Chipping In: Wonderful Wilson

For most part-time golf viewers, the sport is now dead and buried until Augusta National’s beautiful Azaleas appear on our screens next April. But what happened this weekend helped demonstrate why so many people are addicted to golf, and why it’s the most unpredictable, capricious and heartwarming of all the sports.

Wonderful Wilson

Oliver Wilson - a man who earned less than €2,000 in his last event on the Challenge Tour – held the lead heading into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship following three great rounds at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews. To put his position into context, Wilson hadn’t finished inside the top three on the European Tour since 2009.

And it showed. He three-putted twice on the front nine to turn in one-over-par. By that point, he’d been passed by Richie Ramsay and world number one Rory McIlroy, but he didn’t let that faze him. He made his first birdie of the day on the 10th, followed that with another on the 11th and hit the best iron shot of his life to set up a birdie on the 16th. When Tommy Fleetwood missed an eight-footer for birdie on the last hole, the title was Wilson’s. It wasn’t just his emotional reaction that was so touching, though. The raft of players who rushed to congratulate him after his victory – including McIlroy – is indicative of the sense of goodwill on tour and testament to the character of a man who refused to let a horrendous and extended slump in form affect his constitution as a human being.

Lesson for us all

So many golfers, both amateur and professional, can either identify with Wilson, or use his victory as inspiration. Wilson finished as a runner-up nine times on the European Tour during 2006 and 2009 and despite earning a place in the 2008 European Ryder Cup team, he never managed to get into the winner’s circle. Sadly, things were about to deteriorate.

Between 2010 and 2013, he was only able to record one top 10 on Europe’s premier circuit, and his dramatic loss of form saw him demoted to the Challenge Tour. Last season, he earned just €44,000 and this year, before the Alfred Dunhill Links, he’d accrued just €11,984 in 16 events. When he stood on the first tee at Carnoustie last week, he’d slumped to 792nd in the world and a continued career as a professional golfer was looking increasingly less viable.

But golf is a magical sport, and things can change in an instant. After his victory, Wilson admitted that two weeks ago in Kazakhstan, he stood on the 18th tee during his final round and felt he was simply unable to hit the fairway. He was playing good golf in practice, but couldn’t transfer that to the golf course – a plight hundreds of thousands of golfers all over the world can relate to.

But he gritted his teeth on the back nine at St Andrews, turned his fortunes around with incredible strength of character and pulled clear after a phenomenal approach set up birdie at the 16th. He made an unfeasible par after hacking his way up the Road Hole and closed his round out with a safe par at the final hole to record a 17-under-par 72-hole total – enough for a one-shot victory.

Now, he’s almost €700,000 richer, he’s secured a two-year exemption on the European Tour (when just two weeks ago a trip to Challenge Tour Q-School was looking likely) and he’s in the field for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, the second most lucrative event on the European Tour. His fortunes have completely changed in the space of one week, and you’ll struggle to find anyone on tour who’s anything other than delighted for the humble man from Nottinghamshire.   

Fantastic Field

It was great to see so many top names taking part in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, with the field including world number one Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Victor Dubuisson and Stephen Gallacher, plus former major champions Padraig Harrington (how nice was it to see him playing some good golf again), Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and others. It's a fantastic event played on three amazing golf courses in an entirely unique format. It was also pleasing to see Ryan Palmer taking part. I genuinely believe a host of top Americans could be consistently persuaded to play, thus making it one of the most coveted events on the global golfing calendar.

Much is made about the dearth of tournaments in Great Britain, so wouldn't it be nice to see the likes of Rose, Westwood, McDowell and Donald pledging their support? Granted, the post-Ryder Cup scheduling isn't ideal, but that is by no means an unassailable obstacle. Almost all professionals profess to love links golf and feel a special affinity for St Andrews, and there's only one other links event on the European Tour schedule, so why don't all the top Europeans take part? I can't quite work it out. Let's hope McIlroy's presence, the all-round strength of the field this year and the dramatic finish persuade more top names to return in 2015. What's more, if we attract some Americans to play each year, they could be tempted to compete in just three more events annually and earn full European Tour playing privileges. Top Americans competing in Europe, as top Europeans do in America, would do wonders for a tour now perceived to be a feeder circuit.

Next week, the European Tour head to the Algarve for the Portugal Masters, while the PGA Tour 2014/15 season gets underway with the Frys.com Open.

Image Credit: Twitter @FairwaysFundays