Kevin Pietersen

Pietersen, who was given the honour of ringing the bell before the start of play, offered a stinging assessment of England’s efforts with the ball after the tourists reached the close on 339 for five.

Only two late wickets in four balls from part-time spinner Joe Root prevented the end-of-play scorecard looking even worse, Travis Head and Cameron Green both falling to unforced errors.

A scattering of live green grass and overhead clouds that were gloomy enough to warrant floodlights throughout the day appeared to hint at ideal conditions for England’s five-strong seam attack, but it was the tourists who dictated the tone as half-centuries from David Warner (66), Travis Head (77) and Steve Smith (85no) left them well placed.

“Not a lot’s caught my eye from an English perspective, it’s been shambolic. Absolutely shambolic,” the 104-cap veteran told Sky Sports.

“You have overhead conditions, you have wickets that suit your bowlers and you’ve got bowlers running in at 78, 79, 80 miles an hour.

“Now it’s one thing walking here, swanning around, saying ‘this is a wonderful team to play in, we’re creating the best environment’. But this is not Ashes cricket.”

Pietersen also took issue with an apparent lack of edge on the field – just a week on from Australian criticism over Ollie Robinson’s expletive-filled send-off of Usman Khawaja at Edgbaston.

“It’s all too easy, too nice. Are you telling me Ricky Ponting in 2005 is going to be talking to Geraint Jones? You think Michael Vaughan is going to be stood next to Justin Langer saying ‘hey mate, what a cool day, it’s overcast, it’s beautiful, what an awesome day, environment here at Lord’s – what do you think of the wicket’?

“Are you joking? Are you absolutely joking? I just hope they’re in their dressing room now and the England coach is giving them the biggest hammering and saying it’s absolutely not good enough.”

Josh Tongue was the pick of the five English quicks on his first Ashes outing, topping the pace charts and snapping up the wickets of Khawaja and David Warner either side of the lunch break.

The 25-year-old saw his first three overs smacked for 24 but revealed a word of advice from Ollie Robinson about utilising the famous Lord’s slope helped him open his account against Australia.

“I spoke to Robbo just before lunch about trying to use the slope a bit more,” said Tongue.

“I was trying to wobble it away from the bat and he said ‘why don’t you try and get the ball coming back into him’. Getting Khawaja just before lunch was crucial and then, obviously, I was trying to do the same to David.

“He’s a very hard batter to bowl at. If you miss your length you’re going to the boundary, that’s how I felt, so the wicket came at a very good time for the team.”

Invited to rate the Warner dismissal, which skidded between bat and pad and lifted the bails with precision to cap an outstanding over, Tongue added: “I haven’t properly looked back yet, but listening to the lads it was a very good ball.”

Warner opted to shine a light on Head’s performance after the latter hit 14 boundaries to pile the pressure on England in the evening session.

“Trav is Trav, that’s the way he plays,” he said.

“It’s exciting and we’re just lucky he’s on our team. He can take it away from you. Striking at over a hundred is exceptional. He just finds a way.”

England are set to return to action with three behind-closed-doors Tests against the Windies at the Rose Bowl and Old Trafford.

However, current five-day captain Root may be missing for one of those fixtures as his wife, Carrie, is due to give birth, with the batsman conceding he would leave the bio-secure areas in Southampton and Manchester to attend the birth.

Root has not missed a Test since being named captain in 2017 but has backed current vice-captain Stokes to step up should he not be available.

However, Pietersen has advised against having all-rounder Stokes fill the void given his own brief experience of a role he had for only three Tests.

"Do I want to see Ben Stokes change from who he is and the current player he is? Probably not, Jos Buttler would be my guy," Pietersen, who resigned as England captain in 2009, told talkSPORT.

"The entertainers and the guys that have to carry the mantle in the team sometimes aren't the best captains and sometimes struggle with the extra added pressure.

"As a player you are looked at completely differently until that phone call comes and you are announced as the Test captain.

"Responsibilities change, communication changes, the way in which you carry yourself in the dressing room changes.

"I struggled with it, I absolutely hated it and I was rubbish. You have to change and I couldn't command the respect of the dressing room. You say something and it is frowned upon, it is a completely different story."

