Happy New Year everybody. This is the month of two long-awaited comebacks:  Tiger Woods and madillgolf.com!  You’ll all be delighted that Maureen is recovering so well from her shoulder surgery that she can now manage a full swing and increase the range of her tips accordingly, so prepare to be amazed in due course.

It remains to be seen if Tiger’s body can stand the strain of tournament golf at the highest level again but he’s intending to test himself with four events in five weeks, starting at his much-loved Torrey Pines in California on 26th January.  He’ll never be the player he was – no one is; we all change – but if the frame holds up, it’s hard to imagine that he won’t win again.  The intensity and single-mindedness of youth have gone but ageing codgers make crafty, canny golfers still capable of winning the biggest events.  At 41, Tiger is hardly old but has he burnt himself out a la Seve or is there still plenty in the tank?  Mystic Madill has no idea but is confident all will be revealed in the fullness of time.

This being the start of the year, when some people have already been bruised and battered beyond belief, we’re going to ease in gently and be a bit touchy-feely, emphasising the feel-good factor.  I have to confess that I cheered when I heard that Sergio Garcia had announced his engagement, to Angela Akins.  Like all of us Sergio can be a grumpy so-and-so when things aren’t going his way but he’s always been one of my favourites and I’d love him to win a major championship.  Failing that, I’d settle for him being happy!  Buena suerte Angela y Sergio.

Sergio and his fiancee Angela.

Another of my favourites is Rory McIlroy, who is playing in South Africa this week and did some of the safari stuff, getting up very close with a large, presumably well-fed lion, before strutting his own stuff on the fairways at Glendower GC in Johannesburg.  Rory is engaged to Erica Stoll and in the first instalment of a wide-ranging interview with the inimitable Paul Kimmage in the Sunday Independent (see www.independent.ie), he revealed himself to be a thoughtful, well-grounded young man.  And he’ll be on duty at the DDF Irish Open at Portstewart the week starting the 3rd of July.  Don’t miss it.

Rory and fiancee Erica. Hope they’ll need the shades in Portstewart in July.

In the USA, it’s all change in many areas.  There’s a new president-in-waiting in Donald Trump, a keen golfer, who has courses at Balmedie, near Aberdeen; Turnberry, on the west coast of Scotland; and Doonbeg, on the west coast of Ireland.  A special relationship indeed.  There’s a new Ryder Cup captain in Jim Furyk (we in Europe have Thomas Bjorn, so bonne chance to them both in Paris next year); and the PGA Tour has a new commissioner in Jay Monahan.  His predecessor Tim Finchem, who was aided and abetted by the Tiger factor, is a hard act to follow and retired to many tributes but I’ll never forget the words of one awed observer who was left open-mouthed by his response to a question at the Presidents Cup in Melbourne.

It was the first time the event had ventured outside America and I asked a question, naively expecting an answer that might mention the good of the game, international relations or some such girly guff.  Nothing so touch-feely from lawyer Tim.  Whatever it was he said, I was like a rabbit in the headlights, mesmerised, panicked, bewildered, toast.  I put down my pen and relied on the stenographers.  In the end it all came down to the bottom line (silly me, thinking it could ever have been anything else) and my mate, who’d heard it all, said afterwards:  “If I ever commit murder, I want that man to defend me.”

Happy retirement Tim.  The formidable Mr Finchem.

I’ve always been partial to lists – shopping lists, to-do lists, Christmas lists, whatever.  So, before Patricia and I stagger towards a few blog-free weeks I thought I’d post a little list of personal delights from the 2016 golfing season.

An unexpected pin up!

1   In top spot is the wholly unexpected fact that I discovered I actually LIKE Patrick Reed.  “What?”, I hear you cry.  “That arrogant, loud, boorish Yank who filled our screens at the Ryder Cup?”  Yes, yes and yes!  Take him outside that incredible arena of live Ryder Cup play and, yes, he is still super-confident but he also displays a genuine humility and an appreciation for the skills of his opponents.  There is an openess about him and a refreshing lack of the self- absorption that can be commonplace among successful people.  I did bump into his friends and family at the Ryder Cup (see my post “Inside the Ropes at Hazeltine”) and I can’t imagine them allowing him to be too big for his boots.

Elaine Farquharson-Black (left), Helen Hewlett (right) and their wonderful Curtis Cup team.

