CHRISTY O'CONNOR Snr has been named in an elite list of 33, international players for a rather special ballot. With a deadline of November 1st, a voting panel from 37 countries will decide who is to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in its new Honda home in 1998.
In the line up, O'Connor joins such legends of the game as Max Faulkner, Norman von Nida, Flory van Donck and the Irishman's Ryder Cup partner, Peter Alliss. The list also includes five women, all of them Japanese who, with the exception of Ayako Okamoto, would be largely unknown in this part of the world.
All candidates had to be aged 40 or over, not be eligible for the American Hall of Fame ballot and have compiled a minimum of 50 points under these set criteria: British Open, US Masters, US Open or USPGA Championship win (6 points); Players Championship (4 points); US or European Tour victory (3 points); Japanese, South African, Australasian Tour or USPGA Seniors' Tour victory (2 points); Ryder Cup or President's Cup Team (1 point).
With 24 European Tour wins and a record six in the PGA Seniors' Championship (at three points per win), O'Connor was credited with 90 points which was increased to 100 by his 10 Ryder Cup appearances. Only nine players surpassed that total and four of them were Japanese. Among the others were some of O'Connor's great rivals - Bernard Hunt, Neil Coles, Graham Marsh and Kel Nagle.
The full list, alphabetically, with qualifying points is: Peter Alliss (73) England; Isao Aoki (129) Japan; Brian Barnes (50) England; John Bland (52) South Africa; Peter Butler (58) England; Neil Coles (122) England; Rodger Davis (59) Australia; Billy Dunk (54) Australia; Max Faulkner (50) England; Bernard Gallacher (56) Scotland; Dale Hayes (52) South Africa; Chako Higuchi (147) Japan; Brian Huggett (75) Wales; Bernard Hunt (108) England; Tony Jacklin (77) England; Mark James (60) England; Masahiro Kuramoto (56) Japan; Graham Marsh (108) Australia; Mark McNulty (88) Zimbabwe; Yuko Moriguchi (82) Japan; Kel Nagle (104) Australia; Tommy Nakajima (90) Japan; Christy O'Connor Snr (100) Ireland; Tatsuko Ohsako (90) Japan; Ayako Okamoto (152) Japan; Jumbo Ozaki (175) Japan; Dai Rees (78) Wales; Teruo Sugihara (83) Japan; Sam Torrance (72) Scotland; Ai-Yu Tu (114) Taiwan; Flory van Donck (78) Belgium; Norman von Nida (64) Australia; Nayoko Yoshikawa (56) Japan.
The five women are - Higuchi, Moriguchi, Ohsako, Okamoto and Yoshikawa. Ozaki tops the points total, largely through his 88 tournament victories, all but one of which were gained in Japan. Okamoto, on the other hand, has won on three tours, with 17 victories in the US to her credit, quite apart from Europe and Japan.
Meanwhile, the absence by such as Peter Thomson and Gary Player from the list can be explained by the fact that they are already members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, along with such luminaries as Jack Nicklaus, Babe Zaharias, Ben Hogan, Joyce Wethered and Bobby Jones.
SWEDEN'S Royal Mail inform me that their little venture into golf is proving to be extremely popular. We were discussing the 3.50 krone stamp for a "B letter," showing Annika Sorenstani, visor et all, bending down to line up a putt which, no doubt, she duly dispatched.
It's a distinction she richly deserves, having retained the US Women's Open title in such impressive fashion this season. And following the lead of Gary Player, she has become one of the few international golfers to be so honoured. Indeed Francis Ouimet, US Open Champion in 1913, had to wait until 1988 to be featured on a stamp marking the 75th anniversary of his win.
Sorenstam, whose stamp will be on sale probably for a few years, personally addressed three first day covers. One was to herself, the second to her golfing sister Charlotta and another was to her parents. She also took part in a one day tournament sponsored by the Swedish Royal Mail, with the proceeds going to her own foundation for girl golfers.
THEY'RE at that poor man again, those wretched Republicans. While they accuse Bill Clinton of massaging his score from a recent outing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I wonder who among them is without a golfing sin. It seems that while Clinton claimed to have shot an 83, none but his faithful Secret Service men believed him.
Even his non golfing adversary, Bob Dole, got in on the act with the sinister comment: "I don't know if he shot an 83 or a 283 or a 483. You'll never really know." Hell, the man was only having a casual round; it's not as if he were competing in class three of the Albuquerque Monthly Medal.
Perhaps having failed to nail him on draft dodging and alleged womanising, the Republicans may be applying the P G Wodehouse test to Clinton, as outlined in the memorable story "Ordeal by Golf". This is where the "Oldest Member" asserts that the only way of really finding out a man's true character is to play golf with him.
The sage explains: "Golf, my dear fellow, is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well. The man who can smile bravely when his putt is diverted by one of those beastly wormcasts, is pure gold right through.
"But the man who is hasty, unbalanced and violent on the links, will display the same qualities in the wider field of everyday life The men who fail to count a stroke when they miss the globe; the men who never replace a divot; the men who talk while their opponent is driving; and the men who let their angry passions rise - these are in and out of Wormwood Scrubs all the time."
The Governer of New Mexico claimed: "You can't even rely on this guy (Clinton) to tell the truth about his golf score." I dread to think what the Oldest Member would have made of it all.
BUILD IT long and tight and with plenty of water to focus the minds of (scare the pants off?) prospective challengers. This seeming philosophy of the modern designer may have to undergo a radical change, in the light of disclosures at the recent silver jubilee dinner of the British Institute of Golf Course Architects, at Wentworth.
Among the attendance was Paddy Merrigan, one of this country's leading designers. And he admitted: "I got quite a jolt on being informed that by the year 2000, the average age of golfers in this part of the world will be as high as 50. I suddenly realised that me and my colleagues were generally gearing our work towards younger players."
Merrigan, whose most notable creation in this country is the splendid Slieve Russell layout, went on: "It is clear that modern golf courses are tending to be excessively long and much too penal. For my own part, I have decided that, in future, I will be more sympathetic to the average player."
His thinking has been further influenced by a conversation with American visitors at Lahinch. They complained that no matter where they played in the US, they were plagued by water and when they travelled to Continental Europe, the problem was excessive trees. With no frees and no water at Lahinch, they could hardly credit their good fortune.
Teaser: In a match between A and B, at the 16th hole, A scored six and B scored five. When leaving the putting green, B commented to A: "A half?" and A replied "Yes." A won the match at the 20th hole and the result was posted. Later, B realised that he had won the 16th hole and, if the mistake had not been made, he would have won the match one up. A submitted that he had made a mistake. B reported the matter to the committee and claimed the match. Is the claim valid?
Answer: No. The match stands as played, with A the winner. After the result of the match was posted, the claim by B could have been considered only if A had knowingly given wrong information as to the number of strokes he (A) had taken at the 16th hole.
