Imagine Golf - Blog RSS (Celebrity)

Noh Means Yes!

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:39:33 +0000

On Monday, November 11th 2007, two national flags were raised for the first time in the World Golf Hall of Fame near St Augustine, Florida. One was the Korean flag to honour Se Ri Pak, the first inductee from her country and the other was the Irish tricolour, marking Joe Carr's election to the most select grouping in golf.

Pak, we were informed, had blazed a trail as one of the game's most important pioneers, creating a unique legacy through her victory in the 1998 US Women's Open....

By Dermot Gilleece

Fore Right!

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:56:17 +0000

About 25 miles west of Dublin, I met recently with Derek Murray. This is the 35-year-old Irishman who has achieved the distinction of becoming the first non-American to be elected World Clubmaker of the Year by the 6,000-strong Golf Clubmakers Association (GCA), based in Texas.

Murray runs the customising company, ForeGolf, with his mother Christine, father Don, sister Jill and associate David Williams, a fellow swing technician from Sunderland. And he owes his success to a...

By Dermot Gilleece

True Confessions

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:55:34 +0000

With his very public act of contrition behind him, Tiger Woods has succeeded in leaving us actually more confused as to his likely return to competition than we were before the events of last Friday. The thought struck me on receiving a phone call in Tucson from a friend who seemed supremely confident of making a major, financial killing, based on the inside information I would supply from my sojourn in the US.

Woods was 9/2 against to compete in the upcoming US Masters and a pr...

By Dermot Gilleece

A Matchplay Standard

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:20:55 +0000

He's not here in Tucson this week, but Darren Clarke's spirit is very much a part of the Accenture World Matchplay Championship in this, the 10th anniversary of his memorable triumph in the event at La Costa. Though the championship's extensive statistics don't include it, the fact is that Clarke gained two remarkable distinctions on that occasion: he beat a Ryder Cup player in all six rounds and he positively trounced no less a figure than Tiger Woods in the 36-hole final.

Though others ha...

By Dermot Gilleece

Trust In Steve

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:39:12 +0000

From dispirited also-ran only five years ago, Steve Stricker has swept to number two in the world and top seed for the 2010 Accenture Matchplay Championship, after his victory last Sunday on the hallowed turf of Riviera CC. Stricker takes over the top slot in Tucson, due to the anticipated absence of Tiger Woods.

Should we be surprised by this resurgence in the fortunes of a player who became a shock winner of the Matchplay title in Australia back in 2001? Not really. The truth...

By Dermot Gilleece

Swede Dreams

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:55:07 +0000

As the newly-crowned Master of Qatar, Robert Karlsson can look forward with confidence to a place the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor next October. By then, he will be 42 and somewhat seasoned to be making only a third successive appearance in the event, but the truth is that he should have gained Ryder Cup honours much earlier in his career.

Karlsson was an obvious choice as a wild-card in the 1999 team at Brookline but skipper, Mark James, didn't trust him, even though he finished ...

By Dermot Gilleece

The Winning Habit

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:21:05 +0000

When Shane Lowry gained an historic triumph in the 3Irish Open at Baltray last May, many traditionalists were hoping he would not relinquish his amateur status straight away. They argued he would be better equipped for the inevitable move to professional ranks, after he had played in the Walker Cup at Merion in September.

It would be the crowning glory of his amateur career and a highly appropriate stepping-stone to tournament level. And what was the hurry, given that a preciou...

By Dermot Gilleece

Schwartzel : An Awesome Talent

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:44:51 +0000

During a visit to Sun City in late January 2005, I found myself sitting with two very gifted young South African golfers on the terrace of the Lost City Course. I knew of Louis Oosthuizen from his victory in the Irish Amateur Open Strokeplay Championship at Royal Dublin in 2002, but this was my first meeting with Charl Schwartzel, who happened to capture the Brabazon Trophy for the English Amateur Open Strokeplay title, on the same weekend.

Even in late afternoon, we were under a bu...

