Weekly Golf Tip: toss the ball to improve your chipping ‘feel’

If you are like most weekend golfers, you probably need to practice a lot more than you do. Practice is a necessary evil for mastering any skill, and the more you practice the better you get. But the reality is that other than a few hurriedly hit putts before your ‘tee time’, you probably don’t get around to practicing much.

During the round, you have your share of mis-hits and duffs, but the shots that hurt the most are the flubbed chip shots when you are close to the green. It may have taken two or three decent shots to get near the green – and then everything is thrown away when you top your chip way past the pin, or hit the ground an inch behind the ball.

Most chips go awry because you either poke at the ball in a fast jerky motion, or, take a bigger backswing than necessary and then decelerate on the downswing. I know the horrible feeling. I’ve done it enough times! But I learned to cure the lack of chipping feel from a caddie, and I’ll let you in on this little secret.

The next time you have chipping problems, try this little drill. Go to the practice green. Stand just outside the green with both feet together and pointing towards a target hole on the green about 15-20 feet away. Bend forward slightly and toss golf balls with your right (or left) hand to get the balls close to the target hole.

After just a couple of tosses, you should be able to get the balls to stop within a couple of feet of the hole. Note your ball tossing motion. It is unlikely to be a fast, jerky motion. Nor will you be taking your hand back a whole lot before  tossing the ball. The natural motion will be a slow, short backswing and then a slightly accelerated follow through.

Once you get the balls to roll close enough to the hole for an easy tap-in putt, pick up your favourite chipping club – the 8 or 9 or PW – and try to recreate the smooth ball-tossing motion with a few practice swings. Then start to hit a few chips with that same smooth motion.

A few chips may get mis-hit at first, but you will gradually get the idea that around the greens you need to have a feeling of ‘calm, easy and smooth’ motion with your chipping club. Please remember that smooth doesn’t mean soft. The ball needs to be hit crisply for it to hold its line and stop near the hole with backspin.

(More on hitting crisp chip shots in a future post.)

Weekly Golf Tip: to hit the ball far and straight, do the ‘Vijay Singh’ weight transfer drill

Last week’s tip was about a drill for maintaining good balance during your golf swing. Good balance is very important in golf. It is the foundation on which the entire swing has to be built. But it is not sufficient just to maintain good balance at the time of address.

Good balance has to be maintained right from the address position, to the club takeaway and the back swing, and then down through the hitting zone and into the follow through. In future posts, I will try to break down the golf swing into its different components. But that may get a bit technical for the high-handicap weekend golfer who is very happy to play off a 18 or 22 handicap.

To build on the simple ‘happy toes’ drill for maintaining good balance, here is another simple drill that can be practiced at home. You can also try it out before your weekend round. I saw Vijay Singh of Fiji do this drill on TV, when he was warming up before a PGA tournament.

Every golfer must be aware of Vijay Singh’s disciplined work ethics and long hours of practice – which made him the No. 1 golfer on the PGA tour just a few years back. When asked by reporters about this drill, he said that even professional golfers need to remind themselves about the basics of the golf swing!

Even though our bread and butter may not depend on our weekend round of golf, most amateur golfers can easily learn some of the simpler routines followed by the pros. As Nicklaus once famously said: You enjoy the game a lot more if you can play well.

Without much further ado, here is the drill (for right handers; left handers can switch the ‘left’ to ‘right’ in the drill):

Take a few of your ‘normal’ practice swings with your driver (or whichever club you take a few practice swings with before your round). For the next few swings, lift your left foot completely off the ground during your back swing and start the downswing by first planting your left foot back down on the ground, before swinging through to a full finish.

If your swing basics are correct, you will be able to maintain balance and not topple over. Try it a few times to get the hang of it. You will learn the process of transferring your weight to the inside of your right foot on the back swing, and to the outside of your left foot on the follow through. (Warning: If you are in the habit of swaying to the right during your back swing, you may fall down in trying to do this drill.)

Too many weekend golfers finish their follow through with their entire weight on the right (back) foot. As if, they were playing a back-foot off-drive in cricket. No wonder, the ball some times balloons up into the sky or flies way off to the right.

Learn to transfer your weight properly, and soon you will be able to add several yards to your shots – and the ball will fly straighter.

Weekly Golf Tip : to make solid contact with the golf ball, do the ‘happy toes’ drill

There are two main reasons why many high-handicap weekend golfers remain high-handicap golfers during their entire playing careers:

1. They read about different tips and tricks, but don’t put in the effort at the practice range; instead, they try new things during their weekend round – only to give up when the tips don’t magically change their golfing abilities.
2. The few who do practice at the range, don’t have a clear plan of what they are trying to achieve; so they end up smashing a few balls with the different clubs in their bags – without learning anything new or unlearning any bad habits.

This week’s tip is a drill that any golfer can do at home, in front of a mirror, without even breaking a sweat. It will teach you proper balance when addressing the ball – which is the key to consistent, solid ball contact.

Here is what you do. Take any golf club, and take your usual stance at address but instead of grounding the club, let it hover a couple of inches above the ground. Now try to tap the ground with your toes – one foot at a time, while keeping both heels firmly on the ground.

Eric Jones, the former long-driving champion calls this the ‘happy toes’ drill:

If you can do the drill comfortably, without changing your address position, you are properly balanced.

If you are like most high-handicap golfers, your address position is either too far forward, or too far back. If your upper body is too far forward – which happens more often, mainly due to anxiety – you won’t be able to lift your toes off the ground. If your upper body is too far back, you will be able to tap the ground with both feet at the same time.

This weekend, try the ‘happy toes’ drill before you go out for your round. But please remember that years of bad habit won’t get cured by one drill. Keep at it, till you understand and appreciate the benefits of proper balance – regardless of your handicap.

Weekly Golf Tip: the correct mental attitude towards sand traps

If you are a typical high-handicap weekend golfer, then you probably have an incorrect mental attitude towards sand traps. Before I proceed any further, a couple of definitions may be in order:

1. High-handicap – anything above a handicap of 9 for an 18 hole golf course. (I’m sure the Captain of the Royal Calcutta Golf Club will agree with that definition; not so sure about fellow members!)

