ATTEMPTS by Seve Ballesteros to extend his wild-card picks on this year's Ryder Cup team, could end in the law courts. Officials are fearful that a player ruled out of the side because of a change in the established qualifying procedure, might decide to sue for loss of earnings and damage to his career.
Against that background, players representatives and officials both of the British PGA and the European Tour, are currently giving careful consideration to the wording on the ballot forms which are being distributed to their members this week.
It is hoped that after voting on the issue, the players will return them in time for a meeting of the Ryder Cup committee on April 3rd. Meanwhile, the European Tour are taking legal advice so as to establish if a change in the selection procedure is actually permissible at this stage.
Assuming that legal difficulties don't arise, the Ryder Cup committee have indicated that they will accede to the captain's request for more than two wild cards, provided it has the players' backing. The matter is not quite a simple as it originally appeared, however, because of the various rewards stemming from Ryder Cup status.
For instance, it is widely acknowledged that membership of the Ryder Cup team could double the value of contracts for the average player. And as Philip Walton discovered, there is also the prospect of invitations to American events, including the USPGA Championship. So, to suggest that competitors at Valderrama next September are actually playing for nothing, is hardly accurate.
Meanwhile, Irish Walker Cup player Jody Fanagan expressed delight with his second experience of Valderrama, having returned on Sunday from a week there as a member of the Royal and Ancient squad. In fact the Milltown player, was in sunny climes for the last fortnight, having been at Quinta do Lago in Portugal with the Irish international squad.
The squad of 19 at the Spanish venue also included Irish internationals Noel Fox, Peter Lawrie and Keith Nolan. George Macgregor, chairman of the R and A selectors, and Walker Cup skipper Clive Brown were in charge of operations, while professional tuition was provided by Peter Townsend, himself a former Walker Cup player.
What was Fanagan's impression of the highly controversial, long 17th? "I think it's a great hole, though I can see how it could cause problems if you became too greedy," he replied. "It's certainly not unfair. Seve (Ballesteros) has designed it in such a way that you have to hit an exemplary seconds' shot if you're to be putting for an eagle. And that's how it should be."
He went on, however, to recount a rather interesting experience that Scotland's Graham Rankin had at the hole. On a day when it was playing downwind, Rankin hit a huge drive, leaving himself with only an eight-iron second shot. And still made an eight!
Greg Norman is to open the defence of the Andersen Consulting World Championship in the so-called International section on July 28th and 29th. In the eight-member line-up for Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin, Norman has been drawn against fellow Australian Robert Allenby, who has now fully recovered from a damaged sternum.
The first round draw is: Norman (Australia) v Allenby (Australia); Steve Elkington (Australia) v Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe); Ernie Els (South Africa) v Frank Nobilo (New Zealand); Nick Price (Zimbabwe) v Vijay Singh (Fiji).
After a relatively modest start two years ago, the championship has now attracted 23 of the world's top 25 players, including Norman (number 1), Tom Lehman (2), Colin Montgomerie (3), Ernie Els (4), Fred Couples (5) and Phil Mickelson (6).
Mention of Mickelson calls to mind his halved match with, Eoghan O'Connell in the Walker Cup at Peachtree in 1989 when the Irishman commented: "He will be the next left-hander to win a major championship." The smooth-swinging Californian remains on target for that distinction after capturing the Bay Hill Invitational on Sunday.
It was his 10th US Tour win coming after four victories last year when he captured the Nortel Open, Phoenix Open, Byron Nelson Classic and the World Series. The last of these earned him a 10-year exemption, in the highly Unlikely event that he should hit lean times.
The key to his success at Bay Hill lay in a back nine of 30 which contained a run of birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, from the 11th to the 14th holes. That led to a final round of 65, a 16-under-par aggregate of 272 and a three-shot winning margin over Australian Stuart Appleby, who had won the Honda Classic the previous week.
For a player possessing such a silken touch with the blade, it seemed amazing that Mickelson should have slipped to 123rd in the putting statistics for last season. "My set-up was a little closed and I've been working on that," he explained. Then, with one of his classic, Colgate grins, he added: "I tried to put on a bit of a charge today, just as Arnie (Arnold Palmer, the owner of Bay Hill) would do."
European action this week is in the Madeira Open in which Padraig Harrington will complete a run of 10 tournaments since the start of the season. He will be joined in the line-up by Irish colleagues Philip Walton, Des Smyth, Raymond Burns, David Higgins, John McHenry and Francis Howley.
Darren Clarke who, in fourth position, remains the leading Irishman in the Ryder Cup standings, will be on the other side of the South Atlantic, competing in the Argentine Center Open in Cordoba.
