Michael Hoey went to the US earlier this week, to reap a further benefit of his status as British Amateur Champion. He has been accorded practice and playing facilities for life by the Golf Club of Georgia. In return, all that's required of him is to play an 18-hole match against the reigning US Amateur champion, Bubba Dickerson, next April.

It has to do with the Georgia Cup, which gained official recognition four years ago. This is presented annually by the club to the winner of a match between the British Amateur and US Amateur championships, on the week prior to the US Masters.

When Hoey telephoned the club to see if they would allow him practise at this time, they were only too delighted to comply. And his friend and fellow Irish international, Johnny Foster, is with him, preparatory to partnering Justin Kehoe in the Juan Carlos Tahilide tournament in Buenos Aires later this month.

Hoey, on the other hand, will travel on from Georgia to Sherwood CC in California, where, as a spectator, he will have pre-arranged meetings with Tiger Woods during the Williams Challenge, in which Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington are competing.

In the meantime, a great Ulster sportsman of the past is helping Hoey's build-up to a professional career, which will begin after he competes in the US Masters. "We asked Mike Gibson to put in a word with Gary Player about getting Michael an invitation into the South African Open in January," said the player's father, Brian.

It seems that Gibson, the peerless Ireland and Lions rugby centre of 30 years ago, has been a good friend of Player's for some time and actually caddied for him in the World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth. And so we have wheels within sporting wheels . . .