2. Correct mental attitude – every time your ball falls in a sand trap, think of it as an opportunity, and not a problem.

Like most high-handicap weekend golfers with imperfect swings and inability to hit the long irons crisply on target, I tend to hit more sand traps than greens in regulation. Every time I’d fall into one, I would curse my bad luck, grab my sand wedge (regardless of the lie or the distance to be covered) and rush into the bunker in a tearing hurry to some how get the ball out.

The result? Either a skulled shot that would go screaming over the green into much deeper trouble. Or, several swings at the ball without propelling it out of the trap, and then bending down to toss it on the green and saying ‘Your hole’ (as if there was any doubt!).

It was fellow golfer and lovable hustler Harjivan Singh - a team member when we won the Wills Trophy (now ITC Cup) back in 1984 at the Tollygunge Club - who taught me the correct mental attitude towards sand traps.

His logic was simple. For high-handicappers, the opportunities for making birdies are few and far between – particularly in a course as long as the RCGC with only one par 3 and one par 5 in each nine. There were far more opportunities in hitting greenside bunkers – specially if you aimed at them!

Harjivan would actually do that, and then try to get up and down for a ‘sandie’. He made quite a few bucks on the side every round.

The point is: if you approach a sand shot with the correct mental attitude, looking at it as an opportunity to make a ‘sandie’, there are more chances that you will come out close enough to the pin with a single swing.

Of course, it helps to know how to execute different types of bunker shots required for different lies and sand conditions. Stay tuned, and I’ll be happy to share my experiences.

(Notes: Thanks to fellow golfers who have encouraged me to write these weekly golf tips. I look forward to your feedback and suggestions. You can use the ‘comments’ link below the post, or send an email to me.)

Why did India perform so badly in World T-20 Cricket?

There is an old saying - Horses for courses - that applies very well to T-20, or any other form of cricket. BCCI and the Indian selectors knew well in advance that the matches will be held in the West Indies. Some pitches, like those in St Lucia, were slow and low - which helped cricketers from the sub-continent. But the ones at Barbados were fast and bouncy - putting a premium on cricketing skills.

Wonder what kind of practice routine the Indian batsmen followed. I remember about Dilip Vengsarkar practising before a Windies tour by having some one bounce a tennis ball off a concrete surface at CCI and he fended it down off his face.

Who got selected for the Indian team? Murli Vijay - with no experience on the world stage. He played and failed in three consecutive matches, two of them crucial quarter final group matches against Australia and West Indies at Barbados. The more experienced Dinesh Karthik was left to cool his heels till the inconsequential match against Sri Lanka.

The less said about Yusuf Pathan, the better. A technique-less six-hitter if the pitch is low and slow. Completely clueless on a fast and bouncy track. As for his bowling - Geoff Boycott's old mother can bowl better off-spin.

Piyush Chawla is competent at best, with a leg break that turns less than Anil Kumble's, but without Anil's control and variety. Amit Mishra had by far the better record - in runs conceded per over and wickets taken - in the recently concluded IPL-3 but was dropped for the tour. Go figure!

But the biggest fiasco of all was the choice of left-arm spinner. Ravindra Jadeja - who was banned from IPL-3 because he was trying to get a better financial deal for himself. Why was he chosen for the World T-20 without any match practice, while the best bowler in IPL-3 - Pragyan Ojha, who also happens to be a left-arm spinner - had to sit out?

Srikkanth and Ravi Shastri have publicly made a big deal about the 'young legs' theory for the shorter version of the game. They are far more knowledgeable than me as far as cricket is concerned. But what about common sense? Do they have any?

At the end of the day, sports requires skills. In cricket, the three most important ones are batting, bowling and fielding. The 'young legs' theory is great for fielding - but totally useless in batting and bowling. Just check the names of the top three batsmen in the recently concluded IPL-3. Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Sourav Ganguli.

If jumping and diving around in a cricket field are all the skills required to win a T-20 cricket match, then 11 trained chimpanzees would have sufficed. The cost to the country's reputation and BCCI's coffers would have been a lot less.

By the way, the already overpaid Indian cricketers were given individual bonuses of Rs 80 lakhs when they won the inaugural T-20 World Cup in 2007. Since they failed so miserably this time, losing all three quarter final group matches by big margins, how about fining them Rs 40 lakhs each? That may just motivate them to learn the basic skills of playing cricket.

Of all the money collected from the cricketers as penalties - half should go to the district and zonal cricket associations for teaching youngsters the basic skills of cricket.

The other half should go to Chess World Champion Vishwanathan Anand, for being a true champion and great performer over the years.

Tom Watson - sports is also for the young at heart

The British Open golf championship has produced several dramatic final round melt-downs. The two that stand out from recent history are:

Frenchman Jean Van de Velde's disastrous triple bogey on the final hole at Carnoustie in 1999 to hand the title to a relatively unknown Paul Lawrie.

Dane Thomas Bjorn needlessly attacked the pin at the 16th hole at Royal St George in 2003, leaving himself stranded in a deep greenside bunker from where he failed to get out in his first two attempts. The eventual winner, American Ben Curtis, was unknown even in his home country!

Stewart Cink, this year's Open winner, is better known and definitely a more consistent player than either Lawrie or Curtis. It wasn't just Tom Watson's missed 8 footer that enabled him to win. He applied the heat on his older countryman when he courageously birdied the 72nd hole to become the leader in the clubhouse. Lee Westwood should have learned a lesson or two from that.

I still can't get over the off-the-green putt that Watson knocked 8 feet past the pin. Was it bad luck that the perfectly struck rescue approach didn't stop on the green? I think it was Nicklaus, who famously said: There is no good luck or bad luck in golf, just good shots and bad shots.

Putting from the fringe is always dicey if the ball has nestled down in the grass. Solid contact isn't possible. More often than not, the ball will jump up and roll farther than you intended. The two shot swing on the 72nd hole sealed Watson's fate.

Under pressure of defending a final round lead, adrenaline plays a negative role. Where calmness and deliberation is required, one ends up rushing and making a jerky swing. Padraig Harrington's pitch from behind the 16th green squirting into the water under pressure from Tiger's fantastic birdie at the Bridgestone Open at Akron, Ohio is the most recent example.

