We received a telephone tip-off last week that went something like this: "The 11th World Bridge Teams Olympiad is on in Maastricht - have a look at the Irish team and see if you recognise one of the names." So we did and there he was - Rory Timlin, OUR Rory Timlin.

For those of you unfamiliar with Golf Masters' history Rory was the man who finished bottom of the competition two years' running (intentionally, we should add) but has completely shattered his useless reputation this year by having three teams in the top 18, as we speak (appropriately enough, the 14th placed team is The Bridge Player).

While mightily impressed that one of our most eminent managers was representing his country in another field (the Irish team finished fifth in an 18 team group) only one question crossed our minds when we saw he was in Holland: how could he possibly manage his teams from there?

Unfortunately, as Rory lamented, he found the time to fire Tiger and hire Monty from all three of his leading line-ups. "I moved up the leaderboard because I timed my transfers right. I bought Westwood when he was going well, then I bought Tiger, so I did everything right up until that point - I've just got it slightly wrong now with Monty. I'm finished if he doesn't play next week."

(Newsflash: Montgomerie is listed in the entry for the Lancome Trophy, which he played in last year, but confirmation of his appearance won't come until next week).

Even if Rory doesn't pull off what would be an unprecedented double of "best" and "worst" Golf Masters manager titles it has still been a memorable golfing year, the highlight being a trip to Limerick earlier in the summer to see in the flesh the man he's just fired from his teams. "He really is absolutely brilliant. I've watched an awful lot of golf over the years and I love to watch them close up, but Tiger is just different. His ball striking is so pure, it's just unreal how good he is. It was an experience never to forget."