Tiger: is this really the style for him?

But "Funky" Miller has got eccentricity down to a fine art.

It took Courtney Walsh several minutes to compose himself at the striker's end after Miller had removed his cap and revealed his true colours.

Then the following day we saw Tiger Woods on the back pages.

Tiger is not in Melbourne at the World Match Play Championship - neither were 39 of the other top 64 golfers in the world, of course - but instead he was in the Bahamas on a post-Christmas holiday.

And Tiger had dyed his hair blond.

Perhaps Santa had dropped a bottle of peroxide into his Christmas stocking...or perhaps Tiger wanted to make a few hundred dollars on the side to add to his $10m for the year 2000 in a jolly bet?

Personal statement

Anyway Tiger's mum apparently thought the flaxen curls wouldn't last into the New Year, but they did and made an arresting site.

It was almost like looking at the most photographed sportsman in the world through a negative image.

Chemically, I mean...though come to think of it..... Call me old-fashioned - which in this respect I most certainly am - but aren't these personal statements rather more "look-at-me" than "look-at-what-I-can-do"?

There is nothing nicer than a bright pink ski suit

More peacock (a colourful bird that just struts and squawks) than albatross (ugly brute, but it sure can fly)?

The point is that human nature being what it is, you've certainly got to be unnaturally good if you go for the unnatural look.

The same goes for fancy footwear.

Wasn't it Alan Hinton who wore white boots back in the early 1970s for Derby County?

Now that WAS showboating in those relatively conservative days, but he just about got away with it as a scorer and creator of goals in Cloughie's Championship-winning side in 71/72.

But what about all that skiing gear?

Tasteless flamboyance

You can forgive the rainbow coloured aerodynamic designs of the World Cup daredevils - they can ski a bit, after all.

But when your mate turns up for beginners' classes at the local dry ski-slope in fluorescent yellow wearing a jester's cap, bells and wrap-around shades, you just know he's a plonker.

So where do we stand on Philips, Colin and Tiger?

Personally I think his bleached hair has turned a proud, handsome face into something that now lacks dignity and style

Bonnet on Tiger