THE K CLUB Media Golf Challenge, played last Tuesday in benign conditions at Straffan, served if nothing else to show the gulf in ability between professional golfers and would be single handicappers. The legendary Christy O'Connor Snr, who turns 75 in December, played off scratch and finished the round in just four-over-par. In soft conditions, where there was virtually no run on the ball, and playing off the white tees, O'Connor birdied the par five first hole, double bogeyed the second and then parred the rest of the front nine. On the back nine, he returned two bogeys, a birdie and six pars. In a rich vein of form, Christy scored 11 pars in succession from the par three third to the par five 13th.

Another interesting pairing was overall winners of the competition (with 42 points), Des Cahill and Des Scahill. Cahill, Grandmaster of the ABU lodge, dovetailed supremely well with Scahill, who cheerfully lists manager Alex Ferguson as one of his mates through horse racing. Scahill, who doesn't have to call him `Sir', is naturally a big Manchester United fan.