I’m fond of a list – I’ve told you that before and, seeing as this is our final blog of the season, I thought I’d indulge myself with an end-of-year congratulations list to a few well-chosen folk.

I’m starting with Nelly Korda, world No 1, pictured above in her rather Christmassy Met Gala dress from last May.  Korda won six times in seven starts at the beginning of the season and won again at year’s end, managing to capture in a matter of months what would be a decent career’s worth of titles for anyone else.

But more than that, she stepped out into the wider sports’ world embracing for the first time being the face of women’s golf.  This is not a position she’s ever sought or wanted.  Rather, this naturally understated individual has found herself forced into it because, well, because her golf is just too LOUD to allow her to remain in the shadows.  Women’s golf is well represented.

Next, effusive praise and congratulations must go to Scottie Scheffler, the men’s world No 1, for a phenomenal season.  Eight wins is pretty special but we have seen that a couple of times before – think Vijah Singh, think Tiger Woods.  However, when you consider that Scottie’s wins included a green jacket, a gold medal and a season-ending Fed-Ex Cup title, you realise it’s a season a little out of the ordinary.

For me, though, it was his gracious handling of that ridiculous arrest while driving to the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, that marks him out as a wonderful human.  Humiliatingly photographed in an orange jump suit and placed in a cell, he waited patiently for the dense fog of the local police force to lighten somewhat.  Afterwards, not a word of criticism passed his lips.  Class, class and more class.  Can you guess I’m a Scottie fan?

Keep a look out next year for more success from our newest star from the Ladies’ European Tour (LET), Chiara Tamburlini of Switzerland.  Chiara swept the boards, winning three times and taking home the Rookie of the Year award as well as the Order of Merit title.  The cherry on the cake was being voted Players’ Player of the Year, the ultimate accolade accorded a player by her peers.  What price Tamburlini will become the second Swiss player to represent Europe in the Solheim Cup, following on from Albane Valenzuela’s debut this year?

Readers of this fluffy nonsense that we Madills churn out weekly (health and holidays notwithstanding) will be aware of the highlight of my year – namely the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale where GB&I recorded an outstanding victory over a very talented American team.

It’s a real joy to have so many friends gathered together in one place at the same time and the home team certainly gave us a lot to cheer about and a lot to enjoy.  Congrats to captain Catriona Matthew and all the players (it does take two teams to make a match, after all) and congrats to Sunningdale, one of my all-time favourite places, whose hospitality was exceptional.  I get a warm glow just thinking about it all.

Back last February one of the founder members of the LET, Chris Langford, took matters into her own hands as regards marking 45 years of the tour’s existence.  She organised a get-together of the founders, and assorted folk who were around near the beginning of things, at her club, Thorpeness.  Members of the tour’s current media department were also invited and a series of thought-provoking interviews and wonderful insights have now been documented on the LET website.

Single-handedly Chris has kick-started the tour into documenting some of its history which had been in danger of being lost because of huge gaps in the archive.  Bravo Chris – what a job.  Congratulations and thanks in equal measure……and looking forward to the next get-together in February.

Any congratulatory list from 2024 would be found sadly lacking were Kiwi golfer Lydia Ko not included.  This is the year she finally made the requisite number of points to gain entry to the Ladies’ Professional Golfers’ Association’s  (LPGA) Hall of Fame, arguably the toughest to access in all of sport.  She gained the final point required in Paris when she won the gold medal at the Olympics but there was certainly no resting upon her laurels.  Shortly afterwards she won the Women’s Open round the Old Course in St Andrews, the acknowledged Home of Golf.  Not too shabby.

Talking of the Home of Golf, I was delighted to hear that Karrie Webb, Australia’s seven-time major champion and mentor to so many of that country’s current stars, has been made an honorary member of the R&A.  A former world No 1 Karrie is not unlike the current holder of that position, Nelly Korda, in being of a quiet and unassuming nature.  Reluctant heroines, you could say.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to tell you that Karrie will have a great pal of mine as a fellow member.  Pam Valentine, against whom I played my first-ever match at full international level (she won!), has been a stalwart of Welsh golf for well over four decades.  Player, manager, captain, administrator, committee member, referee – you name it, Pam’s done it.  We’re all thrilled for you, Pam.  Enjoy being a member of the most famous club in the world.

And finally, congratulations and thanks to all our faithful readers who have stayed the course over the last eight and a half years.  Talk about stamina and resilience.

