Golden girl who lost her lustre

AT A time when every other golf report seems to contain a reference to Tiger Woods, it is difficult to visualise a player having a comparable impact on the women's game. But that is what Laura Baugh achieved 25 years ago. Now, she is a recovering alcoholic who has just celebrated 12 months of sobriety.

In fact Baugh travelled a similar route to John Daly. This time last year she was treated in hospital for a broken jaw and internal bleeding after being beaten in a mugging, and when sufficiently recovered, she headed for the Betty Ford Clinic.

The former glamour girl of America's LPGA Tour celebrated her 42nd birthday last Saturday and is looking forward to the birth of her seventh child. As to her failure to gain a professional victory, having been runner-up on 10 occasions, she says philosophically: "I'm more concerned about winning a bigger battle."

Born in Florida on May 31st, 1955, she is the daughter of a successful lawyer who competed as a pentathlete in the 1948 Olympics. "My dad was very competitive and he started me playing golf when I was two (shades of Earl Woods?)," she recalls. "There were times when I had a lot of fun, hut I would rather have been a bit more of a kid and gone to the movies.

As it happened, she won five American "Pee-Wee" golf championships before she was 12, and at 16 became the youngest winner of the US Women's Amateur. She recalls: "I went to Britain that year to play in their Amateur and what a humbling experience it as Mickey Walker killed me by 6 and 5 in the quarter-finals.

A year later, Baugh turned professional and soon had lucrative contracts with Ford, Rolex, Suzuki, The Ladies Home Journal, Wilson, Bermuda's Tourist Bureau and Colgate Palmolive, for whom she became the Ultra-Brite girl of the seventies. "It was an exciting time for me, but sometimes things don't go the way you think they might," she says.

After a disastrous marriage lasting three weeks, she divorced and quickly married former boyfriend Bobby Cole, the South African who had stunned the golfing world by winning the 1966 British Amateur when only a month past his 18th birthday. They then divorced in 1985 but remarried two years later and are now expecting their seventh child.

Baugh's thoughts on Tiger Woods? "I just wish I had Tiger's golf game," she replied. "He's taken his game to an absolutely phenomenal level. I never did." Maybe. But during her early years, many astute observers were certain she would.

WHEN Seve Ballesteros claimed during the recent Volvo PGA Championship that he was strong enough to omit Nick Faldo from the forthcoming Ryder Cup team he meant Just that. The European skipper wanted it known that he would not be swayed in making any key decision.

Contrary to some of the more extreme reactions by the British tabloids, however, there was never any suggestion he would make things difficult for Faldo. Far from it. And any lingering doubts were removed this week. "Sure, Nick and I have been rivals over the years," admitted Ballesteros. "I always want to beat him and I know that he wants to beat me."

Then he went on: "But in the Ryder Cup there is a tremendous feeling of comrades hip and Nick and I have been through some great moments together. When you are on three winning teams it creates a bond that only players who shared the victory can really understand."

He concluded: "When Nick holed that four-foot putt on the 18th in 1995, I was one of the first on the green to congratulate him. I hugged him and told him what a great player he is. In that moment we were brothers. People choose to forget things like that when they talk of problems between us."

HISTORIANS agree that a golf club existed in Bray as far back as 1762. With admirable modesty, however, current club officials are satisfied to date their founding to July 16th, 1897, when a meeting was arranged by James Smiley Robson and Davis J Stewart at the International Hotel.

So, the club's centenary is upon us. And to mark the occasion, they have produced a most informative history, not only of the club but of the surrounding area. Researched and compiled by the 19,76 captain, Cyril Dunne, and edited by Miranda Moriarty, it is printed to a high standard.

In the course of the book, Dunne has given due prominence to their most successful member, Keith Nolan, who will be defending his Irish Amateur Strokeplay title at Fota Island next week. But there are also some fascinating anecdotes.

I particularly enjoyed the reference to the dark days before 1967 when women were eventually "welcomed in the bar except on Sunday mornings, but they were advised against it if certain members were present". Prior to that year of enlightenment, four American nuns arrived at the club in casual wear, proceeded to pay green-fees and played with clubs hired from the professional.

Afterwards, they came into the bar for refreshments and the steward was too embarrassed to refuse. A senior member of the club then engaged the good sisters in conversation. "Hello ladies, did your enjoy the game?" "Oh yes indeed, thank you." "Is this your first time in Ireland?" "Yes, and we are enjoying it very much."

He then ventured: "Are you members of a golf club back home?" "Oh dear no," they replied. "This is the first time we've ever played on a golf course. We just wanted to learn golf today so we could teach our pupils how to play when we return home."

SOME people argue that it had to do with greater television revenues; others that it was the answer to slow play. But for sentimentalists, it had to be the experience of Ken Venturi in 1964 which prompted the USGA to extend the US Open from three to four days.

The occasion is remembered now because Venturi's triumph happened to take place at Congressional, to which the US Open returns next week. And his problems had much to do with the location of the course near Washington DC, which was built on a swamp.

In the event, it was brutally hot on the last day when everybody had to play 36 holes. Venturi suffered so badly from the heat that on doctor's orders he consumed no solid food during the break between rounds, only tea and salt tablets. And after holing the final putt for a four-stroke win over Tommy Jacobs, he barely had the strength to raise his arms above his head.

It may have been superb theatre, but the more enlightened USGA officials decided that enough was enough. A year later, at Bellerive, Gary Player claimed the distinction of becoming the first winner of the event over four days.

FROM Highway 22 in Dardanelle, Arkansas, it is easy to spot John Daly Golf Shop. On closer inspection, however, there is a sign in the window which reads: "Sorry we're closed."

For six years it was the focal point of all local activity when Daly hit town. Now, crushed beer cans on the premises are all that remain of nights of revelry, when neighbours remember music blaring at 3.0 a.m..

Due to lack of business and the burden it placed on his family, Daly closed the store six months ago. With the wild nights now at an end, a ghostly quiet envelops the place. And those who care about the owner hope things will stay that way.

IN BRIEF: Sean Walsh, the popular former secretary/manager of Ballybunion, is the inaugural captain of Listowel GC ... The U.S. ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith, will present the prizes next Tuesday when Glasson GC plays host to regional qualifying for the Fulbright Ambassador's Cup. Her presence is especially appropriate, given her status as an honorary member of the club. The event, sponsored by Elan Pharmaceuticals, will have its final at Druids Glen on July 10th... Tony Flood informs me that the second staging of the Paul Conaty Memorial Classie will take place at Clontarf GC on July 4th .

These are exciting times at Muskerry GC, where, following on the official opening of the clubhouse extension last Sunday, five new holes designed by Geoff Howes are expected to be in play next year.

Teaser: In removing loose impediments from his line of putt by brushing with a putter, a player brushed along the line for about one foot before brushing the impediments to the side. Did the player infringe Rule 16-1?

Answer: Under Rule 16-1a, a player is allowed to brush aside loose impediments on his line of putt. The casual movement of the putter along the line of putt would not be a breach of the rules unless, in the process, the player did something to the putting green which might influence the movement of his ball when played (Rule 1-2).