EVEN at this early stage, it seems virtually guaranteed that the Ryder Cup at Valderrama will be a memorable occasion - irrespective of the outcome. The pot is already being stirred so effectively by European skipper, Seve Ballesteros, that one can imagine what it will be like when the teams actually come to town.
Ballesteros is not a great advocate of reasoned argument:
nor are there any shades of grey in his colouring book. His philosophy is that you protect your own interests in a golfing war, which is how he has always viewed the Ryder Cup. So it is with the issue of the captain's picks.
As Paul McGinley pointed out this week, the current controversy has nothing to do with deeply-held convictions or strategic planning. Rather it is a knee-jerk response to the dramatic return of Jose-Maria Olazabal and the splendid start that Sweden's Jesper Parnevik has made to his season in the US.
"I also believe that deep down, Seve hasn't ruled out picking himself," said McGinley. "So, the more picks the merrier, as far as he's concerned." But the Irishman added: "As one of those who could be on the fringe, I don't go along with him. That's why I'll be voting for no change in the players' ballot."
All of this public wrangling will come as no surprise to the Americans, whose views on Ballesteros are represented in John Feinstein's book A Good Walk Spoiled. He described the Spaniard as "a legendary Ryder Cup figure over the years, not only for his brilliant play but for his gamesmanship."
Feinstein suggested that Ballesteros was famous for "coughing at the right (or wrong) moment, for creating a confrontation to throw off an opponent's concentration, for somehow finding a way to get to the psyche of the opposition." And he might have included further observations, had the book been written after the Spaniard's meeting with Tom Lehman at Oak Hill.
Under the headline Seve couldn't rattle Lehman, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported: "... on the 12th green (where Lehman was accused of putting out of turn), Seve Ballesteros reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out his gamesmanship club."
Against that background, the Americans will be thinking that the 1997 psychological war has already started. And who could blame them?
"WHEN you're 42, the body doesn't respond like when you're 25. At 25, you drink a few beers, eat cheeseburgers and go out and shoot 64. Now when I shoot 64 I'm usually standing on the 14th tee." American Peter Jacobsen, explaining why he is lowering his sugar and caffeine intake so as to improve his health.
NEXT month at Augusta will mark the 13th occasion that a non-American has defended the US Masters. And as it happens, Nick Faldo is the only such competitor to retain the title, which he did in 1990 when setting a record aggregate of 278 for a so-called international defender of the title.
This is how international players have fared in defence of the Masters: Gary Player (aged: 26)1962 - tied 2nd (lost play- 26)1962 - tied 2nd (lost play- off to Arnold Palmer); Player (39) 1975 - T30th; Player (43) 1979 - T17th; Seve Ballesteros (24) 1981 - missed cut; Ballesteros (27) 1984 - MC; Bernhard Langer (27) 1986 - T16th; Sandy Lyle (31) 1989 - MC; Faldo (32) 1990 - Winner (after play-off with Raymond Floyd); Faldo (33) 1991 - T12th; Ian Woosnam (34) 1992 - T19th; Langer (36) 1994 - T25th; Jose-Maria Olazabal (29) 1995 -T14th.
GAMESMANSHIP is considered by many to be a lost art, a victim of the big money now in professional golf. Dave Marr, the former USPGA champion turned television pundit, clearly subscribes to that view, claiming: "There was a little more hustle in the older guys."
Their attitude was captured beautifully in Sam Snead's famous comment: "Give me a guy with a fast swing and a pocket full of money." And by Lee Trevino's assertion that pressure is: "Having a $20 putt on the 18th, with $10 in your pocket.
The point is prompted by the recent reflections of Jim Thorpe, the gifted black American who played with Christy O'Connor Snr in the Irish Open at Portmarnock in 1989, finishing in a share of 44th place behind Ian Woosnam. By his own admission, Thorpe's experience of hustling golf with his brother Chuck in the late 1960s and early 1970s, proved to be invaluable later on.
Though he was 48 in January, Thorpe probably wouldn't qualify as one of the "older guys" to whom Marr was referring. But his reminiscences are nonetheless fascinating, particularly of the occasion when no less a figure than Jack Nicklaus tried to hustle him out of his first US Tour victory.
It happened in 1985, when Thorpe and Nicklaus were paired in the final round of the Greater Milwaukee Open. The outsider had built up a three-stroke lead with only one hole to play, but the Bear's experience told him that anything could still happen.
"How does it feel," inquired Nicklaus, "to be walking down the last fairway with a three-shot lead over the greatest player to play the game?" Thorpe didn't miss a step. Turning to the great man, he said: "It feels like you can't win.
As it happened, Thorpe, who later encountered serious back problems, went on to gain two further tournament victories. He captured the Tucson Matchplay Championship that year and retained it in 1986, the year Nicklaus won his last regular tour event, the US Masters.
VICENTE FERNANDEZ has been experiencing the power of television. In one year on the US Seniors' Tour, he has become more famous in his native Argentina than in 25 years in Europe where, incidentally, he won five tournaments including the 1979 PGA Championship.
His last European success was in the 1992 English Open at The Belfry, where he sank a decisive putt of 87 feet on the 72nd green. And as with the other events in which he competed, he duly sent a report to the La Nacion newspaper, back in Buenos Aires.
After his 50th birthday on April 5th of last year, Fernandez decided to try his luck on the US Seniors' Tour with dramatic results. In only his eighth attempt at Monday qualifying, he went all the way to, victory in the Burnet Senior Classic at Bunker Hills last June to earn $187,500, the biggest prize of his career. And he ended the season with $605,251.
"The reaction at home has been fantastic," he said this week. "Since ESPN has been covering senior golf, it's the first opportunity for my country to follow an Argentine golfer live on TV. If someone had told me I'd become a celebrity this way, I would have said they were crazy." Which makes one wonder what the same coverage would have done for Argentina's greatest golfer, Roberto de Vicenzo.
HEART-SURGEON Maurice Neligan informs me of a £1 million Shoot-Out at Elm Park GC on Monday, April 14th. The idea, involving 30 personalities, is to publicise a fund-raising campaign by The Cardiac Surgical Foundation aimed at reducing the growing list of 1,600 people awaiting heart surgery.
Placing the problem in perspective, Neligan asked: "Could you imagine setting out to play a game of golf and finding 1,600 people in a queue waiting to tee-off ahead of you?" If any of the Shoot-Out participants is successful in holing in one at Elm Park's opening par-three, £1 million will be donated to the foundation. Neligan and colleague Eilis McGovern will be the first to try. Details from Denise Walsh at (01) 6685699.
TEASER: When marking the position of a ball, must the ball-marker be placed behind the ball, or may it also be placed to the side of or in front of the ball?
ANSWER: There is no restriction. However, if a player positions his ball-marker in front of the ball on the putting green, and in the process does something to the green which might influence the movement of the ball when played, e.g. presses down a raised turf of grass, he is in breach of Rule 1-2. Placing a ball-marker in front of the ball is not recommended but is not a breach of Rule 16-1a, because this rule permits touching the line of putt in lifting a ball, and marking the position of the ball is part of the lifting process.
