As Harry Bradshaw might have said, this is a time of year to remember well-loved golfing heroes, and all to that. And yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the Brad's death. Only a month previously, he had been driven north by Paddy Skerritt for the funeral of his great friend and golfing partner, Fred Daly. The Brad took great pride in proclaiming that he and Fred had never been beaten as a partnership, either in Ryder Cup or exhibition matches around the world.

In fact he recalled: "On one occasion in South Africa, we took on the best ball of four amateurs who played off scratch, one, two and three handicap. And we beat them twice. Fred had nerves of steel when the crunch came and I could always manage to sink the odd putt."

But from a sentimental standpoint, no match meant more to The Brad than an exhibition on October 21st, 1970. The occasion marked Fred's 25 years as a professional at Balmoral and the pair of them teamed up to crush former Ryder Cup colleagues, Eric Brown and Max Faulkner, by 6 and 4.

Meanwhile, given that sad trip North in 1990, it is good to be able to report that Paddy Skerritt is making a splendid recovery from a lengthy illness. Which will please the many friends who delighted in his most notable victory, in the Alcan International at Portmarnock 30 years ago.