Mike Aitken. The
Scotsman. UK, May 15, 2001.
WHILE the emergence of contemporary young players such as Tiger Woods has
helped the game toss aside its old wool cardigan and check trouser image,
radical chic and golf still make odd bedfellows.
However, news from Cuba, one of the last bastions of old-style communism,
suggests their most famous mutineer enjoyed nothing better than a trip round the
links.
Now it can be revealed that Che Guevara, whose beret and bearded visage
stared out from countless posters in student bedsits during the Seventies, was,
in fact, a keen golfer.
Though hardly a player to compare with John F Kennedy - the best golfer ever
to sit in the White House was blessed with a single-figure handicap but tried to
keep his affection for the game quiet because it had such strong middle-class
connotations - the Argentine-born Guevara was an enthusiast who once even
managed to persuade Fidel Castro to join him for a game.
In a sport where the only revolution is a ball made by Maxfli, the pairing
of Castro and Guevara (who was executed in Bolivia in 1967) came about because
the Cuban dictator was less than pleased by the way he was being rebuffed by the
White House. When Castro telephoned the US, he was miffed to hear on numerous
occasions that President Dwight Eisenhower was out on the golf course and
unavailable.
Later, knowing the Americans were keen to talk to him, Castro decided to
meet Guevara and accompany him to the course. This enabled his spokesman, in all
honesty, to inform Eisenhower that the Cuban president was on the golf course
and unavailable.
This story came to light after Sandy Jones, the chief executive of the PGA,
brought back pictures of golf's most famous revolutionary after visiting Cuba
last week on a mission to build a new championship course there.
The Cubans are keen to develop their international tourism and believe
another top-class course will help to attract visitors from Europe and America.
A £250,000 contract is expected to be signed shortly between Cuba and the
PGA which will see the British body design and build the venue on a site 500
miles from Havana.
As part of the deal, the PGA also intends to create a Cuban golf fellowship.
The Cubans are already exceptional boxers, fine athletes and talented
baseball players: Jones is convinced they will also take to golf in a big way
and can see the day when a European Tour event is held there.
SHORT courses built to the same standard as full-size venues are rare in
this country. The ones that do exist are often wrongly portrayed as ideal for
beginners. They're not. The notion that much shorter means much easier is a
canard.
Par 3s, however sweet, are far more likely to be insidious than
accommodating. This writer has been fortunate enough over the years to play the
short course at Valderrama, the children's course at Turnberry and enjoy a
close-up view of the delightful par 3 at Augusta.
While it doesn't boast greens as slick as those at either Valderrama or
Augusta, the charming Cromwell course at Nailcote Hall in Warwickshire is a
splendid test which welcomes the £30,000 British Professional Short Course
Championship in August.
SERGIO Garcia's hopes of making Europe's Ryder Cup team will rest on his
performances in the major championships.
The young Spaniard has decided to make only fleeting appearances on this
side of the Atlantic in 2001 and won't tee up either this week at the Deutsche
Bank in Heidelberg or next week in the Volvo PGA.
It was generally believed Garcia would combine a visit to the Volvo PGA with
a personal appearance in front of the Tournament Committee meeting at Wentworth
to explain his misbehaviour during the Greg Norman Holden Classic in Sydney
earlier this year.
After being handed a two-shot penalty for taking a wrong drop, Garcia made
an insulting reference to chief referee John Paramor. He told reporters: "Somebody
didn't want me to win and he did it."
The incident took place in the third round of the event. Garcia was so irked
by the penalty he twice hit a tree with a club and then struck a buggy. Garcia
wrote to apologise but the committee is likely to take a dim view of his display
of temper and hit him with a heavy fine.
CATRIONA Matthew fired a final-round three-under-par 69 to finish second at
the LPGA Electrolux USA Championship in Franklin, Tennessee.
The 31-year-old from North Berwick birdied the last three holes to finish on
13-under-275, one shot behind American veteran Juli Inkster, who snatched
victory with a closing 65.
Tiger Woods' winning streak ended in Irving, Texas, but a last round 63 in
the Byron Nelson Classic indicates that Europe's best will have to be at their
best when he plays in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open in Germany this week.
Woods finished joint third in Texas, his first appearance since winning the
Masters. Robert Damron captured the title by beating local hope Scott Verplank
at the fourth play-off hole after both finished on 263, three ahead of Woods.
Sergio Garcia was eighth. | 