WHEN does a golf course become unplayable? Though the situation should be clear cut, there was precious little enlightenment to be gleaned from professional opinions at The Oxfordshire on Sunday, when the Benson and Hedges International was concluded in gale force winds.
What did emerge, however, was that the tournament winner, Stephen Ames, was able to interpret a competitive situation far more clearly than his illustrious rivals. If it were a possible off side situation in a soccer match, he would have been the one playing the whistle.
"I was hearing things about the balls moving on the greens, but I knew the PGA weren't going to stop it," he said. "So I accepted what we had to do. I dealt with the situation as it was, whereas Ian (Woosnam), Colin (Montgomerie) and Nick (Faldo) didn't. I played golf, which is what we had to do."
On the question of a course being playable, the accepted criterion is whether a ball at rest on the green begins to move in the wind. If it does - and there was no question but that balls were moving at The Oxfordshire - then play should be suspended. That would have been the normal, official reaction. But this wasn't a normal situation.
The problem was that The Oxfordshire was effectively tied up today and tomorrow with the European matches in the Andersen Consulting World Championship. So, it was that Sunday's play would be completed, even if it meant tampering with the condition of the course during the round by turning on the sprinkler system on certain greens.
Tournament director Andy McFee found himself in a bind and this was the only way out. And he got away with it, largely because modest practitioners such as Ames, Jon Robson, Derrick Cooper, Andrew Contart and Ross Drummond decided to grit their teeth and grind out rounds of 75 or better, while their celebrated brethren succumbed to frustration.
On to this week's activity and an Irish representation of 12 in the Volvo PGA Championship, which starts at Wentworth on Friday. They are: Ronan Rafferty, Philip Walton, David Feherty, Des Smyth, Eamonn Darcy, Christy O'Connor Jnr, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Raymond Burns, Brendan McGovern and Jimmy Heggarty.
McGovern, who finished fourth to Smyth in the Smurfit Irish Professional Championship at Slieve Russell early this month, qualifies through last season's Irish order of merit. None of the Category 12 players qualifiers from last November's Tour School - will get in, which means that Heggarty is also a beneficiary of his exploits on the home circuit.
The other 10 competed at The Oxfordshire where Rafferty was the only one to make the cut. So, there has been time for some work on the practice ground, where Clarke has been particularly active over the last few days in an effort at adjusting as quickly as possible to the methods of new coach Bill Ferguson.
A factor behind his change from Bob Torrance is that Ferguson has been a splendid help to Montgomenrie, who is of similar build to Clarke. Either way, player and coach will get together when the Ulsterman arrives at Wentworth tomorrow morning.
Jose Maria Olazabal yesterday withdrew from the championship. The 30 year old Spaniard says he is still experiencing too much pain from rheumatoid arthritis in both his feet. The illness has kept him out of golf since last September and puts a question mark over his future in the game.
Meanwhile, according to no less a figure than Seve Ballesteros, one 16 year old is already good enough, technically, to turn professional. The player in question is Sergio Garcia who will be the focus of considerable attention when he competes in the British Amateur Championship at Turnberry on June 3rd to 8th.
However, Ballesteros cautioned his compatriot: "I don't think he should turn professional until he is 20. And I would give the same advice to all young players." Hailed as the new Ballesteros, Garcia is in a field of 288 which includes five Irish challengers - Jody Fanagan, Bryan Omelia, Eamonn Brady, Graham Spring and Peter Lawrie.
The young Spaniard, son of the resident professional at Castellon GC near Valencia, has already shown maturity beyond his years by capturing last year's European Amateur Strokeplay Championship, so claiming an exemption into the British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes in July.
In fact he is attempting to tread the same path as Olazabal, who is the only Spaniard to have won the British Amateur, beating Colin Montgomerie in the 1984 final at Formby, so complementing his British Boys and Youths titles. Garcia was a key member of the Spanish side which beat Scotland by 14-10 in an international at Valderrama last month.
Fanagan is one of four players in action from last September's triumphant Walker Cup team. The others are current British Mid Amateur champion Gary Wolstenholme, Barclay Howard and Graham Rankin. And the field is further enhanced by the presence of last year's runner up, Michael Reynard.
Representatives from 21 countries will be in action at Turnberry where 159 out of an initial entry of 485 have handicaps of scratch or better.
Lawrie, Omelia, Spring and Fanagan will all play their opening strokeplay round on the Ailsa Course, while Brady starts his challenge on the neighbouring Arran stretch.
With the US Open only three weeks away, defending champion Corey Pavin is finding some useful form. His two shot victory over Jeff Sluman in the Colonial Tournament last Sunday has brought him into eighth position in the US money list.