Generally speaking, the 40-year-old Windies batting legend has dominated T20 cricket on a whole, scoring more runs (13,296), sixes (978) and 100s (22) than anyone else.  Gayle has, however, reserved a special type of carnage-filled slugfest for the IPL.

 In 125 matches, he has put up a staggering 4484 runs, which is sixth overall but with fewer matches than everyone above him except David Warner.  When it comes to clearing the boundary at the Indian tournament, however, the big left-hander has no equal.  Gayle’s 326 sixes put him 114 clear of second-place AB de Villiers.  With such a prodigious talent to blast the long ball, it’s little wonder the West Indian commands the undying affection of a rabid fanbase.

“Gayle has lifted the IPL for a number of years,” Pietersen told the Uk-based Metro.

“He bats at the top of the order and has brought so much sexiness to the tournament and he has been very smart in the way he has approached his batting,” he added.

“He has seen off some of the good bowlers and against the one he thinks he can hit from Bangalore to Mumbai, he sends them all the way. ‘He creates so much excitement and he has an aura around him when you see him.”

Gayle also currently holds the record for most IPL sixes and the highest individual score in T20 with 175 off 66 balls, which was set at the tournament in 2013.

The 32-years-old West Indies bowler does indeed face the threat of suspension after being reported for a suspect action during KKR’s victory over Kings XI Punjab last week.  The spinner is allowed to continue bowling, for now, but another report to the Indian Premier League (IPL) would see Narine suspended until cleared by the BCCI Suspect Bowling Action Committee.

Narine had performed heroics for KKR after defending 14 runs off the final over, to help his team register a stunning 2 runs victory over KXIP.  Despite that, however, Pietersen insists the bowler has not quite been at the same level since his last suspension.  Narine was previously suspended in 2015 when he was ranked No. 2 on the ODI and T20 rankings.  His action was reported as suspect in successive matches during the Champions League Twenty20.  It resulted in his missing out on playing in the final for Kolkata Knight Riders, who lost to Chennai Super Kings.

“If I am honest, I am not so sure it (Sunil Narine absence) is a massive loss. Andre Russell is the guy you spend time talking about in team meetings. When he bowls, you are thinking about it. When he bats, you are thinking about it. It is the same when he is fielding,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.

“Sunil Narine has not been the same bowler for a few years now. He hasn’t had his best; he hasn’t had his real big spin. Coming to Sharjah, it is not something you are really worried about Sunil Narine. And then the bowlers have found him out in his batting. You bowl him short, he doesn’t like it,” Pietersen added.

The England and Wales Cricket Board led the way with the format in the early 2000s, pioneering T20 as a vehicle to help counties attract crowds with a shorter, sharper product aimed at those less inclined to stick around and watch for a whole day.

Yet the head start on other countries failed to help at international level. At the inaugural ICC World T20 event in 2007, England plumped for domestic specialists and recorded just one win on South African soil in five outings.

It was still an unforgettable trip for Stuart Broad, though, as he went the journey during a Yuvraj Singh barrage that resulted in six successive sixes in one over from the seamer.

Two years later and England expected better on home soil. There was an improvement in terms of results, with the team recording two victories. However, one of those was not against the Netherlands, who shocked the hosts and the sporting world on opening night at Lord's.

So, when Paul Collingwood's squad travelled to the 2010 edition in the West Indies, expectations were about as high as the limbo poles found on the decks of the fabulous cruise liners floating around the Caribbean islands.

Still, timing is everything.

It was a key factor for Craig Kieswetter, who less than three months before the tournament made 81 in a hurry as the England Lions upset their senior counterparts in Abu Dhabi.

Born in South Africa, the wicketkeeper-batsman had only just qualified for England, yet served notice of his talents in front of an intrigued head coach in Andy Flower. Michael Lumb, his opening partner that day, also impressed, making an unbeaten half-century.

They would make their international T20 debuts together when England opened their campaign against West Indies in Guyana on May 3, a lively game ruined by rain as the hosts triumphed on the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Bad weather 24 hours later also cut short England’s other outing in the initial group stage, though the timing of the downpours perhaps worked in their favour. In reply to a below-par 120-8, Ireland were 14-1 when the match was abandoned. A point apiece meant England moved on to the Super Eights.

There, they quickly worked up a head of steam. Well, actually a lack of it. Rather than bowling faster, analysis had revealed the benefits of easing up on pace while still banging it in short. With a method to the madness, the slower-ball bouncer barrage came about.

