THIS has become professional golf's first international matchplay week; the only occasion in the history of the game when all the world's leading players have gone head to head. In the process, the Andersen Consulting Matchplay tournament at La Costa has set us thinking about the game's most memorable battles, some of them pivotal to the destiny of the Ryder Cup.

Inevitably, one is drawn to Wentworth and the World Matchplay Championship, especially in 1965. That was when Gary Player made what has become widely acknowledged as the greatest of all recoveries, one that he claimed "contains my while life story".

In the 36-hole match against the urbane American, Tony Lema, Player was seven down with 17 to play; got it back to three down; lost another hole and was still two down with three to play. A birdie at the last brought him level, and on the first tie hole he went ahead for the first time since the 11th tee.

Then there was Sandy Lyle's breathtaking victory over Nick Faldo in the same event in 1982, when the Anglo-Scot came from six down at lunchtime to win on the 35th. And Ernie Els overcame the same lunchtime deficit in 1996 to beat Steve Stricker on the last green.

So, is the greatest matchplay triumph in the history of golf to be found there? Or in a Ryder Cup win, possibly those by Nick Faldo and Philip Walton at Oak Hill in 1995? Or in the memorable championship successes by British and Irish amateurs? My answer would be none of the above.

The greatest win came at the curiously-named Merion Cricket Club on September 27th, 1930, when Bobby Jones had to overcome Eugene Homans in the final of the US Amateur to capture golf's so-called Impregnable Quadrilateral.

O B Keeler, Jones's biographer, caught the moment beautifully when he wrote: "As Bobby Jones walked onto the fourth green in the afternoon round . . . Big Bob Jones, his daddy, asked another spectator how he stood. The answer was that Bobby at the moment was eight up and was winning that hole, which would be nine up.

"Big Bob meditated a moment. Then he said, not to the gallery but all to himself: `Nine up and 14 to go.' And then, it might seem more inconsequently, he began to sing, very softy, quite to himself: `There's a long, long trail awinding/Into the land of my dreams'."

The winning margin was 8 and 7, yet it had been the most gruelling challenge of Jones's Grand Slam campaign. During that week at Merion, he admitted to Keeler: "It is the first tournament in which I have ever played that I could not sleep at night. There is something on my mind that I cannot shake off."

When it was all over, he was accorded the unique distinction of becoming the only person ever to be feted in two, New York ticker-tape parades: the previous occasion was in 1926 when he captured the US Open and British Open in the same year. And sleep returned.

"It's as if all the guests of Jerry Springer just discovered golf and Springer's producers are shipping them by the trailerload to the TPC of Scottsdale." - Brian Hewitt, of Golfweek, claiming that the arrest of an apparently drunken fan carrying a .38-calibre semi-automatic pistol at the recent Phoenix Open is only the tip of the iceberg.

HAPPENINGS at La Costa have prompted copious outpourings from so-called experts in the US on the special requirements of matchplay. It's as if our American brethren had never encountered the notion of man against man, despite the amateur successes of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

One of their leading magazines has gone so far as to set out 10 matchplay tactics which "have gained virtually universal acceptance". When I read tactic number one - "Play the course, not your opponent" - to Joe Carr, he immediately blurted "balderdash", or a shorter word to that effect.

Carr, who would be moderately familiar with the process having won 28 important matchplay titles, including three British Amateurs, went on: "The only man I heard of who had the talent simply to play the course was (Ben) Hogan. I watched my opponent like a hawk. That's what matchplay is all about." So there.

IN keeping with Augusta National mystique, officials are not commenting on reported plans to introduce serious rough for this year's US Masters on April 8th to 11th. It is described as the most significant development to the course since the greens were changed from Bermuda to bent-grass, nearly 20 years ago.

When Mark O'Meara defends the title, he will most certainly encounter additional yardage at the second, 11th and 17th holes, and subtle changes to the long 15th. Extending the overall length of the course from 6,925 yards to 6,985, however, will be no more than an irritant to Masters challengers. But rough would be an entirely different matter.

The belief is that the normal, so-called second cut of fiveeights of an inch, could be as deep as 13/8 in by tournament time - almost the depth of a golf ball. This would have the potential to create havoc for competitors hitting approach shots from flierlies to notoriously fast and firm greens. Small wonder they're watching developments with considerable interest.

THE best comment to emerge so far from the World Matchplay at La Costa? Undoubtedly the one from Nick Faldo who, when asked how his game was prior to the match with Tiger Woods, replied: "My form is somewhere between karaoke and rap. Like, crap."

Apart from a dry sense of humour, Faldo has been displaying other skills of late beyond those which brought him six major titles. Like his ability as a club designer with Adams Golf, in which he has 900,000 shares plus the right to appoint a director to the board.

"I've been playing golf for 20 years and had some good ideas, but they were falling flat with other companies," said the player who split with Mizuno last May. "Even if you had an idea, it took six months for a note to come back."

But Barney Adams was more than happy to listen. Which explains the arrival of the classic, Faldo-designed wedge with an asymmetric sole aimed at delivering three shots - bunker escapes, pitches and lobs. Apparently he started with a blank wedge and wound up grinding and sanding the first prototype himself. His next project? Faldo is currently working on irons, one set for professionals and one for amateurs.

NOW for the latest offering from Leslie Nielsen, the self-proclaimed Duffer's Guru. Among other things, he claims to be "a lifelong student of the game, who happened to get a look at a few of the answers when the real teachers left the class to go peek through the window of the girls' locker room".

And his conclusion? "Now, I'm not saying that golf can't be taught," he concedes. "Golf can be taught. It's just that it can't be learned. This fundamental and unalterable fact remains why so many aspiring players spend so much time and money taking lessons from gifted instructors and never seem to improve. In fact they usually get worse.

"Of course that doesn't explain how so many pros can still make a living teaching it. But then, there's a lot about golf I don't understand." Amen to that.

THIS DAY IN GOLF HISTORY . . . On February 28th, 1927, Walter Hagen beat Gene Sarazen in a 72-hole exhibition match in the US, where gate receipts of $6,000 were considered "a good take". Indeed it was excellent money for the time, even though an exchange-rate of 4.86 meant it converted to a more modest £1,282. Friendly clashes between the pair dated back to 1921 when, as US Open and USPGA champion, Sarazen challenged Hagen to a 72-hole match for the unofficial world championship. He won on that occasion, and also beat Hagen in the final of the USPGA the following year.

By that stage, they had become good friends who were destined to dominate the US professional scene for a number of years. In fact the pair are credited with doing wonders for the image of tournament professionals, though Sarazen was generous enough to give the major share of the credit to Hagen.

Teaser: Gamesmanship is often considered to be part and parcel of classic golfing confrontations. Against that background, let us consider the following situation. A made a statement regarding his club selection which was purportedly misleading and was obviously intended to be overheard by B, who had a similar shot. What is the ruling?

Answer: A was in breach of Rule 8-1 (Advice) and lost the hole in matchplay or incurred a two-stroke penalty in strokeplay. Note: According to Rule 8, advice is any counsel or suggestion which could influence a player in determining his play, the choice of a club or the method of making a stroke.