Thứ Năm, 18 tháng 12, 2014 | 20:00

In a change from her usual routine, Charley Hull plans to give herself a break on Christmas Day and allow herself the chance to toast another season of stunning success.

In recent years, while the rest of us have been tucking into our turkey and trimmings, the 18-year-old has been pounding golf balls on the range.

That's the level of application required when you are putting yourself on a fast track to the top of the golfing world.

The extra effort has been well worthwhile, with Hull this year making the unprecedented leap from Rookie of the Year to Order of Merit winneron the Ladies European Tour (LET).

But having banked £208,500 in only her second full year on the circuit, Hull is entitled to feel justified in taking a more restful and traditional approach to the Christmas festivities.

In 2014 she has come of age in every respect and that's why she won't be practising on the big day. "I did last year," she said. "And I did in previous years, but I don't think I'm going to this year because I'm 18 and I can drink."

Don't be alarmed. This isn't a prodigious talent careering headlong off the rails, more a sign of a player possessing plenty of perspective and an engaging sense of humour.

Having burst onto the professional scene with five consecutive runner-up finishes last year, Hull has kicked on impressively and there's been no sign of any kind of "second season syndrome".

This year she recorded her first win with victory at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco in March, an achievement she ranks higher than her money list title.

But the Order of Merit crown speaks volumes for the teenager's consistency. She had four other top-four finishes before coming fifth in the season-ending finale in Dubai last week.

All of this was completed in a season where Hull was centre of attention on the LET. She has a charismatic and aggressive approach that makes her compelling viewing.

A brilliant 2013 Solheim Cup debut in Denver, where she became the youngest player in the women's version of the Ryder Cup, also ensured she would play her golf firmly in the spotlight.

Hull was part of a record-breaking European victory, collecting two points in an 18-10 triumph that included an emphatic 5&4 triumph over Paula Creamer in the Sunday singles.

She was the media darling that week, as well as a refreshing hit in the European team room. And all the attention didn't faze the Kettering youngster at all.

It has continued apace throughout 2014 and she has embraced it with an ease that is reminiscent of Rory McIlroy's early progression in the men's game.

"When I was younger, I played a lot of amateur stuff and did well in that," Hull said in Dubai last week. "So the media has been gradual and that's helped me a lot.

"I don't feel like it's all of a sudden been piled on top of me, which has helped me from back then.

"I have been coping because it's been a good thing to have my friends help me take my mind off golf and not be so switched on all the time.

"My dad travels with me. My dad isn't just my dad; he's a good friend. Bits like that always help to take the pressure off."

But Hull also recognises that attention goes hand in hand with performance and that's why she is happy to embrace it.

"It's good if the media are interested, because it shows that you are playing well."

For the first time in her pro career Hull didn't have her father at her side in Dubai. Dave Hull, a retired plasterer, needed to be elsewhere but the youngster still prospered in his absence.

There are still a few rough edges to her game and her decision-making will become more pragmatic and less optimistically gung-ho as she matures.

Refreshingly, Hull is no great hurry to de-camp full-time to the more lucrative LPGA Tour. She did try to gain a full card at Tour School but would have played on both sides of the Atlantic if she'd been successful.

As it was, she gained conditional status, which will offer some American opportunities next year. But the highly competitive LET will again be her staple and it will offer the perfect environment for her to develop further.

Hull will also set her sights on the majors. Last year she challenged in the Kraft Nabisco, won by a contemporary in Lexi Thompson, and was in the picture in the Women's British Open until a final-round 78.

Turnberry, the venue for that event next year, looks a good fit for Hull's game and, given that her golfing hero is Seve Ballesteros, she surely possesses the imagination to prosper on links courses.

As and when she gets opportunities in the US, she will be able to use her prodigious ball-striking to full effect on longer layouts.

There's also a home Solheim Cup to look forward to in Germany next September.

It all amounts to an exciting future for a player now ranked 38 in the world, having been as high as 26 earlier in the year.

More immediately, there's the chance to celebrate a superb 2014 and Christmas Day seems like the perfect opportunity.

