Hard on themselves

It was quite amusing to hear them rubbish their own performances, especially after I had noted their respective contributions to the team scores. The highly-competitive nature of accomplished sportsmen diminishes little with the passing years, as I discovered when talking to Michael Carruth, Eddie Keher and Noel Fox during the Audi/Eddie Jordan Classic at the K Club last Monday.

Keher, a 12-handicap member of New Ross, was disgusted by his putting, yet he managed to have four nett birdies on the card. And Fox, a member of Dublin's triumphant All-Ireland football team of 1963, seemed utterly dejected as he massaged an injured right wrist. His contribution, off 13, was five nett birdies to the winning team.

Carruth, who lives in Naas not far from the Killeen club where he is an honorary life member, talked about starting golf a few months before the Barcelona Olympics as a member of the Greenhills Golf Society. "They gave me a 24 handicap and told me we were playing something called Stableford," he recalled. "It might have been a horse race for all I knew."

He then added with a smile: "I was playing as a visitor and after scoring 22 points on the front nine, I remember asking my father, Austin, if that was any good. I went on to win the visitor's prize with 43 points, which wasn't bad considering the only time I had taken a golf club in my hand before that was for a bit of local pitch and putt."

The acquisition of Olympic gold coincided with the loss of handicap shots. "I now play off nine, but the way I performed today you'd think I was 99," he said. So, how did he play? Well, among his contributions were nett birdies at the sixth, ninth, 10th and 16th, four of the most difficult holes on the course.