Madam, - Your Editorial of July 24th ("Harrington's triumph") was a fitting and worthy tribute to Pádraig Harrington's great Open victory.
In the three-score years between Fred Daly's and Padraic Harrington's Opens, the closest we came to an Irish victory was in 1949. In that year's championship, played at Sandwich, Harry Bradshaw led the qualifiers and tied with Bobby Locke of South Africa after 72 holes only to be beaten in the 36-hole play-off.
It was a freak incident in the second round that denied Bradshaw Open victory that year. His drive at the fifth hole ended up in semi-rough inside a broken bottle. Harry shut his eyes and with his wedge shattered the glass and sent the ball 30 yards up the fairway. He finished the par-four hole with a six.
This incident led to a change of rule allowing a player to remove an obstruction, even if in so doing the ball is moved. - Yours, etc,
FINBARR SLATTERY,
Orchard Close,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.