Howley commits French howler

Well, you can't keep a good Golf Masters' manager... up

Well, you can't keep a good Golf Masters' manager . . . up. There are no words left to describe Rory Timlin's extraordinary performance in the 1998 Golf Masters. Last time we checked the bottom ten, back in week 13, Rory had slumped gloriously to 18,076th (and last) place and, a month later, he's holding on, beating off the challenge of Limerick's Dermot Hogan and Mary Dean of Clontarf in Dublin. Mind you, Rory had a near disaster in week 17, with Francis Howley letting the side down by winning an horrendously respectable £5,750 at the French Open - if Rory had any transfers left he'd surely sack him from his lineup. David Higgins brought the team's total earnings for the week to £6,250, by missing the cut in France, but Cameron Clark did Rory proud by withdrawing from the tournament after the first round, due to a sprained wrist. Keith Nolan, Greg Norman, Brad Bryant and Wayne Levi won a grand total of £0 between them, leaving Rory well and truly on course for 1998's booby prize (a cheque for 10,000 Golf Masters' pounds . . . which we trust . . . hope . . . no bank will cash).

Paula Hesnan (Navan Road), Steve Neill (Terenure), B L Cantwell (Kildare), Jim Ryan (Rathfarnham - fourth and fifth on our weekly leaderboard this week), John O'Connor (no address supplied), Willy Fennan (Kildare) and Trevor Hill (Wicklow) will hope to do worse in the coming weeks and narrow Rory's impressive lead.