Hot Stuff

It’s a busy old time for sport, with people doing a lot of running around on tennis courts, cricket grounds, football and rugby pitches – and taking things a little more sedately on the golf course.  Here in England we seem to be in the middle of another heat wave and I can barely put one foot in front of the other; taking to the fairways for more than a few holes would be beyond me; the sweat is running off me as I sit at the keyboard, trying desperately to activate the brain cell.

It’s hard to believe that on the journey up to Scotland last week, the rain was hammering down, with spray and strong winds making driving conditions very unpleasant.  We stopped at a service station and had to eat our sarnies in the car as the wind howled and the rain lashed the windscreen.  The great thing was that when the rain eased a little and we dared to step outside, it was bliss:  the temperature was playable, a great relief to a bod brought up on Ireland’s north coast.  Sad soul that I am, I stood in the rain for several minutes with a smile on my face.

Scotland’s well worth the detour but a visit to St Andrews requires a lot of driving and I must confess that I’ll be having a nervous couple of weeks hoping that no unwelcome envelopes will be dropping into my postbox.  My new car has lots of bells and whistles, including a satnav thingy that alerts you to the speed limit and flashes if you’re exceeding it.  There’s really no reason to be illegal but lapses in concentration happen – or conditions dictate that a bit of a burst of speed is required to get out of a tricky situation – honest, your honour.

There is a reason for this discomfort and it’s not because I was testing the car to its limits – difficult given the amount of traffic – or ignoring the regular speed restrictions.  No, it’s because I feel I’m in a bad run car-wise – malfunctioning window motor; knackered rear tyre; penalty charge notice…

Yes, I’ve had a recent motoring fine and fear the authorities may have my number.  Well, they definitely do  – and they sent me a picture to prove it.

Blimey, what on earth had I done?  And where had I done it?  Turned out that when I and two of my cricketing mates were doing our unscheduled tour of Birmingham city centre as we searched for Edgbaston, I’d wandered into forbidden territory and my indiscretion was “noted by an approved device”.  There’s a lot of tiny print and legalese but the nub was “….the Council believes that you are liable to pay a Penalty Charge for the contravention of being in and/or proceeding in a bus lane..”

What a bummer.  Who even knew that some bus lanes are sacrosanct?  I thought most of them had time restrictions of some sort but didn’t think that would count as anything but an excuse so feeble that it wasn’t worth trying.  I paid up.

Don’t think my fine will make any difference to Birmingham City Council’s massive black hole of a budget deficit but it’s the bus and train for me from now on whenever I venture in to Brum.

There’s been a lot of rambling going on and nary a proper mention of golf, so it’s time to pay tribute to Lottie Woad, the woman of the moment, winner of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open at Carton House last Sunday, leaving some very decent professionals trailing six shots or more behind.  Lottie, from Farnham in Surrey, is still an amateur, the world No 1 no less, so she was given the trophy but not the champion’s cheque – that went to Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden.

Sagstrom, a Solheim Cup player, so no slouch, was suitably gracious – and very impressed:  “Lottie played wonderfully and it was going to be a hard task [Woad led by seven after three rounds]….You can’t control what anyone else does.  It was Lottie’s week and it was wonderful to watch her play…I’m really happy for her and she’s going to take European and American golf by storm very soon.”

Hmmm, it looks as though the storm has already hit.

This week Woad is in France for the Amundi Evian Championship, one of the big ones, a major.  The seemingly unflappable Englishwoman started with a 68, three under par, to be well in contention, just three shots behind the leading quintet of Leona Maguire, Jennifer Kupcho, Andrea Lee, Gabriela Ruffels and Grace Kim – in order, an Irishwoman, two Americans and two Australians.

Maguire, who hasn’t been at her best this season, had the added boost of a hole-in-one at the 2nd, with an 8-iron.  “It looked good in the air,” she said, “but you’re never sure on that hole until the ball actually lands.  It was a pretty good highlight to the day.”

It wasn’t such a good day for Charley Hull, who collapsed on the course and had to withdraw after 12 holes.  She’s had a virus apparently and let’s hope she’ll be back to full fitness soon.

If you can, watch a bit of the golf from Evian, not least because the setting is spectacular and you’ll see where all those bottles of water at Wimbledon come from…