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19:59

Michael Garcia's decision to resign as Fifa's independent ethics investigator is a new low for football's governing body, says vice-president Jim Boyce.

American lawyer Garcia claimed Fifa published an "incomplete and erroneous" report following his two-year study into 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding.

When asked if it was a new low for Fifa, Boyce replied: "I don't think there's any doubt about that."

On Friday, Fifa members will vote on whether to publish a longer report.

In December 2010, it was announced that Russia would host the 2018 World Cup, with Qatar staging international football's biggest competition four years later.

Garcia was asked to file a report into allegations of corruption in the bidding process, however his findings were condensed from an original 430-page report into a 42-page summary.

"I have always said that as much of this report as is legally possible should be put in the public domain and until that is done it's not going to go away," added Boyce, Britain's most senior football official.

"I will vote that as much as can be legally published should be published. If people have nothing to hide why are they afraid of something being issued?"

The vote will be held at a meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, but it is unclear how many members will be allowed to take part.

The Fifa committee consisted of 22 members in December 2010 and president Sepp Blatter has previously said only those people should be able to vote on whether to issue a more comprehensive corruption report.

However, of those original 22, only 13 are still on the committee. It means that 12 members of Fifa's committee (which now consists of 25 people), as well as a further two co-opted members, would not be eligible to vote.

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19:57

Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has been given a one-match ban by the Football Association as punishment for his Super Mario post on social media.

The Italian, whose suspension rules him out of Sunday's home game against Arsenal, has also been fined £25,000 and must attend an education course.

The 24-year-old was charged under FA rule E3(1) for a post which appeared to contain anti-Semitic and racist references.

Balotelli had accepted the charge but wrote to the FA in mitigation.

After learning of his punishment, he wrote on his official Facebook page that the FA's decision "made clear" that his post had been "wrong".

He added: "I am sorry that my team-mates and supporters of Liverpool FC have to be penalised for something I did and now come to regret. It is my intention to comply with the decision of the FA and make sure it never happens again."

A Liverpool spokesman said: "The club acknowledges the decision reached by the FA independent panel and due consideration will be given to the written judgement once we receive it from the FA.

"Any further action taken by ourselves in relation to this matter is between the club and player."

Former Manchester City forward Balotelli reposted an image of computer game character Super Mario on Instagram which included the words "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew."

He later tweeted to deny the post was offensive, before apologising.

Balotelli returned to the Liverpool squad forSunday's defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford after six games out with a groin problem.

But he was not involved in Wednesday's League Cup win at Bournemouth.

He has scored two goals in his 15 appearances for the club since signing from AC Milan in the summer.

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19:56

Squeezed around domestic commitments, European champions Real Madrid arrived in Morocco this week for the Fifa Club World Cup - but their South American counterparts, San Lorenzo of Argentina, have been there in spirit for months.

Ever since an emotional night in August when they won the Copa Libertadores, South America's equivalent of the Champions League, San Lorenzo have found it impossible to forget about the Club World Cup.

They drifted through their domestic league, closing the campaign with a morale boosting couple of wins to finish eighth. But it was all build-up to now.

For them, as for any South American side, the Club World Cup is the highlight of their calendar. Many in other continents will feel the same way. But no one in Europe will share the sentiment.

This imbalance is at the heart of the problems faced by the Club World Cup, organised annually since 2005. The competition replaced the annual match between the champions of Europe and South America, a clash which got off to such a promising start.

The European Cup started in 1955. The Libertadores got under way five years later, with the specific intent of crowning a South American champion to take on the Europeans.

The early ties were epic. By his own reckoning, Pele's best ever performance came in the away leg against Benfica in 1962, when he ran riot as his Santos side won 5-2. For the first few years the games were gripping and intense, well-matched affairs, with plenty of quality and the occasional dose of controversy.

But from the mid-60s things started to go awry. Needing money to pay Pele and the rest, Santos pulled out of the Libertadores, as, briefly, did all Brazilian clubs.

The field was left open for teams from Argentina, at a time when, after the thrashing received at the 1958 World Cup, the romantic approach of the 1940s had given way to something darker and more cynical.

