The tour de force that is Mary McKenna, Irish golfing legend and all-round good egg, has departed these shores and is now back in Ireland, cameras at the ready to capture more glorious spring and summer snaps.  We’re very happy she accepted the role of the blog’s chief photographer (unpaid position, of course) ten years ago at the inception of these ramblings.

We did spend a lovely weekend in Lichfield with the sister – well, MOST of it was lovely.  We had a stressful time listening to the radio, exhausting every ounce of willpower in order to get Spurs over the line for their first victory this year.  For a spell of a handful of minutes it looked like Tottenham would make up a couple of much-needed points on West Ham but a late goal put paid to that.  As Patricia says, “It’s the hope that kills you.”

Quelle relief when the final whistle blew.  And Mary doesn’t even like football.

There’s no doubt there’s one family in the golfing world that is, well, on top of the world just now – and that’s the Fitzpatricks.  Matt, multiple winner on the PGA tour this year and No 3, partnered with little bro, Alex, who won his maiden DP World tour title in India at the start of the month, to snatch the Zurich Classic of New Orleans title with a last-gasp birdie at the 72nd hole.  Mum and Dad were on hand to witness it all and to see their younger boy gain his PGA tour card and exempt status through to the end of 2028.

This is the stuff of dreams by anyone’s standards and it was the feel-good story of the week without a shadow of a doubt.  To share it with the whole family must have been joyous for all of them.

Alas, it seems that the opportunities for this sort of springboard in the world of golf are lessening.  There was plenty of news during the week to spark speculation and conjecture about the direction and future of various tours.  The PGA Tour have, as expected, dropped their opening two events in January 2027 in Hawaii and under the stewardship of Brian Rolapp, the new commissioner, sorry, chief executive, we are likely to see a shorter, consolidated schedule with limited fields and no cut.  Apparently, it’s all in the name of getting the best players in the world to play against each other more often.

I don’t find anything that is being promised remotely attractive.  Smaller fields and no cut is limiting, limiting, limiting.  The more open golf is, the healthier it’ll be.  Removing full fields and the cut takes away any jeopardy for the players who are having an off week – they’re going to get a hefty cheque no matter how they play.  I like seeing unknown players excel – we could witness a life-changing moment for them (as we did with Alex Fitzpatrick) which is something that draws in all sports fans.

The top stars will always wish to be in charge of their own schedules and they will ink the majors (none of which the PGA Tour controls) into their diaries first and foremost.  After that they will decide on where they’ll play.  With the prizemoney on the PGA Tour so elevated now and with the fields shrinking, stagnation beckons.

There has also been speculation swirling around the LIV Golf Tour and its ability to survive beyond the end of this year.  It’s reported that PIF, who have sunk $5 billion into the league, are withdrawing their support and now outside funding is being sought for future years.  How this year pans out for the players will be more than a little interesting.  Those whose contracts come to an end may well be seeking a route back to the conventional golfing landscape while those with ongoing contracts might find themselves with nowhere to play.

Perhaps we’re about to seriously enter the era of the Youtube Golf Tour.  (Yes, it’s already a bit of a thing!)

I’m a bit depressed at the moment about the women’s game, the coverage it receives and its future – as are some of the blog’s correspondents.  There’s either poor coverage or too little coverage.  I don’t have the answers to the perennial questions of how to secure sponsorship to the value needed to provide a top-class event with a captivating broadcast.  The first major of the year, the Chevron Championship should have provided all we wanted – but it was frankly quite unexciting and I was channel-hopping to find the Fitzpatrick brothers instead.

Nelly Korda, supreme athlete and wonderful golfer that she is, always looks as if she’d quite like to be somewhere else.  Korda won her third major and in the process recaptured her place at the summit of the world rankings.  Mind you, the sparse crowds didn’t help, but why is women’s golf not forging onwards and upwards in this era of genuine and burgeoning interest in all sorts of women’s sports?  The answer to that question seems to elude better brains than mine.

Meanwhile, I suppose I’ll just have to cross my fingers and carry on dreaming of a female Seve appearing on the scene to provide that extra something that might just pull the crowds in.  Goodness knows, the players deserve it.

Allow me to begin this week’s blog with a little housekeeping and tidying up of results of significant events we touched upon a couple of weeks back, BRSM – Before Rory’s Second Masters.

