The Worst . . .

Moan

After walking away from Druids Glen with a handsome appearance fee (reputed to be in the region of $150,000) - and a nice cheque of £42,672 for finishing third in the actual tournament - Nick Faldo found fit to vent his frustration on the course and the European Tour in a contracted piece in the British Sunday Express newspaper.

Claiming the European Tour was "in a rut and nobody cares," Faldo claimed what he found at Druids Glen emphasised the wisdom of his decision to play full-time on the US Tour. "It was typically European," he said. "A bus to the range, where if you weren't hitting dirty balls, it was because they had run out altogether."

He also claimed the greens "were the worst I have stepped on for two years." Of course, the apology from Faldo was to follow.

Shot

When Darren Clarke stood on the second tee in the final round of the British Open at Royal Troon in July, he reached for a three iron out of his bag. A sign of maturity. What occurred seconds later, however, effectively ruined his quest to win the claret jug.

With the boundary fence only a few yards away to his right and the beach beckoning, the ball came off the shank of the club and squirted out of bounds. "I just don't know where it came from. It was the first shank like that I've had in seven years as a professional and I must admit I was a bit wary on every shot I played after that," said Clarke.

The ball was later retrieved from the sand by an 11year-old local Kilmarnock lad, Kenneth Fraser. A week or so later, Clarke had changed his mind and claimed it wasn't a shank at all, rather a poor shot with the clubface left open.

If At First . . .

Dennis Edlund, a Swede, walked away from the European Tour qualifying school in San Roque in 1995 determined to throw away his clubs. After eight visits to the school - and eight failures - he didn't see any future in the sport. That year, he'd missed out by a shot after a final round 80 when "Murphy's Law" picked on him. Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

"It was devastating and I decided there and then to quit. I telephoned all my sponsors when I got home to tell them what had happened and they all said that if I gave it one more year they would continue to back me. I was persuaded."

Last year Edlund avoided a return to the tour school nightmare by winning his card on the European Challenge Tour and he has made the most of his first season on the circuit by claiming 37th place in the Order of Merit with £142,791 in prizemoney from 23 tournaments.