Meanwhile, in Europe, ascendency had swung to the north, starting with Celtic in 1967. The cultural clash between northern Europeans and Argentines led to a series of bruising encounters. The intercontinental clash lost prestige, and some in Europe decided that the whole thing was not worthwhile.

In 1980 the idea was resurrected as a one off game in Japan, but though southern Europe paid more attention than the north, the match never generated anything like the feverish importance placed on it by the South Americans.

In recent times the imbalance has been reinforced by the opening of the global market and the financial chasm between European and South American football.

This, on the one hand, has increased European indifference while, as far as the South Americans are concerned, adding extra spice - this is their chance to put one over those rich, glamorous, arrogant winners of the Champions League.

And there have been South American success - single goal wins for three Brazilian clubs; Sao Paulo (2005), Internacional (06) and Corinthians two years ago.

In contrast with the days of old, though, these South Americans took the field with a tactical approach that was a confession of inferiority.

Outgunned, their aim was to sneak a goal and grimly hang on. It was the best they could do in the financial circumstances. Brazil's clubs might have much more money that their continental rivals, but lag well behind the European giants.

This year the imbalance is even greater. Completing a miserable year for the country's football, Brazil could not even qualify one team for the semi-finals of the Libertadores.

Instead the trophy was won by San Lorenzo. Average first division salaries and club income in Argentina are roughly a third of those in Brazil - and less than 10% of those in the Premier League or the big two in Spain.

Understandably, then, San Lorenzo are taking something of a pea-shooter army to do battle with Real Madrid.

They will carry a sizeable contingent of fans with him - some 5,000, including Hollywood actor Viggo Mortensen are expected - but the Brazilian clubs, backed by a stronger currency, have been able to take far more to recent versions of the competition.

San Lorenzo, though, will hope for some divine intervention. Of the traditional Buenos Aires clubs they were the first to suffer relegation and the last to get their hands on the Libertadores. But things have looked up since their most illustrious supporter, Cardinal Bergoglio, became Pope Francis.

Just two years ago the club were very close to another relegation. A change of president was important - Newcastle fans might recall that Fabricio Coloccini was so taken with the new administration that he tried to walk out of his contract and go back to San Lorenzo.

And youthful president Matias Lammens (backed by Marcelo Tinelli, a hugely famous TV presenter) had another piece of help from on high.

The first signing of the new administration came recommended by Diego Maradona - it was veteran central midfielder Juan Mercier. With his sound reading of the game, improved distribution and willingness to accept responsibility, Mercier was the most important player in the entire Libertadores campaign.

This, though, speaks volumes about the limitations of a team preparing to take on Cristiano Ronaldo and company.

And the last few months have merely emphasised the talent gap between the teams. Real Madrid have added a South American superstar,Colombia's World Cup success James Rodriguez.

San Lorenzo, meanwhile, were losing key players even as they were en route to winning the Libertadores.

Promising support striker Angel Correa went to Atletico Madrid (delayed when a heart condition was discovered, the move has recently been confirmed) and attacking midfielder Ignacio Piatti joined Montreal Impact.

Centre-back Santiago Gentiletti has also moved on, though Colombia's veteran World Cup captain Mario Yepes has come in to replace him.

Buffarini and Mas are an interesting pair of attacking full-backs, Mercier and Ortigoza are sound in central midfield, while Gonzalo Veron and Barrientos (plus the speedy Villalba off the bench) offer a threat down the flanks.

But coach Edgardo Bauza will surely be aware that he can hardly hope to trade punches with Real Madrid. He was in charge of LDU of Ecuador when they only lost by a single goal to Manchester United in the final six years ago, and will presumably have a similarly cautious strategy in mind.

First, though, he needs to get past Auckland City in Wednesday's semi-final. The champions of Oceania have already sprung a major surprise, eliminating Moroccan league winners Moghreb Tetouan and African champions ES Setif from Algeria.

The New Zealanders have appeared in five previous versions of this tournament, without previously hinting as this level of performance.

The conclusion is clear - access to a higher level of competition has taught them lessons, which have been assimilated and applied. And that, for all the European lack of interest, would seem to be a fair justification for the existence of the Club World Cup.

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