Bear-taming double is still talked about

Moment in time Nicklaus v Barnes, 1975John O'Sullivan on the day when a genuine maverick of the fairways defied logic and long odds to inflict serious woe on one of the greats

In the land of golf's colourful, Brian Barnes was the eyeball-singeing fluorescent king. The tag "character" is often awarded to those who just flirt with unorthodoxy, but with the 61-year-old former Ryder Cup player from Surrey, it barely addressed his eccentricity.

This is a six-foot-two-inch, 16-stoner whose trademark attire on the course was shorts and knee socks and who, when railing against slow play, was known to produce a stool, plonk himself down on the fairway, fire his pipe and open a can of beer.

Barnes - perhaps he borrowed his sartorial flamboyance from his father-in-law, Max Faulkner, a British Open winner - battled alcoholism and rheumatoid arthritis. He now offers forthright golfing analysis on Sky Sports.

His 10 wins on the European Tour are overshadowed by a single day in 1975 when he twice beat Jack Nicklaus in Ryder Cup singles. The venue was the Laurel Valley Golf Club in Pennsylvania, and though Britain and Ireland were thumped 21-11, Barnes achieved a feat that guaranteed a place in the tournament's lore.

Nicklaus arrived at Laurel Valley playing what he called "the best golf of my life". The Golden Bear had won his fifth Masters in April of that year, his fourth PGA Championship in August and the World Open at Pinehurst, North Carolina. He was the totem for a team captained by Arnold Palmer, who unwittingly facilitated one of golf's great upsets. The suggestion is that Palmer went looking for someone who might give Nicklaus a game, and Bernard Hunt, the opposing captain, suggested Barnes.

A nod and a wink later, the pair were "drawn" to face each other; the Englishman, who played his representative golf for Scotland, trimmed the great man four and three.

The afternoon singles - the format at that time was to play two series of singles on the final day - hadn't been drawn but Nicklaus demanded: "Give me that Barnes again." There can be no doubting his desire for revenge. On the first tee he told Barnes, "You've beaten me once, but there's no way you're going to beat me again."

Despite a couple of opening birdies the American went down to a two-and-one defeat. He would recall the aftermath in a later interview: "You can't believe how much ribbing I got after Brian Barnes beat me twice in one day at Old Laurel Valley in 1975. Arnold (Palmer) gave me all kinds of crap and so did the British.

"They're still having fun with it. Did it mean anything when Brian Barnes beat me a couple of times? Absolutely not. Was it for bragging rights? Absolutely. That's what the Ryder Cup was about."

Barnes found it quite tiresome when this subject was regularly aired, disrespectful to his golfing idol and good friend.

"I'm not trying to be blasé about it, but it was matchplay and I can get round a course, you know. So what's so special? Mind you, Jack was pissed off," he laughed.

He also recounted a salutary tale about the different ethos of the matches in those days.

In a newspaper interview four years ago he pointed out: "We were the poor relations. We'd walk on to the first tee with our plastic golf bags, aertex shirts, two-ply wool sweaters and two golf balls, and the Americans would be there with beautiful leather bags, cashmere sweaters and trousers that actually fitted.

"But I'd go into the American dressing-room at the end of the day and Lee Trevino and I would go out to dinner together. They wouldn't do that now, would they?

"Sam Ryder wanted a friendly rivalry between two teams from either side of the Atlantic. It would be nice to get back to that but I think it's too bloody late. There's too much hype."

He also possessed an ability to laugh at his own misfortune, evidenced in the same article in his recollection of a less-endearing Ryder Cup memory that involved topping a drive during a singles match: "The ball went no more than 20 yards. I've never done that before or since. Luckily, there weren't so many people watching back then.

"I'm actually not sure I could drive it off the first tee now because of all the pressure."

So what happened when all your team-mates gathered to watch? "I told them to piss off back to the clubhouse. I was doing my damnedest to beat the opponent, for pride, and I didn't need them piling on more pressure."

The sense of irreverence and humour is still apparent in his analysis for Sky, and yet whatever happens he'll always be recalled as the man who beat Jack Nicklaus twice in one day.