Best bets
1.5pts each-way Matteo Manassero @ 28/1
1.5pts each-way Matt Wallace @ 20/1
1pt each-way Rasmus Hojgaard @ 18/1
1pt each-way Thriston Lawrence @ 18/1
0.5pt each-way J-W Ko @ 160/1
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As anticipated, the ill-conceived strokes-start format for the Tour Championship turned what should have been a glorious finale to the FedEx Cup Playoffs into a Group I yawnfest yet the PGA Tour got the winner they wanted as Scottie Scheffler won for the eighth time this year if you include his Olympic gold medal.
But did the world No. 1 really win? Well, he certainly copped the $25m first prize and the trophy – bringing his year’s earnings past $64m – but the guy who finished second, Collin Morikawa, actually shot the lowest number, 22-under-par 262 to Scottie’s 20-under 264, and in any other week would have been declared the winner.
‘I’m more interested in Matteo Manassero, third at Crans half a lifetime ago in 2010 when only 17.’
Now, unlike Scheffler, consistent but winless Morikawa could really have done with a W on his 2024 CV. Instead he had to make do with the satisfaction of outscoring the outstanding golfer of the year and the not-to-be-sneezed-at consolation of a second-place cheque for $12.5m.
It’s just his bad luck that the PGA Tour wanted the man who had played the best over the previous 33 weeks, from flagfall at Kapalua in January to East Lake in September, to be crowned champion.
To make it as easy as possible for Scheffler, they gave him a ten-stroke start over five of his 29 rivals and even two over his nearest pursuer in the money race, Xander Schauffele, the winner of the PGA and Open Championships. Morikawa had to give him six – you couldn’t make it up!
Scheffler had voiced his disapproval of this cock-eyed format but nobody is going to look a gift horse in the mouth and for his own personal satisfaction he tried like stink to win the “unofficial” tournament (the one sans handicap) as well as the one he was presented with.
He won’t lose too much sleep about failing – he would have finished third to Morikawa and Sahith Theegala – but, being the uncompromising competitor he is, he will see it as a job only half-done.
Credit to Morikawa for his best performance of a steady unspectacular year. Among a number of jaded big names who just seemed to be going through the motions, he stood out. His game face was on from the get-go. His reward beyond the cash was to jump two places to fourth behind Scheffler, Schauffele and Rory McIlroy in the world rankings.
Rory co-led a mightily unimpressive European contingent, sharing ninth spot with Olympic teammate Shane Lowry without ever looking in top gear. For the record, the 2023 FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland was only T12 this time and Ryder Cup colleagues Ludvig Aberg (16th), Bob MacIntyre (T17), Tommy Fleetwood (20th) and Sepp Straka (T27) gave Sky’s commentators little to enthuse over.
Justin Rose, drafted in as guest pundit, sounded a natural and was a great asset but they all had a thankless task trying to make the action exciting. Because it wasn’t. Unlike the Curtis Cup which most certainly was (a one-point victory for GB & Ireland over the USA who had won the three previous encounters, two by massive margins), and in this rousing contest at glorious Sunningdale we surely had our first glimpse of a future world No. 1 in the girlie but fearless 15-year-old Asterisk Talley.
She absolutely annihilated our best amateur Lottie Woad with five birdies and an eagle in the first ten holes – and if you’re wondering about that unusual first name, Talley’s mother is from Greece and Asterisk means “little star” in Greek (of course it does when you think about it). This was a ***** performance but even so it couldn’t quite save the Americans.
This victory by our amateur starlets means teams from GB & Ireland or Europe now hold the Ryder, Solheim, Walker and Curtis Cups, a good omen for next week’s Solheim Cup when Europe’s lady professionals go to Gainesville, Virginia. Yet the Americans, led by world No. 1 Nelly Korda, are 3/4 favourites with Fitzdares.
On the DP World Tour the big-hitting Dane Niklas Norgaard brought home the bacon in the British Masters, a 40/1 first-time winner but not a total surprise after his second place in Belgium and fourth in Hamburg.
He rests on his laurels this week in a field headed by Ryder Cup stars Matt Fitzpatrick and Nicolai Hojgaard when the Omega European Masters at picturesque Crans-sur-Sierre almost a mile up in the Swiss Alps holds centre in glorious isolation as the PGA Tour takes a break.
It is one of the most popular tour stops made even more enjoyable if someone else is paying the frightening restaurant bills. This was where 12 months ago Aberg (not defending) scored his maiden, and so far only, European success and where Fitzpatrick himself was back-to-back champion in 2017-18.
It’s a quirky little course facing Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. The rarefied air makes the 6823-yard par 70 play even shorter than that. But with its blind holes and sidehill lies it takes a bit of knowing.
Its days as a pushover when Baldovino Dassu became the first to shoot a 60 in Europe and regular sub-30 nine holes were recorded are over since it was given a makeover and winning scores of only 13 and 14 under in 2019 and 2021 indicate Crans is now a serious test.
A caddie with good arithmetic is an asset as is positive course experience. Ignore past champions Fitzpatrick, Thriston Lawrence, Seb Soderberg and Rasmus Hojgaard at your peril, particularly those like Lawrence and Hojgaard whom we know are bang in form.
After a T4 in the Open, Lawrence was a winner on his home Sunshine Tour and a week later runner-up to Norgaard at the British Masters while Hojgaard came with a great rattle at The Belfry to snatch third spot after never being in contention.
Also noted was Londoner Matt Wallace, pipped in a playoff here by Lawrence two years ago. This globetrotter showed timely form when recovering from a slow start last week to finish eighth. A winner on both main tours, Matt looks poised to strike.
I shall probably regret swerving Fitzpatrick but he has had a disappointing year albeit at an higher level than this and taking single-figure odds about someone without any compelling recent form is not my style.
I’m more interested in Matteo Manassero, third at Crans half a lifetime ago in 2010 when only 17 – he went on to land the tour’s BMW PGA flagship at Wentworth at 20 – who has reinvented himself after a painful decade with a game in tatters.
His sixth at The Belfry on Sunday confirmed all is now well with his game. It follows an early-year win in South Africa and a bundle of top-15 finishes throughout spring and summer. There is even better to come
Soderberg, winner of anfive-man playoff which included McIlroy at Crans in 2019, was having a fine season but hasn’t played since June because of back and rib injuries and is probably best watched.
Best of the longshots could be Frenchman J-W Ko. For a guy who finished fourth at The Belfry, 160/1 looks big. A Manassero victory would be an upset too but a minor one. Don’t be amazed if the Italian edges out Wallace, Lawrence and Rasmus Hojgaard.
Sad weather news for this beauty spot – it’s going to rain every day but I bet the players still have a great time. They always do at Crans-sur-Sierre.
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