In the media centre for the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth, the noticeboard carried a rather special "advertisement" yesterday. "For Sale. Brand, spanking new Lamborghini Diablo. One jammy owner. £189,000 o.n.o. Contact: Amateur Status Committee, Royal and Ancient, St Andrews." Under the price, another wag had added in parentheses: "no hub-caps: garaged in Liverpool".
The "jammy owner" to whom the ad referred was Derek Lawrenson, golf correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph. And to the great delight and envy of his impoverished, journalistic colleagues, he bagged the above bonanza in a pro-am at the Mill Ride course, near Ascot, on Wednesday.
Lawrenson, a life-long Liverpool supporter, was playing with current team members Paul Ince and Steve McManaman in an outing organised by TaylorMade for the England squad prior to their departure to the World Cup in France. At the 190yard 15th, his three-iron tee-shot popped into the cup for a hole-in-one.
Ince was apparently just as pleased as Lawrenson by the writer's good fortune. "He kept coming up to me and saying `I need a hug"' said the 38-year-old eight-handicapper afterwards. And congratulations continued to come Lawrenson's way when he arrived for work here yesterday in his own car, a BMW 318ti.
The news had travelled far and wide. Even Colin Montgomerie was aware of it when he came into the media centre for interview. But in case he wasn't, the Scot was informed that "one of our own" had already won almost as much this week as the £200,000 Montgomerie would be aiming for in the Volvo PGA Championship. "I believe Derek is ready to join us," he responded with a grin.
Lawrenson has decided to keep the prize, so forfeiting his amateur status. But it's not yet clear how the Lamborghini will be converted into cash. Which means that the ad will probably stay on the noticeboard for a few more days - just in case.
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