Google Search this site

Last Update: 2 June, 2008 9:38 AM

01/06/2007
A DAY AT THE MANOR MIXING WITH MONTY AND CO

Features
Author: Ian Golden at the Celtic Manor

THE Celtic Manor Wales Open is the first golf event that I’ve ever managed to attend and to be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived at the beautiful multi-million pound resort situated just east of Newport. To start, I’ve always wondered how the spectators manage to keep up with the action. With 157 golfers battling it out for a £250,000 pot, do the fans pick a favourite and stay with him for the rest of the day or do they simply stay put at a particular hole and wait for the action to come to them?

To be honest, it’s a mixture of both.

Colin Montgomerie was a name that I knew, as did many other people judging by the size of the gallery he managed to magnetise around the course all day.

Compare this to the man currently ranked 110th in world golf, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano. With no disrespect to the Spaniard who has won three European Tour events in his three-year professional career, he hasn’t quite reached the dizzy heights of popularity compared to the 43-year old Scotsman and was tailed only by his faithful caddy.

One has to be fit to follow a favourite, so for fans of one of the world’s oldest sports, the 18th hole is a popular destination. A mini-grandstand is set up at this culmination of the course, and although it was less than half-full at midday on Friday, it is certain to be packed when the likes of Paul Broadhurst and Alastair Forsyth compete for first prize on Sunday afternoon.

On the other holes, it’s mainly standing room only, save for a few elderly gentlemen who I saw sitting comfortably in their deckchairs by one green or another, with a copy of the Daily Telegraph and waiting to applaud when any of the sportsmen arrive.

Some players, though, take the Wales Open by storm, as Challenge Tour player Liam Bond after avoiding the deluge that turned the Roman Road course into a swimming pool. Bond, who lives only half-a-mile from the Celtic Manor, found himself up among the leaders having only received an invite from a kind sponsor last Monday.

But, while Bond was the local celebrity for the moment, you cannot but feel sorry for others like Spaniard Carlos Rodiles. The 31-year-old from Malaga struggled through the Thursday storms to fire a five over par 74. That was going to require a big improvement to get him through the midway cut on Friday night.

However, with few people watching his round with Wales' Sion Bebb and Yeovil's Marcus Higley, just imagine how he felt when, having pulled back a stroke on the opening par four and feeling confident, everything went completely pair-shaped on the par five third where the unfortunate Spaniard recorded a huge quadruple bogey nine.

He may as well have thrown his putter into the bag and told his caddie to walk back to the clubhouse but that is not the way of professional sportsmen. Bravely, he put all his thoughts back together and managed a couple of pars in the next two holes as he strode down the sixth out of the tournament at eight over. And it got worse as he dropped another at the next and his round was shaping into a disaster. In fact, it all proved too much for Carlos and he withdrew from the tournament, leaving Bebb and Higley to fight it out between them (pictured right).

Elsewhere, it’s not that possible to get bored attending the Wales Open as you will find plenty to see and do if you are an enthusiast with the sideshows complimenting the main event. However, the one advice I have to give is to bring your own food.

At £5.50 for a burger from the outside stalls and £15.50 from the luxurious hotel bar, you made need a second mortgage to keep full for the entire four-day tournament. Still, at least it’s better value than the new Wembley.

[Return]	[Print]