Timing was suddenly made tough for batsmen, who swung around like a blindfolded child attempting to connect with a pinata at a birthday party. What summed up to no more than a long hop got surprisingly successful results; innocuous deliveries somehow picked up wickets, fielders often swallowing up poorly timed shots in the deep.

Still, perhaps the most crucially timed occurrence did not happen anywhere near a cricket pitch in the Caribbean, but back in England instead.

Kevin Pietersen had just made a half-century – his second in as many matches – in the victory over South Africa when it was announced he would be flying back to London for the birth of his first child. His departure left a sizeable void and it was unclear if he would need to return – England had to beat New Zealand without him to progress.

While KP focused on family matters, his team-mates delivered against the Black Caps, allowing the in-form batsman to mark the recent new addition with another pivotal knock, this time in a semi-final thrashing of Sri Lanka.

Pietersen made runs in the final too, as did Kieswetter at the top of the order, though only after England’s seamers had put the squeeze on Australia in the first innings, aided – of course – by a friendly bumper barrage. A target of 148 was straightforward.

England, led by captain Collingwood and with a loyal crew following orders, had sailed away with first major trophy in limited-overs cricket, securing the spoils with a glorious seven-wicket win over their old rivals.

Those painful memories of what happened in 2007 and 2009 were suddenly banished. In 2010, England timed it just right.

The England and Wales Cricket Board took the decision to put Strauss in total charge following a week of turmoil, which saw predecessor Kevin Pietersen resign and coach Peter Moores sacked.

Strauss was not a member of the original party to stay on after the four-Test series, having fallen out of favour.

He had last played a one-day game for England in April 2007, against West Indies, in what was Duncan Fletcher’s last match in charge.

But the tumultuous events left the selection panel no straightforward alternative candidates.

The only three men from within the original squad established enough in the side were Pietersen and fellow former captains Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood – both of whom had issues of their own and relinquished the role.

“I am delighted to lead the team in the one-day internationals and Twenty20s,” said Strauss at the time.

“I know I haven’t played an ODI since the end of the World Cup in 2007 but I do feel that I have something to offer in that form of the game.

“Now this situation has been resolved we can now all unite and get about the business of winning cricket matches for England and winning them consistently.”

Strauss announced his retirement from cricket in August 2012 following 100 Test appearances.

He became the ECB’s director of cricket in 2015 – leaving the post after three-and-a-half years – and was knighted in 2019.

In April 2023, it was announced Strauss, who stood in as interim managing director of England men’s cricket between February and May 2022, would leave his roles as strategic adviser to the ECB and chair of the performance cricket committee the following May.

Pietersen, one of the best batter’s of his generation and among England’s all-time greats, said “ciao” to the sport in an emotional Instagram post at the age of 37.

After confirming he would not take part in the Pakistan Super League play-offs with Quetta Gladiators, he said he was “super proud” of his achievements in the game.

He also paid tribute to his family for being the “most unreal supporters” during his brilliant nine-year England career.

Pietersen, who had been quite publicly edging closer to retirement over previous months, wrote on Instagram: “Thank you for all the quite lovely msgs! I loved entertaining you all! Ciao, cricket! I love this game!”

It was during the 2005 Ashes where Pietersen rose to prominence after he played a starring role in a 2-1 win over Australia with a maiden Test century in the final fixture of a pulsating series at the Oval.

Further Ashes wins would follow, along with success in the shorter format of the game as the explosive batter was named player of the tournament in England’s maiden T20 World Cup win in 2010.

Overall, Pietersen scored 23 centuries in 104 Tests, while he hit a further 5,616 runs in limited-overs cricket for England in 173 matches, but his international career ended abruptly and was not without controversy.

Pietersen was a casualty of the 2013-14 Ashes in Australia where England were thrashed 5-0 and 18 months earlier had been involved in a texting scandal during a series against South Africa, the country of his birth.

The latter years of the Pietermaritzburg-born maverick’s career were spent on the T20 circuit and occasionally producing notable innings for domestic outfit Surrey.

He struck his highest first-class score of 355 not out in 2015 but it failed to convince former team-mate and then England director of cricket Andrew Strauss to recall Pietersen, who bowed out playing for Quetta Gladiators in the PSL.