By Dermot Gilleece

How to Win a Ryder Cup

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:21:05 +0000

Word from the Royal Trophy in sunny Thailand last weekend is that Colin Montgomerie was a major hit with his European players. It seems that Henrik Stenson could hardly contain his enthusiasm at the prospect of Monty's leadership in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor next October.

If prospective team members are delighted with Monty's approach so far, it surely augurs well for Europe's prospects of regaining the trophy, doesn't it? Not necessarily. Happy individuals don't necess...

By Dermot Gilleece

Harrington Wishes Happy Christmas to the Poor of the Third World

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:19:52 +0000

After three major championship wins in 14 months from July 2007, it was perhaps fanciful to think that Padraig Harrington could continue with that level of success through 2009. As it happens, he didn't have a win of any description this year on either side of the Atlantic, other than the Irish PGA Championship against a local, limited field at The European Club last July.

He has succeeded, however, in giving the winning feeling to those less fortunate than himself. Like the poor ...

By Dermot Gilleece

Tiger's Crash : A PR disaster

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:29:21 +0000

When the Tiger Woods story broke on Friday, November 27th, I happened to be in New York. And having observed first hand how the event developed in the American media, I was left with the overriding view that it could best be described as an unmitigated PR disaster.

This, despite the fact that Woods's management team had a full 12 hours from the time of the incident in which to come up with a plausible explanation for the facial injuries which caused him to be taken to hospital for ...

By Dermot Gilleece

Cheating in Golf

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:56:27 +0000

While soccer looked into its very soul in the wake of the Thierry Henry handball incident in Paris last week, some golf devotees were seen to portray a very much holier than thou attitude with regard to cheating. It was unthinkable, they claimed, that the royal and ancient game could descend to the levels which regularly besmirch soccer, especially at professional level.

Look at how readily golf's leading practitioners such as Tiger Woods, are seen to call a penalty on themselves for ...

By Dermot Gilleece

It's Rory Time

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:26:29 +0000

Those of us who know Rory McIlroy, weren't in the least surprised at his decision to play the PGA Tour in the US next year. Nor is it unexpected that he has regained pole position in his challenge for the inaugural Race to Dubai title this weekend.

The words of his manager, Chubby Chandler at the Jack Nicklaus designed Ritz-Carlton Course at Dove Mountain, Tucson last February, keep coming to mind. "People don't realise just how good Rory is," said Chandler with as mu...

By Dermot Gilleece

The Wall Came Down

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:45:31 +0000

Celebrations commemorating the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 prompt the question as to the first international tournament to have been won by the combined might of East and West Germany, after the country was unified. Many observers will be of the view that it was the 1990 Soccer World Cup in Italy, where Germany captured the trophy through a 1-0 defeat of Argentina in the final. Wrong.

German reunification wasn't completed until October 3rd of that year. Which means th...

By Dermot Gilleece

Christy O'Connor's Long Drop

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:45:20 +0000

Now that Christy O'Connor Snr has been formally inducted into golf's Hall of Fame, it seems appropriate to reflect on golfing events in this week, 50 years ago. That was when the British and Irish team eventually arrived by Greyhound Bus for the 13th Ryder Cup matches at the Eldorado Country Club in Palm Spring, California, having survived what became known as The Long Drop.
This was when the charter aircraft, in which they were travelling the 150 miles from Los Angeles on the final leg ...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot on Payne Stewart

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:56:49 +0000

When the US Open was staged at Pinehurst No 2 in June 1999, Stuart Appleby played the first two rounds with Payne Stewart. Four months later, the Australian filled a prominent role in a desperately sad memorial service at the Champions Club in Houston, to mark the passing of Stewart who was killed on the Monday of that week in a freak air accident.

That was ten years ago, on October 25th, 1999, when the 42-year-old American was headed from Orlando to Dallas for a meeting on a pr...

By Dermot Gilleece

Breaking the Herd Mentality

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:41:38 +0100

The herd instinct comes to the fore when sportspeople are either removed or protected from the realities of daily living. We saw it to worst effect last week in Portugal in the build-up to a crucial meeting of the Tournament Committee of the European Tour.

