Well, would you Adam and Eve it, they’ve only been and gone and done it.  It’s taken a couple of centuries – and then some, 272 years by my calculations – but the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, founded in 1754, has elected its first woman captain.  Wow.

Many congratulations to Claire Dowling, née Hourihane, on her appointment.  “It’s an extraordinary honour,” she said, “and the reaction has been insane.”

The wee girl from Dublin, who started at the John Jacobs driving range at Leopardstown under the watchful eye of her father Bill, has come a long way.  She had a distinguished playing career, then took to administration – handicapping, course rating, rules, amateur status – and became one of the first ripple of women members of the Royal and Ancient when the club finally entered the 21st century in 2015.

Claire, who’s 68, won the first of her five Irish titles in 1983, the last in 1991 and was British Strokeplay champion in 1986.  She played for Ireland in the home internationals from 1979 – 1992, in the European Team Championship from 1981 – 1991, represented GB and I in the Vagliano Trophy six times and in the Curtis Cup in 1984, 1986 (the famous victory at Prairie Dunes 40 years ago), 1988 and 1992.  She was captain at Ganton in 2000 and that is only a partial list of her achievements.

The blog wishes to claim a bit of reflected glory because Claire made her Ireland debut (full, for the big girls) at Harlech, Royal St David’s, in 1979 with Maureen as her foursomes partner and they started with three birdies, possibly even four.  A few years later, when the internationals were at Whittington Heath, I’m pretty sure I caddied for Claire when Ireland won.

Such traumatic experiences notwithstanding, the most nerve-wracking moment of her playing career undoubtedly lies ahead:    on the morning of Friday 25th September, on the 1st tee of the Old Course, at 0800 precisely, in front of a sizeable crowd, with a cannon firing and caddies waiting to pounce, she will drive in as captain.

Claire and her husband Peter, a retired district judge, became the first married couple to referee at the same Open Championship, at Royal St George’s in 2021.  They were long-time members of Copt Heath in Warwickshire and now live in Devon and play at East Devon, where Claire’s handicap index is 7.6 (at least she will understand the system…)  Her home club in Ireland is Woodbrook, where she’s an honorary life member.

Claire’s appointment might not mark the end of golf being regarded as a game for men only with women unwelcome interlopers but at a time when misogyny is still rife in far too many places where it shouldn’t be, it’s a bloody big crack in the glass ceiling.  Hooray for the R&A, sorry, Royal and Ancient.

 

 

Yesterday (7th of May) was the 15th anniversary of the death of the great Severiano (Seve) Ballesteros and his picture was on the 1st tee at Real Club de Golf El Prat when the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship got under way.  Quite a few of the players were wearing navy trousers and white shirts, signature Seve, both in Spain and in America, where Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose were two of the Europeans paying their own tribute at the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow.

It’s impossible to exaggerate the Seve effect and probably impossible for those who never saw him in his pomp to appreciate it.  He was, quite simply, magical, incomparable, a joy.  Not perfect by any means but golf’s gift from the gods.

Down here, on planet whatever, my friends and I fear we are in danger of losing the plot.  The other morning, fully awake, or so I thought, I took my hot water bottle – it’s been chilly at night – to the bathroom (in truth it’s a titchy shower room, though the shower is not titchy) to empty it in to the basin…Instead I found myself emptying it in to the wastepaper basket (open weave)…Duh.

Next up, the gardening friend who sprayed her air-fryer-bound veggies with plant food – the bottle looked much the same as the  one containing the olive oil – found herself watering a houseplant that turned out to be artificial….In her defence, it looked so realistic that the rest of us were fooled too – and she’d bought it from the middle of a load of real plants.

The really worrying thing is that we’re still allowed out on our own…Beware.

Notice that there’s been no mention of the dreaded football so far, though I’ve put the Spurs relegation-celebration party on hold because we won 2-1 at Aston Villa last Sunday and looked like a football team with players who knew what they were supposed to be doing.  Long may it last.  It’s the mighty Leeds at our place on Monday night, yet another of those oh-so-sympathetic tee times…

Finally, to cheer me up, one of Mary McKenna’s great photos, a souvenir of her visit to Lichfield.

 

 

 

 

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.