A year just wouldn’t be a year without the awarding of the highly prestigious “Larry” Awards. LARRY CANNING keeps the closest eye possible on golf happenings throughout the known universe and delivers his verdicts. The big question is: Jason Day won just about every other award in 2015 … but can he possibly win a “Larry”?
By Larry Canning
LADIES, Gentleman and Caitlyn Jenner… Welcome to the Larry’s for 2015!
Never before have we seen twelve months of such passion, emotion, disappointment, heroism and …. lots of other words.
So let’s jump right in before I write too many words and the editor has to sub-edit the living daylights out of this.
As tradition demands, my first award is “The Larry” for the biggest display of man motion. American nice guy, Steve Stricker, has collected this honour more than anyone in “Larry’s” history during a golden period where he seemed to win just about every tournament he entered. He would burst into tears each time someone handed him a cheque for 900 K. I can actually sympathise with Stevey. I used to bawl my peeper’s out every time I didn’t win; which seemed like it was every tournament I entered.
And the nominations are – Jason Day, for losing his stuff at the thought of only needing 4 putts on the final green to win his first major.
Col Swatton, for losing his stuff at the thought of Jason only needing 4 putts on the final green to win his first major.
Brandt Snedeker for welling up right after John Senden handed him his score card after the first round of last month’s Aussie PGA and said – “I make that 84, Brandt?”
The winner is Jason Day, who somehow found a way to win the US PGA before he dehydrated…. And before I got busted watching the whole thing on TV and howling like an Aussie Senior Tour player right after being told he has to pay for his own sandwich today.
Another of my personal faves is “The Larry” for the funkiest name.
And the nominations are – South Africa’s Rourke Van Der Spew. Rourke first came to my attention when he made the cut in the Aussie PGA despite suffering a dreadful case of food poisoning.
Jazz Janewattananond from Thailand got off to a flyer in his first event of the Asian PGA Tour when it took three lines to fit his name on the Malaysian Open leaderboard. His resulting three top ten’s in one week pretty well secured his card for another 12 months.
India’s Shanker Dat, on the other hand, is struggling.
“The Larry” goes to 2005 US Women’s Open Champ, Birdie Kim. Despite her disappointing season, Birdie has gained a lot of inspiration from her famous Korean Olympic Table tennis Mother, Ping Pong Kim and former World Gymnastics Champion and father, Cartwheel Kim. Watch out for the name Birdie, in 2016!
A new category for this year’s awards is for the player who dug deep when something really crappy happened to them . This award should really be named “The Sandra” after my wife who was dealt a terrible blow some 35 years ago when she said “I do”. Then again, she freely admits she has never read a single column I’ve written?
Nominations for “The Larry” are – Once again, Jason Day when he suddenly suffered a bizarre bout of ……. when leading the US Open. The extraordinary way he got back to his feet, wobbled down into a bunker that resembled a small volcano, splashed his ball out successfully then had to be pulled out by his trusty caddy, was truly heroic. Those shots can be terrifying even when you are in total control of your facilities. (Not that I’d know).
The look on Marc Lieshman’s face when he walked to his ball in the first play-off hole of the British Open and saw his it had come to rest in a divot that looked like an Egyptian Archaeological site, was one of obvious disappointment. But the way he shook it off then gouged through the turf with resolve, sending his nut over the Swilcan Burn and safely onto the back of the green was inspirational.
The third nomination and winner of “The Larry” is my mate Peter Senior. This down to earth little gold nugget showed his trademark grit and determination when he beat blokes half his age to take out this year’s Aussie Masters at Huntingdale, but it’s not his victory that sees him being nominated. No, it’s the sheer class of the guy when he opened up his Australian Open account the next week with a disastrous 81. In a brief interview with Peter Stone, Pete actually apologised to the public for his round and said how embarrassed he was. Peter, no need to apologise mate, you are a true Aussie sporting hero!
Thankyou Ladies and Gentleman. Please drive home safely …
