It seemed odd, somehow, being confronted by a journalist dodging questions from his colleagues. But since Derek Lawrenson happens to be the golf correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph, we reluctantly agreed that they should have exclusive rights to the "full story" in tomorrow's issue.

Mind you, he gave me an appealing Irish angle on the now famous hole-in-one which earned him a £189,000 Lamborghini Diablo at a pro-am at the Mill Ride course in Ascot on Wednesday. "When Paula rang her parents with the news, I understand they drank my health in the pubs in Castlebar," said the 38-yearold.

That's the hometown of his wife, who gave birth to their first child, Conor, five weeks ago. As a qualified nurse, she runs the children's nursery at Birmingham University. Indeed it was largely with her and Conor in mind that the eight-handicap member of Moor Hall GC decided to forfeit his amateur status and keep the value of the car.

"I just have to accept it," he said. "I might have thought about it had the car been worth, say, £15,000. But we are talking family security for the rest of my life. That must be worth more than any monthly medal."

The Royal and Ancient frown on such awards which they describe as "improper prizes". But it's not the first time they have been confronted with the situation. "We've had two such incidents in the last eight months, though the value of the car was considerably lower," said R and A rules official, Grant Moir, yesterday.

Though he emphasised that any decision on reinstatement would be a matter for the Amateur Status Committee, Moir went on to suggest that "in similar cases, the normal period would be 10 years". But he added: "Whether the larger sum of money involved here would change matters, I couldn't say."

So, the left-hander could conceivably take the prize, forfeit his amateur status and have his full playing rights restored before 2010. In fact he could continue to play competitively in his club with a domestic handicap, if they so decided.

As far as the R and A are concerned, the only thing that Lawrenson is forced to surrender is his handicap. "Though we might express strong views on certain issues, we do not have any influence over the internal decisions of an individual club," said Muir. "Our formal links are with the respective national unions."

"Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood and Patrik Sjoland are so good, they'll fetch other young players along with them - just like what happened to me, when I played with Nick (Faldo) and Sandy (Lyle)." - Ian Woosnam.

A SMART young English statistician has been looking back enviously at the price of golf 25 years ago. And he has concluded that things were considerably better at a time when the mid-week green-fee at Royal Birkdale, the venue for this year's British Open, was a modest £4.

By his reckoning, the average price of green-fees has risen 19-fold since then. And if the same increase were applied to other items, we would now be paying £390 for a pair of shoes; £90 for a dozen balls and £3,400 for a set of clubs. In fact the only item that has outstripped green-fee increases is prize money, which has increased almost 40-fold.

Golf Journal, the official magazine of the USGA, is currently celebrating its golden jubilee. And in a special, anniversary issue, this little tale caught my fancy. It concerned events on a summer's day about 10 years ago, when Diane Becker requested the removal of several gutta percha balls from a special exhibit case in Golf House Museum, New Jersey.

Though she initially balked, assistant curator Karen Bednarski eventually relented when told the photographs were needed urgently by Journal editor, Bob Sommers. Minutes later, the scuffed, discoloured and priceless balls were laid out on a green, felt cloth.

"With no studio, I used the porch of the upstairs conference room to shoot my stills," recalled Becker. "I remember setting up the shot just the way I wanted it, then turning away to pick up my camera. By the time I looked back, the balls had somehow rolled off the cloth and into the hole of a pipe that led straight down to the main, storm-drain system.

"For those few seconds, my life flashed before my eyes. I went running for a maintenance man. When we got back to the trap, he expressed the view that there was a screen or a trap separating the porch drainpipe from the town's big sewer pipes that ran underground."

She concluded: "If he had been wrong, those golf balls would never have been seen again. But it turned out there was a trap and he fished them out - all muddy but otherwise okay." So, Becker cleaned the gutties used by Ouimet, photographed them and returned them to the case, where they now reside.

When "no return" went after Philip Walton's name for the delayed second round at The Oxfordshire last Saturday morning, there were nods and winks from certain observers in the media centre. Given his position of seven-over-par for the tournament with just the 18th to be played, where else would he go only straight back to Dublin?

"No return" was also posted for Jose Coceres, who, on 14-over, did in fact go for the first suitable flight. So, with the remaining member of the three-ball, Mathias Gronberg, in the process of making the cut, who attested to his 18th hole score? Walton, that's who. So why "no return"?

"With no chance of making the cut when play was suspended on Friday night, I paid off my caddie," he explained. "I had already decided I wasn't going to carry my own bag up the 18th, but I got up at 7.30 the following morning just the same. And I made a `no return' and walked the hole with Gronberg. Which I felt was the right thing to do." Just so.

Per-Ulrik Johansson mischievously lifted the cap off my head remarking with a mischievous grin: "You've got it on the wrong way." The right way for the Swede happens to be back to front, though it would be hard to tell from the advertising, given that he had the same logo at both ends - a sort of each-way bet.

There was a time when golfing giants such as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus played bare-headed. Now, the most valuable advertising space at a tournament, is on a leading competitor's hat or visor. As one industry spokesman explained: "The front of the hat can be worth up to $250,000 and the right side is valued at around $50,000."

With intense competition for sales of equipment these days, a successful player who is regularly on television, becomes a crucial asset. For instance, Nicklaus now wears a cap or visor with the Golden Bear logo, while Tiger Woods is rarely seen without a Nike cap.

But with so much money in the game, some professionals demur at the idea of becoming a walking placard. Phil Mickelson can earn between $20 million and $30 million from a new, five-year contract with Yonex, depending on how much he is prepared to be exploited. And he was bare-headed when I saw him recently in the MCI Classic at Harbour Town.

Meanwhile, Johansson is very much the cool Swede. "When I get to your age, I'll wear it the right way around," he advised me cheekily, once more flashing that boyish grin.

This day in golf history . . . . On May 23rd 1946, David Graham was born in Melbourne, Australia and left school on his 14th birthday against his father's wishes to become a professional golfer. On first appearing in the Irish Open in 1977, he missed the cut and felt honour-bound to make it up to the sponsors.

As it happened, he was the reigning US Open champion when he returned in 1981 and shot an aggregate of 284 for a share of 11th place behind Sam Torrance. We shouldn't have been surprised as his de- termination to make up for the lapse of four years previously, given the evidence of earlier events in Australia.

Having taken the job of head professional at a club in Tasmania as an 18-year-old, he proceeded to run up debts of £4,000 over the next three years. But he then took a job with an Australian golf-club manufacturer and for 18 months he never went out, lived on baked beans and fish-and- chips and paid off his debts.

Teaser: A and B are partners in a fourball Stableford competition. During the play of a hole, A and B find they have exchanged balls at the previous hole. What is the ruling?

Answer: A and B are not disqualified from the competition but only for the hole at which they exchanged balls, for which they score no points.