A very happy Christmas to you all and we shall see you when we reconvene some time in 2025.

 

The sister having given up golf (that construction is a blast from the past, reminding me of Latin classes), my bucket list has been revised.  It included playing Cypress Point again and taking up residence in Oregon for enough time to play all the courses at Bandon Dunes (think there are about nine now?)  Both are off the agenda because I wanted to enjoy them with Maureen, even though it is – was – a lot of a comedown for her to play with me, there being a bit of a Grand Canyon gap in class.

Cypress Point was on the list because the Walker Cup is there  again next year, for the first time since 1981.  Dai and I were there and were lucky enough to play the course.  GB and I, with a team featuring Philip Walton, Ronan Rafferty, Roger Chapman, Paul Way and Peter McEvoy lost 15-9 to a USA side containing Corey Pavin, Hal Sutton and Jay Sigel.

Here’s Dai’s note on the back of the 16th photo.

 

There were other players, of course, not least Duncan Evans, who won the Amateur Championship in 1980 but later fell from grace in a serious way with tax fraud and money laundering landing him in jail.

Duncan’s dad David was a goalie who played for Crewe when they drew 2-all against Spurs at Gresty Road in the 4th round of the FA Cup in 1960.  In the replay (none of those nowadays), in front of 60,000 people (squished and squashed in to White Hart Lane if there really were that many), Spurs won 13-2.  They lost to Blackburn, the eventual winners, in the next round.  At least David could say he’d played against one of the best teams ever – the next season Spurs were the  first winners of the Double (league and FA Cup) in the modern (ish) era.

It’s been very difficult writing this blog because I’ve been bouncing up and down and screeching (mostly silently, for a change) as I listen to Rangers battering Spurs at Ibrox.  Where’s our midfield?  Are they even on the pitch?  Don’t my lot know that one of the basics is to pass to players wearing the same shirt?   Not to the opposition!!!  Heaven help us.

It was always going to be a difficult night, especially with Ange’s Celtic connection and I suppose the good thing is that you can’t teach young players what frantic European nights, away, in front of a hostile crowd, with players playing above themselves, fighting for every ball, are like; they have to experience it;  and, with luck, learn and improve.  And realise that you have to be on it yourself, working, making your tackles, getting to the ball first, thinking, concentrating, never letting your levels drop….Dream on, Patricia.   Perhaps too many of this batch of Spurs players don’t speak Australian. (For the non footie fans, Ange, our manager, born in Greece, is from Oz.)

We managed to scrape a draw, 1-all but at this rate, it’ll be Tamworth in the hat (or, more accurately, the bowl) for the 4th round of the FA Cup.  Spurs won’t like the Lamb ground and if they play like wimps, they’ll be blown away.  Plus, should the game go to pens, it’ll suit Tamworth down to the ground because Jaz Singh, the goalie, a building surveyor of some kind, has a habit of saving at least two per shoot-out.  So good is he that Tamworth stalwart Andy Farrington, a guest on Colin Murray’s show on BBC radio 5 Live last Sunday morning, said that he was completely relaxed and confident when the match against Burton Albion went to penalties.  Colin couldn’t believe it – who is ever relaxed during pens? – but Andy was adamant.

And on Tuesday, away at Hartlepool in the FA Trophy, the mighty Lambs won 3-nil on pens.

Anyway, I texted Colin saying that I was a Spurs season ticket holder who had started watching Tamworth and he asked Andy which part of the ground I should go to when Spurs came to town.  “She’ll be welcome anywhere,” the gallant Andy said.  “Tell her to come and find me and I’ll look after her.”  Wow, thank you Andy, I’ll take you up on the offer and hope to catch up with you on Saturday, when we’re playing York.  And, looking at the programme, the Tamworth chairman is called Scott Harrington…Come On You Lambs – COYL.

I missed the usual manic match against Chelsea last Sunday because friends and I were booked in for a viewing of Love Actually with wine, wine tasting with a cinematic bent.  The film was paused every 20 minutes or so, so we could sniff and slurp a wine chosen by the master of ceremonies, a showman in his own right, every bit as compelling as Hugh Grant.  (An exaggeration perhaps but not too far off the mark.)

This is the last blog of the year and I’d like to thank you all for reading and wish everybody a Happy Christmas and New Year.

It’s still bone-growing season for me.  I have now reached the window of six to eight weeks since I severed the bone at the neck of the humerus, the predicted timescale as to when one can realistically expect the ole body to have grown a replacement.  It appears to be going quite well and I can certainly say I feel so much better than a mere three weeks or so ago.

