Hi thebigeasy,
I do not intend to become GrinchMan, but I did want to say something in an effort to combat the spread of a popular misnomer.
thebigeasy707: andyson: Given Elkington is Australian it is quite odd an Aussie can't win.
oh the hypocracy of it all Andy :)
A lot of times I have observed people use the word "hypocrisy" when referring to subjects or topics that have nothing to do with what the standard definition of "hypocrisy" has been and is.
I've seen the word "hypocrisy" (and its common misspellings) refer to concepts such as the concept of irony or to refer to someone who has made a mistake, learned better, and then alerted others to the better way.
The main element of actual hypocrisy is intent to deceive, even if the intended deception is not accomplished by the deceiver. Not all intentions to deceive are hypocritical, but all actual hypocrisy has intent to deceive. The intended deception may not even be immediately related to morality; it could be a variety of other things such as sandbagging as Dictionary.com states:
noun, plural hy·poc·ri·sies.
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious
beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved
attitude.
3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
As to Australians being able to play but not being eligible for this event's prize while an Australian is hosting, perhaps that concept or idea is best represented by definition 5 at Dictionary.com of the term "irony"
an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.
Or,
incongruity between what is expected to be and what actually is,
or a situation or result showing such incongruity.
Thanks,
JMan