In an attempt at strengthening their future competitive activities, as they saw them, the majority took the view that leading players had to be brought to heel. So we had Rory McIlroy, a bright and normally reasonable young man...

By Dermot Gilleece

President's Cup: Plan B?

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:06:47 +0100

It was all so perfectly polite. When last Sunday's singles got under way in the President's Cup at Harding Park, San Francisco, we were informed that in the unlikely event of a tie, the trophy would be shared by both the US and International teams. Just as had been agreed so sportingly by rival captains, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, in 2005 at Fancourt, South Africa, where it became impossible to decide the issue because of fast-fading light.

There was none of the distasteful, win-...

By Dermot Gilleece

Sam Snead: One of a Kind

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:11:56 +0100

In recalling his US Masters debut in 2000, Padraig Harrington talks about the feeling that Augusta National seemed to open up its doors to him. Essentially, this had to do with the fact that the first celebrity he met at the entrance to the clubhouse was Sam Snead, regaling a rapt audience of press and players about aspects of his illustrious golfing career.

It made a huge impact on Harrington who was still feeling his way on tour at that stage and had gained only his second tour...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot on Course Design

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:37:31 +0100

Watching the US Tour Championship at East Lake last weekend, provoked two dominant thoughts. One was the enduring quality of a layout which was designed by Donald Ross back in 1904 and upgraded by Rees Jones in 1994. And the other was the wonderful test it offered, due largely to its firm, fast greens which we changed relatively recently to Bermuda grass.

I was reminded of a trip I made there in a private aircraft from Augusta some years ago at the behest of Tom Cousins, one of Ea...

By Dermot Gilleece

Ryder Cup Glory For Ireland

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:54:21 +0100

Events of 20 years ago this week, effectively shaped the future of tournament golf in Ireland, right up to the staging of the Ryder Cup at The K Club in 2006. It started on the morning after the 1989 Ryder Cup in which a hard-fought tie at The Belfry, kept the trophy in European hands.

On Monday, September 25th, Irish golfing nerves still tingled with the excitement of the previous afternoon. That was when Ronan Rafferty distinguished himself with a singles win over reigning ...

By Dermot Gilleece

Happy 80th Arnie!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:09:39 +0100

Few birthdays have been more welcomed in golf than Arnold Palmer's 80th, which fell on September 10th. The reason for this, lies in something he told me during a charming meeting we had at The K Club some years ago. "I find if you're nice to people," said Arnie, "it always comes back to you, one way or another."

That particular observation resonated wonderfully through what I consider to be the most remarkable, human story I've ever come across in golf. Curiously, it had its beginnin...

By Dermot Gilleece

The Joys of the Walker Cup

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:33:35 +0100

Question: Could the Walker Cup ever be played in a cricket club? Answer: Yes. In fact it will happen this coming weekend, September 12th and 13th, when Britain and Ireland will be attempting to wrest the trophy from the US who retained it at Royal Co Down, two years ago.

The biennial event is being staged for the first time on Merion's celebrated East Course where Ben Hogan made what remains the greatest comeback in the history of the game, by capturing the 1950 US Open, only 16 months after a near-fatal car crash. But what about cricket?

The answer is that Merion was founded in December 1865 by a group of cricket enthusiasts, the oldest of whom was 22 and the youngest, a mere 14-year-old. Then, in 1879, the club's activities were broadened to encompass tennis. And in 1896, golf came to Merion and effectively sounded the death-knell for bat on ball, though its official title remains Merion Cricket Club.

Apart from Hogan's remarkable triumph, the club is notable as the venue where Bobby Jones made his debut in the US Amateur Championship in 1916. As a 14-year-old standing 5ft 4ins and weighing a chunky 11st 11lbs, he scored a remarkable 74 in the first qualifying round on the West Course but followed it with a humbling 89 on the East, which was clearly a far more daunting proposition.

Yet Merion remained dear to Jones's heart and it was there that he completed the Grand Slam of 1930 with a runaway victory in the US Amateur. Significantly, when the East Course was extensively upgraded in the mid-1990s, they used the 1930 course as a benchmark.