To be leading a Major Championship at age 59, till the final stroke on the 72nd hole, was an achievement that warmed the cockles of the heart of every elderly person who has ever played any competitive sport. Even for youngsters, it was an example of what a combination of skill and will power can achieve.

Why didn't Tom Watson win? Why couldn't he become a 'Cinderella Man'? Because that is life. Some times, dreams do come true - just look at it from Stewart Cink's perspective!

(Note: Another Tom has written an excellent piece about the tragic end to Watson's run at becoming the oldest person to ever win a Major championship. Read it here.)

A sports potpourri

A travesty of cricket

When a person stands with his feet close together and makes a full swing with a 9-iron and completely misses the ball, it is called a 'whiff' or an 'air-shot' in golf, and counts as 1 stroke. A similar situation, but on a baseball diamond, is counted as a 'strike'. Three strikes, and the batter is out.

On a cricket pitch, one can go on swinging and whiffing to one's heart's content - and other than making a complete fool of oneself, it doesn't count at all! Neither should the travesty of cricket - as recently witnessed during the 20-20 World Cup in England.

Pakistan won the tournament deservedly, beating Sri Lanka in the final. The country has become a pariah because of its political adventurism that has closed the door to any home engagements in international sports. This victory should be a moral booster for the sports loving public.

Sania vs. Saina

Two young girls from the same town in India. Both participants in different forms of racket-sports. Attractive personalities. Almost identical names. One's star is ascending, the other's descending.

Sania's slam-bang 20-20 version of tennis initially bewildered opponents and allowed her a modicum of success. But a hit-or-miss style used repeatedly without any planning or thinking does not produce results in the long run. No wonder her progress is limited to the 1st or 2nd round in Grand Slam events, and an occasional doubles victory in third rung tournaments.

Saina, an intelligent and thinking player, has shunned publicity, made steady progress up the badminton rankings and has been a top 10 player for a while. Her recent victory at the Indonesian Open against the World No 3, Ling Wang of China was highly commendable. This performance should move her into the top 5 in the world badminton rankings. Hail Saina!

Lucas Glover's US Open Golf victory

At the top echelons of world sports, the margin between defeat and victory is small - often decided by who makes the least errors and not so much by who has the better skills. This was exemplified at Bethpage Black by Lucas Glover and Ricky Barnes. Barnes set the record for the lowest 36 holes total and the 2nd lowest 54 holes total and led by a shot over Glover after the 3rd round.

The final round scores? Glover shot a +3; Barnes a +6 to lose by two shots. It also confirmed my theory, that under Grand Slam final round pressure, the guy with the wonky swing will wilt! Kenny Perry's loopy swing collapsed against the smoother swing of Angel Cabrera at the Masters. Ricky Barnes' off-balance swing went haywire against the more classical swing of Glover.

Oh! The joy of scoring goals!

It was sheer joy to watch the first half of the FIFA Confederations Cup group match between Brazil and World Champions, Italy. It was fascinating, thrilling, exhilarating and exciting.

Italy was kicking the ball around in the mid-field, playing in the European style of possession and distribution. Precise passes, interchanging of positions, looking for a chink in the opposing defence.

Brazil was only interested in scoring. Everything else was only a means to that end. Once they got possession, a wave of yellow jerseys would lash upon the opposing penalty box in the blink of an eye. A feint here, a flick there and one of the players would suddenly be free and taking a shot at goal.

Twice, the woodwork came in the way. Several times, Buffon helped the World Champs avoid the blushes. But it was obvious that the question was when, not if. Two strikes by Fabiano late in the first half was followed by a desperate lunge by Dossena to save a certain third goal, only to guide the ball behind a diving Buffon. 3-0 at half-time. The World Champions were thoroughly outclassed.

Is Federer the greatest tennis player ever?

Roger Federer has won the French Open, finally. He beat an over-awed Robin Soderling, playing his first Grand Slam final. Roger had beaten Soderling on all the previous 9 occasions that they had played. So the result was a foregone conclusion. The monkey is finally off Roger's back. He can now play without a care in the world, and win a few more slams.

Federer has achieved parity with Pete Sampras' 14 Grand Slams - but has the edge because Pete never won at Roland Garros. Neither did Ashe, Becker, Connors, Newcombe, Edberg. McEnroe never won the Australian Open or the French Open. Rosewall and Lendl never won Wimbledon. Borg never won the US Open or the Australian Open. Nadal hasn't won the US Open - yet. Is Federer the greatest ever?

Let us have a quick look at his competition. Only 5 other players have won all 4 Grand Slams in their career: Andre Agassi, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Fred Perry. Perry and Emerson can be ruled out because their wins came during the amateur era - when pros were not allowed to participate in Grand Slam events.

Don Budge belonged to the amateur era as well. But he won a Grand Slam in the same calendar year and still holds the record of 6 consecutive Grand Slam singles victories. According to another great, Jack Kramer, the greatest tennis player ever is a toss-up between Budge and Ellsworth Vines.

In the Open era, only Agassi, Federer and Laver have won all four Grand Slam events. Great player that he was, I feel Agassi doesn't quite belong in this league. His base-line only game and counter punching style was not suited to playing well on grass. The fact that he won Wimbledon in 1992 was because his opponent was a very nervous and inconsistent Goran Ivanisevic (who finally won Wimbledon as a complete outsider).

That leaves the last two men standing - Federer and Rod Laver. Did I mention that Laver has won the calendar Grand Slam twice? Once as an amateur in 1962 and once as a pro in 1969. In 40 years, no one has come close to touching that record. There are some other interesting tit-bits.

In 1963, after Laver turned pro, he became an instant whipping boy of the pro stalwarts. Lew Hoad was 8-0 and Ken Rosewall was 11-2 against Laver before he started adapting and asserting himself. He ended the year at No 2, behind Rosewall.

From 1965 to 1967, Laver was undoubtedly the No 1 player in the world. In 1967, he won the unofficial Pro Grand Slam of Wembley, French Pro, Wimbledon Pro and US Pro. In 1968, when the Open era began with only 8 open tournaments, Laver was runner-up to Rosewall at the French Open and won Wimbledon by beating Tony Roche in straight sets. That was followed by the calendar Grand Slam in 1969.

