It was 1.30 a.m. and a long day of golf and dining at the K Club had passed into the wee, small hours. In the normal way of things, people had broken into little groups when my attention was caught by a trio of distinguished golfers whose various achievements include a combined 19 Ryder Cup appearances.

There was Himself, resplendent in dinner wear and swishing his outstretched hands in a simulation of the golf swing, full shoulder turn and all. Even more interesting was the look of rapt attention on the faces of Ian Woosnam and Peter Baker.

Meanwhile, in the background, former Irish international Noel Fogarty, who has known O'Connor as a friend and golfing colleague for about 45 years, took it all in with a quiet smile. "Christy learned his swing from old Bob Wallace in Galway and it has never changed in all these years," he said.

First it was Woosnam who moved centre-stage in this O'Connor master-class. Himself shook his head. This is the way, he indicated, raising the player's hands noticeably at address.

Then it was the turn of Baker, who had been the outstanding home player in the Ryder Cup defeat of 1993 at The Belfry, where he took three points out of four, including two fourball victories with Woosnam. This time O'Connor was more demonstrative, slapping him repeatedly on the outside of his left thigh.

"Isn't golf a wonderful game," remarked Fogarty. "There you have players from different generations, totally absorbed in the wonder of it all. And you know Christy is a terrific teacher, a far better teacher than most people imagine."

When I met up with Baker a few days later down here at Ballybunion, he agreed wholeheartedly. "Christy got chatting with Woosie and told him he had seen something wrong with his swing, from watching him on television," he said. "And since I was in the company, I wasn't about to turn down the chance of a chat with Himself."

He went on: "I have a tendency to tilt, which becomes a reverse pivot, and Christy told me that it couldn't happen if I kept my left knee inside when starting the backswing. That's why he kept slapping me. I have watched him play on a few occasions and he still has a wonderful swing. He must have been a fantastic player in his prime."

Returning to Monday night: egged on by auctioneer Arthur French, who recalled the Welshman's status as US Masters champion and world number one, Woosnam bid £70,000 for a Roderick O'Connor portrait in a charity auction. But he was emphatically out-bid by Michael Smurfit, who bought it for £100,000.

And when O'Connor came on the scene, it could be said that art followed art.

"We think the world of Lillian and we get a Christmas card from her every year, which is very nice."

- Jean Matthewman, assistant secretary of the host club, speaking at the Curtis Cup last weekend at Ganton GC, where Lillian Behan won the British Championship in 1985.

North Kerry restaurateurs are unlikely to get rich from the patronage of Robert Karlsson during the Irish Open.

That much can be gleaned from the rather interesting diet he embarked on earlier this year. It involved a three-week stint of milk and white bread. Nothing more. At the same time, he eliminated all distractions from his life by leaving the television and his mobile phone switched off.

"I lost about 12 kilos in weight," said the 29-year-old Swede, who has a decidedly athletic, 6 ft 5 in frame. "But the real objective was to stop poisoning my body. Within reason, I'm prepared to try anything to become a better golfer. So, I can understand why Jesper Parnevik eats volcanic ash."

Karlsson permits himself a quiet smile at the memory of thrashing Darren Clarke by 7 and 6 in the European Championship at Royal Porthcawl in 1989. But he believes that young Irish golfers are still probably better than their Swedish counterparts. "The essential difference, later on, is that we Swedes take better care of our bodies," he claimed.

"I'm seeing an old Austrian doctor who is an expert on diet," Karlsson went on. "He told me that everything you eat after three in the afternoon stays in your system until the following morning, poisoning you. So I trying to eat as little as possible during the evenings."

Brian Meek, chief sports writer of the Glasgow Herald, who is over here reporting on the Irish Open, had an interesting experience of local trading earlier this week.

On going into the post office in Ballyheigue for an Irish Times, he expressed regret to the owner, who didn't know him from Adam, that the smallest he had was a £20 note.

"Yerra sure you're name's good around here," Meek was informed. And so payment of the 95p was deferred until the following day.

Sharply contrasting experiences in the company of Bing Crosby were among the shared memories of SWING chief executive Paddy O'Looney and Manuel Pinero, when they met in Spain last weekend. The occasion was a golf competition as part of the third World Golf Tourism Congress at Montecastillo, where the former tournament player presented the prizes, along with the mayor of Jerez.

As it happened, the former Connacht interprovincial emerged victorious with the admirable, gross score of 72 - level par. And among those trailing in his wake was a Spanish gentleman by the name of Garcia. No, not the holder of the Irish Open but his older brother, 23-year-old Victor, who plays a rather useful game off one.

O'Looney, whose own handicap has now come down from two to one as a consequence of the win, takes up the story. "On one of the occasions when Bing Crosby visited Dublin, he and his manager, George O'Reilly, went out to play Portmarnock with Harry Bradshaw. I was a five-handicap, 15-year-old juvenile member at the time, and since I just happened to be hanging around, they invited me to play with them."

Some years later, in 1976, Crosby played golf in another European capital - for the last time. After a round with Pinero in Madrid, he died of a heart attack. "Not surprisingly, Manuel still remembers every detail of that sad occasion," O'Looney concluded.

In Brief: Padraig Harrington will be joined by Ryder Cup colleague Jarmo Sandelin and others from the European Tour in the annual Blind Golf Challenge at the Spawell Leisure Centre on Monday next at 7.30 p.m. As usual, proceeds will go towards the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and admission is £8 for adults and £4 for children.

Teaser: In strokeplay, a competitor's ball was moved by wind. Since wind is not an outside agency, he should have played it from where it came to rest, but he replaced it. What is the ruling?

Answer: The competitor incurred one penalty stroke under Rule 18-2a, and, before playing his next stroke, he should have replaced the ball on the spot where it came to rest after being moved by the wind. If he did not do so, he incurred a total penalty of two strokes.