In fact, I can pinpoint my feeling of returning to civilisation to exactly two weeks ago when I ventured out to fulfill a speaking engagement at Chester golf club.  Husband and wife Brian and Patricia Antlett, the men’s and ladies’ captains of the club, had contacted me in the summer to invite me to speak at their winter charity lunch.  They had me reaching for my diary when they declared their charity (for the second consecutive year) was to be the Shropshire Staffordshire Cheshire Blood Bikes.

Unknown to the captains I had became involved with that very same Blood Bike (BB) group a couple of years back through my husband, Brian, who has been a BB rider for several years.  I was coming out of a bit of a rough patch, health-wise, because of Covid, and knew a return to golf, which has been my life for almost sixty years, was not a given.  I was not quite well enough to be out and about much but was well enough to be getting a little bored, so followed up on his suggestion to train as a controller.

As many of you will be aware this group covers Staffordshire and Shropshire as well as Cheshire, an area of 3500 square miles, and in November the charity completed job number 50,000 since it began life back in 2004.  The service is staffed completely by volunteers – 24 hours a day, seven days a week and, for this year anyway, 366 days a year.  It’s quite an operation.

It was a pleasure to be back in a golf club setting and meeting the feisty, dynamic membership of Chester golf club.  The zest for life, living, golf and socialising on display was an absolute joy and a veritable breath of fresh air to someone who has been housebound (aka imprisoned!) for large lumps of time over the last three years, for one reason or another.  Many are past their golfing days but remain faithful members of the club, attending the numerous social events and keeping in touch with their pals.

Charities like ours rely totally on fundraising and the magnificent support we have had from Chester golf club is not something we ever take for granted.  It never ceases to amaze me how deeply people reach into their pockets even though seemingly assaulted with requests for help from all sorts of good causes.  Thank you one and all.

All through this year I have harboured hopes and intentions of getting back out playing golf but, alas and alack, the realisation that my playing days are now behind me can no longer be ignored.  I can’t say I haven’t given it a decent shot with every ounce of me over the last three years having been poured into regaining my health and my fitness to play.  Unfortunately, the body says “No!” so I’ve decided to give in (not so) gracefully.

The sister, of course, refuses to accord me a jot of sympathy, delivering utterances such as, “No more worrying about the yips, then – so that’s a relief” and “Well, you can’t play as well as you used to!”  It’s impossible to argue with either of those statements and, to be honest, this outcome has been on the cards for a long time.  My last round of golf was October 2021 and I doubt I’ve totalled 18 holes since.

It was Patricia who told me of Henry Longhurst’s relief at finally ceasing to grapple with the game – he was a fellow sufferer of the yips or “twitches” as he called it and one day a small voice in his head said, “You don’t HAVE to do this.”

He wrote about this revelation in his marvellous book “My Life and Soft Times”:  “A great wave of relief came over me and on D-Day, 1968, I put the clubs up in the loft with the water tanks, closed the hatch, removed the steps and walked away.  Nor have I for one second regretted it.”

Unlike Henry, I leave the game wanting to have played more, but strangely at peace now for not being able to do so.

A healthy lack of sympathy from my nearest and dearest allows for no self-indulgent pitying, so my thoughts are turning to a replacement activity.  Seeing as it was power-walking which resulted in the most recent tumble I’ve decided to give Nordic walking a go when completely recovered.  The poles might help me remain upright, I’m hoping.  I have several friends who have enjoyed this pastime and assure me, if done properly, it’s a full all-over body workout.

I’m fortunate to have expert advice close at hand, too.  Former England golf coach and long-time friend Pat Smillie  ran a Nordic walking company with her partner after she retired from professional golf and she’s looking into a few things for me.  I’m looking forward to it – it’ll be a new chapter.

Just think – I’ve hit my last bad golf shot!

 

 

You really couldn’t make it up.  The draw for the third round of the FA Cup was live on the telly and as team after team was picked out, the Spurs ball remained steadfastly in the bowl.  Then, lo, Mark Hughes, looking in fine fettle, drew out No 53.  Tamworth.  The mighty Lambs.  And, yes, out next, produced with a flourish by Dion Dublin, was No 40.  Tottenham Hotspur.

Cue screeching and leaping about in Lichfield, which was a bit embarrassing because I was on a Zoom call at the time – don’t ask me what the Zoomers, in Australia and America, were saying, I confess I wasn’t concentrating.

