European gets due US recognition

The commander-in-chief was beside himself with delight. Granted, Pine Valley had retained the number one slot in the Golf Magazine biennial list of the world's top-100 courses, and the Irish selections were the familiar five. But there, among 25 courses given honourable mention, was his beloved European Club.

It represents quite an achievement for a links which will be only four years in play at the end of next month. And as the proud owner, Pat Ruddy, pointed out: "From nearly 40,000 courses in the world, it's not bad to be in there chasing the big boys."

As it happens, three Irish courses are among the 25 from outside the US which "just missed our top-100 in the world list but were graded as high as those that filled our top-100 in the US." In order of merit they are: 1 Royal Montreal; 2 Commonwealth (Melbourne); 3 Waterville; 4 Royal Porthcawl; 5 Portstewart; 12 The European Club.

The top-20 courses in the world are: 1 Pine Valley (US); 2 Cypress Point (US); 3 Pebble Beach (US); 4 Augusta National (US); 5 Royal Melbourne (Australia); 6 Shinnecock Hills (US); 7 St Andrews (Scotland); 8 Pinehurst No 2 (US); 9 Muirfield (Scotland); 10 Royal Co Down (Ireland); 11 Ballybunion (Ireland); 12 Royal Portrush (Ireland); 13 Merion East (US); 14 Crystal Downs (US); 15 Royal Dornoch (Scotland); 16 Oakmont (US); 17 Sand Hills, Nebraska (US); 18 National GC of America (US); 19 Seminole (US); 20 Winged Foot (US).

Royal Co Down retains its position of two years ago, but Ballybunion has been promoted from 12th to 11th and Portrush from 15th to 12th. The other Irish clubs in the world top-100 are Portmarnock, which has slipped from 38th to 40th and Lahinch, which drops from 73rd to 78th.

A major emphasis on length these days has been prompted by dramatic improvements in golf equipment. So, it is fascinating to note that Pinehurst is the only course in the top-10 to measure more than 7,000 yards. At 7,051 it is 285 yards longer than Pine Valley and more than 500 yards longer than Cypress Point.

As might be expected from a US publication, the list is heavily weighted in favour of American courses. Even allowing for that bias, however, it is disturbing from an Irish standpoint that The K Club and Mount Juliet, which will be bidding to stage the Ryder Cup in 2005, have not gained even honourable mention.

Meanwhile, in its summary remarks, Golf Magazine suggests that: "To achieve greatness, the dedication has to come not only from the golf course architect, but from the developer of the property." Which led Ruddy to claim proudly: "That makes me a two-in-one operation."

"To get an elementary grasp of the game of golf, you must learn, by endless practise, a continuous and subtle series of highly unnatural movements involving about 64 muscles, that result in a seemingly `natural' swing, taking all of two seconds to begin and end." - British broadcaster, Alistair Cooke.

In the Volvo Masters last weekend, Colin Montgomerie (£6,177,012) and Bernhard Langer (£6,058,335) both passed £6 million in European Tour career earnings. An essential difference between the pair, however, was that while the Scot achieved the target in 265 tournaments, it took Langer an additional 89 events.

These are the steps they took. First tournament: Montgomerie - European Masters 1987; Langer - German Open 1974. £1 million - M at the 1992 Scottish Open (his 139th tournament); L at the 1989 French Open (192 tournaments); £2 million - M in 1993 World Cup (178); L in 1991 Volvo Masters (238); £3 million - M in 1994 Volvo Masters (202); L in 1993 British Open (267); £4 million - M in 1995 Volvo Masters (223); L in 1994 Volvo Masters (297); £5 million - M in 1996 Volvo Masters (243); L in 1995 World Championship (318); £6 million - M in 1997 Volvo Masters (265); L in 1997 Volvo Masters (354).

Meanwhile, Irish players made a significant contribution to the season's spectacle. En route to victory in the Oki Pro-Am recently, Paul McGinley equalled the lowest 54-hole score of the year with a 19-under-par 197. In the Heineken Classic in Perth last January, Padraig Harrington shot a course record second round of 63 on his way to a share of 11th place.

