Golf; the underdogs game.

Louis Oosthuizen's triumph by 7 clear shots in the Open Championship, is, to use an example from football like Charlton winning the FA cup; smashing Man United 4-0 on route. Then again its actually not. You see, I realised as Oosthuizen held the Claret Jug aloft, it is golf that is the true sport of the underdog. Football revels in the 'beauty' of the FA cup and her 'giantkillings', but in truth true giant killings on the Oosthuizen scale are few an far between.

In golf there is no differentiation between competitors once the event has begun. The leader, be that Tiger Woods or Louis Oosthuizen, is given preferential treatment.He is given a later tee off time, all the TV coverage and the advantage of knowing what he has to beat. Professional or amateur they are all the same. It is one man against the course. Favourites doesn't come into it. Who ever drives the ball furthest, finds the most greens and sinks his putts will find himself victorious. A golf course knows no favourites.

In football, sadly, the financial clout of the 'big boys' ruins this sense of romance. You can buy football players, you cant buy a better golfing arm. Given the financial backing a club can recruit the worlds best players to assemble a squad that small clubs cannot hope to compete with. Sure giant killings do happen. Bournemouth beating Man United in 84, Sutton United beating Coventry in 89, Swansea beating West Ham in 99, but it is only one match. One match does not win a tournament.

To put it into perspective for a lower division club (feasibly we are talking about League One or below), to emulate Oosthuizen and become 'champion', they are going to have to defeat 8 consecutive opponents. There are 20 teams in the premier division, and a further 24 in the Championship, so even the top team in League One is going into the tournament as the 45th best team. How many 'giant killings' can one team achieve? It pains me to say it but this will never happen, because sadly, in football success can be bought. It is a long way from a level playing field.

Football is not alone in accomodating to the favourite, however, in tennis and athletics the bias is even more exacerbated. In World Championships and the Olympics pre-race favouries are given favourable lane draws and kept apart from each other until later rounds. Usain Bolt, the current World record holder for the 100 and 200 metres has not been beaten in any race, of any distance in two whole calender years. Can you imagine in golf if one man won every competition he entered for two years?

It is on the Tennis court though where the underdog is most constricted. The draw, based on a seeding system, gives the best players the easiest route to the final. Any unseeded player runs the very real risk of drawing the World number One in the first round. Faced with such insumountable odds it is hardly surprising that the there has only ever been one unseeded Wimbledon champion (Goran Ivanisevic, in 2001).

The british publics love affair with the underdog is well documented. The weak prevailing over the strong, the unknown prevailing over the demi-god. Next time you want your fix, however, just remember this advice; It is not at Old Trafford or Wembley but on the golf course where the true romance is written.