“Cheating ****”
That was how one European Tour player described one of his compatriots to me on the way back from the golf club a few years ago before launching a tirade about how he’d be thrown out of a national squad, and how someone had refused to sign his card on another tour.
Both happened long before he allegedly received advice from his coach mid-round. Then there was “Le Tricheur.”
In case you don’t speak French, this means ‘the Cheat’ and the name given to one particular player on tour by the players from another European nation. This was off the back of a Maxfli ball found in the left trees on 10 at Valderrama almost certainly being his, rather than the one he hit to the green; but also because of his penchant for taking a drop out of casual water without consulting his playing partners.
Neither however should be confused with the guy who could walk down the range without receiving a single ‘Hello, how are you doing’ or indeed any form of acknowledgement from his peers because he had “form.” Or the one who got caught on TV tapping down a spike mark on his line (when you couldn’t) with what could only be described as a ‘furtive’ look on his face.