The first of these was the Roehampton Gold Cup which celebrated its centenary two weekends ago and, to all intents and purposes, the Roehampton Club did itself proud.  Caroline Scallon of the host club and friend and provider of news of the event sent me the following synopsis:-

“The Pro-Am went well on Friday on a decent warm and dry day.  Good time had by all and our visiting professionals so pleased to catch up with each other again.

The Gold Cup was less fortunate with the weather which was cold – with about an hour of rain and strengthening wind from 0900.  But everyone cold, wind tricky and greens fast – about 10.6.”

There’s no doubt that 36 holes in those conditions was a stern test, one which newly-minted professional Luca Thompson took in her stride.  Scores of 73 and 74 for a 147 total gave her a two-stroke victory over Annabel Fuller and Lauren Horsford and perhaps most importantly, her first win as a professional.  This is a very encouraging start for the 2025 Welsh champion whose Dad, Zac, is a PGA professional and former coach to Ian Poulter.  Shortly after the above photograph was taken Luca made a mad dash to Heathrow to catch a flight to Johannesburg to play in the Ladies’ European Tour event there.

It’ll be fun following her career.

Almost, but not quite, overshadowing the Gold Cup itself was the very special past players’ lunch with guest of honour, Scottish legend, Belle Robertson (above in the front row, third from left) celebrating her ninetieth birthday that very same day.  The club presented her with a beautiful birthday cake and Belle presented back to the club her winning prize in 1978 of a pewter claret jug, which now resides in one of the club’s memorabilia displays.

Although she would deny it Belle is a bit of a mentor to Bob MacIntyre and has played a fair bit of golf with him.  Her interest in the game is as keen as ever and, from what I hear, her skills are still pretty sharp.

From one successful Scot taking centre stage at Roehampton, let’s take a jump to yet more successful Scots who this year hoisted aloft the Mary McKenna Salver at Royal Portrush.  This was the 25th playing of a Senior Women’s International match between Scotland and Ireland and it was only the third occasion on which the visitors had won away from home.  Seems to me like the Irish hospitality was more than generous!

Shortly after her visit to Portrush the Irish golfing legend that is McKenna boarded a flight from Dublin and landed with quite a thump at Liverpool airport in order to spend a week with me and catch up on a few more pals.

We reunited with her 1974 Curtis Cup teammate, Mo Richmond (nee Walker) who had cycled the 15 miles or so to our appointed lunch meeting place.  With golf thin on all our agendas these days, Mary and I were very interested to hear that Mo had taken up sketching in her spare time, particularly in the winter.  She professed to be not particularly good at it and it took a good deal of pressing before she reluctantly showed us, on her phone, a few of her efforts.

Wow!  They were great!  And what was even more amazing, she was using some of Mary’s wonderful photographs as her subjects.  Partners in golf, partners in photography and sketching.  The connection is never lost.

Over the next few days we ventured into Wales, the land of the dragon, spending a lovely afternoon in Wrexham golf club with Pam Valentine and Lesley Brown, companions in our group at the last Curtis Cup at Sunningdale.  That last time the four of us had been together we had had to evacuate our hotel in Egham with fire alarms blaring, but with a conspicuous lack of  fire engines or, thankfully, fire.  This was a much more peaceful reunion.

With the weather set fair for our whole week and with beautiful sunny skies overhead, we simply had to turn westwards and head towards Harlech to visit Jill and Alan Edwards.  It’s arguably the most scenic spot in the country, even on the bleakest of days but it was perfectly idyllic for our trip.

There’s not much in golf that Jill hasn’t achieved – either on the playing or administrative side.  Champion of her country, captain of various international teams, including British & Irish ones, and chairman and selector at the highest of levels all added up to being awarded an MBE for her services to the sport.  Thoroughly deserved.

Meandering around the place with the mighty Mary McKenna is a total treat.  She’s like a bottle of tonic for everyone we visit and it struck me yet again how fortunate I am to know and count all these amazing people as my friends.

Next stop Lichfield, the Three Spires and one very resigned Spurs fan.

It’s glorious sunshine outside here in Lichfield and I’m inside with the telly on, writing the blog (early) and wallowing in the build-up to The Masters.  There really is no hope for us golf tragics.  In truth, it’s too hot for gardening and my back garden is now lacking shade thanks to the ravages wreaked by Storm Dave a few days ago.

