Junior has youth on his side

When Christy O'Connor Jnr won the British Masters at Woburn in 1992, he seemed decidedly reluctant to accept the inevitability of advancing years. Looking towards his birthday, three months later, he said earnestly: "I thought I was going to be 43, and I was fierce disappointed when Ann (his wife) told me I would be 44."

Now, as a successful member of the US Seniors' Tour, he would do well to keep a very watchful eye on father time. The advice comes from Lee Trevino who is well qualified to talk about senior matters, given his 28 victories since joining senior ranks in 1990.

"When I first came out here and was winning everything in sight, Gary Player said: `Play as much as you can and win as much as you can, because at 55, you're going to hit the wall,"' Trevino said this week. "I didn't believe him."

But that's exactly what happened. Supermex won 26 times up to the end of the 1995 season, when he turned 56. He has won only twice since then. "It was like waking up one morning and not wanting to play or practise much," he said.

Bob Charles agreed. "The older you get, the more difficult it becomes," said the 63-year-old New Zealander, who won 23 times in his first seven years on the tour and only twice since. "I think the short game deteriorates with age. That's my biggest problem now."

Remarkably, O'Connor's putting seems to have improved with age. When winning at Woburn seven years ago, he singleputted the last eight greens of his final round - six of them for birdies. It gave him a second successive 66 on a day when the last two rounds of the tournament had to be completed because of inclement weather.

In subsequent years on the regular European Tour, however, he was to experience torture with the blade. And after failing to break into the top-100 of the Order of Merit from 1993 onwards, he turned in desperation to the broomhandle putter. Now, as his victory in last Sunday's State Farm Senior Classic confirmed, he is back putting as good as ever.

But his success also serves to emphasise a clear pattern whereby 11 of the 21 US Senior Tour events so far this year have been won by those with birth certificates reading 1944 or later. Indeed the average age of this year's tournament winners is 51. So, as a farmer's son, O'Connor should need no reminding about making hay while the sun shines.

"He was a total mystery. He was from another planet. We were all in awe of him. He had an aura. He was like royalty - people would approach him deferentially." Peter Alliss recalling Ben Hogan at Carnoustie in 1953, when he finished ninth behind him in the British Open.

Whispering Straits GC, to which I referred recently as the venue for last month's American PGA Club Professional Championship, is becoming more Irish by the day. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, with cliff-side par threes and off-fairway sand dunes, it was designed by Pete Dye, we were told, "to resemble an Irish links course".

After the success of the championship, the owner, Herb Kohler, has adopted far more expansive terms. "It's really a combination of courses that include Ballybunion, Royal Co Down, Carne and Lahinch and in Scotland, Royal Dornoch and Cruden Bay," he enthused.

Then, by way of substantiating these claims, the organisers turned to four Irish-born caddies who worked at the championship. One of them was Fintan Murray, a 22-yearold student from Ballinspittle, Cork. So, was Whispering Straits really like home?

"Yes. It resembles Ireland in every respect," said Murray. "Back home we have wind, we have rain, we have fescue grass and we have fog. I've experienced all of these since I've been here." Ah! how quickly the (temporary) emigrant succumbs to misty visions and wild dreams.

If the controversial project at Doonbeg comes to fruition, it is certain to include some classic links elements from Lahinch and Ballybunion. Greg Norman, wearing his designer's hat, was especially taken with some of the MacKenzie tiers on the greens at Lahinch, but he preferred the bunkering at Ballybunion.

"In a perfect golfing world, I would take the front nine at Lahinch and the back nine at Ballybunion," he said. "That would give you a classic links with very few serious rivals. Some of the inland holes at Lahinch are magical. Imagine finding a hole like the short sixth on an American course. Unthinkable."

Norman considered Thursday's exercise to be no more than a start to what he hopes will be an Irish golfing education. "When I think that I first came to the Irish Open more than 20 years ago, I realise how little I've seen," he said. "Now I want to see the great links courses like Royal Co Down and Royal Portrush."

Golfers of all levels flocked to Carnoustie in 1953 to see the great Ben Hogan make a triumphant, lone appearance in the British Open. And there is an inescapable irony in the fact that his widow, Valerie, should have died on June 30th, so close to the championship's return there next week, after a lapse of 24 years.

In the event, a group of 25 US airmen flew 380 miles from their base in Essex to see the Hawk shoot a second round of 71. And leading the celebrities was Frank Sinatra, who was playing a concert down the road at the Caird Hall in Dundee. Indeed Sinatra's keen interest in the game could be gauged from the fact that while in Scotland he had a set of monogrammed clubs made for himself by the John Letters company.

Regarding events at Carnoustie, Ol' (should that be young?) Blue Eyes said: "All America is rooting for Hogan." Was there a player capable of beating him? "I don't think there is one," he replied. Ben Hogan is the best golfer in the world."

Interestingly, there doesn't appear to have been any great exodus from this country to see Hogan in action on that occasion. But there was certainly a large Irish contingent at Wentworth in June 1956, when he made his only other playing visit to Britain, for the Canada Cup.

With a four-round total of 277, Hogan was the dominant half of a triumphant partnership with Sam Snead, causing Tom Scott to enthuse in Golf Illustrated: "It was a remarkable display of golf, the like of which has probably never been seen in Britain before." Yet, three years later, Christy O'Connor set an aggregate record of 274 for Wentworth, when winning the Daks Tournament there.

Kay Judge approaches the task with such infectious enthusiasm that one is swept along. So it is that I draw your attention to the 15th annual Mended Hearts Golf Outing on August 16th at Forrest Little GC. The proceeds are for the Cardiac Surgical Foundation at the Mater Hospital and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit at Beaumont.

The timesheet will be available from the club on Monday next and the cost of the day's fun, with a meal and cabaret thrown in, is £40. Kay, who took over as secretary of Mended Hearts after the sad passing last year of my esteemed colleague Peter O'Neill, is also seeking sponsors for individual golf holes at £200. She can be contacted at 01 8214105.

This day in golf history . . . On July 10th 1949, Bobby Locke had a crushing, 12-stroke win over Harry Bradshaw in a 36-hole play-off for the British Open at Royal St George's. But the event continued to be one of the most controversial in the history of the championship, because of the infamous "bottle incident" involving Bradshaw's ball during the second round.

Though Bradshaw might have won over 72 holes, there was no disputing the merit of Locke's play-off success. "Harry is a grand fellow to play with, always first to congratulate you on a good shot," said the South African afterwards. "But I'm afraid he did not have a chance in the play-off - I never made a slip."

Locke's parting words were: "He'll have his chance of revenge when we meet in the Irish Open at Belvoir Park next week." And so it happened. With an aggregate of 286, Bradshaw beat his rival by a stroke to claim top prize of £400 after Locke's birdie putt on the last just slipped past the hole.

Teaser: A player's ball went into a bunker. The player accidentally kicked a pine cone and it rolled into the bunker. He picked up the pine cone which was not interfering with his stance or the area of his intended swing. Did he incur a penalty?

Answer: Yes. A pine cone is a loose impediment and may not be removed when both the impediment and the ball lie in a hazard (Rule 13-4c). By removing the pine cone from the bunker, the player incurred a penalty of loss of hole in matchplay or two strokes in strokeplay for a breach of Rule 13-4c.