Managers give bargain Both a wide berth

MARCUS BOTH’S confidence was, by all accounts, at a low ebb last year, his quest for the second triumph of note in his career – the first and only one was at the 2003 Sanya Open in China – proving to be a bit fruitless. Then, at last, in November, the Australian came good at the Phokeethra Country Club. It might not be the Augusta National, the Cambodian Open might not quite have the same lustre as the Masters, but a win’s a win and Both had ended his six-year title drought.

So then, are our Golf Masters managers buzzing with excitement over the 30-year-old’s prospects this year? Were they chomping at the bit to sign up the €0.6 million bargain buy at registration time? In a word, no.

Both, sadly, features in just five of our teams, earning him the rather undesirable and somewhat wordy title of “The Least Popular Player at Registration Time in the 2010 Golf Masters”.

If he wins his third title at this week’s China Open he’ll be quite entitled to send a message to you all, along the lines of “Oh ye of little faith”.

Trevor Immelman, in contrast, went in to action last week with the burden of representing 1,829 of our teams, making the 2008 Masters winner our most popular player.

We have a hunch that the South African’s first round of 69 at Augusta might have intensified the stampede to sign him up, seeing as the registration deadline wasn’t until the Friday.

It was a factor that, very possibly, added to the popularity of KJ Choi (first round 67), Tom Watson (67) and Ricky Barnes (68).

Tiger Woods still made it in to our top 10 of “most hired players”, as did four Irishmen, with Pádraig Harrington pipping Graeme McDowell to the “most favoured home-brew” title.

Most Popular

Player Value (€m) Teams

1 Trevor Immelman (0.7) 1,829

2 KJ Choi (2.0) 1,807

3 Pádraig Harrington (5.0)1,041

4 Graeme McDowell (3.5) 1,023

5 Tom Watson (0.5) 964

6 Ricky Barnes (0.8) 951

7 Gary Murphy (0.5) 831

8 Vaughn Taylor (0.6) 827

9 Peter Lawrie (1.3) 807

10 Tiger Woods (6.0) 683

Least Popular

Player Value (€m) Teams

1 Marcus Both (0.6) 5

2 Gary Boyd (0.5) 7

3 Chris Tidland (0.7) 9

3 Andrew Butterfield (0.5) 9

5 Michael Sim (3.5) 10

5 Tano Goya (0.6) 10

7 Anders Hansen (3.4) 12

7 Peter Hanson (3.1) 12

7 George McNeill (1.6) 12

10 Kenny Perry (4.8) 13

10 Prayad Marksaeng (1.5) 13

10 Rick Kulacz (0.6) 13