Part of next door’s huge fir tree ended up in my garden and that led to a flurry of tree felling, which leaves a bit of an open look that will take a little getting used to.  Will I miss my shade?  Probably.  Might have to consider some sort of brolly, pergola, whatever, so, like most things, it’s all a work in progress.

The fir tree was really too big for where it was and it shed its needles all year round, much to my irritation.  I took a photo of one of the branches and tried to identify it via the Woodland Trust tree identification app with no luck.  However, something called picturethisai.com (ah, the dreaded AI) came up with Deodar Cedar (aka Himalayan Cedar or Cedrus deodara).  Apparently deodara is Sanskrit for “the wood of the gods” and it’s a sacred tree for Hindus.  Oops.  Perhaps cutting it down will bring bad luck…

 

 

In truth, gardening is for next week because it’s all about Augusta for the rest of this week – except for those competing somewhere themselves; good luck to all at Roehampton and Royal Portrush – and our annual draw has been completed.  Rock on Tommy!

It’s already been a big month for a few people in golf, including David Llewellyn, who’s just become the 86th captain of the PGA.  Lulu, as I’ve always known him, is now the executive head professional at Carden Park in Cheshire and the Welshman is beyond proud.

“It’s the greatest honour the PGA can bestow upon a golf professional,” he said.  “I feel very humble and even now, having known about the appointment for a little while, I still get a bit of a tingle at the back of the neck.  My responsibility is to uphold and support the values and philosophies of the PGA but also to pass the message on to the younger generation.  That’s what our job is, to spread the word of golf and encourage the next generation to play.

“Whatever happens, you’ve got to keep that conveyor belt going of getting people to play the game.  That’s what members of the PGA should be doing and that’s one of the things I’ll try and get over.”

Back in 1972, Lulu, who’s now 74, was rookie of the year on the (very new) European Tour but it wasn’t until 1988 that he won the Biarritz Open with a score of 258, 14 under par, a record total that stood for 32 years.  In one round he had a putt for a 58 but three-putted.  He was in to Zen at the time so wasn’t really aware of his score and only vaguely registered the huge crowd that had materialised round the 18th green then melted away…

The year before he and his partner had won the World Cup for Wales at Kapalua in Hawaii, beating Scotland, represented by Sandy Lyle and Sam Torrance, in a play-off.  Lulu’s partner?   A bloke called Ian Woosnam, who won the individual title by five strokes from Lyle.

Sandy went on to win the Masters in 1988, with Woosie winning his own green jacket in 1991, following Nick Faldo, who’d won in 1989 and 1990.  It really was a golden age of British and European golf, paving the way for the stars of today:  they grew up realising that anything was possible, that big-time golf wasn’t just the preserve of the Americans.  (Looking at the dates, it would have been their parents regaling them with tales of Seve, Langer and company!)

There’s also a new CEO of the LET (Ladies European Tour), once described by some long-suffering soul as the hardest job in golf.  That’s debatable but Tom Phillips says he’s up for the challenge and the blog wishes him all the best.  He has a lot of talented players to work with and golf doesn’t want to get left behind as other women’s sports grow and grow.

Tom has an extensive cv that includes a lot of experience in Asia.  He has worked for the DP World Tour, most recently as Director of Middle East and before that he was CEO of the Hong Kong Golf Association and of the Faldo Series, so he should be pretty clued up on all aspects of the game.

Lauren Coughlin, an American who must surely have Irish antecedents, played beautifully at Shadow Creek, a notoriously difficult course, to win the co-sanctioned (LET and LPGA) Aramco Championship by five shots.  She led from start to finish and the runners-up were Nelly Korda, the world No 2 and Leona Maguire, Ireland’s finest, who returned to form after a bit of a barren run.

Talking of Ireland’s finest, Mary McKenna, a bona fide legend, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Mary McKenna Salver.  It’s an annual match between the Irish Senior Ladies and the Scottish Vets Ladies Golf Association.  I think that’s the official designation but in simple terms it’s the Irish Old Dolls agin the SODs….Sorry girls, couldn’t resist it.

The first match was at Royal Portrush and that’s where it is this year, this coming Sunday and Monday.  Hope the weather is kind.