Harrington, with 402 from 108 rounds, also had the most birdies for the season. Significantly, most eagles - 18 - came from the big-hitting Wayne Westner, while in the two categories combined, Montgomerie was best with 325 birdies and 13 eagles.

When Jack Nicklaus first outlined plans for Muirfield Village, his then manager, Mark McCormack, claimed it would be like "standing on the street corner and burning $100 bills." Of course McCormack was to be proved spectacularly wrong.

But it is equally incorrect to describe the venture as the Course That Jack Built. And Britain's Desmond Muirhead believes it is time to right that particular wrong by claiming a key role as co-designer, for which he was paid a fee of $100,000.

Muirhead had a turbulent relationship with the Golden Bear whom he describes as "a much nicer person now." And despite being one of the heirs to the Yardley cosmetics fortune, he confesses to having been "broke," or down to his last $300,000 or so, on several occasions. Apparently, this had much to do with "an infallible system" he invented for buying stocks at the top of their cycle and selling them at the bottom.

In a recent interview, Muirhead said: "Spectator mounds really started at Augusta National and when I suggested to Jack Nicklaus that we should get Joe Dey (of the USGA) to advise on blending them into Muirfield Village, he replied `I never heard of such a ridiculous idea.' Two weeks later, Joe Dey was on the site.

"See, it didn't matter where the idea came from, it was immediately converted into a Nicklaus idea. That is what I had to fight all the time."

Finally, on the subject of elitism, Muirhead said: "Intellectual elitism is a superior approach to knowledge. Material elitism is when you aren't gifted with intelligence or education but have a lot of money. The kind of elitism that is happening in golf today is mainly to do with money."

It seems that Jack Nicklaus was caught `bear-legged' when caddying for his son, Gary, at the USPGA Tour School at West Palm Beach recently. By wearing shorts, the Golden Bear was, in fact, in breach of the tour's dress code.

To cover his embarrassment, Nicklaus donned rain pants until wife Barbara showed up with a pair of slacks. Meanwhile, Gary failed to help dad's mood by shooting a 78 which wasn't good enough to get him through to the second stage.

This day in golf history . . . On November 8th, 1921, Jack Fleck was born in Bettendorf, Iowa. His contribution to tournament golf was remarkable in that it was essentially confined to four days in 1955 in San Francisco, where he deprived Ben Hogan of a record fifth US Open triumph.

On entering the event at the Olympic Club, where the US Open returns next June, Fleck had won just $7,500 in 41 tournaments. And his small galleries could also be attributed to poor form in practice, as he struggled to break 80.

In those days, the leaders didn't necessary go out last and congratulations were showered on Hogan when he became the clubhouse leader with an aggregate of 287 in severely testing conditions. Though he felt obliged to stress that the tournament wasn't over, he was undoubtedly confident he had made history.

Among the late finishers, however, was Fleck, ironically using a set of newly-produced Hogan irons. He hit one of these, a seven iron, to within a few feet of the 18th pin for a closing birdie and a round of 67, which got him into a tie with his idol. Then, against all the odds, the Cinderella man won the play-off with a 69 to a 72. Indeed, Hogan took a doublebogey six at the 18th, where Fleck had carded a three, 24 hours previously.

A convert to yoga, Fleck was 13 pounds lighter than his Olympic Club weight when, aged 57, he captured the US and World Seniors titles in 1979.

Teaser: A match which was all square after 16 holes was discontinued by agreement due to darkness. The match should have been resumed at the 17th hole. However, the players, thinking it was in accordance with the rules, replayed the match starting at the first tee. The result was posted. At that point, the committee became aware of the improper procedure. What is the ruling?

Answer: The result of the match as replayed should stand. The players were not subject to disqualification under Rule 1-3 because they were unaware that their procedure was contrary to the rules.