Only 24 hours after making a major contribution to Europe's Ryder Cup triumph at Valderrama, Costantino Rocca was doing an equally significant public relations job for the Spanish tourist industry. And the episode at Malaga Airport had an intriguing, Irish sequel.
Those of us who had the misfortune to be returning home through Malaga on Monday or Tuesday last, faced varying degrees of mayhem. From conversations I had with fellow sufferers, the experience seriously damaged the positive image that Spain had earned from its staging of the Ryder Cup.
For my own part, it took me 11 hours to get home, via Madrid and London. This was a minor inconvenience, however, compared with the problems faced by returning Americans who missed connecting transatlantic flights.
It all had to do with a go-slow or strike or both, by ground staff at Malaga Airport: nobody in Iberia Airways seemed prepared to accept the responsibility of informing the public of the exact nature of the problem. Either way, it knocked much of the gloss off what should have been a joyous homecoming.
Enter Rocca. Dublin-bound passengers last Monday were delighted to see him at Malaga airport, not least in view of a magnificent singles win over Tiger Woods. He was waiting for a fight to Rome but with typical generosity of spirit, he responded to their cheers by signing autographs and generally behaving like the good egg that he is.
Woodenbridge member, Norman Barry, and his friend, Martin Ryan, were among the Irish throng. While Rocca headed belatedly for Rome, flight TLA 643 eventually got to Dublin at about nine that evening. "In fact, two charter flights landed at about the same time, putting considerable pressure on the baggage area," said Barry. "To try and ease matters, Aer Lingus ground staff took golf bags off the carousel and placed them in a pile on the floor."
He went on: "That was where Martin and I found our golf bags. And while delving down for them, you can imagine our surprise when we saw this blue bag with the Ryder Cup and European Union emblems on it. When when we saw the name we could hardly believe it: Costantino Rocca."
Like the sound citizens they are, Barry and Ryan, took charge of the bag and deposited it with the Aer Lingus Customer Services office. They, in turn, sent it on the next flight to Rome - in time for Rocca's involvement in this week's German Masters.
"It's a nice thought, to have handled the clubs that beat Tiger Woods," mused Barry, "even if it was only for a few minutes."
My favourite image from Valderrama is that of the young Dane, Thomas Bjorn, screaming like a basket case "I'm relaxed, I'm relaxed" when the captain, Seve Ballesteros, sought to calm him during Sunday's singles.
The growing influence of Continental golfers on the Ryder Cup is illustrated perfectly by a comparison between singles combat at Oak Hill in 1995 and events last Sunday at Valderrama. For this fascinating nugget, I am indebted to Dermot Melia, a reader from Raheny in Dublin.
He pointed out that the Oak Hill triumph was essentially a British and Irish one, given that all of Europe's singles points (7 1/2) were supplied by players from these islands - Howard Clark, Mark James, Ian Woosnam, David Gilford, Colin Montgomerie, Nick Faldo, Sam Torrance and Philip Walton. The losers were all Continentals - Seve Ballesteros, Costantino Rocca, Bernhard Langer and Per-Ulrik Johansson.
With the exception of the climactic half-point from Montgomerie, however, the situation was reversed last Sunday, when Europe's critical wins came from Johansson, Rocca and Langer, while another Continental, Thomas Bjorn, got a priceless half. And, of course, the drama at Valderrama happened to coincide with the BC Open win by Sweden's Gabriel Hjertstedt in the US.
Are you irritated by the manner in which Nick Faldo relies on his caddie, Fanny Sunesson, to line him up before he takes a putt? Or by women professionals Annika Sorenstam and Dottie Pepper, who have their caddies standing behind them to check their alignment while they play a shot?
Salvation may be at hand. It appears that officials from the R and A and the USGA are looking seriously at a change to Rule 8-2, which ambiguously allows caddies to stand behind players and line them up - even while they are hitting a shot - anywhere except on the putting green. In fact it could be amended when the game's Rules Committee meet early next year.
Officials are questioning how it is that players using caddies should have such an advantage over the average club golfer who pulls his or her own clubs. The only way such a player could check on alignment would be by placing two clubs on the ground. And that would be in breach of Rule 143.
Criminals attempting to beat the system should stay well away from golf competitions, unless they're prepared to play under a pseudonym. This is the moral of a fascinating incident in Tennessee recently, when Judge Stephen Bevil happened to read the scores from a local charity event in his local newspaper.
Among the leading finishers, a certain name caught his eye. Sure enough, it was the same James Wolford whom the judge sentenced last year after he had pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. The judge's original four-year prison sentence was suspended in exchange for participation in a work-release programme.
The problem was that if 27-year-old Wolford had been complying with the order, he would not have been available to play in the charity event. Nor should he have been involved in other golf events earlier this year, which the judge discovered he had been, after a bit of detective work.
The upshot was that the Judge Bevil ordered Wolford to serve the entire four-year sentence in prison. All of which prompts the thought that if the situation were to arise again, the felon would become an immediate convert to the fine old art of sandbagging.
In the rash of apocryphal stories following the recent death of Ben Hogan, it is interesting to note that different versions have emerged. I refer to the clarification by Bill Harmon of a notorious hole-inone story which painted Hogan in a decidedly selfish light.
It concerned an ace at Augusta's short 12th by Bill's father, Claude Harmon, while playing with Hogan in the 1947 US Masters. One version of the story had Hogan, who made a birdie, asking Harmon on the way to the 13th tee: "What did you have?" Another had Hogan saying: "You know that's the first time I've every made two on that hole."
So, what did happen? According to Bill Harmon, when the two players left the 12th green, Hogan, who had twoputted for a par, muttered: "Nice shot." Later that evening, Harmon went to the great man and asked: "Say Ben, why couldn't you have said any more than just `nice shot'?" Hogan replied: "Because it wouldn't have helped me a damn bit."
This day in golf history . . . On October 4th, 1895, Horace Rawlins defeated a field of 11 challengers to capture the inaugural US Open at his home club, Newport GC, Rhode Island. He was 19 and remains the youngest winner of the title. In four rounds over the nine-hole course, the British professional shot 45, 46, 41 and 41 for an aggregate of 173, two strokes ahead of second-placed Willie Dunn of Shinnecock Hills.
Rawlins, who was born in the Isle of Wight, emigrated to the US where he became assistant professional at Newport. The US Open was only his third tournament and he was rewarded with a first prize of $150. He was runner-up the following year, but little was heard of him after that. He died in 1940.
Teaser: In fourball strokeplay, A holed out in four. B, A's partner, who was lying three and had marked and lifted his ball, forgot he had a handicap stroke. He did not replace his ball, nor did he hole out nor pick up his ball-marker. On the way to the next teeing ground, B remembered his stroke, returned to the green, replaced his ball where it previously lay and holed out for a net three. Was this is order?
Answer: Yes, since B had not played from the next teeing ground (Rule 3-2).