Last but by no means least a very happy 90th birthday to Belle (Isabella) Robertson, one of Scotland’s finest (despite passing on her rabbit ears to compatriots Colin Montgomerie and, it seems, Robert MacIntyre).  She’s due to be at Roehampton today (Friday 10th April, her actual birth day is the 11th) as the Gold Cup celebrates its 100th.  Many congrats to everybody there, past champions and current competitors.  Play away.

 

 

 

Have you noticed you simply can’t believe a word you hear, see or read nowadays?

No, not a single thing.  From fake news to the erratic, varying, misleading and contradictory statements emanating from across the Atlantic to……well, to the Madill golf blog.  Yep.  Mea culpa.

Last week I waxed lyrical (well, I hope it was lyrical) about my lovely time at Kooyonga golf club in Australia way back in the seventies when I was on the GB team selected to play in the Commonwealth tournament.  It was a fabulous trip (true);  I met and made lifelong friends (also true);  the venue was superb (again true) and the tournament was played at Kooyonga golf club in Adelaide.  Alas, that last fact is, well, not a fact at all.

My very own personal edition of BBC Verify, namely Gillian Stewart, who was on that team, texted when she’d read the piece.

“Blog fact check!  The Commonwealth tournament was played at Lake Karrinyup in Perth.  We then went on to Royal Adelaide where we played in the Australian Ladies’ Open.  You been on the gin?”

I don’t know if this is all made worse by the fact that I HADN’T been on the gin, or on anything at all, but I did feel slightly better when Gill’s next text read, “Well, it was 47 years ago.”

So, apologies all round – particularly to Kooyonga and Lake Karrinyup.  I got my two special Ks mixed up.  I actually played Kooyonga as a professional some years later and it just goes to prove that time frames can shrink to nothing and become blurred the further away you get from them.  Ah well.

I can’t leave the topic of Australia without lauding that country’s current leading female professional, Perth-born Hannah Green.  Hannah has just won the Australian WPGA Championship, her third victory in her last three outings.  She won in Singapore and then travelled home to Oz and tucked away two more wins – such an enormously difficult thing to do for any athlete competing on home turf.  The attendant pressures from carrying the hopes of a nation do not sit lightly but, with her husband who was caddying by her side, Green was immense, impressive, tough and gracious in victory.

“It feels really amazing,” the 29-year-old said. “Again, it hasn’t really sunk in, but it’s been a really crazy month. I guess it’s been four weeks since I won in Singapore. But it’s been really special to be able to do that in Australia.”

Green has made history by being the first Aussie, man or woman, ever to record three consecutive victories and, as always, she was quick to express gratitude to the great Karrie Webb (with her in the featured picture at the top).

Webb, as many of you will be aware, is the owner of seven majors, 41 titles on the LPGA tour as well as multiple other victories worldwide.  Even when she was at the height of her powers as a player Karrie was creating foundations and scholarships to support the legions of young Australian girls who were hoping to follow in her footsteps.  Hannah was the recipient of one of those scholarships more than a decade ago, receiving financial aid, travel expenses and coaching and mentoring from Webb.  She has never forgotten it.

Karrie, a sporting legend and now 51 years of age, is still very relevant in the modern game, her door always open to any young aspiring golfer seeking mentoring or help.  Talk about giving back.  Bravo the Aussies – and how marvellous to hear that she is once again to captain her country’s golf teams at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

From summer Down Under to the ravages of the weather in the northern hemisphere, I can report that I am now back in Blighty – and very happy to be so.  A nasty weather system and Storm Theresa rolled over the Canaries which meant that for the last three full days of our time in Tenerife we were pretty much confined to our AirBnb.  A state of National Emergency was declared with road closures, rock falls, torrential rain and lightning and it was stressful wondering if we’d actually make it to the airport at all.

Happily we did and my hubby took an inter-island hop over to Gran Canaria where he has met up with some pals for a week’s motorbiking.  So far they’ve just had one wet day and the worst is certainly over but I was a teensy-weensy bit alarmed when he forwarded a photo of how GC had suffered a couple of days before he got there.

This is on one of their biking routes and may give you an idea of what these islands have been through.

Thankfully we didn’t encounter anything like that on our way to the airport but we did see the civic maintenance crews out on the mountain roads clearing away the rock falls and landslips.

And I used to think five footers were scary!