Thursday 12 February 2015 12:31, UK
David Livingstone reflects on a memorable few weeks for golf on Sky Sports, featuring enthralling finishes and world-class fields on the Desert Swing, and looks ahead to seeing the big names begin their Masters preparations in Florida...
What a start to the golfing year we've had on Sky Sports. We were privileged to witness a couple of thrilling finishes in Abu Dhabi and Qatar and Rory McIlroy then proved beyond doubt in Dubai that he is the outstanding player in the world.
Attention will shortly turn to Florida and the world-class fields on show at the Honda Classic followed by the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, and that's where the build-up to the Masters really starts. And last week, of course, we heard the fantastic news that the Open Championship will be coming to Sky – great news for us, and the game of golf.
Let's wind the clock back a little and reflect on a remarkable three weeks in the Middle East, and in terms of competitiveness, it was probably the best Desert Swing I’ve seen. Obviously, there have been some amazing weeks at the Dubai Desert Classic over the years, particularly when Tiger Woods was involved, but the quality of each event continues to strengthen. There is certainly no such thing as a 'weak' event in the Desert Swing.
In Abu Dhabi, Gary Stal won his first European Tour title and he was naturally elated, so I don’t think he was offended in any way that most of the talk afterwards centred around Martin Kaymer.
The US Open champion was nine or 10 shots clear midway through the front nine when Wayne Riley said: “Everyone will laugh at me, but a couple of double-bogeys can change everything.” Radar took a lot of stick for that comment over the next hour of the coverage, but then he was proved right.
The fact that Kaymer couldn't close it out was clearly the big talking point at the end of an amazing tournament, and what happened to him serves as a reminder of what can happen in golf.
Stal was not the Frenchman we had expected to win such a big event. We had been paying more attention to the likes of Victor Dubuisson and Alexander Levy, and we hadn’t given Gary a second thought really. But he had his day and I’m sure he will have more.
Flawless
He was almost flawless on that final day, firing a seven-birdie 65 to pip McIlroy by one shot. Perhaps if he does win again this season, we might change our opinion of what happened in Abu Dhabi – we might say it was more about Stal than Kaymer after all.
On we went to Doha, where Branden Grace played the last five holes in five under par to snatch a one-shot win over Scotland's Marc Warren. It was Grace's second win in a month, but time will tell if he is able to cash in on his incredible form and contend for majors.
We said Grace was capable of winning the big championships when he had his awesome run in 2012, winning four times in his rookie season on the European Tour. I just feel that, since Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel became major winners, some of the South African players have stalled a little in terms of challenging for majors.
I think the South African guys have got something to prove at the moment. And Grace is one of them. They tend to be streaky players, although they generally play well on the Desert Swing after playing previous tournaments in their homeland.
You have the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek and then the South African Open in January, so the South Africans are more up to speed when they arrive in Abu Dhabi.
They just have to carry that form into the season. When Grace won four times, that suggested he had major potential, but I’ll reserve judgement on his chances for now as there are so many contenders out there. Grace has had a purple patch of form but he’s now got to step it up again.
Tiger-like
And so to Dubai, where Rory's performance fuelled the inevitable comparisons with the Tiger Woods of old. The effect you have on a tournament is one thing, the way you win tournaments is another.
Rory showed us that he, like Tiger in his prime, can win golf tournaments at 70 or 80 per cent of his total game. Mark Roe mentioned that people focus on Rory thinking he could have done better, because he’s maybe missed a few putts here and there.
But that’s because he’s so good, he makes more chances for himself than anyone in the field due to his imperious driving and iron play. If you create as many chances as he does, there will always be an element of 'what could have been'.
Dubai was probably Rory's most mature performance ever, and it was a sign that he can win tournaments when he’s not quite at 100 per cent
It was probably his most mature performance ever, and it was a sign that he can win tournaments when he’s not quite at 100 per cent.
Now we are looking ahead to the Florida Swing, which starts with McIlroy headlining an all-star cast in the Honda Classic before the world's elite head to Doral for the first World Golf Championship event of the season.
The Florida Swing used to start at Doral, followed by the Honda. But in those days, the Honda was seen as the weaker event on the Swing, and it was viewed as a week when some of the bigger players had a rest.
The tournament suffered from being shunted around to different venues, but since it arrived at PGA National in 2007, Jack Nicklaus has been an unofficial host and the tournament has grown into one of the most high-profile events of the year.
When Rory won it three years ago, that was when it came back as a big, big tournament again. It’s got a great slot in the schedule, and a great venue in PGA National. It is a magnificent place which has hosted majors and a Ryder Cup, and there’s a real big-occasion feel about it.
Augusta countdown
And this is where the real build-up to the Masters starts, without question. We used to have that feeling at Doral the following week, but now that the likes of Rory and Tiger play the Honda, talk of Augusta gathers pace. And once the first WGC event is decided, there will be only four weeks until the first major of the year.
Talking of majors, the incredible news that Sky will broadcast exclusive live coverage of the Open Championship from 2017 is still sinking in, and it is the ultimate final piece of the jigsaw for us. Sky can do so much for The Open, and obviously the R&A believe we can.
The Open is in safe hands with Sky, and any doubters should just look at what we’ve achieved with the Ryder Cup, which has been on our channels since 1995. I’ve been at every single one of them, and the Ryder Cup has grown in every way imaginable since then.
Sky's involvement has helped the growth of what has now become much more than just a sporting event – it’s now a global occasion with people from all walks of life taking an interest. If we can do anything like that for The Open, all the negative feeling will go away.
Being awarded The Open is the ultimate endorsement of Sky’s golf coverage. The organisers of the Masters have been very pleased with what we’ve done and I think that will be a long-term partnership, and hopefully it will be the same for the oldest major of them all.
Sky has been covering golf for well over 20 years now, and we’ve had endorsements from the PGA Tour, European Tour, the USGA and the Ryder Cup committees, but this is the pinnacle of our achievements.
