In the summer of 1989, Tom Watson brought his good friend Byron Nelson on what was seen as a farewell visit to this country for one of the game's legendary figures. While here, they played the Co Sligo course at Rosses Point where both men were suitably impressed with the strong, finishing holes.
On a visit to the west five years prior to that, Watson had hoped to play Connemara, but was unable to do so because of time constraints. So, on meeting club officials at the PGA Golf Show in Orlando last February, he was listening carefully when they invited him back to see Eddie Hackett's handiwork.
Like General McArthur, he did return . . . last week, to be precise. And this time he played the course along with his wife and American friends and with Connemara's European Youth silver-medalist, Derek McNamara, as his caddie. Watson's verdict ? "It's a true championship course where the elevated greens, particularly on the back nine, are spectacular."
When Davis Love III captured the USPGA title at Winged Foot GC in 1997, he gained the distinction of becoming the first player to win a major championship while wearing spikes made of a material other than metal.
This Day In Golf History: On August 12th 1973, Jack Nicklaus won the USPGA Championship at Canterbury GC, Ohio, to claim a unique place in the game. It happened to be the Bear's third USPGA victory but more importantly, it was his 14th major championship triumph. So, he had surpassed the record of 13 majors established by Bobby Jones with the so-called Impregnable Quadliteral - a clean sweep of the US Amateur and Open and British Amateur and Open titles - in 1930. At the end of 1973, Nicklaus was named Player of the Year by the PGA of America.
Teaser: In a match between A and B, B has played four strokes and his ball lies three feet from the hole. A, who has played two strokes, plays a stroke out of a bunker to the edge of the hole. B concedes the hole. A and B pick their balls up, where upon A discovers that he has played a wrong ball from the bunker, but has incurred no penalty for doing so (Rule 15-2 - "If a player plays any strokes in a hazard with a wrong ball, there is no penalty"). What is the ruling?
Answer: The concession stands (Rule 2-4).
