We’ve had interesting starts here in Nairobi for the first two days of the Magical Kenya Open golf championship. Going in at 8 a.m. the traffic is nose to tail wherever you look. The TV crew travels in a large coach with a police escort. The road to the course is a relatively narrow ribbon of tarmac with bright red dirt on either side. Without the escort it would probably take forty five minutes rather than the twenty it does, with the police heroically driving down the wrong side of the road inviting the opposing traffic to take to the dirt, like Moses parting the Red Sea. The key for the coach driver is to stick close to the motorcycle or whatever gaps that have appeared may close rather suddenly. There is a hostess handing out blindfolds for anyone wanting one boarding the bus….in my dreams. You certainly need a steely nerve to keep looking out. It’s actually fairly routine for life on the European Tour, which takes in the thrills and spills of motoring in India, China, Malaysia, South Africa, Thailand and many other destinations where taking to the blacktop requires close communication with your guardian angel to ensure a safe return home.
Golf has a reputation for being a gentleman’s game with players being required to police themselves more often than not. The vast majority of professionals are as straight as the day is long, but there always have been cheats and I guess there always will be. Generally those that stretch the rules with monkey business pretty quickly get a reputation amongst their fellow pros and when it gets bad the player responsible for marking the card of the known naughty boy will keep a very close eye on what he’s up to. I’ve been walking the fairways for thirty years and have sucked my teeth on plenty of occasions as both the spirit and the actuality of the rules are broken. Occasionally players really get caught out, often by tv cameras, and a few have been either banned for months or fined very heavily. I witnessed another trés dodgy moment today from an Indian player who tried it on with an experienced Tour referee and amazingly was given a free drop when it never should have been allowed. It’s too complicated to explain the detail of it, but suffice it to say that he knew exactly what he was doing and it was undoubtedly without the spirit of the game. Of course, if you watch football on a regular basis, players cheating is an everyday occurrence, but golf is supposed to be an honourable game. I have been disappointed on a few occasions to see players that you really thought wouldn’t dream of cheating, doing just that. Today was one of those times.
Putting that aside, it’s a real pleasure to be in Kenya for the first time. The people here are just wonderful. Any concerns that we might be coming to a dangerous place have been rapidly dispelled in the most positive way. When you then hear of the Mosque tragedy in New Zealand, supposedly one of the safest countries in the World, it makes you realise that disaster can strike anywhere, anytime in what feels to be an increasingly ugly world.
ADayInTheStrifeOf 