Sportsmen have become too focused on themselves. That was arguably the most striking point to have been made at the recent HSBC Golf Business Forum in Abu Dhabi.
It is too soon to say whether those golfers who lose their identities as they disappear into the so-called “zone” are responsible for the dip in spectator figures at the 2013 Open and this year’s Masters Tournament. But the alarm bells are sounding just the same.
Peter Dawson, the CEO of the R&A until September of next year, said that the game needed some stars to bring back a touch of the spark it had enjoyed in Tiger Woods’s heyday.
Dawson’s definition of a star was a "multiple winner" and someone who had a touch of the ‘X’ factor besides. Italy’s Matteo Manassero, he thought, had what it takes to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros and Tiger were he to become the world number one. “He could definitely be a serious star,” said the CEO, before recalling how Manassero, at just 16, had made a riveting address to the International Olympic Committee on the subject of golf’s return to the Summer Games.
In Abu Dhabi, Manassero shared a Q&A session with Ed Smith, the former England cricketer and an author whose specialist subject of the moment concerns the way sport is heading.
To Smith, the various psychologists, nutritionists and trainers stand guilty of “squeezing the joy and expression” out of their charges’ play. Everything was becoming too scientific. “Too much analysis,” he cautioned, “is a killer. A professional, regardless of his sport, needs to feel more like an amateur and love what he is doing.”
Smith knew, because he had at one point been a victim of the overzealous approach. In 2000, he did everything the "experts" asked of him and proceeded to have one of the worst seasons of his cricketing life. Three years later, when he set out to combine his cricket with a more balanced lifestyle, the results, as you will have guessed, were at the opposite end of the spectrum.
The first question Smith put to Manassero was whether he saw golf as an art or a science.
"I’d much rather be recognised as an artist," said the 21-year-old Italian, to all-round relief. Before too long, he and Smith arrived at the conclusion that children should grow up with their natural talent and not be exposed to too much science until the day came when they wanted to fine-tune their play. (Manassero has only recently started seeing Jean-Jacques Rivet, the renowned biochemist who works with Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar and the top French players.)
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