IT HAS become a very lucrative industry which the game's leading players are determined to stop. Apparently forgeries of players' signatures are now so widespread that Jack Nicklaus, among others, has taken the extreme action of banning all autograph hunters from bringing him a ball or a poster to sign.
"You can't believe what they're doing," said Payne Stewart, the former US Open and USPGA champion. "And you can spot them a mile away. They want you to sign a little blank card which they'll take away and put through a computer just to trace your signature.
According to Stewart, the forger then starts transferring the signature on to saleable items. "Yeah, I've seen the forgeries out there but it's difficult to know what to do," he added. "Am I supposed to allow people make money off my signature? I don't think that's right."
So, he has devised a plan to outwit the forgers. For instance, he will personalise his signature to each autograph-seeker, so that it can't be sold to a collector. Also, he refuses to sign eight-by-10 pictures of himself, golf balls, gloves or any items that can be re-sold.
Meanwhile, Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer have issued different ground rules. Firstly, they insist that merchandise be kept out of their faces. "Too many people are making a business out of it now and sending little kids to get autographs on things so that they can turn around and sell them," said Nicklaus.
Up to recent weeks, the Bear would blithely sign without a thought. In fact I saw him spend up to two hours with fans after each of his rounds in the Sarazen World Open at Chateau Elan last October. But he has been especially angered by seeing items which he has supposedly autographed, appearing in ostensibly respectable catalogues.
The upshot is that he, Palmer and Tiger Woods are now taking legal action against several companies specialising in memorabilia. Indeed autograph approaches to the once affable Arnie are now liable to be met with a steely glare.
And we thought the computer was everybody's friend!
LATIN singers Rafael Ruiz and Antonio Romero are familiar to just about everybody in this fair isle, I dare say. They're not? Well, it appears that their recording of the dance single "Macarena" reached the top of the charts last summer. So what? Well, they have been selected to provide the entertainment at the pre-tournament gala for the Ryder Cup at Valderrama - that's what.
SOME horrendous scoring in the Men's European Amateur Team Championship at Portmarnock this week, has included disasters ranging up to 15 strokes at one hole. Which prompts consideration of the opposite extreme - the eclectic score which the former resident professional, Harry Bradshaw, had for the course.
Interestingly, The Brad had eight rounds of 64 in practice and four holes in one, two of them at the 12th. But the course record of 64 was established by Sandy Lyle in the Irish Open.
Portmarnock par: Out 444, 445, 344 - 36 Bradshaw eclectic: 222, 323, 123 - 20
In 443, 543, 544 - 36
231, 321, 333 - 21
Overall: Par - 72; Bradshaw eclectic - 41.
THERE is another great wall of China - for which Gary Player can claim responsibility. It is among 40 projects, which the South African has under construction in his capacity as a golf course architect.
The 61-year-old recently returned to competitive golf after being out of action for six weeks because of a double hernia operation. Ten pounds lighter than his normally compact frame, Player is anxiously awaiting the go-ahead from doctors to start working out with weights again.
"Lee Trevino told me I looked like a one-iron," he said, before going on to talk about his project in mainland China. According to Player, the course is "built in the ocean" and carries a price tag of £40 million. "We built a wall and drained the land inside it," he explained. "It's unbelievable."
Apparently the so-called - Man in Black brought considerable relief to the project's financier when he explained that, being a links course, it wouldn't be necessary to plant trees in the ocean bed. "Good, you saved me £5 million," the money-man replied.
Meanwhile, the successive victories of his compatriot Ernie Els in the US Open and last weekend's Buick Classic, reminds me that Player was the last competitor to win three successive events on the USPGA Tour. And there was also a major championship involved. It happened in 1978 when he captured the Masters, the Tournament of Champions and the Houston Open.
SUTTON GC will have a special celebration for some friends tonight to mark the completion of their new course, which includes three fine holes designed by Paddy Merrigan.
Which makes this an appropriate time to mention Peter Gunning and the trophy he presented to the club in memory of his late wife, Eilish, who was synonymous with Sutton for many years.
The recent, inaugural staging of the event was remarkable on two counts. It was won by Margaret Cassidy, who happened to be a very close friend of Eilish. And she shot the winning score of 68 using her late friend's clubs, which Peter had given her as a gift.
THIS day in golf history ... on June 28th, 1916, Chick Evans fired a second round of 68 on his way to victory in the US Open. Leading from start to finish, he gained the distinction of becoming the first player to capture the US Amateur and US Open titles in the same year, a feat which only the great Bobby Jones has equalled.
He was also the third amateur to win the US Open, emulating the achievements of Francis Ouimet (1913) and J D Travers (1915). At that stage of his career, Evans played with only seven hickory-shafted clubs - a brassie, spoon, jigger, mid-iron, lofter, niblick and putter. But he had three reserve putters, indicating recurring problems on the greens.
Like Jones, he elected not to turn professional and went on to play in no fewer than 50 successive US Amateur Championships, the last occasion at Pebble Beach in 1961. In fact the pair met in the final in 1927 when Jones won after scoring seven threes in 11 holes. Evans had won a second US Amateur in 1920 and was a member of the US Walker Cup teams of 1922, 1924 and 1928. As a former caddie, he established a caddie scholarship fund at Northwestern University.
IN BRIEF: Darren Clarke will arrive for the official opening of the new MacGregor Golf Academy at Citywest next Tuesday in his new Ferrari Testarossa. Clarke is to give a free public clinic before heading on to Druids Glen for the Murphy's Irish Open ... Roscommon GC will have the opportunity to show off their fine new 18-hole course and clubhouse in an annual Open Week which started yesterday ... Crumlin United FC are staging a Golf Classic at Killeen GC on Friday, August 1st. Details from Gerry McGuigan (01) 4502592 . .. Holiday-makers in the south-east can enjoy the men's Open Week at Helen's Bay, starting today ... Former Irish Close champion, Gary McNeill, will represent Grafton Recruitment on the Irish pro-am circuit this season.
Teaser: A player's ball comes to rest in a situation dangerous to the player e.g. near a rattlesnake or a bees' nest. Must the player either play the ball as it lies or declare it unplayable and take relief under Rule 28?
Answer: Fat chance of that sort of situation arising, I hear you mutter. Well it happened to me last weekend at a club called Rancho Murieta, near Sacramento. The rattler was coiled on a cart path when my playing partner decided to try and remove it with his seven iron. And believe me, rattlers don't take kindly to being poked with a golf club, even if it happens to have a regular flex, graphite shaft. For my part, I beat an extremely hasty retreat.
As to the decision: No. It is not reasonable to expect the player to play from such a dangerous situation, nor fair to require the player to suffer a penalty under Rule 28. In equity (Rule 1-4) the player should be permitted, without penalty, to drop a ball in the nearest spot not nearer the hole which is not dangerous.
