars did not in any way diminish the lustre
of this year's Malaysian Open, fourth leg of the European Tour, held at
the Saujana Golf and Country Club.
The tournament was, in the words of European Tour executive director Ken
Schofield, `qualitatively like any other Tour event'.
But with stakes higher, from US$300,000 (RM1.14mil) last year to
US$750,000 (RM2.85mil) and with its merger with the European Tour, the
Open will never be the same again.
Founded in 1962, the last Open of the millennium will be remembered as a
battle between East and West.
True, the Asians were not quite in the forefront but yet some of them
finished among the top 12, including Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol and
Prayad Marksaeng, Taiwan's Chang Tse Peng and Wang Ter-chang, South
Korea's Kim Jong-duk and Choi Kyoung-ju and Frankie Minoza of the
Philippines.
When the merger was first announced, there were initial fears the 65
European Tour players would whip their poorer Asian cousins. But it was
not the case.
Even the winner, American Gerry Norquist, is an `Asian product'.
Except for Alex Cejka of Germany, Andrew Coltart of Scotland, Ireland's
Padraig Harrington, most of the others among the top 10 were from the APGA
stable.
Sunday's win propelled the diminutive 36-year-old Norquist to third
place in the European Volvo Order of Merit behind South Africa's Ernie Els
and Bob May, joint runnerup with Cejka.
As for the Open, it is merely the beginning for better things to come.
Once the APGA Tour, who jointly sanctioned the Open, is accepted for world
rankings, tournaments such as the Open will attract more quality players.
A likely increase in prize money to US$1 million (RM3.8mil) next year
will catapult the Open to the forefront of the US$233mil (RM885mil)
European Tour.
(END)