Vijay Singh is back!!

[BubbaP]

If he proves me wrong I'll happily hold my hands up. However, I don't think he will compete. If he could, he'd be on the main tour still each week.

He seemed to have a fairly unspectacular year on the Champions Tour last year, has he said what prompted his return to PGAT?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

He seemed to have a fairly unspectacular year on the Champions Tour last year, has he said what prompted his return to PGAT?

I don't know. If he hasn't been doing it on the Champions Tour, I'm not sure what makes him think he'll turn it around on a tougher tour.

 

[Hobbit]

If he’s entitled to play, what’s the issue? Is he keeping a youngster off the tour? No he’s not. He’s entitled to play. Will he be competitive? No!

He’s chasing money on a tour that pays more. Nothing at all wrong with that.

Am I happy to see him there? No… but that’s more to do with being caught cheating once, which everyone can make a mistake, but then doing it twice. Great golfer, very questionable morals.

 

[Voyager EMH]

The difference of course is that the fitness isn't as important in golf. If he can walk around for 4 days and swing the club approximately 280 times, then he's fit enough. And of course, it just so happens that Singh is a bit of a fitness freak anyway. And a practice freak too.

It is one of the best things about golf
In how many other sports can competitors still compete in big competitions, past the age of 40? Snooker, darts, sometimes boxing... Anything else?

The ones where you sit on a horse.

 

[howbow88]

Really shouldn’t be boxing….just because someone is in a big fight, that’s not necessarily at the top level — they have just built their name / their market value = they are valuable to the TV networks and promoters to sell a fight

Pro boxing is more a case of ‘who can generate the biggest payday for everyone’, rather than the best fighting the second best etc

Obviously this is a few years ago, but I take it you have heard of a chap called George Foreman?

 

[The Squirrel]

The difference of course is that the fitness isn't as important in golf. If he can walk around for 4 days and swing the club approximately 280 times, then he's fit enough. And of course, it just so happens that Singh is a bit of a fitness freak anyway. And a practice freak too.

It is one of the best things about golf. In how many other sports can competitors still compete in big competitions, past the age of 40? Snooker, darts, sometimes boxing... Anything else?

Ooh; good game! Let me think.

Cricket: See Jimmy Anderson, Darren Stevens, and in a previous era, Jack Simmons and Ray Illingworth (who played past 50) along with a whole host of other dependable county spin bowlers.
Baseball: plenty of decent pitchers go a fair way into their 40s
NFL: absolutely; so long as you're a kicker or an exceptional quarterback like Brady or Rodgers.
Soccer: well, if you're Roger Milla anyway
Obscure and generally technical/analytical sports: shooting, archeery, curling, sailing
Climbing - both sports and mountaineering

You used to be finished in pro rugby (both codes) around age 33. With rugby health/nutrition moving away from the old 15 pints as your after match recovery mentality, quite a number of rugby union players are lasting to 38/39 at top club level (e.g. Mike Brown, Peter Stringer, Jimmy Gopperth) so as science/medicine improves, I can see players lasting to 40+. Rugby league is the more aerobically intense code so that will be tougher, although Ryan Hall is going around again this season at age 38 and still looks pretty good.

 

[howbow88]

I'm always surprised when spinners in cricket retire so early. Warne got to 37 when he retired from test cricket, but he was still an absolute menace. I honestly think that he could have gone on for another 4 or 5 years at the top, and would still be taking wickets. He never had a run up, but more a stroll up. I get why he wanted to bow out on a high, but I feel like there were another 100 wickets from him that we didn't see.

Taking this thread off tangent completely - I think he was the greatest cricketer I ever saw. People forget that he was a half decent batsman.

 

[The Squirrel]

I'm always surprised when spinners in cricket retire so early. Warne got to 37 when he retired from test cricket, but he was still an absolute menace. I honestly think that he could have gone on for another 4 or 5 years at the top, and would still be taking wickets. He never had a run up, but more a stroll up. I get why he wanted to bow out on a high, but I feel like there were another 100 wickets from him that we didn't see.

Taking this thread off tangent completely - I think he was the greatest cricketer I ever saw. People forget that he was a half decent batsman.

And a pretty good slip catcher too. It’s one of the reasons the Warne vs Murali debate for the all time Test 11 isn’t even a debate.

Watched him once warming up in the nets at the boundary edge before a county tour match - so you could stand right behind the batsman and watch the ball come down. I remember the fizzing sound as the ball came towards you.