Amateur paying the price for a hole in one

Derek Lawrenson and his family live a lot more comfortably than they might otherwise do, as a result of a decidedly fortuitous golf shot in May 1998.

That was when the golf correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph had a hole in one at the Mill Ride club in Berkshire and was rewarded with a £184,000 sterling Lambourghini Diablo.

Lawrenson decided to keep the prize which he later sold for a six-figure sum. In his view, the fact that he and his Mayo-born wife Paula had a six-week-old baby and a hefty mortgage at the time left him with no other option. So the seven-handicapper forfeited his amateur status.

Now he is awaiting word from the Royal and Ancient on whether his amateur status is to be restored. "I was told I could apply in two years and I did so last July," he said yesterday. "I've heard nothing since and, quite frankly, I'm not all that hopeful."

What are his feelings now about having kept the prize? "I have absolutely no regrets about what I did," he replied. "Quite frankly I wasn't in a position to turn down the money which has made a huge difference to our lives." Incidentally, he and Paula have since had a second child.

The downside was that he was declared to be a non-amateur by the R and A, so forfeiting the right to an official Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU) handicap. But he remained a member of the Moor Hall club in Sutton Coldfield. "There was no problem whatsoever," he said. "I didn't attempt to play in any monthly medal for fear of causing embarrassment, otherwise everything was more or less the same as normal. I continued to play about 20 friendly games a year, just as I had done previously."

There is no bar on a professional, or a non-amateur as Lawrenson is categorised, being a member of a golf club in these islands. For instance, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie are members of Wentworth, where Bernard Gallacher is the current captain. And Bryan Malone was captain of Kilternan GC in 1988 and 1989, by which stage it had been more than six years since he abandoned the amateur game.

"Certainly professionals can be club members," said GUI honorary secretary, Gerry O'Brien, yesterday. "We take the view that in such matters, the clubs are masters of their own domain." Indeed they could also play in competitions, off a domestic handicap. The only proviso would be that in a qualifying competition, their score could not be used to calculate the CSS for the day.

As John Walker of the English Golf Union put it: "Just because a man loses his amateur status, he doesn't forfeit the right to play golf." So why was Lawrenson banned in the first place? The R and A view is that it is fundamentally wrong for an amateur to exploit his golfing skill for monetary gain.

But is a hole-in-one the consequence of skill, or luck? "I don't think the skill argument would stand up in court," replied the man from the Sunday Telegraph. Why so? "Well, I've had six holes in one and Seve Ballesteros has had only one. Enough said?"

Enough said.

"I believe that there are only a few women who have been given this role in the golf world, so I am especially proud to be counted amongst them."

- Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa on her recent appointment as president of Brocket Hall GC.