A busy couple of days, sporting wise, with the biggest story being Rory McIlroy putting aside his demons from Augusta and running away with the US Open at Congressional. Many have already offered their superlatives for this performance but the statistics speak for themselves - youngest winner of this tournament for nearly 90 years, record score of -16, only dropped shots on 4 holes etc and these simply highlight how far ahead of the rest of the field he was. Criticism that this course may have played easier than other major courses does McIlroy an injustice in claiming -16 was easier than it may have been elsewhere as he still won by 8 shots. The Americans warmed to him and the consensus that this could be the first of many major wins will be welcomed by his fans on both sides of the Atlantic.
After Graeme McDowell's victory last year the curious statistic of back to back victories for Northern Ireland giving plenty of reasons to be proud and this added to the Republic of Ireland's Padraig Harrington 3 recent majors. This win puts McIlroy 4th in the world rankings to demonstrate the current strength of European golf with Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer at 1, 2 and 3.
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As if to prove that a heralded team that can mount a serious challenge in a major tournament only to fall disappointingly short is not just confined to the senior team, the Under 21s were eliminated from the European Championship after conceding two late goals to lose 2-1 to the Czech Republic. Mirroring and typifying the senior team the Under 21s defended well but showed little flair going forward and struggled to break opposition defences down. Stuart Pearce, with one eye on his own position and in justifying the set up of his team, complained that by the time he gets the players in this age group it is too late to improve on their skills saying that, with some truth, that ball control and passing ability should be taught before they reach 17. The one flair player who could have made an impact was Jack Wilshere and he was not taken to Denmark with fatigue used as an excuse. This excuse was used to explain England's poor performance in the recent Euro qualifier against Switzerland but as was demonstrated players from other European nations who had played as many, if not more, domestic games managed to display the energy levels one would expect of fit men in their twenties.
The question of burn out was also cited for his exclusion with his elevation into the senior squad seen as expecting too much from him but Spain took Juan Mata who was also in their World Cup squad last year and who is regarded as one of the hottest transfer targets this window. Similarly, Switzerland are fielding another hot prospect in Xherdan Shaqiri who impressed in the that recent qualifier against England. In reality the clubs are calling the shots, fearful that their charges may get injured as is demonstrated by their disdain for friendly internationals and their insistence that their players do not participate for the full 90 minutes.
On top of all this excitement we have had the first Test Match to be played at the Rose Bowl where only the rain, quite figuratively managed to piss on Hampshire's chips in what was otherwise a well staged event with the weather being the only winner with the draw being the inevitable conclusion to see England take the series 1-0. And now all that is over Wimbledon started today so we can expect the usual hyperbole about Murray's chances for the next fortnight or until he gets beat.
After Graeme McDowell's victory last year the curious statistic of back to back victories for Northern Ireland giving plenty of reasons to be proud and this added to the Republic of Ireland's Padraig Harrington 3 recent majors. This win puts McIlroy 4th in the world rankings to demonstrate the current strength of European golf with Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer at 1, 2 and 3.
.*************************
As if to prove that a heralded team that can mount a serious challenge in a major tournament only to fall disappointingly short is not just confined to the senior team, the Under 21s were eliminated from the European Championship after conceding two late goals to lose 2-1 to the Czech Republic. Mirroring and typifying the senior team the Under 21s defended well but showed little flair going forward and struggled to break opposition defences down. Stuart Pearce, with one eye on his own position and in justifying the set up of his team, complained that by the time he gets the players in this age group it is too late to improve on their skills saying that, with some truth, that ball control and passing ability should be taught before they reach 17. The one flair player who could have made an impact was Jack Wilshere and he was not taken to Denmark with fatigue used as an excuse. This excuse was used to explain England's poor performance in the recent Euro qualifier against Switzerland but as was demonstrated players from other European nations who had played as many, if not more, domestic games managed to display the energy levels one would expect of fit men in their twenties.
The question of burn out was also cited for his exclusion with his elevation into the senior squad seen as expecting too much from him but Spain took Juan Mata who was also in their World Cup squad last year and who is regarded as one of the hottest transfer targets this window. Similarly, Switzerland are fielding another hot prospect in Xherdan Shaqiri who impressed in the that recent qualifier against England. In reality the clubs are calling the shots, fearful that their charges may get injured as is demonstrated by their disdain for friendly internationals and their insistence that their players do not participate for the full 90 minutes.
On top of all this excitement we have had the first Test Match to be played at the Rose Bowl where only the rain, quite figuratively managed to piss on Hampshire's chips in what was otherwise a well staged event with the weather being the only winner with the draw being the inevitable conclusion to see England take the series 1-0. And now all that is over Wimbledon started today so we can expect the usual hyperbole about Murray's chances for the next fortnight or until he gets beat.
