So once again football is failing to come home but when England’s cricketers return from Pakistan next week they will do so having secured a remarkable series victory in Asian subcontinent playing conditions they seldom encounter.
Excuse me, you are perhaps thinking, I was expecting to be reading something about golf rather than the World Cup or international cricket. Which I will get on to now. On the eve of the most recent cricket Test, the second in the series, played in Multan, more than a dozen members of the touring party took the opportunity to play the nearby Rumanza Golf & Country Club, which was designed by Nick Faldo. According to the chief cricket correspondent of The Times, Michael Atherton, the course is “the best in Pakistan”, a compliment which would doubtless please the golfing knight who created it. Having never been to Pakistan, I have no opinion on the matter.
Very pleased to see @englandcricket Men's Team enjoy some time @rumanzagolf last week before the 2nd Test!@NickFaldo006 #StrategyandMemorability https://t.co/PuHzNKibrl
— Faldo Design (@FaldoDesign) December 12, 2022
As for the quality of the golf on display, Atherton wrote: “Most of them play golf Bazball-style, whacking it miles and taking on every hazard.” (I think you can get his drift from that even if the term ‘Bazball’ means nothing to you.) That Test match was scheduled to conclude this [Tuesday] morning but in fact it finished yesterday. On Saturday evening, reporting for the BBC, Vic Marks had written: “There’s no virtue in [England] declaring before lunch tomorrow. Unless some of them want to play golf on the fifth day.” Well, if they did, their day job didn’t get in their way. In fact, there might be some of them out there swinging even as I type this.
Of course, it is well-known that many professional sportsmen are keen golfers, footballers and cricketers among them. (The leisure sport of choice for many golfers, Nick Faldo included, is fishing.) But that doesn’t go for all occupations. Last week I read the latest novel from Michael Connelly, Desert Star, which as per usual is a police procedural set in and around Los Angeles involving a now ex-cop called Harry Bosch. These three sentences raised a smile. “Bosch was not a golfer. It was a sport that required more money than he could afford while growing up, and as an adult, he had always been too busy with his job to engage in five-hour outings on a golf course. Added to that, it still took more money than he could spare, and he had issues with calling any endeavour that involved drinking and smoking a sport.” I think drinking and smoking are not mandatory on a golf course, but again I think you can get his drift.
Meanwhile, as England’s footballers adjust to their disappointment at being ousted from the World Cup by France at the quarter-final stage, at Education City Golf Club in Qatar – the Education City football stadium hosted eight matches during the tournament – excitement is building as the Qatar Open Putting Competition heads towards its climax on Friday. The quarter-finals of that event take place tomorrow. It’s not on either BBC or ITV. Or Sky Sports, come to that.
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com plus you can read more by him on golf at robertgreengolf.com
