Sandwich Diary

A British Open miscellany by PHILIP REID

Claire Dowling: to call shots

CLAIRE Dowling – or Hourihane, as she was then – was somewhat controversially overlooked for the Britain and Ireland team that played, and defeated, the United States in the Curtis Cup match at Royal St George’s in 1988.

Now, however, the five-time Irish close champion – she won the title in 1983, ’84, ’85, ’87 and ’91 – who played out of Woodbrook is here at the British Open in an official capacity as one of the rules referees. Dowling, who still plays competitively and won the English midlands seniors in 2009, passed the RA Rules exams last year and will be assigned matches over the course of the championship.

Bear gets the better of Tiger: Jack tops readers' poll

JACK Nicklaus has overwhelmingly beaten Tiger Woods in a Golf Monthly magazine readers' poll of the greatest player of the last 100 years.

Nicklaus attractred 58 per cent of the votes from a list of 20 golfers, followed by Woods with 16 per cent and Seve Ballesteros with eight per cent.

"To be chosen among the many talented golfers over that time period is humbling and greatly appreciated," said the 18-Major winner when told the result of a poll that appears in the August edition of a magazine which celebrates its centenary this year.

Woods, though, won the greatest shot of the last 100 years for his chip-in from beside the 16th green as he won the 2005 Masters.

It went up the slope, back down again and lingered on the lip before toppling in.

Role reversal: Former Ulster Boys' champion plays caddie

IF you look at the roll-of-honour for the Ulster Boys' in the mid-1990s, two names jump out: Ricky Elliott and Graeme McDowell.

Elliott won in 1995, and G-Mac took the title in 1996 in what was to be a precursor to an honour-laden amateur CV that would include Irish Close and Walker Cup success before moving on to the big time and life on tour that has seen the 2010 US Open champion become a fixture in the world's top 10.

Whatever happened to Elliott? Well, the Portrush man is at Royal St George's for this week . . . where he will be carrying the bag of American Ben Curtis (right), who won the title here in 2003. "We're about a year into it now and it's going well," said Curtis of his tie-up with McDowell's old buddie. "He grew up in Portrush and he knows all about links golf."

As for Andy Sutton, Curtis's caddie from 2003? Sutton – who was on Curtis's bag for seven years up to before last year's Ryder Cup after picking up the job as a local bagman at Sandwich on the last occasion the Open was stage here – has a new master this week. He is carrying the bag of Australian Aaron Baddeley.

Not so elementary: Watson says jury still out on Tiger

TOM WATSON, who has defied age and a hip replacement to remain competitive, believes the jury is out on whether Tiger Woods will be able to dominate the game again.

"He's had two gut shots, Tiger," the 61-year-old said. "One is his personal life, the second is his knee. I don't know much about knees, I've been fortunate enough not to have a problem with them. I've had a hip replaced, but that mechanical joint doesn't move very much, you put a new one in and voila, away you go.

"The knee takes a lot more stress when you're making a golf swing, it rotates and goes up and down both ways. Whether he's ever going to have to have a total knee replacement, who knows, that may be a very difficult thing to have to come back from and I'm sure he's thinking he doesn't want to do that under any circumstances.

"The most important thing is for him to get well and get his knee so he can put the forces he has to put onto it with his golf swing. That's the concern he must have.

"Whether the knee is going to prevent him from ever dominating the game like he's dominated before?

"Nobody's ever dominated the game like Tiger Woods. Never, ever, in the history of the game. Whether he'll get back to that point, who knows. I'm not sure."

***

SHORT-game maestro Phil Mickelson was asked for his appraisal of world number one Luke Donald's game around the greens.

The Englishman has won four times this year, his latest title coming on Sunday at the Scottish Open.

Mickelson, by contrast, has one victory this year.

"I haven't played with him much lately. If you've noticed he's typically in the last groups and I haven't seen him," said the American left-hander of Donald to a chorus of laughter.

"I've seen him in the car park occasionally."