Glowing Praise was showered, quite correctly, on Tiger Woods after his remarkable eight-stroke comeback in Thailand last weekend. But reports emanating from Phuket suggest that the amazing 22-year-old was decidedly difficult, even to the point of being nasty, regarding his media obligations throughout the event.
I had first-hand experience of this kind of behaviour in the US last season, when he insisted that official press-conferences be handled not in the normal way, but his way. And during the AT & T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach this weekend spectator restrictions are being imposed, largely to comply with the wishes of Woods's handlers.
The whole business seemed rather sad to me as I watched a telecast of the Phoenix Open last Sunday night. There was 48year-old Tom Watson, clearly revelling in every shot he played on the way to a share of second place behind Jesper Parnevik. And how delightful it was that a player who has so enriched the game should still be getting so much out of it.
All of which brought me back to an interview in which Watson was asked `Do you think we demand too much from our top players?' This was his reply.
"When I was at the top of my game, I was walking out of the locker-room at Firestone with a hanging bag over my shoulder. I was rushing to a plane and this little kid comes up to me and asks me for my autograph. I said: `No, son. Can't you see my hands are full?' And his father was there and he called me an asshole.
"I went face-to-face with him and said: `What did you call me?' He replied: `You are an asshole.' I couldn't say anything to him. I just walked away. But he was right. There was a little kid who wanted my autograph and when I turned him down he looked at me with astonishment. I didn't sign the autograph. And I hurt him.
"His dad said: `Come on, let's get out of here.' That taught me something. It taught me that we learn our life from others. I learned from my father how to hit a golf shot; how to act on a golf course; what etiquette is.
"I have learned from Byron Nelson what it was like to drive in a caravan with tyres going flat all the time. On a certain 17th hole in Hawaii, I learned from Jack Nicklaus how to take the risk out of a shot by hitting a six iron rather than a five iron.
"Finally, I learned from Arnold Palmer how to treat people. That's where golf is a great game. It is a great game because it is really life itself."
"I don't mind stopping to smell the roses every once in a while, but I certainly don't want to leave the garden." Hale Irwin on taking an occasional break from the US Senior Tour.
In 1957, three years after the launch of its Merchandise Show, the PGA of America leased a tent in Dunedin, Florida, to accommodate the 50 manufacturer representatives in attendance. This weekend, more than 1,300 exhibitors will take up 1.1 million square feet at the show's 45th staging in Orlando.
The importance of the show can be gauged from its international impact. For instance, a group of about 10 from the Irish golf industry have travelled on this occasion, at a minimum cost of £1,000 per person. They include Headfort professional Brendan McGovern and his Nenagh counterpart John Coyle.
Leonard Owens, the Royal Dublin professional, is not among them, though he has made the trip on five occasions. Explaining his reason for being there, he said yesterday: "On this particular weekend every year, important new equipment is launched which will be advertised in the golf magazines over the next few months. My members would expect me to have such equipment in stock."
He added: "About 25 years ago I was at the show for the launch of Goretex (a revolutionary material which is now used in all of the leading wet-suits). I was also present when the new wave of graphite shafts were launched. That's how important it is."
Looking towards 2005, officials in our Department of Tourism will be greatly encouraged by the financial success of last September's staging of the Ryder Cup at Valderrama. Spanish Tourist Board figures reveal that the income in the region of Andalucia alone was a whopping £52 million sterling.
Of that, about £36 million was spent on accommodation, meals and pleasure activities. Then there were the estimated 600 million golf enthusiasts who watched the event on television, worldwide. Meanwhile, on the ground, the average spend per person was £494.
Illustrated stories of Harry Vardon and Patrick J Doyle hang in the hallway of Delgany GC. Club member Bill Stewart considered their juxtaposition to be quite remarkable, in the light of last week's piece about Vardon having to cancel a booking on the Titanic because of ill- health.
As it happened, Doyle also planned to sail on the doomed liner in April 1912. His train from Dublin was late arriving in Queenstown (now Cobh), however, with the result that the Titanic had already put to sea.
This was the young man who became the first professional at Delgany in August 1908 and was expected to do additional greenkeeping duties, all for a wage of 20 shillings a week. He was there in September 1909 when crowds travelled from Dublin and Greystones to see Vardon play a 36-hole exhibition match against the Irish Professional champion, Michael "Dyke" Moran, which the great man won by 3 and 2.
As a 23-year-old, Doyle decided to emigrate to the US and after missing the Titanic, he boarded another ship for the New World. There, he met up with Vardon again. This time it was in the 1913 US Open at Brookline, where the Channel- Islander was beaten in a play- off by Francis Ouimet and Doyle finished 10th, seven strokes back.
That was the best finish by an Irish-born player in the US Open until 1924 at Oakland Hills, where Greenore's Peter O'Hare (known in the US as O'Hara) was tied seventh. Incidentally, Doyle played again in the championship when it returned to Massachusetts in 1919. On that occasion, he was tied 18th with Ouimet at Brae Burn behind Walter Hagen.
So, it is clear that Doyle settled successfully in the US where he became a highly respected teaching professional. Among his pupils were the first golfing US President, William Howard Taft, along with another leading politician, Joseph Kennedy, and world heavy- weight boxing champions Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis.
He died at the age of 92. And by way of emphasising the value of sporting genes, he happened to be the grand-uncle of Eamonn Darcy.
Nobody was surprised that Bill Clinton should have wanted to get away from Washington this week. History, however, suggests that he might have headed for the golf course, rather than a rally in Champaign, Illinois. For instance, pressurised predecessor Woodrow Wilson played 18 holes before declaring war on Germany in 1917 and Dwight Eisenhower was also treading the fairways when the U2 spy-plane was shot down by the Soviets in 1960.
This Day In Golf
History . . . On January 31st 1987, Judy Bell made history by becoming the first woman to be elected to the executive committee of the US Golf Association. She had been a member of her country's Curtis Cup team in 1960 and 1962 and captained the side in 1986 and 1988.
After that breakthrough, further distinctions came her way. She was elected treasurer of the USGA in 1990 before going on to fill the supreme position in American golf. Two years ago this month, she became the first woman president of the USGA, a position she held until the a.g.m. last Saturday when she was replaced by Buzz Taylor.
During her term in office, Bell officiated at the Curtis Cup at Killarney in June 1996, when Ireland's Ita Butler captained the home side to a memorable triumph.
In Brief: After three years as director of golf at Mount Juliet, Tony Judge has taken up an appointment as executive director of St Margaret's GC.
Teaser: In matchplay, a player wins a hole, On his way to the next tee, the player returns to retrieve a club left at the last green and suggests that the opponent play first to save time. The opponent does so. Are the players in breach of Rule 1-3 (Agreement to waive the rules)?
Answer: Yes, because they agreed to exclude the operation of Rule 10-1a (The side which wins a hole shall take the honour at the next teeing ground). However, in these particular circumstances, the committee would be justified in waiving the disqualification penalty under Rule 33-7. If the players subsequently agreed to exclude the operation of Rule 10-1a, they should be disqualified.