I'm not even including Laver's doubles wins and Davis Cup victories. He won 11 Grand Slam singles titles in all. Wonder how many more he would have won if he was allowed to participate during his 5 years in the pro circuit from 1963 to 1967.  But the two Grand Slams in a calendar year - one during the amateur era and once as a pro - should be more than enough evidence to decide who is the all-time great.

For those who have never had the privilege of watching the Rockhampton Rocket in action here is one final clinching piece of evidence. To be called the greatest ever, a player should have a better win-loss record against his best adversaries. Rod Laver beat every one in sight - whether it was his idol Lew Hoad, or an aging but supremely gifted Pancho Gonzales, or the evergreen Ken Rosewall with the greatest backhand ever. What about Roger Federer? His win-loss record against Rafa Nadal (current rank: No 1) and Andy Murray (current rank: No 3) is in the negative.

I looked up the definition of 'great' in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary. There are 11 definitions, out of which 'remarkably skilled' seems most appropriate for a tennis player. In terms of remarkable skills, there is little to choose between Laver and Federer. Laver was by far the better at serve-and-volley. In fluidity of motion, almost ballet-like in its beauty, Federer tops.

Gunners gunned down

The Emirates stadium was full of colour and expectations on a brilliant spring evening. Thousands of happy Arsenal fans were waving myriad red and white flags in what looked like a pre-victory celebration.

Almunia's brilliant 'keeping had kept the marauding Reds at bay in the 1st leg semi-final at Old Trafford. Only O'Shea's opportunistic goal separated the two teams. A 1-0 victory at home would give Arsenal a chance to go through to the final of the European Cup (or is it the UEFA Champion's League?) via a penalty shootout.

11 minutes into the 2nd leg semi-final, the collective hopes and aspirations of Gunners fans at the stadium and in front of a live telecast lay tattered in shreds.

Manchester United scored the first goal after 8 minutes on a counter-attack. Gibbs - a far-from-adequate substitute for the exceptionally talented but injured Clichy - had left the slippery Park unmarked. Rushing to foil him inside the box, he slipped and fell. Park quickly bulged the net with a sharp right-footer above an advancing Almunia.

Barely had the fans recovered from the away-goal shock when Van Persie needlessly brought Christiano Ronaldo down. From the resulting free kick, Ronaldo hit a right-footed pile-driver past the wall and a diving Almunia who was beaten by the sheer pace of the shot.

The glazed look on Almunia's face was priceless. Memories of the Foreman-Frazier title fight at Jamaica in 1973 came flooding back. Frazier had a look like that after Foreman knocked him down for the fifth time early in the second round. The fight was called off soon after.

The second half saw Ronaldo score another goal after an exquisite one-two counter attack with Rooney. A late penalty score by Van Persie was little consolation for Arsenal - after an unfortunate red card was shown to Fletcher on what looked like a fair tackle on TV replays.

The Gunners fans badly wanted a trophy. The last one had come 4 years back. The charismatic Arsene Wenger's talent spotting ability had landed several brilliant ball players - Walcott, Nasri, Song, Sagna, Vela, Fabregas. They are young, skilled, enthusiastic and fast. Ideally suited to Wenger's style of crisp one-touch passing, finesse and all-out attack that turns bruising body-contact football into beautiful, flowing, mobile works of art.

There are a couple of problems with this style. Defenders moving up the flank to help the attack often leave large territories uncovered and susceptible to quick counter-attacks. And the talent and vibrancy of youth is difficult to sustain through a grinding season of the English Premier league.

No wonder Arsenal is in 4th place while Manchester United is on top. The 4th place is no guarantee for an automatic entry into the European Cup next year. The rules have been tweaked. Only the top three go through. The 4th placed team will need to play a qualifying round.

Shakespearean tragedy at the US Masters

The recently concluded US Masters at the Augusta National had all the ingredients of a Shakespearean tragedy. Since I'm a sports loving engineer morphed into a stock market investment analyst, readers may question my credentials about commenting on the fine arts.

So, I am following the advice of the late great Master himself (Falstaff: 'The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.'  Henry IV, Part One) - and quoting from this article:-

"A Shakespearean tragedy is a five act play ending in the death of most of the major characters...Let us consider several characteristics common to Shakespeare's four great tragedies. Each play is especially concerned with one central figure or tragic protagonist. Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth are the protagonists of their respective plays. It is significant that each is the story of a man because the paradox of tragedy in real life is experienced mostly by individual men. Thus as we identify ourselves with the protagonist the sense of tragedy is aroused in us...Each play contains an element of hope that is disappointed or ambition that is frustrated."

Let me introduce our central figure - the 'tragic protagonist'. A 48 year old journeyman pro, bearing the scars of many a battle, a few of which he had won, still not able to clinch that one Major victory. After 69 holes of this demanding 72 hole layout, he was two shots clear of his nearest rival.

Would he become the oldest pro ever to win a Major, or would this Masters become his last hurrah? For thousands of spectators on a gorgeous spring evening, and millions of TV viewers across the globe, the air was tingling with anticipation and excitement.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. There were other major characters in this 'play'. One by one, frustrated and disappointed, they fell by the wayside.

Phil Mickelson set the course alight with a birdie spree that equalled Augusta's front nine record score of 30 and brought him to within a shot off the lead. Of particular brilliance, among many shining stars, was the hooked approach from behind the trees to an elevated 6th green, the ball finishing a couple of feet from the hole.

Lefty's playing partner, and everyone's favourite to win, the great Tiger Woods was trying hard but achieving little. A superb second shot on the par 5 8th got the ball hole-high, about 30 feet to the left. To no one's surprise and everyone's delight, he drilled the putt home for an eagle 3 on a difficult undulating green. The Tiger was on the prowl.

Meanwhile, the leader seemed like he was playing to a plan. While Lefty was charging and Tiger's fans were roaring, Kenny Perry cut out the frills and quietly but steadily parred all the front nine holes.

