Pate remembered

Not to be found in the article on Jerry Pate, right, in current issue of Golf Digest, is this little gem from 1990, at Bay Hill. A group from Woodbrook GC, including the late Pat Mulcare, were there watching Pate hit shots on the practice ground.

On seeing Mulcare, who partnered Ian Hutcheon to a foursomes victory over Pate and Dick Siderowf in the 1975 Walker Cup at St Andrews, the American greeted him warmly. And having no success in his attempt at hitting some decent shots with a new driver he had been given, Pate asked Mulcare to have a go.

Whereupon the bould Pat, in his street shoes, threw three balls on the ground and scorning tees, took the driver and hit three of the sweetest shots imaginable. "Now you know why he beat me at St Andrews," Pate told the fascinated onlookers.