The 10-member visiting team, which warmed up at Pine Valley earlier this week, includes a lone Irishman in Royal Dublin's Niall Kearney, winner of the English Open Strokeplay title for the Brabazon Trophy, earlier this year. If this modest representation prompts a hint of disappointment, it is based on the remarkable success of the country's amateur players over the past few years, though they slumped badly in the recent Home Internationals at Hillside. Either way, there's little doubt but that Shane Lowry would have been a serious candidate, had he not opted to join professional ranks after capturing the 3Irish Open at Baltray last May.

All of which leads one to question the importance of the Walker Cup to an aspiring, modern professional. Would it have been to Lowry's benefit had he resisted the temptation to postpone the decision until perhaps later this month? Only the player himself could fully answer that question, though the likelihood is that it wouldn't have done him any measurable good.

There was a time when Walker Cup selection was the pinnacle of an amateur's career. One recalls the esteem in which great amateurs from this side of the pond, such as Joe Carr and Michael Bonallack, held the event, even though it often meant humiliation for them at the hands of young, college- tutored Americans. As it happened, Ireland twice had the distinction of having no fewer than four representatives back then, with Carr, Jimmy Bruen, Cecil Ewing and Max McCready being honoured in 1949 and in 1951.

Later, there was the joy of Roddy Carr's involvement in a glorious victory under Bonallack's captaincy at St Andrews in 1971, when he set a record by winning three and a half points out of four. This was to be followed by bitter disappointment for Ireland in having only one other representative, Pat Mulcare, during the remainder of the 1970s. Still, it remained a cherished distinction through the 1980s, when Ronan Rafferty, Philip Walton, Garth McGimpsey, Arthur Pierse and Eoghan O'Connell added to the Irish roll of honour, while England's Peter McEvoy seemed to set the standard for all. And it was still believed that it contributed significantly to a player's commercial worth, were he to turn professional.

The big change in this thinking came in August 1990 when Darren Clarke spurned virtually certain Walker Cup selection for the matches at Portmarnock the following year, by turning professional. His new manager, Chubby Chandler, convinced him it would be of no benefit when it came to signing endorsement deals. In the process, he implied that the only point in a would-be professional holding on for Walker Cup honours, was for the personal satisfaction involved. It could be the source of some fond memories in later years. Nothing more.

It is interesting to note that Sandy Lyle and Padraig Harrington are the only British and Irish Walker Cup players to have gone on to capture major championships, whereas numerous American players have gained this distinction. This is the background against which Kearney and Lowry took sharply contrasting views of the Merion staging. For their own reasons, both players made the right decision though, deep down, Lowry must have a tinge of regret at missing the opportunity of treading in Hogan's footsteps.

-Dermot Gilleece

By Dermot Gilleece

Monty Turns Up The Heat

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:33:26 +0100

The countdown starts this week and European skipper, Colin Montgomerie, is already turning up the heat. I'm referring, of course to the Omega European Masters, which is the opening tournament of the 2010 Ryder Cup qualifying campaign.

While leading candidates such as Padraig Harrington are embroiled in the FedEx Cup play-offs in the US, Monty has indicated he will expecting his top Ryder Cup candidates to compete in Europe's top events next season. In fact he has e-mailed them to t...

By Dermot Gilleece

Lesson Learned?

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:47:02 +0100

On the assumption that Padraig Harrington gets back to normal scoring in this week's Barclays Tournament in the US, it may be time to close the book on events at Firestone and Hazeltine National, where he ran up eights in successive weeks. Then again, it may be appropriate to have one last look at Harrington disasters.

From my perspective, I thought Nick Faldo displayed remarkable restraint in his CBS observations about the 16th in the Bridgestone Invitational and the eighth hole...

By Dermot Gilleece

Laura Davies : Cup Queen

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:16:36 +0100

It's a truly remarkable achievement. When the Solheim Cup takes place at Rich Harvest Farms near Chicago later this week, Laura Davies will be making her 11th successive appearance for the European team. In other words, she will have played in them all, since the event was instituted at Lake Nona, Florida, in 1990.

