IT sometimes pays to be gentle in golf, to have the g grace not to humiliate an opponent who may to be experiencing a particularly grim day. Richard Davies, the 1962 British Amateur champion and a great admirer of Joe Carr and Christy O'Connor Snr, recounted the considerable benefits of such an approach, in a recent letter.
Written to Belfast reader Philip Donald, it told of Davies's fascinating experience in 1954, after he had lost in the quarter finals of the Amateur at Muirfield. But the story actually began two years earlier in Phoenix, Arizona, where he met the notorious, British playboy, John de Forest, in the semifinals of a high stakes, amateur tournament.
"I could have crushed him he was eight down on the front side," recalled Davies, who was born in Pasadena in 1930. "But I relented, not wishing a guest from abroad to go home with a 9 and 8 loss, particularly knowing that he was Amateur champion in 1932." This was the famous character who, after hitting his approach into water at the 13th while competing in the US Masters, made the embarrassing mistake of taking off the wrong shoe and sock before placing one foot in the hazard.
In the event, Davies coasted on the back nine, allowing his opponent to escape with a face saving, 3 and 2 defeat. "He thanked me afterwards for being a good sport and we became friends," recalled the American. So it was that two years later, when Davies was travelling "steerage" and almost flat broke on the boat train from Italy to France, fate intervened.
"A voice called down to me from the first class section," he went on. "It was John. He invited me to join him and ordered a lavish meal and wine to boot. And he introduced me to his wife, a Spanish contessa. John de Forest was now Count John de Bendern. Spanish nobility no less." But that was only the start of it.
On their arrival in Paris, the count invited Davies to join him in a game of golf at St Germain. He was met in a Bentley driven by former Walker Cup player Harry Bentley, who was introduced as a son of the owner of the famous car company.
Davies, who waited patiently at St Germain with a French female caddie, takes up the story. "Finally, as I was looking the other way, some heels clicked behind me and John introduced me to my golfing partner for the round .. .. HRH Prince of Wales .... Edward .... Duke of Windsor. I thought I might wet my pants."
On the first hole, which was only a little more than 300 yards, Davies drove the green with a three wood and had a two putt birdie from 10 feet. "Good half nice four," said the Duke, who was apparently more interested in the female caddies than in his partner's golf.
When the match was over, the Duke invited Davies to join him for tea. This entailed going to the car park where his butler, in tails, was waiting in a 1948 Buick. Davies concluded. "He brought out this big silver tray with a silver teapot and fine china and silverware, prepared the tea and stepped aside. The Prince and the pauper sat down to tea.
And all because of compassion for a beleaguered rival.
Interviewer. "Let me show you a picture of you slinging a club a good 20 feet in the air." Tommy Bolt. "That's not a throw son. That's just a toss. A throw is when you wing the thing 40, 50 yards.
WHEN Philip Walton made his European breakthrough by capturing the French Open title in 1990, one of the first phone calls he received was from his bank manager. "Are you looking for a loan?" the player joked.
The incident was brought to mind by Australian professional Peter Senior's recent disclosure about an intriguing meeting with his bank manager. Instead of his one time familiar feeling of trepidation, Senior stunned Gary Bleys by actually offering him a job. And the bank manager accepted.
The professional explained "I had built up a sizeable property business over the years, involving commercial buildings, shops and apartments, and I needed someone to run it while I was playing golf." As it happens, Bleys has handled the job so well that Senior decided to reward him with an invitation to the British Open at Royal Lytham last month.
So, now you know what makes golf professionals different from the rest of us. "If he comes, we'll be ready." Indeed Ballybunion secretary/manager Jim McKenna was prepared to guarantee that the winter condition of the famous Kerry links would never be better, should US President Bill Clinton keep a long waited appointment there, before the end of the year. With that in mind, the locals are taking more than a passing interest in the American presidential race.
Meanwhile, they are preparing to install a new irrigation system for the tees and greens of the Old Course. The source will be a well located behind the first green and which is delivering 10,000 gallons of water per hour. And there will be a 50,000 gallon holding tank hidden in the dunes at the 13th. "It is also planned to connect the system to the Cashen course," said McKenna.
Further developments will see the return of Tom Watson's construction engineer, Bob Gibbons, in October. "When Watson visited here last month, he was very happy with the way we implemented his changes," he added. "Now, the idea is to out some refinements at the end of the current season.
Though it was a bit disappointment to Watson to miss the British Open because of a damaged shoulder, he could at least reflect on a very rewarding visit to his favourite links. US tour colleagues Mark O'Meara and Mark Brooks were also there on his recommendation and were totally captivated by the experience.
WITH so much talk of power hitting these days, there may be a tendency to assume that early golf holes were so short, in relative terms, they would have presented only a token challenge to modern players. A close look at the original 12 holes at Prestwick, however, paints a far different picture.
These were the holes which Willie Park negotiated three times for a winning 36 hole score of 174 in the inaugural British Open in 1860. Indeed it was 23 years later before the course was redesigned and extended to 18 holes. The 12 holes were 1, 578 yards (Back of Cardinal) 2, 385 (Alps) 3, 167 (Tunnel, red) 4, 448 (Wall) 5 440 (Sea Headrig) 6, (Tunnel white) 7, 144 (Green Hollow) 8, 166 (Station) 9, 395 (Burn) 10, 213 (Lunch House) 11, 132 (Short) 12, 417 (Home).
The overall length of the 12 holes was 3,799 yards, which meant that Park covered 11,397 cards for 36 holes. This works out at an average of 5,699 yards for 18 holes, which would not be very much shorter than the current measurement of many of this country's established park land courses.
With the equipment available in those days, the first would probably have been a par six. Yet, when Young Tom Morins won the British Open for a third time in 1870, he began the first round with a three, which would indicate that he holed his third shot. He went on to complete that round in 47 strokes, making him the first player ever to shoot a score lower than level fours.
IN BRIEF: Marty Carr informs me that Peter Townend and Joe Carr will be spearheading special trips organised by Carr Golf and Corporate Travel, to next year's Ryder Cup at Valderrama .... Qualifying takes place tomorrow for the 46th staging of the AIB sponsored Lord Mayor's Cup at Clontarf GC, where match play action begins next Tuesday . . .. Royal Dublin secretary/manager John Lambe tells me that the club went on the Internet yesterday. Apart from four pages of text, they offer access to a 15 second video highlighting the play off for the 1985 Irish Open in which Seve Ballesteros beat Bernhard Langer.
The Foreign Exchange Society of Ireland (Forex) this week presented a cheque for £25,000 to the People in Need Trust, arising out of their golf tournament at Slieve Russell. In three years, their golfing activities have raised £100,000 for charity.
TEASER: A player's tee shot might be in a water hazard, but clearly it is not lost outside a water hazard or out of bounds. The player announces that, since his ball might be in the hazard, he is going to play a provisional ball and he does so. Rule 27-2a seems to prohibit a provisional ball in the circumstances. What is the ruling?
ANSWER: The player did not play a provisional ball which, according to the definition of Provisional Ball is a ball played under Rule 27-2 for a ball which may be lost outside a water hazard or may be out of bounds. The second ball from the tee was in play since it was not a provisional ball.
