Now that Justin Rose has begun picking up prizemoney, he may find that the hitherto benevolent attitude of professionals towards him may change somewhat. This was certainly the experience of Frank Stranahan, the player whose British Open performances Rose came close to matching at Royal Birkdale last Sunday.
"When I was an amateur, they (professionals) didn't mind my beating them because they got the money anyway," recalled the American, who was runner-up in the 1947 US Masters and the British Open of 1947 and 1953. "But when I beat them as a pro, it was a little different."
At his peak, Stranahan was an extraordinary character. Apart from his golfing prowess, he claimed to be the only serious weightlifter to attain high stature in the game. He was also a very useful long-distance runner and competed in 102 marathons, with a best time of three hours 19 minutes in Boston.
He and his sister Barbara were the product of the second marriage of Robert Allen Stranahan Jnr, who founded the Champion Spark Plug Co in Toledo, Ohio. So, Frank never needed to concern himself with money and was drawn to golf because "it was something I could do by myself and get all the credit for success. I always liked to be on my own."
A contemporary, Bill Campbell, recalled recently: "To succeed in golf was vital to Frank's sense of well-being. But I told him in 1950 that when he lost, it was going to be devastating because he had nothing else to counter it." From the age of 10 until he was 40, Stranahan was consumed by golf but now, at 75, he hasn't played the game for years and shows no interest in ever doing so again.
Twice winner of the British Amateur, he had some wonderful tussles with Joe Carr, who beat him 2 and 1 in the Walker Cup at Birkdale in 1951, when Stranahan was at the peak of his powers. But the big prize of the US Amateur eluded him. Because his father desperately wanted him to win it, he waited until 1954 before turning professional.
As it happened, his US Amateur swansong that year was in Detroit, where all his father's business associates were. But the so-called Toledo Strong Boy was beaten in the fifth round by the eventual winner, Arnold Palmer. He then turned professional and had only moderate success, winning the 1955 Eastern Open and the 1958 Los Angeles Open.
Notoriously self-willed, he was unpopular with British caddies who were used to having their advice taken. The story is told that a certain caddie, on being sent ahead to give Stranahan the line for a blind shot to a green, deliberately directed him into thick gorse. When the player arrived on the scene, the caddie showed him the ball and said: "Well, sir, if you think you know so much about it, let's see you get out of that." And he promptly departed the scene.
Huge inducements in the modern professional game have ensured that the era of Stranahan, Carr and their like, will never be seen again. A fact which Rose acknowledged last weekend.
"If I have to get a new hip, I'd like to get ready for next year's Masters and the US Open, if I can be competitive," Jack Nicklaus, commenting on the problem which caused him to withdraw from last week's British Open.
Golf has a tradition of placing plaques to commemorate remarkable shots. There is the one at Royal Lytham's 17th, honouring the 175-yard bunker recovery by Bobby Jones in 1926; on the 10th tee at The Belfry, where Seve Ballesteros was the first to drive the green and, of course, at Royal Birkdale's 16th, com- memorating a 150-yard six-iron from rough by Arnold Palmer.
For the moment, there are no plans for a plaque on the first hole at the K Club to honour Tiger Woods. Word of mouth will be sufficient to bring gasps from those familiar with the course, when they hear that he reduced the 584-yard par-five - yes, he was off the extreme back-tee - to a drive and a four-iron.
Before anybody jumps to the notion that he must have had gale-forced winds behind him, I have been assured that there was no more than a gentle, cross-breeze over his right shoulder. And its moderate strength can be gauged from the fact that it was directly against Woods at the long, 606-yard seventh, where he was on the green with a drive and three wood - and lipped out for an eagle three.
"He and Mark O'Meara arrived here on the Saturday morning before Birkdale and about 60 of our members watched them play the course in the afternoon," said director of golf, Paul Crowe. "Tiger shot 67 and Mark shot 68. Then Tiger went out for another nine holes on Sunday morning." He added: "We've had a lot of big names through here but nobody who generating so much excitement. "
Three weeks ago, Se Ri Pak, the golfing sensation from South Korea, picked out a two-month-old spotted beagle bitch at an Orlando kennel. "It cost be $300," she said of her good-luck charm. Since the dog arrived, Pak has won $378,500 in prize-money, including the top cheque in the US Women's Open.
Six days after her play-off victory over Jenny Chausiriporn at Blackwolf Run in Wisconsin, the Korean had a tournament record nine-stroke victory in the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic. In doing so, she shot a second round 61 and became only the third woman, with Louise Suggs and Jane Geddes, to win the week following the US Open.
"Tiger's win at the Masters was incredible, but she's managed to top that," said fellow rookie, Kelli Kuehne. Pak's ambition is to be compared with Nancy Lopez and Betsy King. "Keep playing many, many years and have to know many things to get better," she said, while pulling gently on the ears of her pet. The dog's name? "Happy".
Each of the three World Championship events next year - the Andersen Consulting (February 24th to 28th, Carlsbad), the NEC Invitational (August 26th to 29th, Firestone) and the American Express Championship (November 4th to 7th at Valderrama) - will carry prize funds of $5 million.
Brian Watts, beaten by Mark O'Meara in a play-off last Sunday, may find that people do actually remember who was second in the British Open - because of the consistently high quality of runners-up, over the years. Since World War II, the most notable of these is undoubtedly Jack Nicklaus who, apart from his three triumphs, has been second on seven occasions.
But runners-up also include such illustrious names as Fred Daly (1948), Harry Bradshaw (1949), Roberto de Vicenzo (1950), Peter Thomson (1952 and 1957), Arnold Palmer (1960), Christy O'Connor (1965), Bob Charles (1969), Seve Ballesteros (1976), Lee Trevino (1980), Bernhard Langer (1981 and 1984), Tom Watson (1984), Payne Stewart (1985 and 1990) and Nick Faldo (1993).
Indeed the only runnersup during that period who could have been considered weak, were Gordon J Brand (1986) and Simon Owen, who was tied with Raymond Floyd, Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw behind Nicklaus in 1978.
This day in golf history . . . . On July 25th, 1930, the Merion Cricket Club in Ardmore Pennsylvania, announced the completion of its new, state-of-the-art watering system, in time for the upcoming US Amateur Championship. Later re-named Merion Golf Club, it had one of the shortest courses on the US Open rota and measured a modest 6,544 yards when David Graham won the championship's last staging there in 1981.
In the event, the installation of the watering system proved to be an inspired decision. Only two weeks previously, Bobby Jones captured the US Open at Interlachen, so completing the third leg of the famous Grand Slam, or the Impregnable Quadrilateral, as the Americans grandly called it.
When Merion's greens had been automatically watered for eight weeks, Jones gave them the ultimate imprimatur by realising his dream with a victory in the US Amateur. Merion is noted for having wicker baskets on its flagsticks, rather than flags.
In Brief: Bearna GC, which I had the pleasure of visiting last year, will have its official opening next Tuesday when the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, will do the honours . . . . John Arrigan tells me that the Portlaoise Lions Club will be having their Charity Golf Classic at The Heath on August 2nd. Time sheet at (0502) 46533.
Teaser: In view of the situation Mark O'Meara found himself in during the third round of the British Open last Saturday, this little conundrum may be of interest. A player searched for his ball for two minutes, declared it lost and started back to play another ball at the spot from which the original ball was played. Before he put another ball into play, his original ball was found within the five-minute period allowed for search. What is the ruling?
Answer: A player cannot render a ball lost by a declaration. The original ball remained in play.