Europe have won only three of those battles and, not surprisingly, the most memorable one from Davies' standpoint was the breakthrough victory at Dalmahoy in 1992...

By Dermot Gilleece

USPGA Betting Preview

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:47:47 +0100

PADDY POWER CUT HARRINGTON USPGA ODDS AS FORM RETURNS
- USPGA Championship Betting Preview -

Padraig Harrington’s return to form at Bridgestone’s WGC has seen his odds to defend his USPGA title next week cut from 33/1 to 22/1.

Bookie Paddy Power, who are paying six places on the final major of the year, have reacted to Harrington’s six under par at the final tournament before the USPGA by cutting the one player they fear more than any other in...

By Paddy Power

The Perfect script

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:43:39 +0100

Much has changed at Hazeltine National since the US Open was first staged there on June 18th to 21st, 1970. It was an occasion when the opening round was swept by winds of up to 40mph causing scores to soar, with Arnold Palmer carding a 79 while Jack Nicklaus had an embarrassing 81, the worst round of his US Open career.

Not surprisingly, struggling players blamed everything but themselves. So we had some memorable comments about the course, which was designed by the celebrated...

By Dermot Gilleece

Wild Card Wie

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:53:17 +0100

So Michelle Wie has made the US Solheim Cup team as a wild-card pick! To those of us who watched her at Waialai Country Club in Hawaii more than five years ago, this is much less of a surprise than her failure to win a major championship in her teens. Her last chance of making the breakthrough before her 20th birthday on October 11th, was in the Ricoh Womens British Open at Royal Lytham last weekend, when she finished 11th behind the splendid Catriona Matthew.

I can still vivi...

By Dermot Gilleece

Be Prepared - The Motto of a Master

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:29:56 +0100

Meeting the celebrated American golf writer, Dan Jenkins, at this time of year is always rather special, because it happens to coincide with the anniversary of his great friend, Ben Hogan. After a remarkably long life, given the horrific injuries he sustained in a potentially fatal car crash in February 1949, Hogan died on July 25th 1997, aged 84.

Jenkins, meanwhile, is fast approaching his fourth decade yet makes light of the years by continuing to make delightful contributions to "Golf D...

By Dermot Gilleece

The Changing Times for Golf Scribes

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:36:40 +0100

In common with countless others of my vintage, I learned my craft watching Tom Watson. Which means that I had a huge, emotional investment in events at Turnberry last weekend, when the supreme effort of a seemingly indefatigable 59-year-old wasn't good enough. It brought to mind the comment of Watson's great rival, Jack Nicklaus, in very different circumstances in 1977, when the Bear threw an arm around his conquerer's shoulder and said: "I'm tired of giving it my best sho...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog: A Bear in Turnberry

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:53:47 +0100

Turnberry will always be associated in a very special way with the so-called ‘Duel in the Sun’, in which Tom Watson outgunned Jack Nicklaus in a pulsating battle for the 1977 Open Championship. This was the occasion when Nicklaus sustained probably the biggest disappointment of his illustrious career in that, by his own admission, he played to the best of his ability and it wasn't good enough.

Not much mention is made, however, of another, more recent disappointment for the Bear ove...

By Dermot Gilleece

Paddy Power Open Golf Special

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:44:25 +0100

A MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Forget the Joy of Six – Paddy Power is once again offering a Magnificent SEVEN places on this year’s Open Championship.

Whilst some bookmakers offer just five places on the biggest golf betting event of the year Paddy Power are again leading the way down the fairway to payout on the first seven players at the top of the final leaderboard.

With Tiger Woods in fine form after his win at the AT&T National over t...

By Paddy Power

Padraig Harrington : The Academic Approach

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:13:39 +0100

               Crisis! What crisis? Those of us of a certain age remember this as a catchphrase of a certain Irish politician of the not-so-recent past. Now, with the defence of his Open title almost upon him, it seems to be the repeated response by Padraig Harrington to questions and concerns about his golf game.