2   The month of June saw Great Britain and Ireland sweep to an amazing victory in the Curtis Cup at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club.  Outclassed on paper, but not where it mattered, the team, led by an inspirational Bronte Law who won five points out of five, came together to prove incontrovertibly that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  The Irish trio of Leona Maguire, Olivia Mehaffey and Maria Dunne sent home hearts soaring with displays of fearless aggression and consummate skill.  I have been privileged to watch and commentate on the best golf worldwide for 20 plus years but there is absolutely nothing to compare to victory for a team you once played for.  When this sport has a fierce emotional pull on your heart and victory is delivered in your native country – well, it’s truly glorious!

Lilian Starrett and Patricia reeling from my birdie on Calamity.

3   For one reason and another I didn’t manage my customary ten games or so this year and yet again my New Year Resolution is to get out and play more.  Two of my 2016 games were on the soon-to-be Open venue, the Dunluce course at Royal Portrush.  On each occasion I recorded a birdie 2 on the fearsome par 3 Calamity Corner.  This was easily as unexpected as liking Patrick Reed!  Confirmation of the truth of this boast is available upon application to, firstly, Patricia and Lilian Starrett, and, secondly, to Mary McKenna, Sandra Ross and Gillian Stewart, aka The July Club.  If you look at one of my previous posts, “Portstewart, Portrush, Castlerock: A Trio Of Golfing Delights”, you’ll find this is not the first time I have mentioned this feat.  Indeed, I find it working its way into an amazing number of the golf conversations I have.  And I used to suspect Patrick Reed of being self-absorbed!

Aditi – a breath of fresh air.

4   Finally, meeting India’s Aditi Ashok and her family and following the 18-year-old’s progress on the world stage has been a real bonus.  Aditi won the Ladies’ European Tour Qualifying School at the end of 2015 by a considerable margin.  The family live in Bangalore and aren’t half racking up the airmiles.  In August, at the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Woburn, Aditi was sponsorless and had Dad on the bag for her first major appearance.  Her Mum, Mash, a former radio DJ, was number one supporter.  Since then Aditi has won back to back tournaments in Europe as well as Rookie of the Year honours, represented her country at the Olympics and has gained enough status on the LPGA to merit plenty of starts stateside in 2017.  To cap it all, she is a trailblazer in her country and is becoming one of their most recognisable sports stars.  It gives me a lovely fuzzy feeling to know that the good guys can and do win.  This girl has replied to and acknowledged any tweets I’ve put out about her whether necessary or not.  She’s a class act and fingers crossed for more of the same for the family in 2017.

5  And the final, final delight of 2016.  Patricia and I did, eventually, start this blog.  And, contrary to my deep-seated certainty that it was inevitable, I haven’t yet killed her and diplomatic relations continue, mostly.  But, while we may be enjoying it – are YOU?  We hope so.

Have a great festive season and, unless we hear to the contrary, we’ll be back mid Jan.

Last week’s Ricoh Women’s British Open at Woburn gave the lie to the notion that there’s no interest in women’s golf in this country, with roughly 52,000 spectators tramping the fairways during the championship and many more watching on television on the BBC, where golf is about to become a distant memory.

The best women golfers in the world gave a demonstration of ball-striking at its best and the new champion Ariya Jutanugarn was little short of awesome, giving the ball a mighty Thai tonk and holding nothing back.  She played with Catriona Matthew in the third round and it was a wonderful contrast in styles, with the Scot, who will be 47 later this month, having to plot her way round the Marquess course in a more canny fashion altogether.  Matthew was the leading Briton, sharing 5th place on 279, 9 under par, seven shots behind the winner.

Ariya with caddy Peter and mentors Pia and Lynn

Charley Hull, the local heroine, lagged behind her Olympic teammate on 283 but showed glimpses of her best form in a final round of 69.  The week before the RWBO Hull was playing for England in the UL International Crown team event in Illinois and had to sit out one of the days because of illness.  She was then in great demand at Woburn, for tea party photo shoots, interviews, chats with the GB Olympic golf captain Jamie Spence, selfies, what have you and she even experienced first-tee nerves, a rarity for the insouciant 20-year old, as she prepared to perform in front of her family and friends.

Rio will provide another challenge and will be nothing like a normal tournament, despite the familiarity of the 72-hole stroke play format.  Hull, who suffers from asthma, will have to make sure that her inhaler is properly vetted and all the competitors will have to be extra careful about what they take for any sniffles and snuffles, aches and pains, to ensure they don’t fall foul of the drug testers.  There’ll be a lot to take in and the golf will be intense because most of the best women in the world will be there, anxious to secure a medal and make a unique mark in the game.

