All the fuss being made about the inclusion of Notah Begay III in next week's World Matchplay Championship, serves to illustrate just how underprivileged Native Americans are, in a golfing context. And it goes some way towards explaining the rebel nature of Ky Laffoon, before Ryder Cup status made him a reluctant member of the establishment in the American professional game.

Being part Native American, Laffoon was nicknamed "The Chief", but his impact on golf was more memorable as one of the game's true eccentrics. This was exemplified in a love-hate relationship with his clubs, leading him on various occasions to attempt to strangle and even drown his putter.

Later, he decided that punishment rather than death might be more appropriate for the errant blade. So he attached it with string to his car and let it bruise and batter itself severely as he drove to the next tournament.

On another occasion, probably with a different putter, he found himself in a minor, North Carolina tournament three feet from the hole with two putts to win. Having lipped out at the first attempt, Laffoon proceeded to try a less direct approach, belting down on the top of the ball, which flew two feet up in the air before popping into the hole: all within the rules, of course.

At other times, he would sharpen the leading edge of his irons by leaning out of the door of his car, preferably at high speed, using the road surface as a grinder. Indeed all of this became accepted behaviour from the player who was born in Zinc, Arkansas in 1908.

His rebellious nature gained expression at an early stage as a partner for Titanic Thompson, the irrepressible golf hustler whom I have previously referred to in this column. In fact, Laffoon provided Thompson with opportunities for the ultimate sting. As a totally ambidextrous golfer, Thompson would make the apparently generous gesture of playing a beleaguered pigeon left-handed. And after pocketing further cash, he would eventually say pityingly: "Why, even my caddie could beat you."

What the mark didn't realise, of course, was that Laffoon was, in fact, a better player than Thompson. Indeed after quitting the hustling scene, he became a serious tournament professional and in 1934, his best year, he won four tournaments and captured the Radix Cup, which was the forerunner to the Vardon Trophy for low stroke average. Later, he won four further events which would today be recognised as of tour status.

Though never coming really close to a major championship, Laffoon finished fifth in the 1936 US Open and was sixth in the US Masters in 1936, fifth in 1937 and fourth in 1946. He played in the 1935 Ryder Cup in which he and Olin Dutra lost a foursomes to Charles and Ernest Whitcombe.

"Putting's not the worst part of my game, but I tried it and found it difficult to keep the ball on the green." Ian Pattinson, chairman of the Rules of Golf committee of the Royal and Ancient, commenting on the decision this week not to ban the broomhandle putter.

As the ball popped into the cup for a hole in one at the famous, short seventh at Pebble Beach, the player raised his wedge in the air and screamed: "Son of a bitch, I've been waiting all of my life for that shot."

It wasn't the sort of reaction one would expect from a man who has been photo- graphed with Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama. Nor can I picture it from the gentle and much-loved Bishop Kavanagh, who, despite advancing years and having confirmed virtually the entire population of Dublin, maintains a regular golfing schedule at Clontarf GC.

Why the mention of Bishop Kavanagh? Well, the Pebble Beach golfer is a fellow bishop, who happens to be head of the Episcopal Church in California and is noted for his dedication to his calling. And with the name of Bill Swing, he could hardly be anything other other than a fine, single-figure golfer, especially as the son of the professional winner of the West Virginia Open.

While competing one year at Spyglass Hill in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Bishop Swing suffered the indignity of hitting his opening drive straight up in the air, whereupon it hit a pine tree and actually came to rest behind him. Afterwards, in a letter to the 400 priests and deacons in his diocese, he wrote: "It is probably healthy for a bishop to be publicly humiliated on an annual basis. Therefore, I will probably play again, if invited." Now in his early sixties, he continues to do so.

In another letter he wrote: "I don't know what all this has to do with the church or with being a bishop, but I think a great many people find the church a little more approachable because a bishop enjoys his golf." No doubt Bishop Kavanagh would concur.

Arising out of the invasion of the 17th green during the Ryder Cup at Brookline, the Royal and Ancient received a number of letters and phone calls from outraged golfers. All of them asked basically the same questions: Did the behaviour of the American players not constitute a breach of the rules of golf and was the referee not empowered to take action?

Not so, according to Grant Moir, assistant secretary of the Rules of Golf committee. "We pointed out that there was no breach of rule and as such, there was effectively nothing the referee could have done under the rules," he said.

But R and A secretary, Peter Dawson, expressed a very interesting, personal view on the matter. "We had a bad situation at Brookline, but I wouldn't like to see the game turned upside down because of behaviour that is covered by the etiquette of the game," he said. "It would be a huge step to extend the rules to incorporate bad behaviour."

Unless some other, lucrative event comes into the picture, it looks as if the first tournament champion of the new millennium will be the winner of the unofficial $3.5 million Williams World Challenge. Otherwise known as Tiger's Private Bash, the event which carries a top prize of $1 million, is to be contested by an elite, 12-man field at Grayhawk GC in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Scheduled to finish on January 2nd, it will involve players drawn from the top-10 of the world rankings, plus invitees. Heading the line-up are Woods, David Duval, Davis Love, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Payne Stewart, Hal Sutton and Mark O'Meara. Sergio Garcia has accepted a special invitation but Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Nick Price have told Woods they cannot make it.

Those rejections have prompted speculation that invitations will be extended to Arizona resident Phil Mickelson and US Masters champion Jose-Maria Olazabal. What- ever about Mickelson, experience of events like the Johnnie Walker World Championship, which was held in Jamaica on the run up to Christmas, suggest it will take more than a guaranteed minimum $120,000 to entice the Spaniard away from his home in San Sebastian, during the festive season.

Champions, Oliver Freaney and Co, have qualified to defend The Irish Times Lexus Corporate Golf Challenge in the national final at Mount Juliet today. From more than 3,000 competitors, An Post lead the 12, four-member teams, with a splendid combined score of 175 points. This is the sixth staging in which the winners receive £5,000 for their nominated charity. Last year's beneficiaries were St Vincent de Paul.

This day in golf history. . . On October 9th, 1920, Alexa Stirling won the US Women's Amateur for a third successive year, beating Dorothy Hurd by 5 and 4 in the 36-hole final in Cleveland. Stirling, who was denied yet another title when losing to Marion Hollins in the final the following year, gained the distinction as a 12-year-old of becoming the only female to beat Bobby Jones (then six) in serious competition.

American of Scottish parentage, her smooth, so-called Carnoustie swing, was attributed to lessons from professional Stuart Maiden. She once wrote: "The player who is going to win most often is not the one who is superior in strength of distance. It is the one who can make the fewest mistakes and keep out of as much trouble as possible, but when in trouble, can cope with any situation."

Teaser: A player marks the position of his ball on the putting green, lifts the ball and sets it aside. By mistake, he putts the ball from the spot at which he set it aside. What is the ruling?

Answer: When a ball is lifted under Rule 20-1, it is out of play. When the player played a stroke with his ball while it was out of play, he played a wrong ball (Rule 15). In matchplay, the player lost the hole (Rule 15-2). In strokeplay, he incurred a penalty of two strokes and was required to correct the error before playing from the next tee; otherwise, he would be disqualified (Rule 15-3).