               Firstly, it may be appropriate to clarify what precisely he's been up to. Last autumn, as the winner of three out of the last six major championships, he and his coach, Bob Torrance, had a state-of-his-gam...

By Dermot Gilleece

Fast Golf

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:35:46 +0100

Let us consider fast golf. The thought is prompted by a heated argument in my golf club at the weekend over slow play. While all sorts of solutions were being offered by serious, well-meaning practitioners of our favourite game, I remained steadfast in my belief that the problem could be attributed largely to one, simple human weakness: selfishness.

No, I'm not suggesting that this is also the case in the professional game, where putting on seriously slick greens can play hell with time-keeping. I'm talking about normal, social golf where there's an...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : Rory McIlroy's performances betray his years

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:32:33 +0100

When Padraig Harrington made his debut in the US Open at Congressional in 1997, he went away on the Friday evening, fairly dispirited about missing the cut by four strokes after rounds of 75 and 76. A year later at the Olympic Club, the Dubliner, by his own admission, performed to the best of his ability yet rounds of 73,72,76,72 were good enough only for a share of 32nd place, 13 strokes behind the winner, Lee Janzen.

That was when Harrington...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : Remembering Payne Stewart

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:31:29 +0100

It hardly seems 10 years since Payne Stewart's second triumph in the US Open at Pinehurst, which was followed by a memorable Irish visit in that summer of 1999. The highlight was probably his participation in the greatest six-ball ever to tread an Irish fairway, when he, Tiger Woods, David Duval, Mark O’Meara, Lee Janzen and Stuart Appleby made the 30-minute chopper trip from Waterville to play the Old Head of Kinsale on a foggy day in July.

When they reached the tee at the spe...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : The revival of the Irish Ladies Open

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:34:38 +0100

With glamorous Australian, Jan Stephenson, wrapped in mauve winter woollies against the wind and rain of October days at Clandeboye, the 1984 staging of the Smirnoff Irish Ladies Open seemed like another world. As if the presence of star players from America's LPGA Tour wasn't sufficiently eyebrow-raising, this happened to be the second wealthiest tournament on what was then the WPGA Tour, being surpassed only by the Ladies British Open.

The p...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : On Tony Jacklin

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:23:38 +0100

Time and place combine this summer to revive precious memories of Tony Jacklin's finest exploits in golf. Forty years ago at Royal Lytham, he became the first Briton since 1951 to capture the Open Championship and 1969 also marked what became known famously as his "Concession Match" with Jack Nicklaus in the Ryder Cup, down the Lancashire coast at Royal Birkdale.

Then in 1970 came his US Open triumph at Hazeltine to which major golf returns this year with the staging of the US PGA Championship in August. ...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : Padraig Harrington

Mon, 25 May 2009 15:45:38 +0100

Though it wasn't planned that way, Shane Lowry's professional debut in the European Open at the London Club this week is reminiscent of some fascinating happenings in September 1995. They involved a player who would go on to become Ireland's finest ever golfer, after he had taken part in the Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl.

Padraig Harrington made a memorable contribution to that particular staging, notably on the second day when he and Jody Fanagan gained a fours...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : Fewer Mountains to Conquer

Mon, 18 May 2009 09:36:58 +0100

With the astonishing amateur victory by Shane Lowry in the 3Irish Open coming after Padraig Harrington's three triumphs in the last seven major championships, there seem to be fewer and fewer mountains for Irish golfers to conquer. Yet the PGA Championship at Wentworth, which takes place this week under the BMW banner, remains a notable omission.

Christy O'Connor Snr captured the 1959 Daks Tournament with a record aggregate of 274 over the famed Burma Road stretch. And he returned f...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : The Irish Open

Mon, 11 May 2009 12:56:26 +0100

It is easy to forget that the success of the European Tour during the formative decades of the eighties and early nineties was built largely on appearance fees for a select group of players. Seve Ballesteros was widely regarded as having no peer when it came to putting bums on seats. And tournament organisers were happy to acknowledge this. As Joe Flanagan, the tournament director of the Carrolls Irish Open once told me: "If you had Seve, you felt you had the makings of a success...

