Billy Feherty has been wondering whether the scoring blitz of his son David at Lisburn in 1989, could be compared with the record 28under-par by Mark Calcavecchia in the recent Phoenix Open. The answer is, not quite.

Having re-modelled his swing with the help of Bob Torrance - Padraig Harrington's coach - Feherty shot rounds of 65, 64, 68, 65 at Lisburn for a winning, 26-under-par aggregate of 262 in the Ulster Championship. At the time, he remarked: "If I wasn't a tour pro, I don't think I would play the game. Maybe I'd become a gentleman of leisure."

Which many would argue is what he has become as a commentator with the CBS Network in the US.

Meanwhile, the lowest, 72-hole aggregate in a professional tournament in this country was produced by Des Smyth in the last staging of the Irish Dunlop at Headfort in 1980. With rounds of 65, 67, 65, 64 for 261, Smyth was 27 under par, no fewer than 16 strokes clear of second-placed Peter Townsend. Christy O'Connor's lowest aggregate here was 264, when winning the Irish Professional Championship at Bangor in 1962, and Philip Walton compiled 266 in the same event at Castle in 1989.