We were trying to figure out yesterday who had experienced more pain, Sam Torrance after walloping his head off his car door at The Belfry or the 20 managers who had both Carlos Franco and Colin Montgomerie in their line-ups at the weekend, but still didn't win a fourball.
"It was like a Stephen King movie," said the Scot, describing the gory aftermath of his accident. "Misery", perhaps? Well, misery is really the only word to describe how the unlucky 20 are feeling right now.
The motto of the week, then, is "no matter how well you do there's usually someone better off than yourself", in this case Derek Brennan of Tallaght, Co Dublin, the 21st of our managers to have both last week's tournament winners.
Unfortunately for the 20 who already had their bags packed in anticipation of a trip to Tulfarris, Derek also had Jonathon Lomas and Roger Wessels (second and joint fourth at the French Open) in his Seven Leaf Clovers' line-up, as well as Mark Brooks, a top 20 finisher at the New Orleans Classic, and Keith Nolan, who missed the cut at the same tournament. Team total: £355,500, almost half as much as Seven Leaf Clovers had won in the first nine weeks of the competition.
Derek's success was overdue, though. "I've been in it since it started (five years ago) and I never even came close to winning anything," he said, before asking us to caddy for him in Tulfarris. ("No, but we'll eat your meal for four, if you like," we replied).
Now that he holds the coveted title of Golf Masters fourball winner (and, therefore, has the task of choosing who will accompany him to Wicklow) Derek is hoping he will receive a little respect from his work and golf-playing colleagues. Well, a few of them were standing behind him when we spoke to him on the phone earlier in the week and judging by the hoots of derision with which this aspiration was greeted we're not optimistic. Never mind Derek - send them a postcard from Tulfarris.
There's no love lost either between Jarmo Sandelin and his 84 managers. Joint leader after the second round of the French Open, the Swede then damaged his putter when he bent it over his knee at the ninth in the third round and was promptly disqualified (the rule being that if you use a club that has `changed its characteristic' since the start of the tournament you're out)
The only consolation we can offer the 84 is that at least your man picks up £1,500 from us for making the cut, even if he didn't get a penny from the sponsors of the tournament. It's a lesson to all, though: bent putters equal bent rules.
Shane Lee of Warrenpoint, Co Down, goes top of our overall leaderboard this week, with Brendan Reck of Donegal Town rising from 10th to second. The biggest movers, though, are Fionnuala McMahon (Dublin) whose Mystic Monks - named after a monkfish dish spotted on the menu of a Blarney hotel - jumped from 38th to third and Dermot Burke (Dublin), up from 46th to eighth overall with Port A.
The overall average score to date is £565,621, with the week's average total a lowly £63,230.
If you're lucky enough to have a few players in action at this week's Benson and Hedges International Open you could significantly boost your earnings because it's a bonus tournament, with 1 1/2 times the regular prize money up for grabs.
Our US tournament is the Byron Nelson Classic where Tiger Woods makes his return after a lengthy absence - he'll be one of 14 of the top 15 earners on the US tour to play in Texas so, at last, the big guns won't be firing blanks for their frustrated mangers.