Chad Campbell, the sole leader after the first round and joint leader with Perry after 36, was also playing unspectacular, grinding golf and staying in the hunt.

Perry's playing partner, a veteran pro from Argentina, Angel Cabrera was playing the worst golf among the leaders. Missing greens with approach shots, incorrect club selections and even a horrid shank, but a never-say-die attitude and a fantastic short game kept his chances alive. The stage was set for the finale.

Mickelson hit a fat 9 iron into the water on the short but very difficult par 3 12th, and completely lost momentum. Tiger kept hitting his approach shots far away from the difficult pin placements and never had reasonable chances to cut the deficit.

His poor luck was epitomised by what happened on the 18th. His tee shot went into the pines. The second shot ricocheted off a tree trunk. A wonderful approach over a tree to about 8 feet, followed by a missed putt for bogie. It was that kind of a day.

Chad Campbell had finished at -10 and had no option but to sit and watch the drama unfolding on TV. Flash back to where the 'play' had started - a little too early.

The 70th hole was the tough par 3 16th with the pin tucked left, close to the water. Like a would-be champion, Perry hit the ball a couple of feet below the hole for a 'gimme' birdie, to the delight of the huge crowd. Cabrera was about 10 feet above the hole and had a tricky, downhill left-to-right breaking putt.

This was a do-or-die moment. The Argentinian relied on the memories of his only victory on the US tour, the 107th US Open at Oakmont in 2007, and smoothly slid the ball into the cup to remain within two.

Tragedy struck on the 17th. Perry pulled his second shot and missed the green back and left. Cabrera also hit long to a green sloping up from front to back. Outwardly calm but obviously shaken, Perry jabbed at the chip, rolled it well past the hole, down the slope, all the way to the front of the green. The only sensible choice was a two-putt bogey. Cabrera deftly chipped to within a couple of feet, parred the hole and was 1 shot down with one to play.

The golf swing is one of the most complex motions in all of sports - perhaps because this is the only game where a stationary ball has to be propelled long distances. To get a repeating swing under the psychological pressure of championship golf, the club needs to go back and then forward along the same inclined plane.

Forget Woods. Look at the swings of other multiple Major winners. Els, Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Watson, Nicklaus, Player, Snead, Hogan. All with smooth, classic golf swings. No going back inside, making a loop and then coming through from the outside. (Like Furyk - one Major and Kenny Perry - none. Trevino and Palmer were notable exceptions - but they had extraordinary talent and will power.)

Anyway, cut to the chase. The final hole. Another pulled second shot to the left of the green by Perry. A chip 18 ft away and a putt that oh-so-heartbreakingly slid by the cup. Bogey. The Argentinian, nicknamed the 'Duck' - probably for his lackadaisical walk, looked like he deliberately played short and chipped and putted for a three-way tie with Chad Campbell and Perry.

Campbell showed his lack of experience by staying in front of the TV till Cabrera's putt dropped. He had little time to warm up or practice before the threesome headed back to the 18th tee for the first sudden-death hole. Tiger would have been hitting balls for half an hour if he was in Campbell's place. Whether he made the play-off or not. No wonder, Campbell made a bogey and dropped out of the race.

For the second sudden-death hole, Cabrera and Perry teed off from the par 4 10th. Under immense pressure came another jerky, loopy swing that sent Perry's ball way left into the trees. Cabrera was safely on in two. Barely able to take a proper swing, Perry chipped past the hole, missed the putt and lost the only realistic chance he ever had of winning a Major.

Cabrera two-putted for his second US tour victory. Another Major. But the main 'protagonist' had 'died'. End of 'play'.

End of Cricket in Pakistan?

Imran Khan had attained notoriety with his huge reverse swings with a doctored cricket ball. So his oft-repeated assertion, that terrorists will never attack cricketers, should have been taken by the Pak security establishment with a large dose of salt.

The Lahore attack on Sri Lankan visiting cricketers was shocking, to say the least. But these were no run-of-the-mill terrorists out to create mayhem. A dozen terrorists with automatic weapons, rocket launchers and grenades could not blow up the Sri Lanka team bus? No security cordon fighting back? Not a single terrorist even slightly injured - let alone captured or killed?

No, this wasn't a terrorist attack at all. The whole situation seemed stage managed by the Pak army and/or ISI to create an impression that Pakistan is as much under terrorists' threat as USA and India. And to divert attention from the fact that Pakistan is the epicenter of world terrorism.

Pak spokespersons - suffering from severe foot-in-the-mouth disease - were promptly on TV channels blaming India. One even went so far as to compare the Lahore attack to 9/11 in 2001 and the Nov 26, '08 Mumbai attacks.

Come on, neighbours! Get real! More than 3000 dead in a day's coordinated attacks in different cities in the USA in 2001. Nearly 300 dead in 3 days of mayhem in different locations in Mumbai last year. 6 Pakistani cops shot in a 2 hours operation in a city roundabout in Lahore. Are these events comparable??

The Sri Lankan cricketers fortunately escaped with minor injuries and my condolences go out to their families for the trauma and agony they suffered. But why did the team make the unscheduled visit to Pakistan in the first place?

Did the Sri Lanka authorities feel that India was exaggerating the security threat by cancelling their scheduled Pakistan trip? Or were they over confident after cornering the vicious LTTE terrorists in their own country? Either way, it was a terrible call.

The time has come to stop molly-coddling the Pakistan establishment because they have a few nuclear weapons. The time has come for the world to realise that a Frankenstein has been created and unleashed. The time has come to stop the flow of money to the Jihadi movement nurtured by the CIA and Saudi Arabia. The time has come to stop all international cricket events in Pakistan.

Tsonga on Song at the Australian Open

2008 was meant to be the year that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would become a household name among sports lovers. He started off with a bang, beating 9th seed Andy Murray in the first round of the Australian Open.

He then handed Rafael Nadal one of his worst straight-set thrashings on a tennis court, before losing to Djokovich in the final. But while Nadal won the French Open (again!) and Wimbledon for the first time to rise to the No. 1 rank displacing Federer, and Andy Murray became a force to reckon with by the end of the year, a long knee injury lay off almost pushed Tsonga out of the limelight.

