The narrow strip of fairway between the bunkers and the out-of-bounds fence to the left of the sixth hole at Carnoustie earned the label Hogan's Alley after Ben Hogan triumphed in his lone British Open appearance in 1953.
The win made Hogan the only player to capture the US Masters, US Open and British Open in the same year, and that remains the closest anyone has come to completing the true, pure win-them-all-in-the-same-year Grand Slam. Given that Tiger Woods is only the third player since then to capture the first two majors in the same season, it is understandable that Hogan and Carnoustie have been recalled this week. Furthermore, Carnoustie was the birthplace of professional Stewart Maiden, who emigrated to the States and was the teacher of Bobby Jones who won his own version of the Slam in 1930.
And what does all that have to do with Golf Masters? This week's winner is Paul Donohoe, a garda from Baldoyle. Donohoe called his team Dibble's 3 because his nickname is Dibble, as in Officer Dibble from the cartoon series Top Cat. And where did Officer Dibble patrol? For 30 episodes made in the early 1960s, he did his best to maintain law and order on Hoagy's Alley, Manhattan, where Top Cat and friends Spook, Benny, Brain, Fancy Fancy and Choo Choo got up to mischief.
And who was the Top Cat at the Scottish Open who propelled Donohoe to our weekly prize of a fourball plus lunch? Eduardo "El Gato" Romero, whose nickname translates as The Cat and was earned for the way he steals victories that seem to be in the grasp of others. Others like Fredrik Jacobson, who missed a short putt at the 17th before losing a play-off to Romero at Loch Lomond.
We looked up Jacobson's profile in the European Tour Media Guide and, incredibly, found that his first love was ice hockey and that he missed the first three months of the 2000 season after breaking his thumb in a golf professionals versus tennis players hockey game. That brought us back to last week and Happy Gilmore, but we thought we'd better stop with the coincidences before we wrecked our heads and yours. Anyway, you wouldn't have believed it if we'd told you that Donohoe was bringing Spook, Benny and Brain to Carton House.
For the record, Dibble's 3 was one of eight teams to include both Romero and Greater Milwaukee Open winner Jeff Sluman. None of them also had Jacobson, but Donohoe did employ Tim Herron who tied for second behind Sluman and that made the winning difference.
Overall, David Tallon has lost his grip at the top for the first time since week 13. Both of his leading teams had very poor returns and were passed out by Pat Callanan's Paddy's 4th. Like 33 of our top-50 teams, Paddy's 4th included Romero. By contrast, only one included Woods ahead of this week's transfer period. It will be interesting to see if Maria McCarthy's Kimmage 1 gets the cream after the British Open. Don't forget the BC Open also counts this week.