China’s Olympic medal hope Shanshan Feng

Apologies to Spence, a lovely man despite being an Arsenal supporter, who was kind enough to do a Q & A with madillgolf.com.  He even agreed to start again after the klutz operating the iPad realised that she had it in photo mode instead of video.  Then halfway through, said klutz noticed that the seconds were no longer ticking up……the machine had had enough, it had run out of capacity and Jamie’s words of wisdom ended up as so much air instead of on air.  Sorry captain and the best of luck to team GB (Danny Willett, Justin Rose, Matthew and Hull).  May you all be spared from media klutzes and hitches and glitches, technical or otherwise.

Good luck also, of course, to team Ireland, captained by Paul McGinley (whose Q & A was conducted by Maureen without a hitch).  Padraig Harrington is the leading player, with Seamus Power, Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow also in the line-up making golfing history.  This will be one of the highlights of their life, let alone their career.

On a less elevated, more prosaic golfing note, the ladies’ captain of Whittington Heath took more than a score of swingers to Southport, England’s Golf Coast, where we played Hesketh – and saw the Hitler Trophy displayed in all its glory (see a previous post for more details) – and Formby Ladies, where they can boast 250 (female) playing members. Wow. Let’s get recruiting girls.

A name to conjure with

Sue Gartland of Whittington Heath with Anne Bromley, secretary/manager Formby Ladies

The trophy, looking peachy, in its cabinet at     Hesketh, photo by Alex Ridley

The Hitler Trophy:  Golf and the Olympic Games by Alan Fraser, published by Floodlit Dreams.

This is stirring stuff, a book that rattles along covering all sorts of ground as it examines the history of golf in and (mostly) out of the Olympic Games and traces the sometimes tortuous journey of a unique trophy, which is now proudly displayed in the Bentley Room at Hesketh Golf Club in Southport, Lancashire.  The detective work involved is  impressive and the characters involved, both ancient and modern, are compelling.

Alan Fraser, the author, is a Scot who has written about sport, golf in particular, for many years, covering every Open Championship from 1978 – 2014 and the Olympics in Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London.  He sets the stage for golf’s return to the Olympics in Rio this summer and perhaps the only new thing under the sun is the stringent drug testing that the golfers will have to undergo.  Rows, withdrawals, worries about half-completed venues, they’re an Olympic staple.

The author, right, launching his book at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth

This year, viruses permitting, there will be 60 men and 60 women competing, separately, in a 72-hole individual event. The likes of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Danny Willett will be trying to emulate Charles Sands, of Yonkers, New York, who won the gold medal in Paris (the course was at Compiegne) in 1900 over 36 holes and George Lyon, of Canada, who won in 1904 in St Louis.  He turned up to defend his title in London in 1908 but no other golfers pitched up and Lyon declined to accept the gold medal by default.

In 1900, Peggy Abbott, an American socialite who played at the Chicago Golf Club and had spent time in Paris studying art with Degas and Rodin, won the 9-hole women’s event.  The medals, however, were awarded retrospectively and she died in 1955 not even knowing that she was an Olympian let alone the first American woman to win a gold medal!

In 1904, the women were banned altogether and Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Games, was vehemently against any female participation, calling it “incorrect, unpractical, uninteresting and unaesthetic”.  Wonderful stuff.

The Hitler Trophy, more correctly the Golfpreis der Nationen, Gegeben Vom Fuhrer und Reichskanzler (donated by the Fuhrer and Chancellor of the Reich, Adolf Hitler), was contested in Baden-Baden in 1936, just after the Olympics in Berlin.  Seven two-man teams played 72 holes of strokeplay over two days, lowest combined total to win.

England, represented by Tom Thirsk, a Yorkshireman who played at Bridlington and Ganton and Arnold Bentley, a Lancastrian from Hesketh, were the winners.  France were second and Germany were third.  The hosts had been doing well enough for Hitler, allegedly, to set off for Baden-Baden to present the trophy but he was headed off and, allegedly, huffed his way home!

Read the book to learn more about Thirsk and Bentley, both fascinating characters, the Hitler Tree and how Derek Holden, pictured below, photo by Alex Ridley, helped secure the trophy for Hesketh.