After a lacklustre US Open where he lost to Robredo in the 3rd round, Tsonga won the Thai Open by beating Djokovich in the final, followed by a victory in the Paris Masters where he beat Djokovich in the pre-quarters before defeating Nalbandian in the final. That enabled him to qualify for the season-ending finale at Shanghai.

But he didn't get past the round-robin stage, losing to Davydenko of Russia and Argentine sensation Juan Martin Del Potro, before a consolation victory over - you guessed it - Djokovich.

2009 hasn't started off great. Tsonga won a doubles title at Brisbane partnering countryman Marc Gicquel but lost in the quarters to another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet. A back injury forced him out of the next tourney and there were some doubts whether he'd be able to play in the Australian Open.

But those doubts were firmly set aside when he took on Juan Monaco of Argentina in the 1st round. A slow start cost him his first service game but he won 4 in a row to lead 4-2 on his way to a 6-4 win. Tsonga still looked rusty and short of match practice - making several wild shots and committing silly errors.

In the second set, he began to look more assured and jumped to a 4-0 lead before a lapse of concentration allowed Monaco to claw back to 4-3. But the fight ended when he won the set at 6-4.

The third set saw Tsonga truly on song. This exciting all-court player was all over his opponent - hitting 200KM+ serves, vicious forehand winners, dinking drop shots and rushing to the net to put away volleys. One felt sorry for Monaco, currently ranked 43 - getting humiliated in front of a world wide TV audience by a player nicknamed 'Tsunami'. The set score? 6-0!

The opposition will get tougher in the next few rounds and Tsonga will need to tighten up his game. There are few better sights in world tennis today than watching a talented player at his uninhibited best.

In other action, former champion and World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt continued his slide down the rankings, losing a Ist round encounter against 2007 finalist Fernando Gonzales in 5 sets.

And in a David-Goliath 1st rounder, spindly 61st ranked Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan produced the best tennis of his life to outplay burly 10th seed David Nalbandian, also in 5 tough sets.

The Australian Open of 2009 promises to be one of the truly 'open' grand slam events in a long time.

Singh is truly King

What a magnificient achievement by 'Jeev' Milkha Singh! Holding off World No 4 Padraig Harrington and World No 8 Ernie Els - both multiple major winners - to win the Singapore Open by 1 shot was truly unbelievable. The fact that another multiple major winner and World No 3 Phil Mickelson was also in the fray, makes his win even sweeter.

This win has catapulted him not only to the top of the Asian Order of Merit, but into the World top 50 (at No 46). Jeev had achieved that feat in 2006, which had earned him an invitation to play in the Masters. That year, he had won the Volvo Open at the difficult Valderrama course in Span and had two victories in Japan.

What followed was a disappointing 2007 without a single victory that dropped him out of the world top 50 list. It only increased the resolve of one of the most dedicated sportsmen of India. He worked even harder at his game, and the sheer determination and perseverance is now paying off in cartloads.

Jeev has won again in Japan this year and the Austrian Open in Europe. The only blemish in his otherwise excellent career has been the lack of a victory on the US tour. One reason is that he was never able to qualify for a US PGA tour card despite several attempts. May be he was trying too hard.

The occasional wild cards and special invitations to the major tournaments didn't provide Jeev with enough opportunities to learn about the different US tour courses. Familiarity with these difficult courses is an essential element in winning tournaments.

Now that Jeev is back in the world top 50, he should get more opportunities to play on the US tour where one victory will automatically earn him a PGA tour card.

Arjun Atwal, another strong Indian golfer who lost his PGA tour card and had to play in the lower level Nationwide tour this year, has earned his PGA tour card back with a victory and finishing the year in the top 15. Jeev, who is a far more consistent - if less talented - player, will surely be aiming to win a US PGA tournament. May be even a major.

The Fab Fours

India completed a 2-0 home series victory by outplaying the No. 1 ranked Aussies at Nagpur and moved up to the No. 2 ranking. But the series will be better remembered for the end of an era. The Fab Four of India's batting - Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly - will never play another test together.

Ganguly has retired. Dravid, after two flop shows against Sri Lanka and Australia, should follow in Ganguly's footsteps soon. After nearly 19 years of non-stop cricket, Tendulkar's spirit is still willing but the body seems weak. Only Laxman can carry on for a while. But Dhoni's policy of 'young legs' may just edge him out as well.

To put things in perspective, please allow me to feel nostalgic for a bit and dwell on other Fab Fours that I've been privileged to witness.

First and foremost, among Indians was the spin quartet of Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagawat Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. While some insist that a major part of their success was due to the excellent close-in catching by the likes of Eknath Solkar, Ajit Wadekar and Venkat himself, the fact is that Bedi remains the best left arm spinner I've seen (with due apologies to purists who witnessed Vinoo Mankad in his heydays) and Prasanna the best off spinner ever.

Bedi was so good that a couple of left arm spinners who would have walked into any other test side - Padmakar Shivalkar and Dilip Doshi - had to cool their heels while Bedi was around. Doshi finally got his chance and took a ton of wickets. Shivalkar had to remain content at the Ranji level.

The freaky action and speed of Bhagawat Chandrasekhar foxed many well known batsmen and won India quite a few matches. But his skills were overshadowed by the recently retired Anil Kumble, who was India's most consistent and highest wicket taker. (I never got to see Subhas Gupte in action. Many claim that he was India's best leg-spinner.) Venkat had considerable skills and was a good leader and fielder, and later a distinguished umpire.

The next Fab Four are the West Indies pace quartet of Holding, Roberts, Garner and Marshall. Even with the advent of helmets, arm guards, chest guards, et al, they struck terror into the hearts of most batsmen and propelled West Indies to the top of the test playing 'countries' for several years.

Holding's smooth run up and fluid action earned him the sobriquet of 'Rolls Royce among fast bowlers'. Roberts had such a lethal and disguised bouncer that most batsmen didn't even know what hit them. Garner's height and accuracy made it impossible for batsmen to score against him. Marshall, the most underrated of the four, had the most brutal pace.

