Peter Thomson was in a reflective mood as guest speaker earlier this week at the year's most distinguished golfing gathering. It was the annual dinner of the Association of Golf Writers at Royal Troon, where the great Australian clearly had much to reflect on, given a spectacular playing career which included five British Open titles.

He spoke of the dramatic improvement in golf equipment since his day and about the remarkable change in the nature of links terrain. And after paying due tribute to Bobby Locke and how deserving the South African was of his four Open titles, he talked of another "of the greatest players of my time."

"Unfortunately, you won't find his name on the roll of honour for this championship, because he never won it," said Thomson. "And he wasn't British. But he was the best European golfer of that era.

"I refer to an Irishman - Christy O'Connor. And when I think of Christy I think of that ramrod straight left arm, which remains that way, even now in his seventies. He went close to winning the Open on a number of occasions, but for some reason or other, he never made the breakthrough. Luck didn't seem to be with him when it mattered."

Thomson, who is to receive the Ambassador of Golf Award at the World Series in Firestone next month, had many a wonderful tussle with O'Connor. But when I last saw them do battle, it was in decidedly congenial circumstances - in an exhibition match 14 years ago to mark the official opening of Stackstown GC.

As it happened, O'Connor won easily, not that it mattered. And when I asked him afterwards for an assessment of Thomson as an adversary, he replied: "Peter's greatest strength was his wonderful concentration, whatever the circumstances."

This week, Thomson went on to talk about the difference in the lush nature of Troon, from the days when all British Open courses seemed to have a burnt, brown look about them and the old, small golf ball was swept on the wind. "I remember playing at St Andrews when it was necessary to hit your drive at the first, almost to the Swilcan Bridge (about 50 yards left of the normal line), so as to have any chance of stopping your approach shot on the green," he said.

Thomson concluded: "But I suppose the thing I like to remember most, is the friendships we made off the course. The rivalry wasn't so fierce then as it seems to be these days. And I'm talking about a time when all the guys, including Henry Cotton, were club professionals. That's a marvellous thing when you look at their record."

"You have to live on a golf course and be able to support me and my family. I'm available." O J Simpson, erstwhile member of the Riviera Club, describing what he'd like in a new wife, on US television's American Journal.

Jack Nicklaus is the acknowledged expert on the accumulation of major golf titles. And without saying as much, he indicated that the latest player to challenge his record, Tiger Woods, could do worse than find himself a strong, caring wife.

How significant a part did Nicklaus's wife - they married in September 1961, nine months before his first US Open win - play in his 18 professional major triumphs? "I think that Barbara played a tremendous part," he replied. "You know I hate to think where anybody would be without the support they receive at home."

He concluded: "For my own part, I got extra support at home. Barbara was terrific. She's the strength of our family. Anybody who knows my wife will know that. I just tag along."

It seems that a number of things about this year's Murphy's Irish Open were a source of irritation to Nick Faldo. The main purpose of his criticism, he claimed, was the hope that facilities on the European Tour could be raised to American standards.

Among the problems Faldo highlighted about Druids Glen was the distance from the clubhouse to the practice ground, beside the 16th hole. Granted, it is far from ideal. In fact it could be considered almost as inconvenient as the practice ground at Pebble Beach, where Faldo plays each year in the AT&T Pro-Am.

I experienced the Pebble Beach arrangement during the 1992 US Open, when I estimated that the practice ground - a converted polo field - was more than half a mile from the first tee, generally uphill. US colleagues, who have to cope with the same situation in the AT&T, reckon the distance is closer to 1,000 yards.

Mind you, it didn't present much of a problem to Faldo and his fellow players during the US Open, in that they were ferried there in buggies. Unlike my journalistic colleagues and I, who walked.

There's still rumblings among US Tour players about the refusal by Tiger Woods to sign a golf ball for fellow professionals Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon. Part of an agreement they entered into for charity was that a display unit, auctioned recently for $50,000, would eventually contain golf balls autographed by the 1997, 1998 and 1999 US Masters winners.

In the event, Woods declined on the grounds that he had a policy against doing such things. But the story has had a happy ending, courtesy of American entertainers Glenn Frey and Joe Pesci. On reading about it in a local newspaper, two brothers aged eight and 11, agreed to donate one of two balls that Woods had autographed for them at the 1995 US Amateur at Newport CC.

Meanwhile, another display case, containing autographed balls from 28 celebrities who took part in a charity tournament, was auctioned. After landing it with a bid of $6,000, Frey and Pesci announced that they were presenting it to the two youngsters.

"There wasn't a dry eye in the house," said Andrade. And the day's activities raised more than $300,000 which was later donated to 20 children's charities.

Winged Foot is to play host to the USPGA Championship next month. And other leading clubs, such as Medinah and Valhalla are desperate to follow suit. The objective? That it would become a stepping stone towards landing the 2003 Ryder Cup, which is in the gift of the PGA of America.

The fact is that while the USPGA Championship remains one of the game's four "majors", it has become secondary to the Ryder Cup which generates substantially more hospitality and merchandising revenues.

Bobby Clampett played only one tournament in the US last year and failed to make the cut. In fact he hasn't finished in the top 100 of the money list there since 1987. That was five years after Troon and one of the most dramatic collapses in the history of the British Open.

Still only 37, Clampett has effectively retired from tournament golf so as to concentrate on television work with the CBS Network. But with NBC having the US TV rights, he's not at Troon this week, not even on a sentimental journey. "I haven't come back after 1983 because I wasn't exempt," he said. "I'm happy to settle for the memories I still have of the Open."

Clampett shot rounds of 67 and 66 to lead the 1982 Open by five strokes at the halfway stage. It was a wonderful story, not least for the fact that he wore gaudy plus-fours, or knickers as the Americans call them. "It was my first British Open and I wore them because I expected to see everybody in them," he laughed.

As it happened, Clampett collapsed over the final two rounds to eventually finish 10th. And later that year, to exorcise the demons of Troon, he wore the plus-fours once more. That was in the Southern Open, which gave him his only tour victory.

Teaser: A player consistently places his ball-marker approximately two inches behind the ball on the green. He says that he does so to ensure that he does not accidentally move the ball. Does such a procedure comply with the rules? Answer: No. A player who places a ball-marker two inches behind the ball cannot be considered to have marked the position of the ball with sufficient accuracy. Accordingly, each time he does so, the player incurs a penalty of one stroke, as provided in Rule 20-1, and must place the ball as near as possible to the spot from which it was lifted (Rule 20-3c). The player's action was unnecessary because Rule 20-1 states that no penalty is incurred if a ball is accidentally moved in the process of marking or lifting it under a rule.