A devilishly hard week to pick up prize money

WE WERE reading a preview of the Bridgestone Invitational by Brett Ogle the other day, the Australian, who is concentrating on media work these days, recalling that in 10 rounds at the Firestone Country Club he broke par just once.

“A 69 got me to seven-over in 1991 and a share of 25th!” he boasted.

Commenting on how hellishly difficult the Ohio course is he concluded that “Firestone” must have got its name from a combination of “fire” and “brimstone”. “As hard as Hades,” he said of the challenge awaiting the players in what is the only Golf Masters tournament of the week.

And ‘as hard as Hades’ would appear to sum up the challenge confronting our leading Golf Masters’ contenders this year, time and again calamitous weeks thwarting their attempts to run away from the competition.

Take Paraic O’Neill. A week ago his Magnificent Seven were doing very nicely indeed, but then only one of them turned up for duty and he, Brett Rumford, could only manage a share of 63rd at the Czech Open.

Paraic’s prize money for the week? Just €1,500 – so down to 18th he goes.

With three players in action Tricia Clear, meanwhile, would have hoped to earn enough to keep Julie’s Joys afloat. How did they fare? Peter Lawrie and Gary Lockerbie missed the cut in the Czech Republic and Martin Laird suffered the same fate at the Buick Open. Tricia’s prize money for the week? Just €1,500 – so down to ninth she goes.

Nobody took greater advantage of the main contenders’ struggles than Wes Byrne, the highest earning manager in this week’s top 20. Not only was his team one of 705 to include Buick Open winner Tiger Woods, he was also represented by Graeme Storm, David Drysdale, Chris Wood and Damien McGrane, all of whom had profitable weekends at the Czech Open.

Wes, then, is up to fifth overall after posting the 10th highest score in the competition in week 17.

Frank Brennan’s Lucan 2 is back on top after a steady week, the team winning €116,000 to keep the challenge ticking over, with Fionnuala Murnaghan and Amanda Smith up to fourth and sixth respectively thanks to their line-ups collecting just over €140,000 each.

Oskar Henningsson’s maiden win on the European Tour brought joy to a mere 32 managers, one of whom hired him just last week – hearty congratulations to Mr or Ms No Name Given.

The Swede is now third in our Order of Merit list for Golf Masters’ bargain buys, ie those players who cost you a measly €500,000. Robert Rock still tops the list, followed by Danny Willet.

Michael Whelan didn’t need any of that trio to take our weekly prize, our Kilkenny manager having the distinction of owning the only team in the competition to break the €250,000 earning mark in week 17.

Michael’s chief contributors were Woods, John Senden, who tied for second at the Buick Open, and Ignacio Garrido, who took a share of fourth in the Czech Republic. The Cats, not for the first time, emerged triumphant, Michael’s prize a fourball at Druids Heath and a Nike shirt.

There’s bonus prize money on offer this week at the Bridgestone Invitational, but earning it, if we can trust Brett Ogle, will be “as hard as Hades”. Good luck to you all, it sounds like you’ll need it.