The annual drive-in at Dunmore East GC on Sunday became a particularly notable occasion through the unexpected arrival of a rather special visitor. And as a memento of her presence, the US Ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith, was presented with a club sweater.

It happened at the drive-in of Richard Hurley and Nancy Kelly, which was followed by a fourball competition. As it happened, members and friends turned up in such numbers that more than £2,000 was donated to the Dunmore East Lifeboat and the Waterford Hospice Movement.

"The ambassador arrived totally out of the blue," said the club secretary, Maura Kenealy, yesterday. "It seems that she had been visiting Waterford and came out to Dunmore East for a walk on the strand. Then she saw our course and her curiosity was aroused."