In 1937, on a wet, windy October day just like we've been enjoying this week, Jimmy Bruen set a course record at Muskerry with a seven-under-par 65. Within the next two years, he had also laid claim to the official course records at Portmarnock (70), Royal Co Down (66), Royal Portrush (71), Muskerry (63), Baltray (71), Little Island (67), Macroom (67), St Andrews Old Course (69) and St Andrews New Course (69). And he returned scores of 62 at Little Island and 61 at Muskerry in strokes competitions.
Those figures offer only a glimpse of an amazing talent which dazzled onlookers during the years immediately prior to World War II. And they take on a fresh relevance through an exciting new book, The Bruen Loop by George F Crosbie, with a foreword by Peter Alliss, which is to be published by Mercier Press on November 4th (£14.00).
Bruen was only 52 when he died in May 1972 at the Bon Secour's Hospital in Cork, after a short illness. But his status as a golfing legend had been well established some time previously, largely through his exploits between the tender ages of 17 and 19 years when, incidentally, he was playing off plus four.
Writing about the British Amateur Championship of 1939, in which the teenager failed to achieve his anticipated success, Henry Longhurst was moved to comment: "With all due respect to the winner (Alex Kyle), I have to confess that I shared the general opinion that Bruen stood head an shoulders above them all, British or American . . . . For myself, I should rate Bruen in the highest professional class and shall not be in the least surprised if he wins the Open."
Describing the famous Bruen loop, Alliss wrote 40 years later: "He took the club back almost directly away from his body and whirled it around before a whiplash attack on the ball. Using this unlikely method he hit the ball vast distances."
The two 69s mentioned above were scores in qualifying rounds for the British Open at St Andrews in 1939. Indeed his mastery of the Old Course, where he had become a key figure in the Walker Cup victory over the Americans the previous year, is highlighted in a scorecard from his scrapbook.
Crosbie, who knew Bruen as a club colleague and golfing rival, tells us that it was dated June 30th, 1939 which was presumably a practice round before the Open championship. The card is duly signed and the figures read: the first nine - 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 3, 4 - 35; second nine - 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, 3 - 31; total 66. A handicap of +4 is added giving a net score of 70. That was some round of golf. There is an x marked opposite the two holes, fifth and 14th (par fives), the only two fives on the card and along the white margin is written in ordinary handwriting, three putts on those two greens."
If Crosbie's work were a movie, we would describe it as a documentary. As a book, it takes the form of a series of contemporary reports, largely from newspapers, detailing some of Bruen's astonishing achievements, right up to his last competitive match. That was in the semi-finals of the Irish Close at Killarney in 1963 when he lost to Joe Carr.
As Alliss writes in the foreword: "Today we have Tiger Woods. Years ago there was Vardon, Braid and Taylor, then Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, then in the late 1930s Snead, Hogan and, yes, Jimmy Bruen." Crosbie's admirable and long-overdue work, has been well worth the wait.
"I did not become a golfer because I was interested in money or fame. I have not changed, even if the people around me have."
Lee Westwood, who is challenging for the Vardon Trophy at Montecastillo this weekend.
Earlier this week, while reading some reminiscences by Henry Longhurst, I was struck by the remarkably similar impacts made by two outstanding players on their Wentworth debuts. The fact that they were separated by 42 years, serves only to illustrate the timeless nature of golf.
Tiger Woods drew record crowds to the West Course on his progress through to the final of the World Matchplay Championship two weeks ago. Ben Hogan did likewise, when partnering Sam Snead to a runaway US victory in the Canada Cup there in 1956.
Longhurst wrote: "No one who was at Wentworth - and there were times when one had the impression that there was no one who wasn't! - will ever forget it. `See Hogan and die' seemed to be the motto and enormous crowds took what would obviously be not only their first but also their last chance of seeing the great man in action in England. He was, I believe, sincerely touched, as well as a little surprised, that everyone seemed to want him to win.
"Hogan treated his admirers to a staggering display. In the first round, his second shot just failed to find the green at the long, par-four first hole, whereupon he holed the chip for a three. He holed a long putt for a two at the second and was out in 31; holed another long one for a two at the 10th and so completed his first 10 holes in England in 33!"
Looking back at the matchplay final in which Woods was four up against his ultimate conqueror, Mark O'Meara, after the opening 10 holes, it is interesting to note his figures. Like Hogan, he reached the turn in 31 but then parred the next. So he covered the first 10 holes in 34 strokes, one more than his illustrious predecessor.
Comments by chaps from the BBC about their television rivals, have to be seen against a background of bitter disappointment at the recent loss of Test cricket coverage to Channel 4 and Sky. Still, it is interesting to note the claim by Peter Alliss that the European Tour sold out professional golf to Sky without giving the BBC much of a chance to negotiate. "Some of the sponsors were less than delighted," claimed Alliss. "One of them said to me: `If I had known so few people would be watching, I would have taken them all out to dinner and saved myself some money." Miaow.
During his recent Dublin visit, Mark McCormack recalled his early days as manager of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, golf's so-called "Big Three". It was a time before regular jet travel, when a trip from the US to Australia meant stops in Hawaii, Fiji and New Zealand en route. And it took almost 24 hours to get from Sydney to Japan, stopping off in Darwin Manilla and Hong Kong.
"Travel was pretty tough in those days and golf wasn't a very big deal," he recalled. "In fact everybody was pretty naive." Somehow "naive" is not a word that springs to mind when one thinks of McCormack, still he went on to illustrate the point.
"It was a time when Nicklaus was offered $10,000 by an American railroad company to go to Japan and play one round of golf. Jack and I thought that was fantastic - a heck of a lot of money in those days. We were told the round of golf would be with the chairman of the Fuji Iron and Steel company, who happened to be a golf nut and a huge Nicklaus fan."
McCormack went on: "It seems that Fuji bought coal for their steel mills from West Virginia and the railroad company wanted to win the transport contract which was then with another company. They decided the way to do it would be through golf. Anyway Jack and I went over there and we felt very smug about our $10,000 fee.
"About two years later, I met the vice-president of the railroad company who said to me: `Did I ever tell you what that golf game was worth to us?' `No you didn't.' `Well, we figured it meant $17 million in rail shipments."' McCormack concluded with a wry smile: "Once again I learned the hard way."
This day in golf history . . . . On October 31st, 1971, Jack Nicklaus completed an aggregate of 269 to win the Australian Open by eight strokes. It was only the second time in the history of the event that 270 was broken over four rounds, the all-time record having been established by Gary Player with a 264 in 1965. Nicklaus went on to win the title on six occasions - 1964, 1968, 1971, 1975, 1976 and 1978.
That was a time when the tournament was rated so highly by the game's leading players that they treated it almost as a fifth "major". By winning in 1971, Nicklaus completed 10 years of almost total domination by the so-called "Big Three" - himself, Player and Arnold Palmer. In fact they were successful in nine of those 10 years (Player 1962, `63, `65, `69, `70 and Palmer `66), the exception being 1967, when the title went to Peter Thomson.
Teaser: In strokeplay, a competitor's ball in a hazard moves due to his removal of a loose impediment in the hazard. What is the ruling?
Answer: The competitor incurs a penalty of three strokes - two for moving a loose impediment in a hazard (Rule 13-4c) and one because the ball moved (Rule 18-2a). The ball must be replaced (Rule 18-2a).