By Dermot Gilleece

TPC Betting Preview

Thu, 07 May 2009 08:52:17 +0100

The Player’s Championship – Extra Place Special
Paddy Power is paying out on the first six places at this week’s TPC at Sawgrass.
That’s 1-2-3-4-5-6 places at ¼ odds.

The 17th hole at Sawgrass is one of the most famous holes in world golf and Paddy Power also has a variety of specials on the watery grave.

The Famous 17th Hole Specials
7/2 Hole in one on the 17th during the tournament
5/1 Leader after Round 3 to go in the ...

By Paddy Power

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : David Carter

Tue, 05 May 2009 12:06:56 +0100

Looking through the winners of the Irish Open which returns to Baltray next week under the banner of 3Mobile, one is struck by a sharply contrasting roll of honour. On the one hand there are illustrious champions such as George Duncan, Bobby Locke, Ben Crenshaw, Hubert Green, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Ian Woosnam and Padraig Harrington. And on the other, there are those for whom it was a rare taste of glory.

...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : Christy O'Connor

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:27:13 +0100

Royal Dublin are planning a special celebration within the next few weeks to honour Christy O'Connor's 50 years with the club. In fact he has already passed that milestone, given that his formal appointment as resident professional was on April 1st, 1959.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this lengthy association is that O'Connor never actually applied for the job, because he didn't think himself worthy of it. This, from a player who becam...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : Player last to go

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:59:22 +0100

It is only now, more than a week after the event, that the realisation has sunk in: the Masters will never be the same again. Given Gary Player's record, final appearance, next April's staging of this rite of spring will be the first since 1954 in which none of the one-time Big Three of golf will be in the field. Arnold Palmer retired from it in 2004 after 50 consecutive appearances, Jack Nicklaus, with 45, departed the scene in 2005. And Player, after 52 appearances, is gone...

By Dermot Gilleece

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : Costly Brushes with the Rules

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:22:29 +0100

We can take it that Rory McIlroy is totally innocent of any rules transgression in greenside sand on the 18th hole here at Augusta National. That assessment is based on events after last Friday's incident, rather than the incident itself.

More specifically, it has to do with a golf official named Fred S Ridley, who happens to be chairman of the US Masters Competition Committee. As winner of the 1975 US Amateur Championship, Ridley is the las...

By Dermot Gilleece

Extra Place Special for the Masters

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:56:31 +0100

It’s the first Major of the season and Imagine Golf Club’s preferred betting partners, Paddy Power, are making it a little easier to win with their Extra Place Special!*

They are paying 1/4 ODDS 1-2-3-4-5-6 PLACES on the US Masters!

Selected odds that caught our eye here at Imagine Golf Club include:

15/8 Tiger Woods
8/1 Phil Mickelson
16/1 Padraig Harrington
20/1 Geoff Ogilvy
25/1 Retief Goosen
35/1 Sergio Garcia

...

By Paddy Power

Dermot Gilleece's Blog : The Masters is Worth Every Cent

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:48:31 +0100

While finalising travel arrangements for another US Masters, it struck me that it is 20 years since I made the first of these spring pilgrimages to Augusta National. My debut was in 1989 when my Irish employer decided that as committed Europeans, it was time we recognised the Masters as a sporting event of considerable interest on this side of the pond.

He was right, of course. After Seve Ballesteros had blazed the trail in 1980 and with a repeat win in 1983, Bernh...

By Dermot Gilleece

Arnold Palmer

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:35:31 +0100

Looking at television images of Arnold Palmer at his tournament at Bay Hill over the weekend, it was difficult to imagine it being 49 years since he experienced links golf for the first time, and that he had to battle cancer as recently as 1997. In fact The King will be 80 on September 10th.

When we met a few years ago at The K Club, prior to the Ryder Cup, I reminded him of his arrival at Portmarnock in 1960 as Sam Snead's partner in the Canada Cup. As it happened, he was a replacement for original choice, Ben Hogan, wh...

By Dermot Gilleece