GOLF: The film Happy Gilmore features Adam Sandler as a wannabe ice hockey star who discovers by chance that he can drive a golf ball over 400 yards. Gilmore is a rough and ready character who has no time for posh country clubs, golfing etiquette or the delicate art of putting. However, his attitude changes when the mysterious Chubbs, a golfing guru who lost a hand to an alligator, takes an interest in his game and mentions prizemoney.
In a nutshell, Gilmore goes out on tour, gets the fans in a frenzy, falls in love with an attractive media officer who polishes his rough edges and beats the pants off the supercilious rankings leader, Shooter McGavin.
In our yet-to-be-released rip-off Happy McElhone, pharmacist Paul McElhone from Portstewart leads a double life. When he closes his shop on dark February evenings he retreats to a back room not to mix potions but to mull over his team selections for the forthcoming Golf Masters season.
McElhone's focus is drawn to a player who went to the University of Hartford on an ice hockey scholarship but emerged out the other end ready to compete on golf's mini tours. Well, almost ready. You can take the man out of hockey but you can't take hockey out of the man. Physical aggression may be a prerequisite to success on the rinks, but on the links it is a different matter. Temper tantrums, club throwing and a desire to smack the ball further than anyone else get in the player's way. Tournament victories prove elusive.
What he needs is the calming influence of a female lead and some lessons from an unheralded coach. Enter Carol Schuman and her brother, the former Buy.Com Tour player, Jim Schuman. They become respectively the wife and coach of Jerry Kelly. A new calm comes over Kelly's game. Short on the fairway becomes preferable to long in the rough, the cursing and club-throwing stop and the good finishes start.
Kelly earns a Golf Masters tour card in 2001 and is selected by Paul McElhone. A weekly prize looks a distinct possibility when Kelly leads going into the final round of the Players' Championship before losing out to Tiger Woods. McElhone keeps the faith and selects Kelly again for 2002. He wins the Western Open to move to third on the PGA Money List and combines with Padraig Harrington, Bob Tway, Peter Lonard, Carl Pettersson, Bradley Dredge and Lee Porter to give the pharmacist our weekly prize of a fourball at Carton House plus lunch.
On our overall leaderboard David Tallon again occupies the top two positions. Third-placed Pat Callanan has cut the gap to the top to just over €70,000. The big gainers this week are Brian Kirby's Cromarty (80th to 16th) and Donal Lynch's Kanin 6 (189th to 31st). We can't give too much away but there are teams on the overall leaderboard with everything from zero to 10 transfers in hand. The contest is far from over.
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