Open Digest

A round up of today's other Open stories

McGrane is a shrewd operator 

DAMIEN McGrane's first appearance in a major has brought a small army of supporters from Meath, where he's from, and Wexford, where he was club professional for a number of years, to the sandhills of the Lancashire coast. But the 37-year-old China Open champion doesn't intend to let off-course duties be any distraction.

"I'm not a tour operator, they can look after themselves . . . I'm here to play golf," remarked McGrane, when asked if he'd had to find accommodation and suchlike for the travelling entourage.

McGrane rediscovered his form at last weekend's Scottish Open, a tied-19th finish following a run that had seen him miss the cut six times in seven outings since his maiden tournament win in Beijing.

Of the course, the no-nonsense McGrane opined: "It's fair. If you play well, you'll do well. And if you don't, you'll get hammered."

Bruen features in documentary

SOME rare action footage of Jimmy Bruen - who won the British Amateur championship here at Birkdale in 1946 - will form part of a mini-documentary on the Cork golfer that BBC 1 plan to screen on Saturday morning.

Compiled by broadcaster Shane O'Donoghue, who is part of the BBC's commentary team, the short programme includes interviews with John Jacobs, Christy O'Connor snr and Jose Maria Olazabal, who holds the distinction with Bruen of winning the British Boys (1936) and British Amateur and taking the silver medal as leading amateur in the British Open.

O'Donoghue discovered the footage during research for his book on Ireland's legendary amateur players when he came into contact with the Dublin dentist Gerry Owens, whose late father, Dr Gerry Owens, had filmed Bruen in action in the 1940s and 1950s.

Owens had a unique connection with Bruen in that he had beaten him in the quarter-finals of the Irish Close at Rosses Point in 1939 on his way to claiming the title.

"The footage is amazing. It deserves to be seen by as many golfing fans as possible. It is also very poignant that we can now study his unique swing on what is the 70th anniversary of his feat of leading the Open after round one as an 18-year-old in 1938 (at Royal St Georges)," said O'Donoghue.