WHILE the politicians go about their business of finding the best way to cut our ties with the folk across the Channel, golfers are gearing themselves to put on a united front in the name of Europe.

It is Ryder Cup time again – a sporting event out to show we are all good friends really.

It is even being played in Paris for the first time – a breakaway from the usual strongholds where the match draws huge crowds. In four years it will move on to Italy.

Sky Sports have gone to great lengths to give the Cup the big build-up – including a tongue-in-cheek advert to explain how boring the game is while showing mass crowds, high-fiving players and hysterical reactions to a long-range putt.

And judging by some on the on-street interviews around the streets of Paris, the French are still a bit bewildered by all the fuss.

After all, it’s not exactly the Tour de France or Paris Saint-Germain, is it?

Maybe they haven’t read the British Journal of Sports Medicine’s report which concluded “too many people are missing out on the health benefits of golf, a sport that is good for the mind and body and can extend life-span”?

But if you don’t believe everything you read, there’s another reason to pay attention this weekend.

Those of us who were quick to write Tiger Woods off as golf’s Yesterday’s Man (guilty!) should have remembered the old sporting saying about form being temporary but class being permanent.

He is 42, he hasn’t won anything bigger than a raffle prize for five years and 10 months ago he was 1,199th on the list of the game’s top players. On Sunday he beat 29 of the world’s best to lift the Tour Championship in Atlanta. It was his 80th tour win.

A serious back injury, upheaval in his personal life and what appeared to many of us as a major attitude problem all contributed to his lengthy absence. Golf was missing a great player – but a great sportsman? Not proven.

Sunday’s final round gave us a new Tiger Woods.

Here was a more humble, clearly a more likeable character who even smiled regularly, interacted with the thousands of fans who followed his every step and reduced him to tears at the presentation.

His victory gave Sky’s team the chance to go into overdrive in their love affair with Tiger, but they can be excused just this once.

Maybe he can manage to knock Brexit out of the headlines just for a day or two?

Incidentally, Justin Rose’s fourth place finish earned him a ‘consolation’ prize.

That was a cheque for $10million as Fedex Cup winner.

The Mail:

JOSE Mourinho has clearly given up on any attempt to win a popularity contest at Old Trafford.

He must be the first Manchester United manager since the club’s bad old days in the second division to say: “I did not like my team. We should play like Wolves.”

But if it was not a good weekend for Jose, he was not alone.

Our regular contributors to this column – the radio phone-in callers – were out in force.

Under pressure to keep their jobs were Rafa Benitez at Newcastle United; Aston Villa’s Steve Bruce and even Neil Warnock, only weeks after achieving the impossible and lifting Cardiff City up into the Premier League as a replacement for fellow Welshmen Swansea City.

Up in Scotland’s, Celtic’s dodgy start to the new season had one die-hard questioning the future of Brendon Rodgers, the man who has just led the club to back-to-back trebles.

Of course, Rangers’ early season form might have something to do with that.

Perhaps things are not so bad for Jose after all.

The Mail:

NOTHING is ever what it seems in the world of boxing.

In most sports, there is a natural order of things; Golf and tennis have their ranking events to decide a player’s place in any order of merit. The World Number One is generally the best player.

In team sports like football, where FIFA ranking are a fairly accurate assessment of a country’s standing, or cricket, which has lists for every version of the game from T20 through to Test matches, you know pretty much where you stand.

But boxing is different. Everybody seems to agree that Anthony Joshua’s seventh round knock-out of Russia’s Alexander Povetkin meant he was still the heavyweight champion of the world.

So who is this Deontay Wilder, who is defending the world heavyweight title against Tyson Fury on December 1?

And how come Tyson Fury, who has had two warm-up fights in 31 months, is having a shot at a world title?

There are so many sanctioning bodies in the sport that it all boils down to who has got the most clout. And that means money.

Anthony Joshua had hardly had chance to get over his Wembley experience before we were being treated to radio row between his representative Barry Hearn and Frank Warren, speaking on behalf of Fury.

It was all about money, naturally. Warren wanted a 50-50 split for the fight. Hearn, chairman of Matchroom, said no deal.

Of course, all this bluster and knockabout rivalry could amount to nothing if Fury loses to Wilder in December.

If Fury does win that would probably mean a rematch which would leave Joshua – holder of three world titles with different initials, I believe – hanging around.

Unless, of course, he has a rematch of his own with somebody called Dillian Whyte.

Only five per cent of the Londoner’s devoted followers want that, according to Joshua’s own twitter account.

The majority would like to see him take on Wilder – another 80,000 Wembley crowd guaranteed – or the Gypsy King Fury as second choice.

It would seem that the world of heavyweight boxing is really a very small place indeed.