Montgomerie, with pounds 602,919, has built an unassailable lead and, whatever he does this week, is guaranteed the top bonus pool prize of pounds 125,000. Faldo has twice finished top of the Order of Merit but even if he wins here on Sunday, he will still be in Big Monty's shadow. His most common fault, apart from spending too much time making videos and not enough competing in tournaments, has been his putting. Reduced to the unorthodox grip of right hand over left, he has tended to blame the inconsistency of the greens in Europe, and next season the most successful British golfer of his generation will become a card- carrying member of the American Tour. In his infamous critique of Europe, Faldo isolated only three courses as being worthy of bonus brownie points: Valderrama, Mount Juliet and the French National This week he should have no excuses.
The pounds 750,000 Volvo Masters, Europe's end-of-season bonanza which unfolds today, is at Valderrama which is not only the venue for the 1997 Ryder Cup but also happens to be the course on which 'Faldo's Fixes' was filmed.Faldo has won once this year but has played in only 10 tournaments out of 36, compared to, for example, Colin Montgomerie's 20. Similar good fortune will have to rub off on his British confederates if the Breeders' Cup whitewashes of the last two years are to be avoided.. Crystal Spirit sparkled when winning at Cheltenham yesterday and Ian Balding's seven- year-old is now bound for South Carolina for a crack at next month's Colonial Cup Chase. Following his American excursion, Crystal Spirit will return to England to be prepared for a run in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on 26 November..
Thames Valley Tigers take a slender lead to Croatia for next week's second leg European Cup third-round tie against Split, after a spirited and organised display at Bracknell last night earned a 77-72 first leg victory. Steve Bucknall, Tony Balogun and Tony Holley were outstanding for the Budweiser League champions, but it took a spectacular finale from Michael Hayles and Peter Scantlebury to stretch Tigers' lead in the final four seconds. Tigers were leading 74-72 when Hayles was awarded two free throws after being fouled by Split's American, Kurt Portmann.Hayles scored the first, rebounded his own second shot and threw up a speculative hoick which Scantlebury caught before dunking over the Croatian defence.Tigers led 39-33 at half time but fell behind to a second half blitz of five consecutive three- pointers from Nenad Videka. His second snatched the lead at 43-41 and by the time he slotted away his fifth Crotia led 54-49.Bucknall and Holley combined brilliantly under the Split basket to steady Tigers and regain the lead.LEADING SCORERS: Tigers: Bucknall 19, Holley 17, Scantelbury 12, Balogun 10.Split: Videka 19, Portmann 12, Vrankovic 10.. The timing of the release of a video called 'Faldo's Fixes' could have been better. It is hyped as the first instructional film to help golfers find a cure for when things go wrong. As things have gone wrong for the former world No 1 this year, the temptation is to suggest that the physician should study the video to get himself out of a fix.
'I look at the most common faults known to golfers and set about curing them,' Faldo says in the blurb. 'With the exception of Hatoof and Grand Lodge, who have gone for other races, you have got the top European milers.'There is a similar picture in the Turf, in which Paradise Creek aims to repel the likes of Hatoof, Hernando, Only Royale, Raintrap, Tikkanen, Bolas, Celtic Arms, White Muzzle and River North.The last-named squeaks into the race with the same sort of luck that enabled Peter Savill, the gelding's owner, to come by Britain's new 'wonder horse', Celtic Swing. Even so, the temperamental mare has much against her.The six-year-old will have to survive the rigours of her longest journey and new surroundings as well as the competition of Meritocrat and Soviet Problem, who, like Ian Balding's runner, emerge from the stalls as if explosives have been detonated behind their flanks.There are three other races with a lone British challenger: Belle Genius (Paul Kelleway) in the juvenile fillies, Eltish (Henry Cecil) in the juvenile and Erin Bird (Peter Chapple- Hyam) in the Distaff.Yutaka Take takes the ride on the last-named, who has it all to do according to yesterday's Stateside assessment from Geoffrey Gibbs, the British Horseracing Board's chief handicapper.Take, the Japanese jockey who ran into a rather cross Chapple-Hyam on Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe day, may be comforted by the fact that he will be more at home on this flat track and that, historically, all the best double-acts have had friction between them.Europe's best prospects if numbers are a guide, lie in the Mile, the Turf and the Classic, the last two of which will be screened live on Sky. The satellite station will also show recordings of the other five events in a programme from 9.00pm to 10.30pm a week on Saturday.The Mile is most notable for Lure's attempts at a treble in the race, but he will have to have retained all his old brilliance to overcome a formidable European challenge which will be mounted by Barathea, Distant View, Missed Flight, Bigstone, East Of The Moon and Ski Paradise 'It's an incredible race,' Gibbs said. Louisville's racetrack has long been considered to provide perhaps the best dirt surface in north America, and the grass circuit is now also in comparable condition. 'It's the best turf of the year at Churchill Downs,' said James E Bassett III, who may sound like a grandfather of the liquorice trade, but is in fact the president of Breeders' Cup Ltd.Britain's best chance, according to the oddsmakers, is in the race in which its competitors last succeeded Lochsong is a best-priced 5-1 to win the Sprint. Any excuses for defeat are unlikely to revolve around the state of the course.
