Contrary to predictions, Jaime Ortiz Patino has no intention of selling Valderrama, now that his dream of establishing it among the world's foremost venues has been realised. He has even bought land nearby with a view to expanding his investment on Spain's Costa del Sol.
Once a collector of Old Masters and Impressionist paintings, the seriously wealthy Patino transferred his interest to golf, past and present, about 12 years ago. And when questioned recently on the level of his investment, he suggested that $50 million would be "a little on the low side".
But there have been compensations, like seeing the 1997 Ryder Cup come to his beloved Valderrama, and now the inaugural WGC American Express World Championship. Then there was the satisfaction six weeks ago of seeing his prized collection of Ryder Cup memorabilia on display in the Country Club at Brookline during this year's staging - "I feel it's something that should be seen by as many people as possible."
Was there a chance he would sell Valderrama? "A friend of mine called to ask me if I was interested because she thought she had a buyer," he replied. "But while thanking her, I told her I didn't want to know anything about it. That's as far as it got."
He went on: "I'd like to keep it. My son (Felipe) and I have purchased a tract of 700 acres two miles from Valderrama where we are hoping to build an 18-hole course, five-star hotel, conference centre and health spa. This means I want to stay in golf, and having Valderrama next door will be a big attraction for the hotel. It will have a limited number of green-fees - and I mean limited, because Valderrama is a private club and I hope will remain so."
Patino doesn't have much sympathy with those American players who wanted to be paid for appearing in the Ryder Cup. "Any golfer who can say he's a Ryder Cup player automatically becomes much more attractive to sponsors," he said. "It is probably worth a million dollars in the following year, through appearance money, corporate days, clinics etc."
He can be viewed as something of an expert on such matters, given his deep involvement in the various commercial aspects surrounding the Ryder Cup. Patino has attended every match since the historic win at Lindrick in 1957 and conceived the idea of staging it when he attended the 1991 event at Kiawah Island as an official observer. Quite simply, he realised it could be bought.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Spain, there has been a fascinating reaction to events at Brookline. When Seve Ballesteros expressed serious reservations as to the leadership of Mark James, his successor as captain, it was pointed out to him that Europe had a potential winning lead of 10-6 on the Saturday night.
To which Ballesteros replied: "No, no. The lead was only 10-9. You could not expect to get a singles point from the three players (Jean Van de Velde, Jarmo Sandelin and Andrew Coltart) who came into the side for the first time on Sunday." Interesting.
"We were told initially by his management company that he plays only 72-hole events, but that quite obviously is not so." - Shell Wonderful World of Golf producer Terry Jastrow on their continuing attempts to get Tiger Woods onto the show.
Though the Ping hat on the rear windowledge was a bit of a giveaway, the red Ferrari in the car park at Valderrama this week could belong to anybody - well, with certain financial qualifications. Under Spanish law, Miguel Angel Jimenez, who captured the Volvo Masters last Sunday, could not indulge himself with a personalised number place.
Not for him the freedom of his British brethren. Like the famous Peter Alliss PUT 3, which now adorns a Bentley Turbo. Nor the DC 60 of Darren Clarke, the H1 TEE, owned by Ken Brown, and the CSM which is the property of Colin Montgomerie, whose middle name is Stuart. Then there is Nicholas Alexander Faldo's NAF and golf photographer Alex Jackson's YEL 4. And who could forget D1VOT, which former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher bought for a friend?
Jimenez, not surprisingly, is quite proud of his 550 Maranello, which he drove at high speed around the Jerez Grand Prix circuit beside Montecastillo last week. But it seems he has no wish to have the number-place publicised throughout his native country.
So, when pictured recently with the car, he specifically asked the photographer to blot out the plate, for fear of attracting vandals. As it happens, the Malaga registration of MA7601-CN could hardly start more appropriately, given the player's initials.
Typically, the golfing Irishman on Spain's Costa Del Sol is 50 years old and plays off 18 handicap. He is also a liberal spender and a worthy rival for the Finns when it comes to drinking. This was the view of Mike Lovett, the general manager of the delightful Mijas complex, which I visited earlier this week.
Irish golfers, men and women, contribute more than 20 per cent of Lovett's formidable green-fee business of 130,000 rounds annually. But the two courses, designed by Robert Trent Jones, are beginning to show wear and tear, which explains the decision to carry out major refurbishment. Starting next May, the smaller, Los Olivos stretch, opened in 1982, will be closed for a total rebuilding of all the greens and some rerouting.
The back nine is expected to be finished next October and the front nine will follow six months later. Work will then start on the premier, Los Lagos course, which was opened in 1974. It will be completed by the end of 2003. "We feel we owe it to our clients to have both courses in optimum condition," said Lovett.
This day in golf history . . . On November 6th 1979, Charles "Chick" Evans, who won both the US Open and the US Amateur in 1916, died aged 89. The only other player to have won this particular double was the great Bobby Jones, who achieved the feat in 1930. Evans won those titles with the modest complement of seven hickory-shafted clubs, yet his US Open record aggregate of 286 stood for 20 years before Tony Manero shot 282 at Baltusrol in 1936.
Seeing Ian-Baker Finch looking remarkably fit in the media centre at Valderrama the other morning in this new role as an ABC TV commentator, I wondered how he must have felt about a rather cruel piece in the current issue of the US magazine Golf Digest. It is written by regular, acerbic columnist Dan Jenkins, under the heading "The best of the bad".
In the course of the piece, Jenkins gives us his list of the nine worst golfers to win a major championship: Sam Parks Jnr (1935 US Open), Tom Creavy (1931 USPGA), Jack Fleck (1955 US Open), Bob Hamilton (1944 USPGA), Cyril Walker (1924 US Open), Ian Baker-Finch (1991 British Open), Reggie Whitcombe (1938 British Open), Arnaud Massy (1907), Fred Daly (1947 British Open).
The inclusion of Baker-Finch is clearly unfair, not least for the fact that his winning total of 272 at Royal Birkdale was seven strokes better than America's Johnny Miller did at the same venue 15 years previously. As for the merit of the 1947 winner at Hoylake: it is doubtful if Jenkins would even be aware of Fred Daly's nationality.
Teaser: Following on Lee Westwood's tangle with loose impediments (abandoned grass cuttings) during the Volvo Masters last weekend, we present this little conundrum. A half-eaten pear lies directly in front of a ball in a bunker and there is no pear tree in the vicinity of the bunker. In the circumstances, is the pear an obstruction rather than a loose impediment, in which case the player could remove it without penalty?
Answer: No. A pear is a natural object. When detached from a tree, it is a loose impediment. The fact that a pear has been half-eaten and there is no pear tree in the vicinity, does not alter the status of the pear.
