DERMOT GILLEECE'S GOLFING LOG: An indisputable truth about tournament golf is that it requires at least one dominant, local player to raise overall standards and heighten public appeal. So there is cause for concern on the European Tour in which this weekend's International Open at The Belfry, signals its seasonal arrival in these islands.
Events of the last 20 years tell an interesting tale. For instance, when Europe gained a hugely important Ryder Cup breakthrough against the Americans in 1985, Seve Ballesteros dominated events on this side of the Atlantic with five victories. And two years later, when the Americans were beaten for the first time on home soil, Ian Woosnam was the dominant figure, also with five wins.
Similar success was evident in "major" tournaments. In the five years from 1982 to 1986 inclusive, Europe's Ballesteros (2), Sandy Lyle (1) and Bernhard Langer (1) had four major triumphs. From 1987 to 1991, the figure rose to seven - Nick Faldo (4) and Ballesteros, Lyle and Woosnam one each.
There were no signs of serious decline from 1992 to 1996, given two wins from Faldo and one each from Langer and Jose Maria Olazabal. But from 1997 to the end of last season, the figure dropped to two, with Olazabal and Paul Lawrie gaining one each.
Over those 20 years, European dominance moved from Ballesteros to Woosnam and on to Faldo, while Lyle and Langer were ever-present threats, followed later by Olazabal. But while Colin Montgomerie took over the mantle during the latter part of the 1990s, he has yet to win a major championship.
Now, Monty's game is in decline and the obvious successors have yet to stake their claim to sustained European dominance. In this, I refer to Sergio Garcia whose commitment to Europe is clearly questionable given his refusal to play in the Seve Trophy at Druids Glen in the absence of appearance money.
Olazabal is similarly committed to the USPGA Tour; Lee Westwood is struggling to recover his game and Darren Clarke has yet to achieve a dominance commensurate with his talent. And there's no point in looking to the achievements of Order of Merit champion Retief Goosen nor South African colleague Ernie Els. As essentially world players, they can do little for the European cause.
Since the start of this season in Europe, there have been no fewer than eight, first-time winners - Tim Clark, Justin Rose, Richard Johnson, Arjun Atwal, Alastair Forsyth, Adam Scott, Carl Pettersson and Malcolm Mackenzie. With the greatest of respect to these players, they could hardly be considered the stuff of tournament promotional material.
The easy argument is that with so much money in the game, players have no cause to stretch themselves. But champions don't think that way. Europe needs genuine champions. And wouldn't it be marvellous if Ireland's Padraig Harrington, Clarke and Paul McGinley were to claim the high ground?
"If I was playing today with the swing I had then, I wouldn't go broke out there."
- Ninety-year-old Byron Nelson, speaking this week on the timeless nature of talent.
McGill's high morals
Jill McGill, who was runner-up in last season's Michelob Light Classic in Missouri, has declined an invitation to appear nude in Playboy magazine. "While sex appeal certainly matters in sport, it doesn't mean selling yourself or selling sex," said the 30-year-old, who earned $340,991 on tour last season.
Speaking to Bob Verdi of Golf Digest, McGill went on: "If you're physically attractive, but look like you're having a miserable time out here playing golf and you dress like you don't care, that's not very appealing. It's more than just your body. It's your body language." Ty Votaw, commissioner of the LPGA Tour, recently implored his players to present a positive image of themselves in the marketplace. This was interpreted in some quarters as player exploitation, but McGill took a far more positive view.
"The men's tour actually has a stricter dress code than we do," she said. "We can play in shorts. There are more ways we can dress differently. But there's the other side, too. If a guy comes off the 18th hole on a hot day and he's wringing wet, that's okay. But when we sweat, it's not so acceptable. A double standard? Hey, that's just the world as it is, and why hide from reality? Deal with it. Deal with the fact that part of the popularity of women's tennis is about sex appeal. This is 2002. All aboard."
One reason McGill rejected Playboy's very personal, six-digit appearance fee was what she described as the "Anna Kournikova syndrome". Like the Russian, she has yet to win a tournament and she doesn't want to become famous for the wrong reason. But if Playboy upped the ante to $1 million? "If they do, I might reconsider," she replied.
Helicopter under fire
In Gulliver's Travels, Dean Swift described how, to the Lilliputians, the hero's watch "made an incessant noise like that of a water-mill". Erstwhile Aberdeen golfer, Brian Rae, could have empathised with their discomfort, having had to contend with the noise from a heliport beside his property.
Though 58-year-old Rae hadn't hit a golf-ball in anger or any other emotional state since 1983, he decided to make an exception in this case. So he unearthed his clubs and began firing balls in the direction of a taxiing helicopter. Fortunately nobody was injured and Rae was cleared of reckless behaviour by a local court.
Charitable Cullen
To use a current buzz word, the benchmark has been set regarding the price of two tickets for the 2006 Ryder Cup at The K Club. In a charity auction in connection with the Audi/Eddie Jordan Classic last Monday, €6,000 was paid for two such tickets, including the frills of corporate hospitality. In a non-golfing context, however, the bidding on an Audi A4 Cabriolet 2.4, which has yet to appear on the Irish market, was especially interesting. At €60,000, it fetched considerably more than its anticipated price. The fascinating bit, however, was that the purchaser happened to be local member Bill Cullen, whose motoring interests centre on the Renault franchise.
And how did he justify such consorting with the enemy? "For charity, anything goes," he replied with a smile.
In Brief . . . . .
Jeni Ringland has apologised for the short notice but is desperate that people should know about the welcome awaiting them on the Lady Golfers Howth Charity Walk which starts at Howth Dart Station at 10 a.m. today. Proceeds go to the Children's Hospice Home Care Unit in Crumlin Hospital.
This day in golf history ....
On May 11th, 1949, it was announced that South African Bobby Locke would not be invited to the USPGA Championship, because he was neither a tour member nor a "guest player". Locke, who had three victories in the US that year, found handsome compensation awaiting him two months later, when he beat Harry Bradshaw in a play-off for the British Open at Royal St George's, Sandwich.
TEASER: Matt Doyle of The K Club requested clarification on this situation. A requests B, his opponent or a fellow-competitor, to attend the flagstick, and B complies. A putts too firmly and B fails to remove the flagstick. A's ball strikes the flagstick. What is the ruling?
ANSWER: If B failed to remove the flagstick for the purpose of causing A to incur a penalty, B is disqualified in both matchplay and strokeplay for a serious breach of Rule 1-2. In strokeplay, in equity (Rule 1-4), A must replay the stroke without penalty.
If B's failure to remove the flagstick was for the purpose of preventing A's ball from going beyond the flagstick and not for the purpose of clausing A to incur a penalty, in matchplay B lost the hole under Rule 1-2 when he failed to remove the flagstick before A's ball reached the hole. The fact that A's ball subsequently struck the flagstick (a breach of Rule 17-3a) is irrelevant since B had already lost the hole. In strokeplay, B incurs a penalty of two strokes under Rule 1-2 and A incurs the same penalty under Rule 17-3a.
If B's failure to remove the flagstick was not deliberate,e.g. the flagstick stuck in the socket or B was distracted and did not see A putt, A incurs a penalty of loss of hole in matchplay or two strokes in strokeplay under Rule 17-3. B incurs no penalty.