That is the message from former England batter Kevin Pietersen, who hailed the start Stokes has made as skipper, winning each of his first four Tests.

Stokes and Brendon McCullum have restored interest in the five-day game, with their aggressive intent in the longest format resulting in a series whitewash of New Zealand and victory over India.

In each of those victories, England have chased down scores of more than 275 runs and they saved their best until last with a seven-wicket win over India, completing their highest Test chase of 378 with ease.

Yorkshire duo Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root have been the standout performers for McCullum's side, and Pietersen believes the attitude of Stokes is refreshing for the England set-up and cricket in general.

"They're doing something incredible. The last few run chases, pretty much record-breaking. I have been watching it in astonishment," Pietersen said after playing the Old Course, St Andrews ahead of the 150th Open Championship.

"We were all astonished by Ben Stokes winning the toss and saying, 'we'll chase'. I mean, I'd never heard of that in my life. I was standing with Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, and we were like, 'did he just say that?'

"No one's ever said that before and, fair play, if you're going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. The wickets have been very good, so they've been able to do that.

"Can you do that in India on day three, day four of a Test match? I'm not so sure but I think these guys are good enough.

"And if they play with that freedom, of spirit and mind, they can achieve some cool things. I'm all in to watch how it goes."

Stokes has courted criticism for embodying England's approach too excessively after somewhat cheap dismissals against New Zealand and India, though, and Pietersen urged for caution from the captain.

"The only thing I do see and want to see is that he does value his wicket a little more than then what I saw in Birmingham, he's too good a player to slog it straight in the air," he added.

"He's too good a player to do that. Just have a look at how Bairstow played has played with freedom of spirit, freedom of mind.

"He accessed all areas of the ground and he puts so much pressure on the opposition. I just think Ben is better than that, and I'm sure he'll accept that, and he'll know that I just want to see him flourishing."

Bairstow has set the benchmark for 'Bazball', an endearing term for McCullum's attacking approach that the New Zealand legend is not too great a fan of.

The 32-year-old scored the second-fastest Test hundred for England at Trent Bridge before reaching three figures in three of his next four innings, the only exception being a rapid 71 not out at Headingley.

His unbeaten 114 against India marked his sixth century of 2022, which is the most by a player while batting at number five or lower in a calendar year and joint-most by an England batter in the same time period (level with Root), and Pietersen backed Bairstow to continue playing freely.

"There's no real pressure because he's not being frowned upon by the powers that be, he is being asked by the senior management to play that way," he continued.

"I think it's a privilege to be able to go out there and just express yourself. The balls up, just give it a smack and everybody says instead of smacking it that hard, I want you to smack it harder – awesome, no pressure."

The iconic ball-beater turned 42 on Tuesday but could only watch from the bench as the team fell to a 2 runs loss to Rajasthan Royals.  The West Indian has managed 178 runs in 8 matches, with an average of 25.42.  The average is the fourth-best on the team, but on Tuesday the Kings opted for Aiden Markham at the third place in the line-up, which Gayle has been occupying since last season.

Pietersen admits he found the situation to be an unusual one.

   "There will be some questions asked. I don’t understand why you would leave Chris Gayle out on his birthday,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.

“If there was one game you were going to play him, it was this one. If he failed then you say ‘ok, you can have a bit of rest’. So, I can’t understand the thinking at all," he added.

Gayle has been selected for the West Indies T20 squad for next month’s ICC World T20, the appearance will mark his 7^th at the global tournament.

England vice-captain Stokes made an ahead-of-schedule return from a finger injury to lead a reserve squad to a 3-0 ODI series win over earlier this month after a coronavirus outbreak saw the initial party stood down en masse.

It was the latest demonstration of the particular challenges these times bring for elite cricketers, with all-rounder Stokes an all-format player who has spent large chunks of the past year in bio-secure bubbles on home soil and away in Sri Lanka and India.

The T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates precedes a December-January Ashes series in Australia and Stokes, who featured in the inaugural Hundred for the Northern Superchargers has elected to take a step back ahead the forthcoming five-match home Test series against India.

A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said the 30-year-old would "prioritise his mental wellbeing and rest his left index finger", with managing director of England men's cricket Ashley Giles acknowledging "the ongoing pandemic has acutely compounded" the pressures of top-level cricket.

