For punters holding bets on anyone other than Tiger Woods, watching the final round, or even the first round, of the US Open must have brought mixed emotions. On the one hand you could sit back and admire one of the greatest exhibitions of golf ever given. On the other there was the fact that the Beswooshed One was denying you the frisson of excitement brought on by even the outside chance of a profitable weekend. The tournament was dead as a contest long before it was over.
Fortunately Golf Masters isn't so clearcut and while almost all of the leading teams for the week included Woods, the list was topped by F3, the Tiger-free team managed by Aidan McWilliams of north Co Dublin.
We use a vague address, as Aidan has proved as difficult to contact as Tiger is to beat. Our efforts increased our phone bill by enough to raise the Eircom share price up to its flotation level, but they did not bring us much closer to handing over our weekly prize.
Aidan, we would understand if you wanted to avoid us on the basis of going into one of our double money tournaments without the player who now tops the Golf Masters and US Money Lists as well as the world rankings, but your strategy worked and if you contact Tour Headquarters we will set you on the road to a fourball at Tulfarris followed by dinner.
For the record, F3 comprises Miguel Angel Jimenez (£150,000 for tied second), Padraig Harrington (£105,000 for tied fifth), Stewart Cink (£73,500 for tied eighth), Michael Campbell (£56,000 for tied twelfth) plus Nick O'Hern, Wayne Riley and Alastair Forsyth, who did not play at Pebble Beach. Their £384,500 haul brought F3 up to 358th in the overall rankings and they thoroughly outperformed our US Open dream team published last week. Woods indulged us of course but the nightmare collection of Brooks, Clarke, Gogel, Henninger, Lewis and Triplett managed just £8,000 between them. Pathetic by them and us.
The new overall leader is Ryan's Raiders 5, managed by Paul Ryan from Thurles. They have been in the top 10 since week three and are the 10 different team to lead the race for our £15,000 top prize this season. They have occasionally been joined on the leaderboard by Ryan's Raiders 8, which begs the question: Where are Ryan's Raiders 1,2,3,4,6 and 7?
"They exist alright but I don't know where they are," says Paul, who is scheming like an old pro in only his second year on tour. "I brought in Ian Woosnam for Steve Flesch about five weeks ago and that proved to be a good move. Mark Brooks was another transfer and he has picked up a few pound, and I got good value out of Jose Coceres before letting him go for Kirk Triplett."
The presence of Woods in The Raiders was the main reason for their elevation in a week that saw some other significant changes in the overall standings. Paul Sheehan wasn't reading the lines right with Plumb Bob and fell from second to 14th, while Greg Bowden's Bungles Best Number 2, Frank Mayne's Woodview 6 and Paul Murray's Tiger 5 all entered the top 10 from afar, thanks mainly to the efforts of Woods and Harrington.
We're back in action on both sides of the Atlantic this week with the European Grand Prix and the St Jude Classic.
