Three Dublin golfers face serious disciplinary action tonight when they come before the officers of the Leinster Branch of the GUI. The move arises from a get-tough policy on golf classics, decided at the union's annual general meeting last February.
At the time, the GUI were forced to accept that a proportion of the country's male golfers were unwilling to treat their sporting pursuit as a game of honour. So it was decided that golf classics should be strictly monitored with a view to identifying regular or, given the nature of the disease, chronic prize winners.
It culminated in host clubs being directed to seek permission at Branch level for the staging of such classics. And they would then be obliged to forward the results, specifically the first, second and third-placed teams.
In this way, it would be possible to establish a "form guide" whereby appropriate action could be taken by the competitors' home club under the general play rule. But the Union emphasised that they were simply attempting to seek out cheats, rather than undermine the considerable good that is done by these events, notably in fund-raising for charity.
"That remains our objective, but we have made some very interesting discoveries," said Leinster Branch chairman, Paddy Murphy, yesterday. "For instance, the three players coming before us tomorrow have had some remarkable success in golf classics over the last year.
"It has also come to our attention that the fourth member of their group has been representing himself as a member of a club where he is not, in fact, a member. They were warned as to their behaviour but it didn't seem to have any effect."
So, what sort of action are the Branch likely to take? "If the facts are as we suspect, they would be guilty of signing a card incorrectly. That could lead to their handicaps being suspended."
Murphy made it clear that the Union have approached the issue in a careful, methodical manner, so as to ensure that nobody is accused in the wrong. "In simple terms, we are trying to clean up the classics where certain people were behaving more or less as they pleased," he said.
By their very nature, these events pose serious problems for the authorities insofar as technically, they don't come under the rules of golf. But handicap-abuse is being targeted, with some success. For instance, Murphy informed me that certain players in the Munster area have had their handicaps reduced at club level, as a result of their performances in team events.
On a broader level, handicap-abuse was targeted by the Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU) at the beginning of this year, leading to qualifying scores being converted to the Stableford system. But where the three players before the Branch tonight are concerned, the case to be answered is essentially about cheating through misrepresentation.
Mark Kilgore emerged the hero as Derry, for the second year in a row, won the Ulster section of the All-Ireland Inter-county Championship at Murvagh. In the provincial final Derry beat former All-Ireland champions Down 3-2 with Kilgore securing the all-important third point which put the issue beyond doubt. Kilgore fought a tense battle with Ulster Boys' champion James Clarke (Holywood) before clinching victory on the home green.
Kilgore was two up playing the 15th hole but three-putted that one to lose it and just one hole separated the pair. However, Kilgore held on for a one-hole win.
FINAL - Derry 3, Down 2 (Derry names first): Jones lost to McCormick one hole; Ballentine bt Morris 7 and 6; Lundy bt Sinclair 5 and 4; Kilgore bt Clarke one hole; Higgins lost to Gibson 4 and 3.
