Drinks are on me after Tiger savages his Tour Championship rivals

Last week's column earned rave reviews from people I rate highly – lots of warm texts and emails came my way – and it was probably no coincidence that it was the first one I have written without a hangover for many a moon.

I have often wondered what impact going teetotal would make on my life. From my late teens onwards, I have been about as far removed from teetotalism as anyone I know. I actually thought the spelling was teatotal – I presumed the word stemmed from people who abstain from alcohol drinking gallons of tea instead – until I checked on the World Wide Web just now.

Well, better writing for the Racing Post on Sunday may be one result if I could somehow axe alcohol from my diet. I typically craft this piece on Thursdays and my most lavish drinking of the week takes place on Wednesday nights, so the first few paragraphs are often constructed through a deep fog.