German efficiency leaves big impression

CADDIE'S ROLE:THE BMW International Open in Eichenried, just outside Munich, is a very stylish event. The club is exclusive, as most are in Germany where golf is very much a game for the elite, even still. The sponsors add the finishing touches to the style they like to associate with their Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW).

Players, caddies and guests are chauffeured in their top end, high specification cars, all black in true limousine fashion and driven by well-groomed, obsequious chauffeurs dressed in immaculate suits.

The driver waited momentarily for the almost inaudible click of the lock after the valet had closed the door before easing out of the hotel forecourt.

Once belted into the back seat, where the armrest was always down, we relaxed beside a bottle holder with the most perfectly chilled San Pellegrino water, the preferred mineral water of European aristocrats. The temperature inside, despite the heat outside, was neither too hot nor too cold, just perfect for perusing the BMW brochure neatly and appropriately placed in the seat pocket as you were whisked through the Bavarian countryside to work.

How civilised and such a far cry from the early days that some of us on tour still remember of public bus trips, followed by a long march down some lonely laneway to an isolated golf course.

Despite the great efforts of the sponsor to pave the way for all of us connected with the tournament, it was always going to be very difficult to get everyone’s undivided attention for their golf event when there was so much more sport engaging the public’s minds this summer. The superstars Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia hurried back from the US Open in order to bolster this year’s entry list only to leave as quickly as they arrived on their private jets last Friday, a further disappointment for the sponsors.

The marathon tennis match in Wimbledon was a distraction midweek, as was the daily World Cup games which kept the spectators away, even though there was free entry for the public until the weekend.

But then, of course, as the group stages came to an end, and England were pitted against their old enemy Germany last Sunday, tournament officials were left with little choice but to adjust their schedule in order to ensure that the eventual first-time winner, England’s David Horsey, would not be celebrating his memorable moment in front of an empty grandstand.

The stands were full on Sunday last thanks to the final tee-time being rescheduled for late morning and a legion of women being dressed in full national team kits holdings signs to indicate the match would be shown on numerous screens in the tented village as well as adjacent to the 18th green.

So the spectators at Eichenried could watch the golf live and move immediately to the match on the big screen at the last or in the beer garden of the tented village.

A German newspaper had rather insensitively splashed a headline of “HELLO SUMMER, BYE BYE ENGLAND” across its front page last Saturday and this naturally unsettled a few of my English colleagues.

The tournament organisers diplomatically placed both English and German flags around the clubhouse and advised players and their guests that facilities were arranged to enjoy the game together after the golf and appropriate flags would be provided.

The English caddies produced a stunning array of shirts and headgear to set the mood. Big Stevie shuffled off the 18th sporting a Three Lions cap and suggested young Englishman Oliver Fisher’s 66 seemed a good omen for the match ahead.

Stevie is a confidently outspoken football critic and can be regularly heard pontificating about certain teams and strategies over locker-room doors.

Some of us headed back into the centre of Munich to watch the game surrounded by Germans as animated as you are likely to see a traditionally reserved race. Walking through the appropriately named English Garden, a vast park right in the centre of town which makes Munich such an elegant city, seemed like we were approaching the stadium to watch the game live such was the number of fans that had assembled to cheer on their nation.

Girls were wearing black, red and gold dresses and were adorned with garlands. Boys were draped in the national flag, some red-cheeked already from blowing their vuvuzelas. How could golf compete with a sport so widely followed by the German people?

We found the Tijuana Café on Leopold Strasse throbbing with World Cup atmosphere, but in true German fashion it was all very well organised.

Beer flowed freely, though, in plastic glasses and there were so many screens it was hard to focus on one in particular. My Weissbier vibrated after each of the five goals as they sympathised with us respectfully at the end of the game, assuming we were English fans.

After the game the crowds spilt out on to Leopold Strasse, which had by the final whistle closed to traffic in order to accommodate the celebrations. The Red Cross had set up emergency tents on side streets in case of any festive mishaps.

By midnight the irritating horns had almost been silenced and the triumphant nation slept contentedly after celebrating a joyous occasion in such an organised and friendly manner.