Torrance gives insight into development of European Tour

GOLF BOOK CLUB: "Sam: The Autobiography of Sam Torrance"By Sam Torrance

IF YOU’D wondered at the merits of a book about Sam Torrance, you’re probably right. After all, he never won a major. He never topped the European Tour money list. He may be a legend in his own mind, as you’d gather from his BBC television commentaries, but he’s not a true legend of the game a la Arnie or Jack or Gary.

Yet, the book – ghost-written by Alan Fraser, who is quite clearly a close friend of Torrance – proves why his story deserves to be told, for this is a reflection not just on his role as a winning European Ryder Cup player and captain but a nitty-gritty account of how golf, through his father Bob and growing up on the Ayrshire coast, became such an intrinsic part of his being.

Sure, at times, it comes across as sentimental; but, more often than not, it manages to convey honesty and humour in recounting a life on tour. Indeed, given Torrance’s longevity as a player, the book provides an excellent insight into how the modern European Tour developed and spread its wings not just beyond Britain and Ireland but throughout Europe and, more recently, to Asia and Australia to become a global tour.

Golf was in Sam’s blood, and he found it early. As a nine-year-old, he first shot 39 for nine holes. His father’s reaction upon hearing this was, “you lying git.” But Sam took Bob out onto the course in Lancashire where Bob was the then professional, and shot 39 again.

It was then that father knew son had a talent . . . . and it was nurtured on the links at Largs, where Bob Torrance and his wife June live to this day, and where Sam discovered the importance of money as he played against brothers from the local monastery.

As Torrance puts it, “I firmly believe that playing golf for money at such a tender age gave me an edge in later life. It became a habit which I could not break. Not that I wanted to . . . it sharpened my concentration and meant I worked on every shot as opposed to just hitting the ball.”

Interestingly, Sam reveals that he didn’t always get along with his father Bob – or Robert as he likes to be known – who was a demanding coach.

As Torrance remarks, “my father was always a leg man.” His dad called the legs the generator, but Sam professes that the straightening of his legs at impact gave him length but was also responsible for the hook which plagued him all through his career.

If there’s a feeling that the modern day professionals are a pampered lot, the same could not be said of the old days where the prizemoney was generally poor and there was the added expense involved of the Monday pre-qualifying for tournaments.

Torrance – who started out on tour while an assistant at Sunningdale – recounts the tale of Jimmy Kinsella who won the Madrid Open in 1972, but was only in the field because he had been unable to get a flight home after the previous week’s Spanish Open.

Torrance is very candid about his personal life, admitting to being “a mess . . . drinking too much” at the time he met the actress Suzanne Danielle, who was to be his future wife.

From a golfing viewpoint, the most interesting parts of the book relate to Torrance’s Ryder Cup experiences – as a player (he sank the winning putt at the Belfry in 1985 to secure Europe’s first victory over the Americans in 28 years) and as a captain (he was the captain at the Belfry in 2002).

Torrance proved to be a superb captain at the Belfry, but – interestingly – he relates stories against himself. In the 1999 match at Brookline, when he was an assistant, Torrance recalls not picking up on the disgruntlement of Jean van de Velde – who had been ignored until the singles – and, also, of how he handled informing Jose Maria Olazabal that he had failed to get a “wild card” selection for the 2001 (which became 2002 due to the terrorist attacks in the US) match.

Although Torrance proved to be an inspirational captain, he also provides insights into an approach that very often had him thinking on his feet, such as the incident at the pre-match gala dinner where US captain Curtis Strange trumped him with a speech only for the Scot to respond with an unscripted speech . . . and of the time during the match when he worried that Paul McGinley was playing an illegal driver. All was right in the end, of course.

It is this level of honesty and the humour Torrance manages to get across that makes this a very insightful and appealing read.

Questions for Readers

• Do you believe that Torrance's admission of his own mistakes, especially in his Ryder Cup vie-captaincy and captaincy, enables the reader to relate more to him?
• Does this book change your opinion of Sam Torrance?
• Is there a sense that Torrance could have achieved even more as a professional if he had adopted his father's work ethic on the range?
• There was a belief among many in golf that Torrance was "the wrong man for the job" when awarded the captaincy for the 2002 match? Why do you believe such reservations existed?
• How do you rate this book out of a possible top mark of 10?

Next week: Ancesttral Links, by John Garrity