Even at a distance of 10 years, Scottish officials have decided that it's not too early to stake their claim for the 2009 Ryder Cup. In pushing such venues as Turnberry, Loch Lomond and St Andrews, they have clearly noted the success of Ireland's challenge for the 2005 event, which will also have been 10 years in the making.
Significantly, Scotland's deputy sports minister, Rhona Brankin, attended the recent staging at The Country Club, Boston. "It would be great to bring such a huge sporting event here (to Scotland)," she said last weekend. "I will be meeting soon with the Scottish Tourist Board and Sportscotland to discuss how we secure the event in 2009."
When opposition to the rampant Americans was limited to teams from Britain and Ireland, the only occasion the Ryder Cup was held outside the US and England was in 1973. That was when the visiting side won by 19-13 at Muirfield, where Christy O'Connor Snr made the last of his record 10-successive appearances.
But at that stage, the Ryder Cup was more of a hindrance than a help to the host club. Indeed it was difficult for the organisers to find suitable venues on this side of the Atlantic. Not any more.
"If St Andrews were to host the event, it would be a tremendous boost, not only locally but also on a national level," said Alan McGregor, general manager of the Links Trust. "We must look to major golf tournaments with a view to encouraging more tourists to come and play our courses."
It is a fascinating response from a country which effectively had the market cornered, certainly where links visitors were concerned, until Ireland gained a firm foothold in the market about 15 years ago. Now, the Scots are attempting to catch up on their Celtic neighbours who have clearly stolen a march on them.
Britain's top golfer, Colin Montgomerie, is also strongly supporting the Scottish Ryder Cup bid. "The successful course will be named in 2003 and that would give us six years to build up to the event," he said. "I would certainly give my full backing to any plan to host the event at Turnberry and offer any support that was needed."
Given the financial commitment involved, St Andrews would appear to be very much the outsider at this stage. Either way, we in this country could be forgiven a smug smile, as we observe this new-found need for recognition, from the acknowledged home of golf.
"If it wasn't my living, I wouldn't play golf if you paid me." Oirish quote, attributed to Christy O'Connor Snr in the recently- published book It Can Only Happen To A Golfer by Chris Plumridge, with illustrations by John Ireland.
TIGER WOODS has signed a new, five-year deal with Titleist, but it bears no relation to the one negotiated for him when he turned professional in August 1996. He will no longer be promoting their driver in print advertisements; nor will there be television commercials of him holding up a Titleist ball. Indeed he will soon be discarding their bag.
Effectively, the only benefit Titleist will get from the deal is a guarantee that Woods won't be playing another company's equipment. "Tiger is one of those very special players whose impact on the game and on society will transcend anything he accomplishes on the golf course," said a Titleist official.
Another element of the deal is that the sponsors have agreed to withdraw their complaint against Woods's major benefactor, Nike, alleging false advertising and contract interference. This stemmed from two Nike commercials, one showing Woods bouncing a ball of his wedge and the other showing his magic rubbing off on a dozen other people on the driving range.
Meanwhile, Woods is reported to be re-negotiating a deal with Nike which will pay him $90 million over five years. But the Nike swoosh won't be appearing on the player's bag: existing sponsors American Express and Rolex are expected to bid for that space.
THE deliciously-named Chocolay Downs golf club in Michigan is aiming to prove that big is beautiful. It is the thinking which prompted the owner, Joe Gibbs, to commission a ninth green measuring all of 29,000 square feet, or about 3,200 square yards.
Granted, this is about four times the standard-size green to which humble souls like you and I are accustomed. But somebody should tell the good Mr Gibbs that his Michigan creation is decidedly small beer, compared to the combined fifth and 13th green on the Old Course at St Andrews.
Measuring 90 yards by 70 (6,300 square yards), it takes a greenkeeper an average of about one hour and 40 minutes to administer its daily trim with a hand-mower. And the 12th green at Augusta National would fit into its area no fewer than 21 times.
But Chocolay Downs is soon to have another, even bigger attraction. Plans are in hand for a 1,007-yard par five - "I don't know of any provisions for anything over a par-five in the US," says Gibbs. This will outstrip by some way, the existing longest hole in the world, which is a 964-yard monster at the Satsuki GC in Sano, Japan. And, quite reasonably, it is designated a par six.
So, having met the challenge of longest hole and fairly large green, what's left for the redoubtable Gibbs? "Well," he mused. "We have a lot of sand . . ."
NEXT TIME one of your golfing colleagues turns up on the first tee in his gardening clothes, remind him gently that he is falling some way short of the splendid standards set more than 70 years ago by the great Walter Hagen. The point is made beautifully by Fred Corcoran in his book Unplayable Lies.
Corcoran writes: "The good golfer is always impeccably neat. He dresses well. He doesn't have towels flying from his bag like flags of capitulation. He takes pride in his grooming and his appearance. Hagen, for example, always wore a silk shirt and necktie. And he always managed to maintain that crisply fresh look.
"I can remember him playing in the North and South Open Championship at Pinehurst when a storm broke. Others came in from the 18th green muddy and bedraggled, but not Hagen. His clothes were rain-spattered, but he strolled off the last green under an umbrella as handsomely groomed as when he had stepped off the first tee."
WORK on the $10 million Jack Nicklaus Museum is expected to be completed by next September. Built on land donated by Ohio State university, where the Bear is arguably the most celebrated past-pupil, it is to be situated in the heart of the college's athletic complex.
"Within a few minutes in any direction of the museum are many touchstones of my life," said Nicklaus. "It's the area where I grew up; the golf course where I learned the game; my high school; the course where I played college golf; the place where I met my wife, Barbara, and our home in Dublin's Muirfield Village."
All of which would suggest that they got the location right. Meanwhile, Nicklaus has no intention of drifting into the sunset just yet, judging from his acceptance of a sponsor's invitation to compete in the 16-man Senior Matchplay Challenge, starting in Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico on November 12th.
Then, close to the first anniversary of his hip replacement operation, he will play in the Seniors Skins Game on January 29th and 30th in Hawaii. Interestingly, it will comprise the same quartet of Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player who competed in the inaugural Skins Game for the regular tour in 1983.
THIS DAY IN GOLF HISTORY . . . On October 23rd, 1983, Eamonn Darcy shot a final round of 72 to capture the Spanish Open Championship at Las Brisas on Spain's Costa del Sol. It was Darcy's fourth European Tour win and his first since 1977, when he won the Greater Manchester Open.
Two months past his 31st birthday, the Delgany player shot an 11-under-par aggregate of 277 to finish a stroke clear of second-placed Manuel Pinero and claim top prize of £9,522 on one of Europe's most demanding parkland stretches. It helped him to eighth position in the European Order of Merit with earnings that year of £49,109.
Teaser: A player lifts his ball in a bunker after declaring it unplayable. Before selecting an option under Rule 28, he removes a loose impediment from the bunker. Since this action took place while his ball was lifted, i.e. it was not lying in the hazard, was the player in breach of Rule 13-4?
Answer: Yes. The prohibitions of Rule 13-4 apply when a ball is in a hazard or when a ball, having been lifted from a hazard, may be dropped or placed in the hazard. Under the unplayable ball rule, two of the player's options require him to drop a ball in the bunker. The player would incur the penalty even if he subsequently elected to drop a ball outside the bunker under Rule 28a.