The last, but not the least, Fab Four belong to an era and not a single country. The four great all-rounders - Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev. It is really tough to choose between them. Botham took a huge number of wickets, many with rank bad balls and was perhaps the best batsman of the lot. Hadlee would have been a really good batsman if he had concentrated on his batting a little more. As a fast bowler, he had few equals and had an astonishing wicket-taking average. Imran and Kapil both led their national teams to World Cup victories - they had unquestionable leadership abilities on top of their considerable batting and bowling skills.

Where do our more recent Fab Four fit in?  Ganguly has already staked claim to two crowns - the best left handed Indian batsman and the best Indian captain. He was instrumental in changing the attitude of the Indian cricket team and turned them into aggressive match winners. During his tenure, he rubbed many an administrator the wrong way by putting his foot down on regionalism in team selection. He paid a huge price for it later.

What can I write about Tendulkar that has not already been written? He is undoubtedly one of the greatest batsman I have seen. But I'll have to put him at a close second to Brian Lara and just ahead of Sunil Gavaskar because of his impeccable record in both forms of the game. Dravid has to be rated half a notch below because of his inability to score quickly. The classy Laxman belongs to the group that includes Gundappa Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ganguly - obviously talented, but moody and lacking the consistency of Gavaskar, Dravid and Tendulkar. But on his day, an absolute 'terminator' of world class bowling.

Indian sportsmen shining?

Recent sporting events had a lot of India flavor.

First of all, the sound thrashing that India meted out to the Australian cricket team during the 2nd test match at Mohali. In the first innings, it was Amit Mishra's orthodox leg breaks and googlies that did them in - after a solid batting performance from Tendulkar, Ganguly (a hundred in his farewell series - what an achiever!) and Captain M S Dhoni.

In the second innings, brilliant bursts of swing bowling by Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan broke the backs of the Australians. In between, Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhoni tore their unidimensional bowling attack to shreds. A defeat by 320 runs! I do not recollect when was the last time that Australia had lost a test match so heavily.

At Bonn, West Germany, Vishwanathan Anand was drubbing Russian Grandmaster Kramnik at the World Chess Championships - winning twice by playing with the black pieces. His 4.5 to 1.5 point lead in the 12 match series looks unassailable. Kramnik seems all at sea against Anand's variations and rapid moves.

In a Nationwide Tour golf event in the USA, Arjun Atwal broke the jinx of never having won in the USA by winning in a playoff and almost assuring himself a PGA tour card that he had lost in 2007. It will be good to see him competing in the PGA Tour along side his friend Daniel Chopra (who now plays under the Swedish flag). Earlier, Jeev Milkha Singh had finished a creditable 4th at the Indian Open Golf tournament at Delhi.

All in all, some thing for every Indian sports lover to be proud of.

Not cricket!

Die-hard cricket lovers, getting bored by the lull between the Sri Lanka series and the forthcoming Australian one, may be disappointed with this post. Because there is not much in it about cricket.

There are several other sports in which Indians have been excelling of late - not just at home but across the world.

It started with Abhinav Bindra's shooting gold at the Beijing Olympics.  What followed on his arrival back to India exemplified the old phrase 'from the sublime to the ridiculous'. People who didn't have the foggiest about what particular event brought Abhinav his gold medal, started falling over each other trying to garland him and announce cash rewards!

Sania Nehwal had also performed well in the Beijing Olympics but had succumbed in the quarters. Her win at a badminton tournament in Taipei should come as a moral booster (her subsequent first round loss in Japan notwithstanding).

Young Pankaj Advani won the World Billiards championship at Bangalore with a victory over the formidable Geet Sethi in the quarters. Pankaj has also qualified to participate in the upcoming World Snooker Championship at Austria.

Then came the announcement of the Rest of India cricket team for the Irani trophy, and notable for their absence were Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly. While the media went to town announcing the end of the road for Sourav, a namesake - Saurav Ghoshal caused ripples in the squash world by winning a tournament in France after beating a higher ranked opponent in the final. The reason Saurav Ghoshal had entered the tournament was because he had never been to France before and wanted to see the country! Hope he continues to bring glory to India.

Last, but not the least, is the evergreen Leander Paes, who won the Mixed Doubles title with Cara Black at the US Open tennis - his 8th grand slam doubles title.

There is a common thread in all the five champions - they participate in non-contact sports. My theory about this is that Indian parents do not like to risk injuries for their children lest it interfere with academics.

Even though Vijay Kumar and Suresh Kumar got bronze medals at Beijing in boxing and wrestling, the track record of Indians in contact sports is dismal. A FIFA ranking of 151 in football and non-existent ranking in basketball are cases in point.

New stars on the tennis horizon

The fast hard courts at Flushing Meadows, NYC have produced some scintillating tennis matches that brought into spotlight upcoming stars and some veteran journeymen.

Marin Cilic from Croatia is one youngster to watch out for. What was evident was a very mature head on top of a still growing body. The explosive power of his serves and forehand were a treat for tennis lovers. He is arguably even better than his fellow countryman Mario Ancic  and provided a stern test for Djokovic before bowing out in 4 sets in 4 hours. If he puts in a little work on his net game, he should be a top 10 player very soon.

Sam Querrey is another very tall and very strong player with a great serve, a powerful forehand and a good net game. He gave Nadal a run for his money and should take away several positives from his 4 set defeat.

Juan Martin del Potro from Argentina won 4 tournaments in a row prior to the US Open and is another one from the young brigade who is very tall and very focused. He lost a tight 4 setter to Andy Murray but the match could have gone either way.

Andy Murray has put in a lot of hard work to improve his fitness and is already a star with two wins over Djokovic this year in the hard court series. His never-say-die attitude helped him to get through some remarkably close matches - particularly the 5 setter against the Austrian, Juergen Melzer.

Among the tour veterans, Mardy Fish had a great run with some excellent wins. His win over Blake and the complete outclassing of Gael Monfils speak volumes about his physical and mental skills. Nadal was just too good for him.

But my vote for the player of the tournament goes to south paw Gil Mueller of Luxembourg. This middle-of-the-road tour regular played some amazing serve-and-volley tennis that reminded me of Greg Rusedski in prime form. His win over Almagro of Spain (another star in the making) showcased some of the best clutch volleys at this Open. It is such a refreshing change to see some one playing an all-court game with great success.

