Where did all the good English football managers go?

It’s not easy for most right–thinking people to care much about golf and golfers apart from gasping in wonder at the size of their bank balances. Right now the Saudi–backed LIV tour and the American and European tours are making occasional grunts of peace towards each other. Soon the various professional golf bodies will have so much money they will be able to club together and buy Saudi Arabia. But what you can be certain of is that no one has ever watched a LIV event of their own free will or is ever likely to, despite the presence of some of the world’s best players, like Jon Rahm, Bryson de Chambeau, Cam Smith and Brooks Koepka, plus quite a few who are past their best, such as Ian Poulter, wacky trousers and all, and Lee Westwood.

At the moment the exiled LIV players are allowed back for the Majors, which means that amid the azaleas and manicured lawns of Augusta National, the world’s best golfers will be up against each other next month over the four rounds of the Masters. That might be all well and good for the ‘patrons’ – as Augusta National calls its spectators – but is it fair? After all, the LIV guys have trousered synapse-stunning sums of up to hundreds of millions of dollars to join the Saudi tour. Should there be no sanctions on these guys at all? Or does it just show that money can buy you anything, including the game of golf? Answers on a postcard…

Evidence of quite how pulsatingly good a big LIV-free tournament can be came late on Sunday in a four-way chase for the Players Championship at Sawgrass. Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion, was up against the US Open champion Wyndham Clark, the Open champion Brian Harman and the Olympic champion Xander Schauffele.