Who could forget the calm, controlled way he braved the heat of battle at Royal Birkdale last July? Or the extraordinary, 72nd-hole bunker recovery with only his left leg placed precariously in the sand? Well, Brian Watts has ended months of agonising by deciding to compete on the USPGA Tour next year.

In fact he will be doing so with Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton and Billy Mayfair as colleagues in the Cornerstone management group. But not before expressing his great debt to the Japanese Tour which became a lucrative home to him when he couldn't get a tournament slot in the US.

"It would be a slap in the face to my Japanese friends if I left them just because I finished second in the British Open," said Watts. "But there were other things to consider, especially my wife Debbye and our one-year-old son, Jason. It was very hard being separated from them for up to four weeks at a time."

As it happened, Watts had no difficulty in qualifying for US Tour status in that he finished 90th in the final money list with earnings of $335,735 from four events, including the Open. But his loyalty to Japan is reflected in a decision to play five or six events there next season.

Meanwhile, those who watched the climactic stages at Birkdale, are unlikely to forget that bunker shot. Thirty-five yards from the hole and obliged to stand awkwardly, he faced the daunting task of getting up and down so as to force a four-hole play-off with Mark O'Meara. But he did it.

No matter what happened in the play-off, Watts had done himself proud. He had confounded the sceptics who, two days previously, were predicting a weekend of bogeys as an untidy epilogue to his 15 minutes of fame. "I'm sure not a lot of people were thinking I'd stick around," he reflected. Indeed not.

But with seven amateur wins while at Oklahoma State University, Watts proved at an early stage that he had the right stuff. Now, at 32, he hopes to prove it in the most searching examination of all. His Birkdale admirers will wish him well.

"I'm a typical salesman; I keep setting myself targets." Denis O'Sullivan, who will be heading for Portugal on Monday, having achieved his objective of earning a place in the Praia D'el Rey European Cup side in his rookie season in senior ranks.

Irish marketing expertise, as applied to golf sponsorship, earns high praise in the current issue of the London-produced magazine Sport Business. The Murphy's Irish Open is described as "an excellent case study" to show how a progressive, proactive sponsor has maximised the return on its sponsorship investment.

In explaining a radical change of approach to this year's event, Patrick Conway, the company's marketing director said: "In view of the total prizemoney increasing to £1 million, it became all the more desirable to heighten our brand visibility. We succeeded dramatically and are looking forward to even better results next year."

On expert advice, the project involved an analysis of 20 different sources of branding, from caddies' bibs and water signage boards to televised hole-by-hole graphics and verbal reverences. With the approval of the tournament referee, signage positions around the greens were changed after pin placements had been examined for the following day.

All the while, each day's play was monitored in its entirely while a consultant, familiar with golf, was at the course advising on "brand maximisation issues." The outcome? We are informed that the total number of sources for Murphy's branding at Druids Glen last July, was well over 500. Which, apparently, represented good value for money.

When my trusty laptop went on the blink during the World Cup at Kiawah Island 12 months ago, help was offered from an unlikely source. No, it wasn't from within the media centre nor the organisers nor the sponsors. My potential saviour - as it happened the problem was temporary - was Padraig Harrington of the triumphant Irish duo, who was prepared to lend me his machine.

By way of emphasising the changing nature of the professional game, IBM have entered into a 10-year agreement with the USPGA Tour. Among other things, the deal will include supplying a laptop to every exempt player, starting at January's opening event, the Mercedes Championship.

It will be programmed to allow players make travel arrangements and to enter or withdraw from tournaments. "This is going to save me about two hours a week on the phone," said Chris Smith, who was exempted this year as leader of the 1997 Nike moneylist. "You wouldn't believe how much time we spend on the phone right now, with hotel bookings and committing to tournaments."

The software will include a message display from the tour office while allowing commissioner, Tim Finchem, to electronically poll players about pertinent issues. And to think there was a time when players looking into the media centre would stand in awe at our expertise with the humble typewriter.

Seapoint's members have decided to invest £299,000 in land - on their own course. In fact they have bought eight out of the 25 house-sites located in the centre of their splendid layout, to the left of the ninth hole.

This was land retained by the original developers three years ago, after they had sold the course to the members for £2.25 million. According to club manager Des Kirwan, the first part of that payment, £1 million, is now cleared and provision is already made for raising the remainder, to be paid in the year 2000.

"The members believe that the purchase of the sites (at around £37,500 each) represents a sound investment," said Kirwan. "Originally on offer at £25,000, they are now fetching £75,000." Meanwhile, the Termonfeckin links, where women have equal status, is open for new members - at an entrance fee of £5,000, (which is likely to be £6,000 in the New Year).

While hard-nosed boardroom colleagues viewed the project with some scepticism, David Austin would insist: "You've got to support the grassroots." And in gaining their agreement, he helped open the door to a dramatic change of fortune for the Irish Professional Championship, under the Smurfit banner. Against that background, he was immensely pleased that leading players such as Des Smyth, Eamonn Darcy, Christy O'Connor Jnr and Philip Walton became staunch supporters of the revitalised event.

David died last weekend after an illness which he bore with extraordinary stoicism and good humour. Indeed he betrayed no hint of it when I saw him last year at a press conference at The K Club, proudly predicting a six-figure prize fund for the Smurfit European Open. Which, of course, came to pass last August.

He would never claim to have been a great golfer, but in recent years, the professional game in Ireland couldn't have wished for a greater friend. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.

This day in golf history: On November 7th, 1959, the US did what they had been required to do only twice previously in the history of the competition - they won back the Ryder Cup. Under the captaincy of Sam Snead, revenge for the Lindrick defeat of 1957 was exacted by a margin of 8 1/2 to 3 1/2 at the Eldorado CC in Palm Desert, California.

Christy O'Connor and Norman Drew made a worthy contribution to a largely outclassed British and Irish line-up. It was an occasion when himself and Peter Alliss performed splendidly together, securing the only foursomes win by the visiting side in a 3 and 2 defeat of Art Wall and Doug Ford. Drew later halved the top singles with Ford, but the Americans still romped to victory.

Teaser: A player hits his tee-shot into a deep canyon. The player immediately declares the ball unplayable and plays another ball from the tee under the stroke-and-distance option of Rule 28 (Ball unplayable). May the player declare unplayable a ball which has not been found?

Answer: Yes. A player may proceed under the stroke-and-distance option (Rule 28a) without finding his ball. However, since Rules 28b (Drop a ball within two clublengths. . .) and 28c (Drop a ball behind the point where the ball lay. . .) require reference to where the ball lay, the player must find and identify his ball in order to proceed under either of these options.

Note: An anonymous reader - they are as plentiful as bad lies - has written a rather curt note regarding a recent piece about Foxrock members engaging in a friendly four-ball while competing in a strokes competition. Anon claims that the quartet were in breach of Rule 33, which prohibits the combining of strokeplay and matchplay because the rules governing both forms are substantially different. Which would apply to our Foxrock friends, except that they weren't playing two competitions simultaneously. The four-ball was simply a bit of fun and not in breach of any rule.