It will come as no surprise that Tiger Woods, undisputed player of the year for 1997, has been officially attributed with the longest drive during the British Open at Royal Troon last July. According to the Royal and Ancient, he did it at the fourth hole with a prodigious effort of 404 yards, downwind.
Nor will it surprise anyone that from a total of 1,232 drives measured on the fourth and sixth holes downwind and the 13th and 15th into the wind, Woods's emerged as the longest, averaging 310 yards. Vijay Singh and David Duval were next on 292. Meanwhile, overall, the average driving length was 268.8 yards and 54 per cent hit the fairway.
Woods also set targets in areas, other than his record-breaking tournament exploits. For instance, he made the greatest improvement within the top-50 of the world rankings, improving from 33rd to second position behind the leader, Greg Norman.
Incidentally, from an Irish standpoint, it is interesting that Darren Clarke was among the most improved players to enter the top-50. Clarke, who will make his debut in the US Masters next April, gained 26 places in the world rankings during 1997, moving from 62nd to 36th - without winning a tournament.
Meanwhile, the measurements at Troon were taken with laser range-finders, aimed from where balls came to rest to reflectors sited on the tee. Driving length was very much in line with tour measurements - 265 yards in Europe and 266 in the US - which are taken over a full year.
Woods will be 22 next Tuesday and he has already outstripped the great Jack Nicklaus by capturing the US Masters as a 21-year-old. But the `Bear' soon made up for lost time. At 22, he won the US Open in 1962 and a year later, added the Masters and USPGA Championship. And by the time he was 26, he had six majors to his credit and had become only the fourth player to capture all four major championships.
"I just wanted to blow everybody away on the Sunday of the Masters," said Woods over Christmas, recalling his Augusta triumph. His next major assignment? "Playing with my father in the AT and T at Pebble Beach (starting on January 29th)," he replied.
He added: "The two most dramatic things that happened to me in 1997 were winning the Masters and my father's heart surgery. Because of the way he has improved since then, this Christmas means more to me than any other."
His lasting memory of the Masters? "Making an eagle at the 13th on the Friday to lead the tournament for the first time." There, Woods hit a three-wood off the tee, followed by an eight-iron and a 20-foot putt. And by way of emphasising his determination to stay on top of the leaderboard, he birdied the 14th and 15th in a round of 66 which left him on 136 - three strokes ahead of Colin Montgomerie at the halfway stage.
"Trousers are now allowed to be worn by ladies on the course. But they must be removed before entering the clubhouse." Sign attributed by the book The 19th Hole, to an unidentified golf club in this country.
The countdown is now well under way. I'm thinking not of the New Year but a long way further on, to the staging of the Ryder Cup in this country in 2005. And Dublin's leading hotels are already preparing for what will be an unprecedented influx of golfing tourists.
"We already have a provisional booking for 300 rooms from an Irish agency with an American association," said a spokesperson from the Doyle Hotel Group which boast 1,400 of the capital's capacity of 6,500 hotel bedrooms. "The numbers are modest at this stage but we would expect a significant increase in bookings when the dates are finalised."
As it happens, the group has bookings for 600 rooms for next year's Tour de France. "We would expect the Ryder Cup to be well up on that figure," added the Doyle official. There are no indications yet as to the likely venue but I understand that Michael Smurfit will be taking over The K Club Hotel for business associates and friends, irrespective of whether the event is staged there.
During the last year, upwards of about 250 items have appeared in this column, most of them snippets of information which caught my fancy for one reason or another. But for me, there was one little piece which became rather special. And at the year's end it remains so, six months after publication.
Written at Congressional in June, it read: "A familiar face is missing from the US Open media centre this week, due to the death of Michael Williams, golf correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. Two days after returning from the Masters, Michael was playing golf with his son Roddy at Chelmsford GC, when he collapsed and died on the fourth hole.
"His wife Judy, who happens to be the current lady captain of the club, recounted to friends how difficult it has been for her to play the course, especially the short fourth. But she has gained an extraordinary reward for her stoicism.
"Standing on the fourth tee in a recent club match, she somehow found herself playing a six-iron, where she would normally take a seven. And she had the first hole-in-one of her career." It has since struck me that this must have been golf's way of gently acknowledging two of its greatest devotees.
This little story from The 19th Hole (published by Chameleon Books at £7.99 sterling), concerns the debut of a certain, resourceful golfer at Pleasington GC, which has a long waiting list. It is attributed to a Mr N McKillop-Smith of Blackburn who recalled how his friend, Alec, having waited patiently for eight years, finally received notice that his membership had been approved.
The story goes: "Being the eager type, he (Alec) decided to have a game the very first day of his membership. He was about to play his shot from just in front of the yellow markers on the first tee when a chap approached him and enquired: `Excuse me, are you a member?'
"Alec, indignant, at the rude interruption, replied: `I am, as a matter of fact. I just joined today and this is my first round.' `Well, don't you know the rules? You're supposed to tee off from behind the yellow markers?,' the stranger admonished.
"Who are you?' asked Alec. `I just happen to be the president,' came the snobbish reply. `Well,' said my friend, `if you'll stop bothering me, I can get on with playing my second shot."'
These Days In Golfing History . . . . On Christmas Day 1875, Young Tom Morris, who won four British Opens in a row, died at the tragically young age of 24. It is said that he succumbed to a broken heart, because of the death of his wife a year previously. An inscription on his grave in St Andrews ends with the words ". . . . his many amiable qualities being no less acknowledged than his golfing achievements."
On St Stephen's Day 1993, the US Senior Tour trio of Jack Nicklaus, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Raymond Floyd shot a combined 206 for 36 holes to win the Wendy's Three-Tour Challenge by five strokes. Greg Norman, Paul Azinger and Lee Janzen of the US regular tour were second and the LPGA trio of Nancy Lopez, Patty Sheehan and Lauri Merten were a further seven strokes adrift.
On December 27th 1933, Dave Marr was born. One of the game's best-loved figures, he captured the USPGA Championship in 1965 and skippered arguably the strongest-ever US team in the 1981 Ryder Cup. He later became an accomplished TV analyst and was active up to his death last summer.
Teaser: A half-eaten pear lies directly in front of a ball in a bunker and there is no pear tree in the vicinity of the bunker. In the circumstances, is the pear an obstruction rather than a loose impediment, in which case the player could remove it without penalty?
Answer: No. A pear is a natural object. When detached from a tree it is a loose impediment. The fact that a pear has been half-eaten and there is no pear tree in the vicinity does not alter the status of the pear.
For the benefit of a Kerry reader, Rule 23 defines a worm-cast as a loose impediment. Meanwhile, to render the game as enjoyable as possible for all players, the R and A are compiling a list of modified rules which will allow club committees make special dispensation for golfers with disabilities.
Finally, may I wish you happy golfing in 1998, when putts will be precise and all your shots will finish in the short grass.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)