Speaking to Sky Sports, former Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara suggested such occurrences were likely to become more commonplace the longer sport has to coexist with the global health crisis.

"It all adds up. A lot of time away from home, a lot of time in bubbles, restrictions in terms of freedom of movement, a lot of protocols in place. Then the added pressure of performing at such an intensely high level in the public eye," he said.

"It's very difficult to pinpoint what could be different. Individuals deal with things differently and, over time, you can reach a point where you need a breather and a break.

"He needs support and good people around him and hopefully he's back as soon as possible.

"In the news, we've had a host of athletes who've spoken about mental well-being, the effects of COVID and the pressure around it."

Kevin Pietersen, the former England batsman, also gave the star his best wishes, noting the pain Stokes endured when his father died in December last year after a battle with cancer.

"I hope he's okay. He's a fabulous cricketer, one of the best in the world at the moment," Pietersen told Sky Sports.

“He obviously lost his dad, there are a lot of things that have happened to Ben Stokes in the last couple of years.

"I don't want to comment too much on it because we don't know what the issue is. All I know is I want him to be okay."

The showpiece for international cricket's shortest format has provided some spectacular moments since South Africa staged the first edition 15 years ago.

West Indies are the only team to have carried off the trophy twice, and their long-time ring master Chris Gayle is absent this time, having not featured since the Caribbean side bowed out of the T20 World Cup last year.

With Gayle all but retired from internationals, and with others shuffling away, new stars will emerge over the coming weeks, and some established figures will be chasing records.

Here, Stats Perform looks at the T20 World Cup's top performers, and the spectacular feats from tournaments gone by that the class of 2022 will have in their sights.

Batters bid to go big in post-Gayle era

Sri Lanka great Mahela Jayawardene is the only batter to have topped 1,000 runs in the history of the T20 World Cup, reaching 1,016 from 31 innings, spanning 2007 to 2014. He went out on a sensational high, passing the 1,000-run barrier in the final as Sri Lanka won the 2014 title by beating India in Mirpur.

Windies great Gayle sits second on that list with 965 runs, and is the only batter to have made two centuries in T20 World Cups. Those were also the fastest two tons in T20 World Cup history (47 balls v England in 2016, 50 balls v South Africa in 2007).

There are a number of batters who could join Jayawardene in reaching 1,000 runs at the T20 World Cup, but principal among them are the India pair of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

Rohit replaced Kohli as skipper at the end of last year, following India's failure to get past the Super 12 stage at the World Cup, and there could be a friendly rivalry emerging in the race for four figures.

Rohit enters the tournament for top-ranked India on 847 runs in past editions, while Kohli has 845. Strikingly, Rohit's runs have come from 30 innings at an average of 38.50, whereas Kohli has plundered his in just 19 innings, and the latter's average of 76.81 is by far and away the best among all batters with 500-plus runs in the competition.

It helps, of course, that Kohli has finished unbeaten in eight of those knocks. The next highest average among such players is former England batter Kevin Pietersen's 44.61 (580 runs from 15 innings, two unbeaten).

The highest score by any batter in a single innings at the T20 World Cup remains the 123 that Brendon McCullum, now England's Test head coach, plundered for New Zealand against Bangladesh in Pallekele at the 2012 tournament. That was McCullum's highest score across his entire T20I career.

David Warner is another who could make it to 1,000 runs, but the Australia opener will need a big tournament to make that happen. He goes in on 762 runs from 30 prior innings, Cricinfo statistics show.

Only one batter has reached 500 T20 World Cup runs without making a fifty, and that was former India captain MS Dhoni, who skippered the team to the 2007 title. His best score in 29 innings, from which he accumulated 529 runs, was a modest 45.

Pakistan's Babar Azam dazzled at the 2021 T20 World Cup, scoring a tournament-high 303 runs in six innings.

His four half-centuries matched the most by any player in an edition of the tournament, the ICC said, having been previously achieved in 2014 by Kohli and in 2007 by Matthew Hayden.

Shakib, Mendis and Campher set standards for bowling elite

Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan is something of a T20 World Cup superstar. As well as ranking eighth on the run-scoring list (698 from 31 innings), the all-rounder has taken more wickets than anyone, with 41 at an average of 17.29.

