O'Connor drives no level-fours

ON reaching his 72nd birthday in October 1985, Harry Bradshaw talked proudly of being "level fours" for the game of life. Sadly, The Brad is no longer with us but his friend and Canada Cup partner, Christy O'Connor, Snr, reaches level fours today.

Appropriately, his pocket biography in the current European Seniors Tour guide happens to be directly before Arnold Palmer's. As Eamonn Darcy pointed out, they are two of a kind. "Their whole life is golf," he explained. "Neither of them would be complete without a golf club close at hand."

It is 20 years since Darcy had his only important tournament confrontation with O'Connor in the final round of the Irish Dunlop at Hermitage. In what developed into a two-way battle for the title, O'Connor looked to be a certain winner with a one-stroke lead playing the last hole.

A dramatic turnabout, however, saw the Royal Dublin veteran three-putt from 20 feet, missing a four-footer to tie after his 23-year-old opponent had holed from 15 feet for a birdie. Given the disappointment of losing two play-offs for the PGA Championship, this became a welcome breakthrough for Darcy as an individual, though he had won the Sumrie Better-Ball with Christy O'Connor Jnr, three months previously.

"I've played with them all - all the present lads, including Padraig Harrington," Darcy went on. "And Christy Senior still reigns supreme as the best player we've had in Ireland. Indeed, it's a remarkable tribute to him that I should be saying this in 1996, with everything that is happening in the modern game.

"Along with Darren Clarke, Harrington and Paul McGinley have had a fantastic year and you can't write off Philip Walton at this stage. So, I'll be very disappointed if we don't get a couple of players on next year's Ryder Cup team. But the truth is that I can't see any of them with the potential to match O'Connor, who was just so good - so determined, so strong.

"Apart from his glorious skills, he was a much tougher competitor than these guys. Sure, he had a tendency to miss putts from inside six feet, like that time at Hermitage. But people tend to overlook the number of 25 and 30-footers he holed."

Though Darcy clearly idolised The Brad, he saw him as being typical of the old school. O'Connor, on the other hand, characterised the new breed of European tournament professional with wonderful hands and a sound, orthodox technique. "And, of course, he was a brilliant chipper of the ball," he said.

"I played with him a few months ago and he was no more than 10 yards behind me off the tee, still taking the club to the horizontal and shaping his shots at will. He still has them - all the shots. I remember other occasions when I played with him and he couldn't understand how I could hit the ball so badly. The truth is that he didn't have any seriously destructive shots in his bag."

Darcy concluded: "I wish him well on his 72nd birthday in the belief that I don't think we'll ever see his like again.

"At the Masters in 1971, I sat on the stand with Jack and they announced that Nicklaus and Miller had tied for second. They called us up for the medal and, as we were getting up, Nicklaus goes, `Big deal, right?' Now to me it was a big deal but his thinking was `Big deal, second-place medal" - Johnny Miller.

"Dear Deep Rough I found my wife cleaning debris from under presses with my new Ping putter. Does this constitute grounds for divorce? Signed: High Pressure."

Reply: "No - although you should both discuss the incident with a Marriage Guidance Counsellor. On a scale of actions from 0 to 10, which would justify divorce, such abuse of putter would come about half-way - perhaps rating 5. This would be well below gross marital infidelity - rating 7 - or driving masonry nails into a wall with a new, Dunlop driver - rating 9. Strangely enough, the 10 rating has nothing to do with sex or golf - it applies to the wife who would unblock her vacuum cleaner hose with the tip of her husband's Hardys Gold Seal fly fishing rod. - D.R."

The admirably pragmatic Deep Rough is to be found in Scientific Golf, an irreverent and highly-amusing offering from Des McDonnell. Available from O'Mahony's Book Shop in Limerick or at Castletroy GC, is takes the form of illustrated, spoof golfing instructions and tips in which, according to the author, "can be practised at home, in the office or in the field." Great value at £6.

Lt/Col Bill Gibson, who is serving with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at UN headquarters, is coming home for Christmas with some remarkable stories of pioneer golfers. His many Irish admirers will be familiar with Gibson as the historian who enlightened us with his splendid book Easy Irish Golf

Gibson's latest project is Early Military Golfers, from Fontenoy to Waterloo, which he embarked on in 1989. Writing from New York, he informed me that he has now traced more than 400 military/naval golfers from 1744 to 1815.

"I can place over 40 of them in New York during the years 1776 to 1783, when golf was played here," he wrote. "Napoleon surrendered to a golfer! - and I can place golfers at practically all the major battles of the period." He has also discovered that hurling ("Common") matches were played in New York during the American War of Independence. Sounds like the ingredients of a fascinating book.

The American media like to talk of Greg Norman as being one of their own, particularly when he's flying high on the world rankings and the USPGA Tour. While reflecting on events during the last year, however, they saw fit to take a particularly interesting line on his dramatic collapse in the Masters.

US journalists met with Norman at the MCI Heritage Classic the following week, when he talked of the flood of messages he had received from children about his Augusta torment. The Sharks said: "The kids are the future. We must never forget that. I know I am a role model. Any sports star who doesn't accept that responsibility is wrong."

Having expressed those admirable sentiments, it appears that Norman jumped. into a buggy and headed for his private jet, ignoring the queue of youngsters who had waited 30 minutes for his autograph behind the last green at Hilton Head. All of which tends to confirm the view that even in hindsight, Americans seem to have problems in coping with losers.

When the Leinster Ladies Alliance secured a comfortable victory over Portmarnock earlier this month, they were presented with a rather special trophy. Mounted on a mahogany plinth was a silver soup spoon, presented to the club by Vivien Wallis, whose grandfather, Dermot Francis Moore, won it about 70 years ago. holds a rare distinction in Irish golf in that she has been a member of The Island since her moment of birth. This followed a special rule of the club passed in 1919 whereby. the grandchildren of founder-members would become honorary life members. A similar rule had given honorary status to her mother at an earlier stage.

As it happens, her grandfather, Moore, played rugby for Ireland and was one of 10 founder-members of The Island. In fact, he was on the three-man sub-committee which organised the Irish Ladies Championship at the club in 1911, when his wife was lady captain.

His connection with Portmarnock was a consequence of the close links between the clubs, established before the turn of the century. Indeed, many Portmarnock names appeared in the entries for competitions at The Island at that stage.

IN BRIEF: Jerry Foley, of the Dublin-based company Parcom Media, informs me of the launch in Ireland and the UK of "Play Better Golf Instructional CD Rom." Developed in association with the magazine Golf Monthly, it features a number of leading European Tour players, including Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke and Costantino Rocca. Golf Monthly is offering it to its readers at £19.95, plus £2.50 post and packaging.

TEASER: A player's partner, opponent or fellow-competitor plays a stroke from near a bunker and the divot comes to rest near the player's ball lying in the bunker. May the divot be removed?

ANSWER: A player is entitled to the lie which his stroke gave him. Accordingly, in equity (Rule 1-4) the divot may be removed without penalty. The same would apply if the player's ball were lying in a water hazard.