Book closes on Irish Ryder venue

Staging the Ryder Cup is an expensive business, as Jaime Patino, owner of Valderrama, will testify. So when Pat Ruddy saw a certain betting list attributed to bookmaker Paddy Power in one of last Sunday's newspapers, he was understandably intrigued.

It concerned the possibility of the biennial showpiece coming to an Irish venue. And the commander-in-chief of the European Club noted excitedly that his club was on the list. The betting was: 1 to 2 the K Club; 3 to 1 Portmarnock; 5 to 1 Druids Glen, Mount Juliet; 10 to 1 the European Club.

"If there was a chance, however remote, of us staging the Ryder Cup, we would need substantial funds," he reasoned. "And when I saw that the European Club was included, it struck me as a splendid opportunity. So I decided it had to be worth a gamble.

"Remember, we are talking eight years down the road, so it would be remiss of me not to treat the matter seriously. After all, we are currently rated 44th on Golf World's list of British and Irish courses, as against 93rd for the Belfry, which has already staged three Ryder Cups."

After due consideration, Ruddy decided on his bet: he would place £50,000 on the European Club at 10 to 1. So, if awarded the event, he would have an immediate pool of £500,000 to draw on for upgrading purposes. When he phoned Paddy Power this week, however, the bet was declined.

A spokesman for the company explained: "Those odds were offered a few weeks ago and, in our view, the situation has changed since then. European Tour officials were at the K Club last weekend and we assume some level of negotiations took place. So we have suspended betting on the issue."

Ruddy's reaction? "I'm in the market if they open the book again," he said.

In the meantime, I wonder if Michael Smurfit has any money on the . . .

`I travel extensively. In fact, I'm like Willie Nelson, on the road again." - Doug Sanders, who almost died while undergoing surgery for a neck complaint 15 months ago, receiving the Legends of Golf award at Grange this week.

Jeff Maggert's fine, closing round of 65 for third place in the recent USPGA Championship was of particular interest to John O'Grady of Thurles. While it lifted Maggert into the US Ryder Cup team, it revived memories for O'Grady of a chat he had in Blackpool 13 months ago.

In the course of a letter, the Co Tipperary GUI official explained: "While waiting in Blackpool for a bus to Lytham (for last year's British Open), I found myself chatting to a man who came along to the stop. He said he was in a hurry because he was to be on the practice ground in a short time.

"He was a caddie. `Who are you working for?' I asked. `Jeff Maggert,' he answered. We sat together on the bus. His name, it emerged, was Brian Sullivan, of Co Cork extraction, living in Dallas. He said Jeff would love to play in Ireland but clashes with US events had several times ruled him out.

" `If we could shoot 66, we may not be out of it,' he said about the final round (at Lytham)." As it happened, Maggert went one better, shooting 65 as he was to do at Winged Foot more than a year later. At Lytham, it earned him a share of fifth place behind compatriot Tom Lehman.

It is 16 years since Merion last staged the US Open, but admirers of the celebrated Pennsylvania stretch are hoping the event will soon return there for a sixth time. In 1981, David Graham shot a closing 67 on the 6,544-yard, par-70 stretch to win by three strokes.

At the request of the USGA, Nick Price recently played Merion. Afterwards he commented: "If the USGA want a course where par wins, I'm afraid this isn't it. But if they want a great test of golf, this is the place."

Merion is distinguished by its use of wicker baskets rather than flagsticks. Its chairman, Hugh Wilson, got the idea on a visit to Britain, where he noted that many clubs substituted lobster pots for flags, which were being shredded by strong winds.

Towards the end of his trip, he was impressed by the wicker baskets on top of flagsticks at Sunningdale and adopted the idea for Merion. For years, the baskets were woven by the club's maintenance shop, but they are now imported from Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, it is fascinating that the USGA can continue to deny the advantages of modern golf equipment, in the face of Price's play of the 463-yard final hole. The Zimbabwean easily reached the green with a seven-iron second shot. It measured 458 yards, however, for the 1950 US Open, when it was scene of a very special photograph of Ben Hogan hitting a one-iron approach. Incidentally, Graham played a four-iron in 1981.

On meeting Doug Sanders at The Legends Golf Outing at Grange last Tuesday, I was struck by the remarkable contribution this society have made to the game here, largely through the enthusiasm of its founder, Declan O'Donoghue. While doing fine work for charity - the Philip Walton Classic will be at Luttrellstown on October 6th - they have enhanced Irish golf by honouring genuine legends. Recipients of their main award include Peter Alliss, Peter Thomson, John Jacobs and Michael Bonallack.

Accompanying a letter from New York, Bill Gibson has sent me an extract from Chambers's Information for the People, published in Philadelphia in 1860. As one would expect from the noted golf historian, it refers to the Royal and Ancient game.

After listing the "chief" golf clubs in Scotland, Chambers notes: "The game has likewise its votaries in Ireland at the Curragh camp, in several provinces of India and at the Cape of Good Hope &c, and British clubs are on the increase yearly."

It then goes on with a glossary of what are described as "technical terms", taken from The Golfer's Manual. So we have: Baff - striking the ground along with the ball; Dead - A ball is said to be dead, first, when, after being propelled by the club, it falls without rolling; second, when it lies so close to a hole that the "put" (sic) is a certainty.

The list continues: Draw - To drive wildly to the left; Fore! - contracted for before, a warning cry to people in front of the stroke; Grassed - A term used instead of spooned, to signify the backward slope of a clubface. Other interesting definitions are: Odds - First, an additional stroke allowed to a weak opponent, second, the stroke played in any match in advance of the opposite party; Put - A gentle stroke towards the hole when close to it; Scruff - Slightly razing the grass in striking; Tee - A pot of sand on which the ball is elevated for the first stroke from each hole.

In brief: Isao Aoki, winner of the World Matchplay title in 1978, the European Open and Hawaiian Open in 1983 and 10 senior events, will be 55 tomorrow . . . Enniscrone GC will play host to the Tower Hotel Group Pro-am and Challenge on October 1st to 3rd. Details from (01) 2820737 . . . Since August 6th, more than 1,000 players have been competing in the inaugural Shell Ladies Golf Challenge in pursuit of places in the final at Mount Juliet on Wednesday, September 17th . . . Even greater success is reported in the inaugural Ford Ladies Strokeplay Championship in which 5,733 players competed. The final is at Druids Glen on September 14th.

Teaser: A Ballycastle reader has written seeking clarification of Rule 28 as it applies to an unplayable ball in a bunker: "If a player elects to drop a ball at the spot from which it was last played, does this apply to a fairway shot as well as a tee-shot." Also, there is the question raised in Decision 28/10: In strokeplay, a competitor declares his ball unplayable in a bunker and, purporting to proceed under Rule 28b or c, drops a ball outside the bunker whereas, both such provisions require that a ball be dropped in the bunker. What is the penalty?

Answer: For our Ballycastle reader: Rule 28a states that under a penalty of a stroke, the player may "Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played." So, this clearly includes the fairway. On the other point: Generally, the penalty should be disqualification for a serious breach of Rule 28, unless rectified under Rule 20-7b. However, if the position of the ball after it is dropped out of the bunker is not substantially different from what it would have been if the competitor had invoked the stroke-and-distance option under Rule 28a, the penalty would be two strokes for breach of Rule 28.