My phone started pinging as the news spread and the enormity of the contest sank in.  First thought was how to make sure I get a ticket; it’ll have to be at the home end; so will I be cheering for the Lambs? Lots of people want to know who I’ll be supporting and that really is a bit of a tricky one.

There’s no escaping the fact that it’s a game Spurs have to win, to have a chance of a sniff of winning a trophy this season.  Of course they’ll be favourites but the moment a big team underestimates a minnow, look out.  That way upsets and disasters (sporting) lie.  A friend, a Villa supporter looking forward to taking on fellow claret and blues West Ham at home, said, “Can’t think you’ll send any first team players anyway!”

It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that that message made my blood run cold.  If we, as in Spurs, think all we have to do is turn up, we deserve to be stuffed – or beaten 1-nil, or on penalties;  do Spurs know that our (as in Tamworth) goalie Jaz Singh, a building surveyor, is ace at saving penalties?  That’s how we (as in Tamworth) won away at local rivals Burton Albion, just a few miles up the A38, on pens in the second round.

What’s more we (as in Tamworth), are so lowly that we have an artificial pitch, hated by the big boys; a tiny, tight ground that’ll be packed; crappy changing facilities (I have this on good authority from someone who’s been in there, so my advice is:  change on the coach); and, of course, a lot of decent players, including Tommy Tonks and his fearsome long throw; it has all the hallmarks of an FA Cup classic.  I can’t wait.

I have friends who hate football; friends who don’t get it at all, just don’t understand why anyone would be remotely interested; and friends who love it.  Don’t ask me why I love it – and sometimes hate it.  Who knows?  Probably the best explanation is that Mum, when she was pregnant with me, dreamt that they christened me “Wembley Stadium”.

Football, like all sports, is as we know, all about money.  Golf, which I think we all concede is a niche sport, has delusions of grandeur, at least at the top tournament professional level but I suppose we can’t blame professionals for lusting after money.  After all, that’s what being a professional is all about:  earning a living, making money.  Can we really criticise them for that?  The game isn’t just about glory.  Is it?

There’s been a lot of talk recently about Ryder Cup players (American) being paid to play in the biennial contest and I  think I saw that Tiger Woods, who’s been very quiet recently, concentrating on rehabbing from yet another back surgery, suggested upping the $400,oo0 to $5 million, with most of that being passed on to charity.  Now, that may be completely wrong because I confess I wasn’t paying too much attention but, really?  Why not cut out the middle men (the players) and give the money straight to the charities?  Is it a tax dodge?  What’s the point?  Am I missing it?

A lot is made of Ryder Cup players playing for nothing but that’s being disingenuous surely?  They get showered with gifts, their mouths stuffed with gold (that’s how Aneurin Bevan said he persuaded the doctors to sign up to the National Health Service:  “I stuffed their mouths with gold”) and more cashmere than one man could wear in a lifetime.  If a player doesn’t make money from the Ryder Cup, he should change his agent.

Anyway, Ryder Cup Europe and the PGA European Tour (DP World Tour officially on other occasions) have, “in collaboration with IMG and in partnership with Rolex”, produced a documentary about the build-up to the last Ryder Cup, in Rome.  It’s called Una Famiglia (A Family) and “gives unprecedented access to Ryder Cup preparations”.  I haven’t watched it yet but I’m sure it’ll be brilliant, emotional and tear-inducing – and I don’t think money will be mentioned much.  It’s available on Ryder Cup digital channels and will be broadcast in more than 100 countries.

It’s New York next, so let’s hope the contest emerges more or less unscathed, ready for Adare, in Ireland, in 2027….

Quite often the blog finishes with a photo by the incomparable Mary McKenna but this week I couldn’t resist passing on this beauty from my friend Bob Cantin’s latest Fishing For Fun newsletter.  I hope he and Tom Olivo, who took the picture, don’t mind.

Tom is Bob’s – and I quote here because it’s all-American and I don’t quite understand the college bit – “Sig Ep fraternity brother who lives in Bozeman, MT….

“The photo captures the stunning beauty of the Upper Madison River flowing through Yellowstone National Park.  Tom says that his AI paintings have reached a new level of quality as he is finally connecting his superior camera technique in the field with the AI computer work in his lab….”

Well, however Tom, who’s in the picture, managed it and whether he caught any fish or not, the only word is WOW.