WHATEVER you thought of the first day of the inaugural Golf Sixes, there was no denying the fact that the players seemed to enjoy it as they trotted merrily around a chilly Centurion course with the kind of beaming grins not seen since the Bee Gees went for a scale and polish.
This was the cut-and-thrust of team competition combined with the relaxed feel of a Husband & Wife stableford. The players chatted to spectators, they performed interviews while ambling down the fairways and they emerged on to the tee through plumes of dry ice which made them look like entrants in an episode of Stars In Their Eyes. “Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be a slightly sheepish golfer who’s not quite sure about all this kitschy razzmatazz.”
When you are trying something out for the first time, there is always going to be some trial and error, a few hits and misses and a bit of suck it and see. That is experimentation for you and this is the European Tour’s grand experiment in easily digestible, fast food golf for a rapid-fire age. The paraphernalia attached to it was predictable.
Music blaring here, oversized novelty foam fingers wagging there, cheerleading announcers shrieking their lungs dry everywhere? This was very much an exercise in forced fun and the problem with that is that it can often breed the kind of strained joviality you would get if you subjected people to a game of musical chairs on a sinking ship. But let’s not get all crotchety. Only time will tell if the Golf Sixes is a gimmick or a goer but there was enough in there to offer encouragement.
The players bought into it and the Scots certainly enjoyed it. Marc Warren and Richie Ramsay had been drawn out of the dreaded pot four, a ranking supporters of Scotland’s national football team will be all too familiar with. That meant Warren and Ramsay were plunged into what they themselves described as a “group of death” along with fancied pairs from Belgium, Spain and Thailand. The portents didn’t look good but, unlike our country’s fitba players, our golfers qualified from the group and marched on into the quarter-finals.
The Caledonian connection was purposeful and profitable as Warren and Ramsay dovetailed nicely in the greensomes format. A nip-and-tuck encounter with the Belgian duo of Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Detry in their opening tie was decided on the sixth and final green as Ramsay launched a cracking approach from some 245 yards to within 20 feet of the flag and Warren trundled in the eagle-putt to clinch a 3-2 win. The turnaround of matches was pretty swift and the Scots kept up the momentum by beating the Spanish pair of Pablo Larrazabal and Jorge Campillo by another 3-2 scoreline with three birdies and an eagle over half-a-dozen holes.
The Scots were playing with smiles on their faces. Perhaps it’s the way forward? “It might do both of us some good if we can take that attitude into a normal event," said Warren
Having already qualified for the last eight, a 3-1 defeat to the impressive Thai duo of Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat in their final group match didn’t have much impact as both sides eased through. Warren and Ramsay will go up against the Portuguese paring of Ricardo Gouveia and Jose-Filipe Lima, who reeled off a couple of commanding 4-0 wins en route to topping group C.
Tournament hosts England, represented by Ryder Cup players Andy Sullivan and Chris Wood, made sure they would be around for showdown Sunday with a 4-0 trouncing of the Netherlands in their final group match while Team USA’s Paul Peterson fell victim to the shot-clock innovation on the fourth hole against Wales when he plootered too long and went over the 40 second limit. The US were penalised a shot, ended up drawing the match and ultimately failed to qualify.
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