DAVID FEHERTY travelled 6,500 miles from Dallas to resume European Tour activities in the £650,000 Desert Classic, which starts at the Emirates GC here this morning. But instead of getting in a badly needed practice round yesterday, he spent most of the day in bed recovering from an attack of food poisoning.
The 37 year old Ulsterman was confident, however, of recovering in time to take his place on the first tee at lunchtime today, in the company of the 1992 winner, "Seve Ballesteros. As it happened, the Spaniard was suffering from a different sort of sickness, having carded miserable rounds of 78 and 79 in the Moroccan Open last week.
Feherty's anxiety about practice arose from extraordinary weather, culminating in almost three inches of rain here on Tuesday. The course, indeed the entire city area, was water logged, making play impossible until noon yesterday, which meant that the pre tournament pro am had to be abandoned.
"I hope the rest will have the desired effect," said the Ulsterman, who played with Ballesteros in the Honda Classic in the US last year. "I certainly haven't given any thought to withdrawing." His three previous appearances this season were in South Africa where he missed the cut at Sun City, was runner up to Sven Struver in the South African PGA Championship and fourth behind Wayne Westner in the FNB Players Championship.
The weather also came as quite a shock to defending champion Fred Couples, who regretted not having packed any wet gear. But the 1992 US Masters champion saw no problem in passing up the Nestle Invitational at Bay Hill (Arnold Palmer's course) on his home tour to be here. "Arnold played more overseas tournaments than most Americans, so I reckon I'm following a proud tradition," he said.
Experiences on the European Tour this year would suggest that the staging of a professional tournament could be an ideal solution to drought. Of the eight events so far, every one has been rain affected with the exception of the Heineken Classic, in Perth.
Meahwhile, Feherty may have to revise his widely quoted barbs; about Colin Montgomerie, now that the Scot has trimmed more than two stone off his generous, 6ft tin frame. It seems that over the last three months, Monty has been spending considerable time in the garage of his home at Oxshott, Surrey. And he wasn't engaged in renovating some clapped out Morris Marina picked up at a local car auction.
"I had some gym equipment installed there," said the European Order of Merit winner, who went on to explain that it didn't involve any great squeeze, given that it's a three car garage. "We kept the small car in the garage and the other two have gone outside." The "small car" is in fact a Porsche while the other two are Montgomerie's Audi A8 and his wife's Mercedes Estate.
Either way, a strict regime of exercise and dieting has shifted four inches off Montgomerie's girth, which now measures a decidedly trim 36 inches. "I did it for no reason other than to please myself," he said, while preparing for his first tournament of the year. And it seems to be helping my game. My coach, Bill Ferguson, tells me I'm getting the club higher on the backswing which means I'm hitting better iron shots. I also expect it to increase my length off the tee."
As for Ballesteros: he was clearly determined to put a brave face on things. "More respect, now that I'm Ryder Cup captain," he admonished us. He had just come from the practice ground where, not for the first time, they gazed and where the wonder grew, that he could execute such sweetly struck shots; and then play so badly in competition.
"I'm not yet happy with my Ball striking, but the sort of solution I'm looking for doesn't come quickly," he said. "The important thing is that I'm going forward." A reflection of his anxiety was that, having missed the cut in Rabat, he arrived here last Saturday and practised on Sunday and Monday before the rains came. Even at this early stage, however, it is becoming increasingly likely that he will be filling the role of non playing skipper at Valderrama in September 1997.
Eamonn Darcy and Christy O'Connor Jnr travelled here with Ballesteros last Saturday. For Darcy, who won this event in 1990, this week's staging represents a milestone in his golfing career insofar as he is about to switch to the broomhandle putter, holding it under his chin, a la Sam Torrance.
Remarkably, Darcy actually acquired the club five years ago, keeping it as a back up in case he ever felt desperate enough to abandon the conventional blade. Desperation has arrived. "I realise it s a bit of a risk, using it so far away from home," he said. "But I've suffered enough. It's time for a change."
Ironically, having used the broomhandle in last year's Murphy's Irish Open, O'Connor is back putting conventionally again. The other Irishmen in action today are: Paul McGinley, Philip Walton, Darren Clarke, Ronan Rafferty, Des Smyth and Raymond Burns.
