At a time when tournament golfers are supposed to be spoiled for choice, Padraig Harrington arrived home from La Costa this week with a consolation $25,000 but unclear of his next assignment. And Sergio Garcia seems to be unable to look beyond the US Masters, which ends on April 9th.

Unquestionably there is greater choice, with tournament action on both sides of the Atlantic for 11 months of the year. But these increased options have to be measured against the player's need to do the right thing by his career.

For instance, before heading for La Costa, Harrington had already decided that a trip to Dubai next week would not represent suitable preparation for his Masters debut. Ideally, he wants to play at Bay Hill on March 13th to 19th and in the Players' Championship a week later. But invitations are not easy to come by.

Still, his choices would appear to be much more simple than Garcia's. Asked this week to outline his schedule after the Masters, the 20-year-old replied: "I don't know. Week off, I think."

That was his way of sidestepping the fact that he has been entered for the MCI Classic at Hilton Head, which happens to clash with the inaugural Seve Ballesteros Trophy on April 14th to 16th.

It seems unthinkable that Garcia would snub his celebrated mentor. But his manager, Jose Marquina, insisted: "We are going to Hilton Head. Sergio has to play 15 events to maintain US Tour membership and the MCI is one of those 15." He added: "We want to help the European Tour but they must help us too."

On a broader level, Lee Westwood and Jose-Maria Olazabal have already indicated that they will not play in next year's Andersen Consulting Matchplay because of its timing, on January 3rd to 7th in Melbourne. Nor is Colin Montgomerie enthusiastic about it. And when Ernie Els was asked if he would he there, he replied: "It depends what sort of New Year's Eve I have."

Then there's the continuing rumpus over qualification for the NEC Invitational at Firestone on August 24th to 27th. Instead of the 12 members of Europe's 1999 Ryder Cup team who were invited last year, places will go to the top 12 in the European Order of Merit on August 13th.

"I would love to see how the Americans would have reacted if the same thing had happened here," remarked Jesper Parnevik, one of the players directly affected by the change.

The choices are there for the rich to become even richer. But despite the advent of World Championship events, it is equally clear that the notion of tournament golf becoming a truly international activity, with players able to play when and where they please, remains something of a wild dream.

"I think the way she dressed him was her way of getting back at him." - Paul Azinger referring to colour-blind Ken Green's ex- wife Ellen, whose outrageous choice of clothes for him were never destined to win prizes for sartorial elegance.

At one stage, a representative contacted the Golfing Union of Ireland to explore the possibility of filming on a leading Irish links. But as might have been suspected from reading the book, the movie of The Legend of Bagger Vance has been shot on Kiawah Island, which became a major international venue through the staging of the 1991 Ryder Cup.

According to the book, the fictitious golf match in 1931 between Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and first World War survivor Rannulph Junah took place on a links called Krewe Island, off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. So it didn't take a great leap of the imagination to picture it at Kiawah.

Anyway, the movie is directed by Robert Redford and stars Will Smith, as the mysterious caddie Bagger Vance, and Matt Damon as the gifted amateur, Junah. And for the spectacular climax in which the last hole of the 36-hole match is transformed into a tumultuous, ancient battleground, an entire par-five has been purpose-built at a cost of $200,000. But as one might expect in a movie, everything is not quite what it seems. When he was building the hole on sand dunes near the practice ground, Tom Simpson, who shaped Kiawah's original greens for architect Pete Dye, had to get a special permit to build closer to the sea than was permitted for the Ocean course.

In the event, the book called for a hole measuring 541 yards, whereas Simpson could stretch his creation to only 485 yards on the available site. So he did what any self-respecting film-maker would have done: he narrowed the fairway to make it look longer. Meanwhile, the resort are hoping to retain it as a practice hole, after the film is released later this year.

Even Bill Clinton's exploits at Ballybunion failed to do the trick. Instead, John F Kennedy, who was the recipient of a brand-new set of clubs from the then Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, finished comfortably clear of his rivals.

When America's golf course superintendents were asked this week to pick their favourite 20th Century US president to play a round with, Kennedy topped the poll with 16 per cent of the vote. Then came: 2 Dwight Eisenhower (13); 3 Ronald Reagan (12); 4 Theodore Roosevelt (11); 5 George Bush and Bill Clinton (8 per cent each). And not a mention of dear old William Howard Taft, who is acknowledged as the first golfing incumbent in the White House.

As an inveterate hustler, Sam Snead saw the ideal pigeon as "a guy with a fast swing and a pocket full of money". Later, Lee Trevino characterised pressure in golf as having a $20 putt on the 18th with $10 in your pocket.

Doug Sanders, on the other hand, liked to look on hustling from an entirely different perspective - that of the intended victim. And he was something of an expert on all aspects of gambling in golf, as indicated in his book Action on the First Tee: 130 Different Ways of Making a Golf Bet.

Anyway, he has recently been telling the story of a gambler who would deliberately hit his drive on the 18th out-of-bounds and near to where his car was parked. Then, when a match was going the wrong way, he would simply head for his car, jump in and make a quick getaway to avoid paying up.

"He did that once with me," recalled Sanders. "The next time, he had four flat tyres." The flamboyant American, who was reputed to have frequently made more on gambling than on tournament prize money, likened welching on a bet to "ordering dinner, eating the damn thing and then not expecting to pay for it".

There is to be no Augusta National reprieve for CBS commentator Gary McCord, at least not in the immediate future. McCord, who was banned after the 1994 Masters for using terms such as bikini wax and body bags to describe the treacherous greens, is not joining David Feherty in the CBS line-up for April.

Other Masters news is that the tournament committee have instituted a one chair per person rule for this year's event. This is to prevent early birds from hoarding the prime viewing positions at areas like Amen Corner, for themselves and their friends.

Meanwhile, at 88, Byron Nelson plans to be there to act as a ceremonial starter on April 6th with contemporary Sam Snead. Sadly, their much-loved companion, Gene Sarazen, has gone to even greener pastures, but Nelson, who underwent surgery recently on his right wrist, is already back swinging, in a manner of speaking. He's busy making a garden swing in his wood shop.

This day in golf history . . . On February 26th 1978, Nancy Lopez, a 21-year-old rookie, claimed her first title on the LPGA Tour, winning the Bent Tree Classic in Sarasota, Florida, with an aggregate of one over par.

Teaser: In matchplay, a player's ball accidentally strikes his opponent, who is standing out of bounds. The ball comes to rest out of bounds. What is the ruling?

Answer: There is no penalty and the player is entitled to replay the stroke (Rule 19-3) . . . "If a player's ball is accidentally deflected or stopped by an opponent . . . the player may play the ball as it lies or, before another stroke is played by either side, cancel the stroke and play a ball without penalty as near as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played."