The disappointment of the US Open was Jo Wilfried Tsonga, the Frenchman who had given such a hiding to Nadal at the Australian Open with his serve-and-volley skills before bowing to Djokovic in the final. He may not have fully recovered from his injuries yet and seemed short of match practice.

Amongst the oldies, Leander Paes of India displayed his fitness and strategy by reaching the finals of the Mixed doubles and the Men's doubles. Not bad for some one on the wrong side of 35.

A Great Haul in China

Superlatives are superfluous in trying to describe what Michael Phelps has achieved at the Beijing Olympics. Five individual and three team gold medals - surpassing Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals in Munich in 1972.

A total of 14 gold medals in three Olympic Games! Can it get any better than this? Only time will tell, as records are made to be broken. But till that happens, Phelps will hold the undisputed title of the 'greatest athlete ever'.

I had the privilege of watching both Mark Spitz and Mike Phelps reach their milestones live on TV. Spitz's considerable achievement was unfortunately marred by two episodes.

The first was the extremely gruesome kidnap and murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists - now immortalised in Spielberg's movie "Munich". (That episode was followed by an equally violent elimination of Palestinian operatives across Europe - spread over several years - by the Israeli Mossad.)

The second was the 'smart business sense' demonstrated by Mark Spitz which smacked of a crude display of commercialism. Mark refused to pose with his seven gold medals for the press photographers from all over the world.

Instead he returned to the USA and sold his picture with seven golds for a bag full of money. So what is wrong with that? Nothing - other than the fact that the Olympics used to be a sporting event for amateurs only. Participants were supposed to bring glory to their country and not to themselves.

Now that professional sports persons are allowed to participate in the Olympic Games, making money off one's achievements at the games will not raise even an eyebrow.

Phelps will probably follow the path of Spitz and become a multi-millionaire by selling his picture with eight gold medals. But times have changed and his business sense will probably get appreciated by a world audience.

The 'other' Singh

For the first time in the long history of Major championships, an Indian golfer led the field after the first round of the PGA Championship. He held the lead jointly over the best of the best (minus one!).

After a second round 74 - the worst by any player in the top 20 of the leaderboard - Chiranjeev 'Milkha' Singh was still tied seventh with the likes of Sergio Garcia and Angel Cabrera (who won the US Open last year). Only two former major winners are ahead on the leaderboard - Ben Curtis and David Toms. Only 4 shots separate the top 20 players - so this PGA is wide open.

All eyes are of course on China and the Olympics opening ceremony was truly magnificient in concept and execution. But for golf enthusiasts, the last major of the year at Oakland Hills, Michigan - which was dubbed "The Monster" by the great Ben Hogan when he won the US Open at the same venue back in 1951 - will provide a lot of thrills and entertainment.

To appreciate how competitive and tough the field of professional golf is, here are some of the former Major winners that missed the cut : Rich Beem, Fred Couples, John Daly, Todd Hamilton, Zach Johnson, Bob Tway, Mark Brooks, Trevor Immelman, Davis Love III, and the 'real' Singh - Vijay.  Other former Major winners like Jim Furyk, Mike Weir, Corey Pavin and Paul Azinger barely made the cut at +8.

'Jeev' played in the Masters this year, made the cut and made some money. He missed the cut in the US Open and made zilch. He narrowly failed to qualify for the British Open. He has made the cut in the PGA and is in the top 10 of the leader board even though he is playing with a bum right ankle.

In between, he has been criss-crossing the world playing on the Asian, the Japanese and the European tours - making his own travel arrangements, adjusting to different time zones, eating unfamiliar food and making no money any time he misses the cut. In spite of such challenges, with his unorthodox swing and exquisite short game, he has already won a tournament each on the Japanese and European tours.

So say a little prayer for 'Jeev'. If he manages to win the PGA with one of his typical come-from-behind 5 under final rounds, he will get some thing like a 10 year exemption on the US PGA tour - the best and biggest pro-golf tour in the world. And his days of cross-continent travelling and living out of suitcases may come to an end.

The beginning of the end for Sania Mirza

Back in 2005, a teenaged Sania Mirza was creating waves on the Women’s tennis tour. She was notching up important victories over better and higher ranked players like Marion Bartoli and Nadia Petrova. She reached the 4^th round of the US Open where she lost to Sharapova and won her first (and so far only) tournament at the Hyderabad Open.

As she climbed up the rankings ladder, she started to generate a new fan following – particularly among Americans, who just loved her all-or-nothing attitude on court and the stream of hard-hit winners from both flanks from impossible positions.

With fame came fortune, and as the huge amounts started pouring in from endorsements and advertisements, Sania became a style icon among the youth of India – sporting nose rings and tee shirts with messages (provocative by Indian standards!).

Controversies followed, with tennis purists aghast at the time she was spending off court when she should have been working on improving her pathetic serves and lack of fitness and mobility. Her short skirts and ‘daring’ show of skin shocked conservative protectors of Islam. (Ashley Harkleroad may wonder what the fuss was all about!)

Gradually, the high expectations of a billion Indians, off court engagements, assorted controversies and injuries due to lack of fitness and her hit-or-miss style of play began to take their inevitable toll. The problems were compounded by her inability to overcome her obvious technical shortcomings.

Sania did try to improve her serves and worked on her fitness and on court mobility. But her fearsome forehand no longer scared the opposition. Smarter and fitter players were ready to chase down her shots and keep the ball in play with the conviction that Sania would soon lose patience and bang the ball long or into the net.

Cut to the present. A string of first and second round losses in Tier 3 & 4 tournaments. She has not beaten a single player of note recently and has lost to players ranked far below her. From the low 30s, her rank has slipped to the 50s. Before the year is out – she may drop out of the top 100.

For Asian fans of women’s tennis, the new icon is now Zheng Jie who put up such a fabulous show at Wimbledon, knocking off one seed after another, only to be annihilated by Serena in the semis. This is the same Zheng Jie that Sania had beaten in the 2^nd round on her way to her only tournament victory back in 2005.

Sania may have little choice now but to follow in the footsteps of Anna Kournikova and try to become a model/movie star.