In A Spin

Planning ahead has never been one of my areas of expertise and I’m in a bit of a tizzy as I prepare for a trip to Pinehurst, North Carolina, for the US Open next month.  It requires all sorts of things that I haven’t had to bother about for years:  transatlantic flights; ESTAs – electronic system for travel authorization (it is an American thing, hence the spelling); a manoeuvrable and manageable bag/case on wheels; neat, disciplined packing.  Oh, and a new driving licence.

The ESTA application had to be put on hold because they wanted the number of a long defunct British passport and I wasn’t sure that I still had said document…but a new driving licence, that should be easy-peasy.   On to the trusty GOV.UK and sure enough, it said you could “renew your driving licence online with DVLA for free if you’re 70 or will be 70 in the next 90 days”.  And the licence should arrive within one week.  Perfect.

I pressed the green button saying “Start now” but it turns out I should have kept reading because I needed a valid UK passport number if I wanted to change the licence photo – and who doesn’t?  But even if I’d been happy to stay with the old pic, I’m not allowed to.  We old bints are told we have to update our photos, no ifs, no buts, no photoshopping.  And no Irish passports.  It has to be an old-fashioned form.  D46 or D1…

And there’s a Bank Holiday coming up.  Perhaps there’s something to be said for proper planning ahead after all…

At least the flights and accommodation are sorted, not much thanks to me!  Now I have to try and keep the head and izzy-whizzy, get a move on.  Pas de panique.  Keep calm and carry on.  All that sort of jazz.  At least I’m not up for election in a few weeks’ time, so there’ll be plenty of people in an even bigger spin than I am.

Also heading for Pinehurst, unexpectedly, is Robert Rock, a fellow member at WHGC, who was shocked to be one of nine qualifiers at Walton Heath earlier this week.  “It’s difficult to describe,” he said afterwards.  “I really didn’t have any thoughts of qualifying.  I thought it was my last chance of playing this event and a good opportunity to see where my game was, having been out of it for a couple of years.  I thought while I could still enter, I’d see where I’d fit.  I played with James Morrison and had such a good day.

“I wasn’t sure I could play two rounds.  I’ve been playing mostly nine holes and then the back nine hurt because my back isn’t the best at the moment and I was struggling…Thankfully my mate came to push the trolley.  I didn’t think I’d make 36 but it’s amazing what making a few putts does.”

Let’s hope Rob gets his back sorted so that he can manage the flight and be fit enough to enjoy the whole occasion, especially the golf course.  And, weather permitting, he’ll only need to play 18 holes a day.  Mind you, considering he’s been concentrating on coaching for the last while, he’ll be even less prepared than I am.

Grant Forrest, Richard Mansell and Brandon Robinson-Thompson, an Englishman who lives in America and whose wife is American, led the Final Qualifying with a total of 134, ten under par.  Rob Rock was nine under with rounds of 69 and 66 and the other qualifiers were Sam Bairstow, Matteo Manassero, Edoardo Molinari, Tom McKibbin and Jason Scrivener.  The reserves, after a play-off, were Casey Jarvis and Andrea Pavan.

Forrest, a Scot from Livingston, earned his medal on the day that Colin Farquharson, one of Scotland’s great men of golf, was buried.  A bundle of energy and enthusiasm, Faxy Farquhy as I used to call him, was, among many other things, the sports editor of the P and J (Aberdeen Press and Journal) for many years. I did some work for him, usually from far-flung places like California or Japan and in those far-off days of no internet, when telephone calls were expensive and often difficult because of the time difference, fax machines were the height of sophisticated communication. So Faxy he became – and remained, even as the technology and Colin himself, never slow to innovate, moved on.

One of my favourite photographs of Colin is a grainy snap taken at Ganton I think, perhaps during an Amateur Championship or possibly the home internationals.  Anyway, the press room was a grotty, grubby tent that we surmised had been dug out from a barn somewhere, having last seen duty at a Yorkshire show in the late 1940s or early 1950s.  State of the art it was not and if you were working late, it helped if you could use Braille…Happy days.

To call Colin and Ethel, his wife of more than sixty years, stalwarts of Scottish golf hardly does them and the work they did justice.  Maureen and I send our condolences and love to Ethel, son Keith, daughter Elaine (a Curtis Cup player and captain) and all the family.