Nelson Mandela RIP. By chance, the great statesman died a week before the European Tour tournament which takes his name. The Nelson Mandela Championship, the last event of the year, was brought forward by a day so as not to interfere with his funeral on Sunday 15 December.
Sadly, it was a damp squib in more ways than one. Just as in 2012, the weather was atrocious, which meant an already short course had to be shortened yet further to just over 6,200 yards, with a theoretical par of 70, although realistically it was more like 67 or 68, and the tournament had to be curtailed to 54 holes.
Despite a low-quality field, we had two rounds of 59 on the same day. There soon followed much debate as to whether they qualified for the record book. The fact is they are not "official" scores on the European Tour as club-length placing was in effect all week. On the PGA Tour Al Geiberger's 59 has always stood as an official record, despite it also being achieved with placing in force. Rather like the four-minute mile, or the two-hour marathon, a 59 in golf has long stood as the next Everest to be conquered. Without wishing to demean the excellent performances of Spain's Jorge Campillo and South African Colin Nel, I can't accept that the mountain has been scaled. It was just too easy.
A lot of us had expected it to be an emotional experience in South Africa that week, but it didn't really work out that way. Being in Durban we were a long way removed from where Mandela's memorial service was taking place, and to be blunt, the live television coverage that I saw was dull and uninspiring. It's apparent though that with Mandela's passing, South Africa is at a crossroads and one can only hope that its leaders and its people take the right road. It is a beautiful, wonderful country.
Personally the highlight for me was almost bumping into Charlize Theron at Johannesburg airport the day after Mandela's funeral, which she had attended. She looked curiously "normal" striding through the airport on her own, with no minders, and no one apparently paying her a blind bit of attention; except me! When I finally re-united my lower jaw with my upper, I realised she does look a little like my statuesque and elegant wife, who has of late been sporting a "Theron" quiff. Sadly Alison has so far avoided the attention of the Hollywood moguls. (Talking of which can anyone explain to me how the same word came to be used to describe an empire on the sub-continent, the movers and shakers in Beverly Hills, and a small snowy hillock created by carving skiers?)
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