The 10 nominees for SPOTY 2011 were announced yesterday and it appears there isn't many of them who deserve the title based on a whole years performance.
The 10 are Mark Cavendish, Andrew Strauss, Andy Murray and Amir Khan. These 4 are all on the list but I don't see any making the top 6.
A trio of golfers Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald all have a reason to be confident while ahletes Mo Farah and Dai Greene who were two shining lights during a largely disappointing World Championships and the other real contender is Ashes record breaker Alistair Cook.
Although Farah won more medals than Greene, the welsh 400 metre hurdler was arguably the most consistent athlete in the world during last season. While Farah may not be the best football score predictor he is sure to get votes from Arsenal fans. For me Greene is ahead of Farah and they should finish around 4th to 6th in the voting.
Poor Alistair Cook. After an incredible away Ashes series which saw him break all kinds of records, he then went on to justify his selection in the 50 over format as captain. Until the golf season got into the major part of their season, Cook was by fat the stand out performer in British sport. Should his exploits be remembered he could crack the top 3.
I think the winner this year will be a golfer. It will take an effort to knock one of them out of the top three. Here is why. Rory McIlroy won the US Open but was largely disappointing through the rest of the season including an amazing capitulation at the US Masters. It's that poor side of his year that may see him finish out the top 3. Then we have Luke Donald. An amazingly consistent season has seen him rise to world number 1. Although no major wins were obtained, he won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and beat Lee Westwood in a play-off to win the BMW PGA Championship. In July he won his first title as world number 1 when he captured the Barclays Scottish Open. In any other year this would surely see him finish above Cook but the British are a sentimental race and he may find himself only 2nd.
There can be no better winner than 42 year old Darren Clarke though in my eyes. Recovering from the devastating loss of his wife, he has recaptured the form that saw many experts regularly tip him for a major win. Unfancied at the start of the week, he was an over whelming popular winner of the famous Claret Jug at this years Open Championship held at Royal St. Georges. A tough course was made nigh impossible due to the weather conditions yet Clarke stood top of the tree on the Sunday afternoon by a clear 3 shots. Like I say the Brit love a success story and this ranks right up there. He gets my vote. Who will get yours.
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