Some walk in the park

Colin Montgomerie, on reaching the milestone of his 500th tournament recently, likened the feat to having walked from London to Hong Kong.

Montgomerie’s calculations, although somewhat inaccurate, made good copy and airtime and caused many a golf writer, including myself, to marvel at just how much walking is done by professional golfers.

With time on my hands while waiting for flights in airports on a trip to England and Ireland to interview former British and Irish Lions I did a quick calculation as to how far the “Famous Grouse,” or “Mrs Doubtfire”, as he was nastily dubbed by American fans during a Ryder Cup tournament, might have walked in playing 500 tournaments.

Clearly the number has to be an estimation. Say the average golf course is 6.5 kilometres; stretched to an average of 7.0 kilometres given the distances between tees. That would mean that Montgomerie would have completed that distance at least six times a week (tournament plus practice rounds) 500 times.

Obviously there would have been the occasional missed cut, but there were more likely additional rounds when you count in pro-ams (in which, at Sun City at least, Montgomerie alongside Nick Faldo was considered the worst possible pro to draw) so the number you come up with is around 21 000 kilometres to play in 500 tournaments.

That would mean he would have walked somewhat further than from London to Hong Kong – the exact distance between the two cities, thanks to the marvels of the Google, being 13 280 kilometres.

It took Montgomerie two decades to get to his 500th tournament and he certainly is not the first – in fact he is the 18th.

And the man who has covered the most fairway miles is without a doubt Gary Player.

At my most recent meeting with Player, at Annika Sorenstam’s testing Euphoria layout in the Waterberg, I was yet again overwhelmed by his enthusiasm and zest for life.

The man is a tonic. Even though I have often been exposed to the hyperbole for which he is often lampooned he never fails to leave me determined to be more positive.

Player will on Thursday, April 9, place his ball on the peg for the 52nd time in the US Masters championship at Augusta National in Georgia where he donned a “green jacket” in 1961, `74 and `78.

This means Player will have spent one full year of his life competing in the Masters tournament which is traditionally held during the first week of April.

His record reads three victories, 15 top 10 finishes, a record 23 consecutive cuts and 52 years later it will mean that he would have walked more than 2 000 kilometres over the perfect grass, pine needles, bridges, undulating terrain and among the Azaleas of Augusta National.

In a career that stretches from the 50s Player would have completed many more than the 500 tournaments of Montgomery (in fact, I need to ask him whether he knows the number) which means he would, if it were possible, easily have traversed the circumference of the earth – more than 40 000 kilometres in his golf shoes!

Imagine the number of times he has pegged up a ball, taken a divot, fixed a pitch mark, clenched a fist – it certainly is incredible when you break it down to numbers.

And it has obviously been much better for him than Monty. Walking is said to be one of the best exercises you can do so how come Montgomerie has remained so portly while Player continues to push back the ages?

It’s just a thought… perhaps I need to be a little less disdainful of those sissies who take carts!