The Youth Movement Continues

Last week in this column I made a prediction. It involved Robert Karlsson and Ross Fisher. At about 16.30 on Sunday afternoon, I was feeling quite smug. Fisher was tied for the lead with some youngster called Alvaro Quiros, who'd been enjoying a good week, but was beginning to show a bit of tension. Karlsson meanwhile, was lurking two shots, visibly licking his chops as he crept towards a third successive win.

An hour later, Fisher had dropped three in a row, Karlsson dumped his ball in the water on the 17th, and Quiros was calmly holing out to take a two-shot lead up the last. Which he birdied.

Ok, we had heard of young Quiros before - he won at Leopard Creek last year on his first appearance with a full card (the rest of the year was fraught with injury), and had a decent season on the Challenge Tour the year before, but who would have bet that he would have managed himself so calmly down the stretch with the world's best player (at this time) breathing down his neck. He bombs the driver, but has a wonderful putting touch which saw him hole clutch putts on the 15th, 16th, and 17th. This boy is here to stay, and adds his name to the young guns powering through the fields these days.

He played great all weekend, finishing his third round off solidly on Sunday morning before going out for the final act. He was put under pretty much as much pressure as you get outside a major championship and a pairing with Tiger. He showed both talent and guts, and, along with Pablo Larrazabal, will be flying the Spanish flag for a long time to come.

It was nice to see him cite Seve as an inspiration for the win; in my opinion, there are few players of his his age who wouldn't - Seve did so much to stir up excitement and love for the game, and I'm sure he'll continue to do so for many long years. (Just to keep you updated, Seve had a second operation at the weekend to remove a small piece of his skull which was placing pressure on the brain after the first operation. He is currently stable and in intensive care. Once again, we send him our best.)

Briefly, in America - Mark Turnesa picked up his maiden PGA Tour victory at Justin Timberlake's tournament in Las Vegas, holding off a pack of players including Ryder Cupper Chad Campbell, Zach Johnson, who continued his good form from the week before, and Chris DiMarco. I'm delighted to see DiMarco back in a bit of form - he's had a torrid year and he's too good a player to stay out for long. I'm confident we'll see him back in the winner's circle before long.

So, the Order of Merit race is still open, and will come down to Sunday evening at Valderrama. Who will take it? Well, Miguel Angel is playing this week in Spain, and he realistically needs a strong performance, as I somehow don't think big Robert will be too far from the action at the Volvo. I'd love to see Harrington do it again, but I don't think anyone can argue that it would be a just dessert for Karlsson, putting the finishing touches on a season that has seen him become one of the game's greats. 

As ever, it will be fascinating.

Given the current state of the world, I think it is important to remember our priorities, and, for now, I leave you with a quotation from Robert Lynd:

"It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place this world is when one is playing golf."