Brookline a `home' course for Irish

When the US Open was staged at Brookline in 1988, the late Peter Dobereiner got into hot water with Boston's Irish community over a piece he wrote in Golf Digest. Effectively, it concerned the part that Irish labourers had played in the building of the course and some rather thin-skinned locals created quite a rumpus.

Dobereiner was both surprised and disappointed at the reaction. And those who knew him could well understand why. The fact is that among British golf writers, Ireland never had a better friend.

As it happens, Irish involvement at Brookline has again come to the fore in the context of next week's Ryder Cup, this time in an entirely positive sense. Indeed pride in the event is highlighted by a gag currently doing the rounds of the local hostelries over there. Question: Which two Irish towns have been chosen as Ryder Cup venues. Answer: Boston and Straffan.

James Gallagher of the Boston office of the Irish Voice newspaper, has written informing me of a particularly strong connection which next week's staging has with Ireland. It seems that a key role in the preparation and maintenance of The Country Club has been discharged by Ollie Holohan, the 31-year-old assistant head greenkeeper.

Holohan, who hails from Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny, has spoken of the special challenge which faced the greenkeeping staff. "We've had a particularly hot summer with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius (90)," he said. "That was the main problem with the greens during the USPGA Championship at Medinah."

He went on: "Fortunately, the weather has now cooled down nicely and we're expecting the course to he in excellent condition. As far as key design features are concerned, it's very similar in character to Sunningdale and Wentworth. The greens are small, the fairways are narrow and there are some blind shots to be negotiated. I think the Europeans will like it a lot."

Naturally, in common with the Boston-Irish, Holohan is delighted with one particular aspect of the European line-up. "It will be great to see Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington in action and they can bank on tremendous Irish support," he said. "Their presence add to the great lift the country got when The K Club was picked as the venue in 2005. I think it's a very fine course."

When the Ryder Cup is over, Holohan's next major assignment is to marry his fiancee, Anne, in November. Then he plans to return to this country where he hopes to secure a position as a head greenkeeper. And with Ryder Cup experience, he can hardly fail.

"Twelve great golfers won the Ryder Cup for Europe, for all our supporters and, perhaps, for me. More importantly, however, they won it for themselves." European skipper Bernard Gallacher after the Ryder Cup victory at Oak Hill in 1995.

It might be too much to expect Sergio Garcia to produce a shot during next week's Ryder Cup to rival his memorable effort at Medinah's 16th last month. But it has now emerged that the remarkable Spaniard has already left his mark at another American venue.

The achievement, in September 1995, is recalled by Marcus Bernardo, head professional at Walden Oaks CC in New York. It happened when Bernardo faced the then 15year-old Garcia in a not so friendly four-ball during a series of matches in which Central New York professionals and area juniors faced 12 leading European juniors.

"The shot Sergio made against us was just as good as the one he made at Medinah," said Bernardo. "The only difference was that he didn't sprint after it." On the 491-yard 10th hole at Bellevue, a dog-leg left, Garcia faced a blind, uphill second shot of 258 yards with a group of tall trees at the top-left corner of the hill.

Instead of hitting a five iron lay-up to the top of the hill, as most players would have done, he prompted bemused reactions among the other members of the four-ball by taking three practice swings with a three wood. Garcia then smashed a high hook over and around the trees, guiding the ball to within four feet of the hole. And the putt went down for an eagle three, naturally.

"It was pretty humbling," said Bernardo's partner, Chris Slandish, who lost to Tiger Woods in the first round of the 1993 US Amateur and is now a systems manager with IBM. "Looking back on that shot, it didn't surprise me that he pulled off another miracle at the PGA Championship. He's used to taking risks and he's got shots that I wouldn't even think about."

Bernardo predicted: "I think he'll do well in the Ryder Cup, especially in the four-balls. He's got the game to make a lot of birdies." We hope.

The news from Russia isn't all bad . . . In fact they're making splendid progress at the Royal and Ancient game, with their three courses and modest playing population of 400. And advances are certain to accelerate, now that two staff members of the Moscow City GC have been certified as professional golf instructors.

Aleksey Matrosov and Anton Lopatin were trained by the European Golf Federation on the island of Minorca and have no shortage of clients. Even more interesting, however, is Russia's entry into the equipment market. According to American sources, the clubheads being manufactured by Kronos, a Russian company specialising in titanium products, are superior, in certain respects, to those made in the US or the Far East.

During recent browsing, I found myself captivated, not for the first time, by the exploits of Titanic Thompson, arguably the greatest con-man in the history of golf. His salad days were America's prohibition years between 1920 and 1933 and he was good enough to actually beat Byron Nelson on one occasion.

Born in Missouri on November 30th 1892, Thompson earned his sobriquet after a poolshark remarked that his name "must be Titanic, the way he sinks everybody". His great talent was that he was totally ambidextrous - "Look, to give you a chance of getting your money back, I'll play you left-handed." By his own admission, he found golf to be "the easiest thing you ever saw. I played it almost as well as I breathed".

"I saw him once," recalled Nelson. "He'd been out in the east Texas oil fields. Those fellas had so much money it was easy for Titanic to relieve them of some." He went on: "I'd turned pro a couple years before when I was 20, 21. The members said they wanted me to play Ty and I told them I wasn't a gambler. They said `We'll take care of that'.

"Ty was backing himself and I had to give him three shots. He shot 71 and I shot 69. The money? I don't have an idea." Nelson also remembered Thompson's eyes. "He was a nice-looking man, pleasant and polite, with very sharp eyes. Those eyes could look a hole through you."

Thompson died in poverty in a nursing home in 1973, but he didn't regret going there. "I'll beat those old geezers out of their social security money," he said, a hustler to the last.

This day in golf history . . . On September 18th 1926, George Von Elm beat the great Bobby Jones by 2 and 1 to capture the US Amateur. Born in Salt Lake City, Van Elm had gained the improbable distinction of defeating the then holder of the US Open and British Open titles.

But that Baltusrol meeting might have been truly momentous, had Jones's closing matches in the British Amateur gone differently. As it was, he lost in the sixth round at Muirfield, but the season's exploits convinced him it might just be possible to win all four majors in the one year. So it was that the idea of the Grand Slam was born - an ambition he would realise in 1930.

Meanwhile, Von Elm made three Walker Cup appearances and while Jones was on the way to the Impregnable Quadliteral, his conqueror at Baltusrol captured the French Amateur Open title.

Teaser: Martin Kelly of Forrest Little seems to be in some doubt as to a ruling given by the GUI, regarding an experience he had during the recent Portarlington Junior Scratch Cup. As one would expect, the GUI were quite correct. They based their ruling on Decision 27-2b/8 by the Royal and Ancient. It poses the question: A player, believing his original ball might be out of bounds, played a provisional ball which came to rest short of where the original ball came to rest. He walked forward, saw his original ball and, believing the original ball to be in bounds, picked up the provisional ball. He then discovered that the original ball was out of bounds. What is the ruling?

Answer: Since the original ball was out of bounds, the provisional ball was in play (Rule 27-2b). When the player lifted the ball in play (provisional ball) without authority under the rules, he incurred a penalty stroke and was required to replace it (Rule 18-2a).