Different strokes

Compiled by PHILIP REID

Golf Boys looking to hit the right note

Rock stars like U2 and Bon Jovi are unlikely to be quaking in their shoes at the latest offering from Golf Boys – a group which features US Tour players Ben Crane, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and US Masters champion Bubba Watson – which was released as a download on iTunes yesterday.

All proceeds from the hip-hop song, which parodies boy bands, will go to a Third World charity that helps fund the provision of fresh water.

The golfing-singing quartet released their first song in June of 2011 and became an internet sensation, with over six million views on YouTube which prompted them to consider a second song that will benefit international aid organisation charity:water, with 100 per cent of proceeds from Golf Boys’ song “2.Oh” going to the construction of clean water wells in Ethiopia.

“I love that we can goof off on You Tube and help people across the world,” said unofficial band leader Crane, who has put the video up on the internet site at www.youtube.com/bencranegolf.

Youth development policy pays dividends

The policy is not a new one – as evidenced by the reminder that Darren Clarke won the King’s Cup all of 23 years go – but, nonetheless, the GUI’s decision to send Ireland’s top amateurs to compete in international competition, as far afield as Australia and South Africa on occasions, is one that continues to have positive benefits.

The latest example of this policy to blood players is Reeve Whitson’s win in the Spanish Amateur Open. In one fell swoop, the 21-year-old Ulsterman has added his name to that of Gavin Moynihan and Kevin Phelan as potential Walker Cup players for the match against the United States in New York later this season.

By then, of course, Alan Dunbar

– the current British amateur champion – is likely to have crossed the great divide in pursuit of a professional career. Dunbar’s last appearance as an amateur is expected to come in next month’s US Masters at Augusta, before he joins the ISM stable of players and, hopefully, benefit from a number of tournament invites to set him on his way as a pro.

Whitson’s win, however, underlines the fact that the GUI continues to provide a conveyor belt of young talent. A son of Royal County Down club professional Kevan Whitson, Reeve obviously has golfing blood in his veins and a head-start on many others when it came to taking up the sport.