A haul of 11 at the 2021 tournament took him top of the list, and there is nobody threatening to get particularly close to the 35-year-old spinner.

Among players selected for this tournament, the player with the next highest wicket haul is India's Ravichandran Ashwin, with 26 from 18 matches.

When it comes to T20 cricket, unsurprisingly there have been precious few five-wicket hauls, given the bowlers each have just a four-over allocation.

Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis is the only bowler to have snagged six in an innings, taking princely figures of 6-8 against Zimbabwe in 2012, while eight others have taken five wickets in a match, headed by Rangana Herath's remarkable 5-3 against New Zealand at the 2014 tournament, when the Black Caps were skittled for 60.

That ranks as the fourth-lowest team score in a T20 World Cup, with Netherlands responsible for the two worst totals, both times folding against Sri Lanka when making 39 at Chattogram in 2014 and 44 in Sharjah last year.

The other side to post a sub-60 score were West Indies, routed for 55 by England in Dubai 12 months ago.

A hat-trick represents the holy grail for all bowlers, and there have been just four in T20 World Cups, with Brett Lee taking the first for Australia against Bangladesh at the inaugural 2007 tournament.

There were no more until the 2021 tournament, which incredibly featured three: Curtis Campher took four wickets in four balls for Ireland against Netherlands, before Wanindu Hasaranga (for Sri Lanka against South Africa) and Kagiso Rabada (for South Africa against England) both managed three in three.

Pietersen was no stranger to controversy as a talented multi-format player, with his commitment to England questioned after the inaugural IPL, when lucrative T20 franchise cricket was born.

The South Africa-born batter captained England for just three Tests and 12 ODIs before his resignation and ultimately announced his international retirement in 2012 after scheduling disagreements – only to soon return.

Pietersen reportedly took issue with the strain put on players by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), with their involvement in franchise cricket around the world limited.

The 42-year-old, who suggested English players were jealous of those offered lucrative IPL contracts, spent the latter stages of his career in various domestic leagues, appearing in tournaments across India, Australia, Pakistan and the Caribbean.

Having been bought for a whopping £1.1million by Royal Challengers Bangalore for the second edition of the then-controversial IPL in 2009, Pietersen remains aware of the potential for differences of opinion when it comes to new beginnings in sport.

LIV Golf has come under intense scrutiny, with vocal opponents criticising the Saudi-backed breakaway league, which offers lucrative prize funds that the PGA Tour is yet to compete with.

Ten major champions have defected to LIV Golf, leaving a cloud hanging over the final major of the year, The Open Championship, where the R&A has allowed breakaway players to feature despite their PGA Tour bans.

Pietersen, speaking after playing the Old Course, St Andrews ahead of The 150th Open on Monday, hopes the issues between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour will soon be resolved.

"I don't really have a take on it because it doesn't matter what I think," he said. 

"But having been part of the Indian Premier League and franchise cricket around the world, I think eventually – and I hope – that everything just merges and everybody lives as one happy family in the future.

"Sport is such a unifying thing. It unifies people, it unifies countries, unifies teams, and the ability to make it into something great is important.

"So, I just hope that for the greater good of the sport, things happen in the next few years. Clearly, there was going to be an outcry at the start by certain people in certain countries. 

"But let's hope that in two, three years' time, golf is celebrated for the great game that it is."

Pietersen has been offered the chance to play at St Andrews before the major starts and believes the short distance of the course may offer the injury-hampered Tiger Woods a chance of success.

"These guys are just so special. I mean, they are quite something when they perform to the calibre of performances that we see these kinds of freak shows," he added.

"[Xander] Schauffele comes in with great form, having won three times in the last three weeks or so. Louis [Oosthuizen] as well, he won, and then he got a runner-up.

"I think you come in here with experience and – you can relate it back to cricket – there are certain grounds in the world that you go to [where] you think, 'Okay, I have a real good chance here because I know this place. I love this place and I know how to bat here.'

"So I think, in terms of golf, there will be a few players that say, 'Yep, I know this place. I like this place'. 

"Maybe even Tiger, this is not a hard walk; we walked it yesterday, this is a very easy walk. For him to be able to turn up here, show that dedication and commitment months ago towards this tournament... you never know.

"We played next to him yesterday, and he played in front of us. There's a crazy sound that comes off the back when he hits, it's very special."