Can the Ulstermen Clout Their Way to a Euro Tour Event?
by Ryan Ballengee on Oct 25, 2010 1:24 PM EDT
in Pro Golf
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PrintNeedless to say, it's been a good year for golf in Northern Ireland. Between Graeme McDowell winning the US Open and securing the Ryder Cup, and Rory McIlroy winning in the United States for the first time, the nation is as strong of a golf country as it ever has been. With strength comes clout, and that may manifest itself in the form of a European Tour event.
Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke are looking to put their energies into attracting an event to Northern Ireland, if not for 2011, in time for 2012.
GMac is pushing for an event at Portrush. (Yes!)
"It would be amazing and it's always been a dream of mine to play a big event at Portrush."
Darren Clarke concurs. "It's got everything. Links is the purest form of golf and this is the best links course in the world," said Clarke to the BBC.
Can a man dream that a Links Swing could start on the European Tour? The Ulster Open, Scottish Open, and Open Championship in a month?!
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Does that mean you would actually
go spend some of your loot to see it played, or just sit home on the couch again ??…STUB
It's the couch again I'm afraid
I would love to attend every major tournament once just for the atmosphere, but pragmatically can follow so much more on TV.
to links or not to links
Links is golf, no question about it, in my wish list, all golf courses are links courses, now thats the way to play golf, no two days alike, unpredictable and truely a way to try every shot with every club. Portrush is definatley in the top 3 in the world in links courses. IMO.
If I had my dying wish to play my last three rounds, they would be:
Pebble Beach
Old course St Andrews
Portrush
and I don’t particulary care in what order, provided i play my last hole at # 18 in St Andrews…:)
Wee Problem: The Spectre Of The Troubles
As much as I would like to see an event at Portrush, Euro Tour people might throw up their hands and say no because of the mere possibility of the event becoming a potential hotspot to re-ignite The Troubles.
As it is, only a mere fifteen days ago, nine anti-British militants were arrested with alleged bomb-making components in Louth, Waterford and Wexford counties, so it’s clear that radical IRA members would be all too happy to break the peace.
Giving them a tempting target would certainly give reason for any sporting organization to think twice and probably demur from an event there. \
Wendy – there’s zero rationale for terrorists blowing up public markets and transportation, but it happens. These people don’t care who gets hurt or where.
“The Troubles” ? Do they really have a formal name ?
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Troubles take on many forms
Annual homiside deaths from guns in America far outstrip the tragic deaths in the Northern Ireland conflict in the last 40 years. Somehow, life still has to go on.
Ok – pull up a map of Northen Ireland and then one of the US. Comparing statistics like that doesn’t work. We have states you could fit 3 or 4 Northern Irelands into.
Yes – life goes on – you’ll notice that life goes on here, too, even though we lose lives to murderers (most are people they know – unlike bombers who just kill whoever happens to be around more often than not).
So all of those – and you still find time to tell us how we’re supposed to run our country. (ducking)
OH ! watched a National Geographic show last night on the sinking of the Bismark. Amazing show – the British Navy really flexed their muscles that week.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I was just pointing out trouble has many forms
and life goes on. 4 times as many people are murdered with guns every year in the US as people died in 9 11 and yet it seems acceptable. If you crazy Yanks want that to carry on feel free…I still like you though :)
where do you come up with terms like “acceptable” ?
there are a lot more than four times the number of people in the US than in Manhattan and the Pentagon. Again – comparing statistics like that makes no sense.
There is no comparison between what happened on 9/11 and most murders anywhere in the world. Yes – there are lots of murders in the UK every year, too – but you don’t compare that to the bombing of any of your cities during WWII.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Again, I was pointing out trouble in it's many forms.
obviously, 12,000 murders with guns is acceptable in your country…or you might try to alter the law " the right to bear fiirearms" It happens so often you must be getting immune to it.
I see – so because guns are restricted in the UK, people who want to kill someone just don’t do it, right ? Sorry – pointing a finger at the guns doesn’t work. It’s a cliche – but guns don’t kill people. Someone has to pull the trigger.
A lot of people are probably immune to it. Most cities in the US have an “if it bleeds – it lead” policy, so murders and car wrecks and bad injuries dominate the top of the news. Most of our TV news is so bad (and badly produced), a lot of people phase it out.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Same here...bad news sells
You are right, guns don’t kill people, but if those people didn’t have guns it would be less likely. That’s a fact.
We agree on a personal level there. Pulling a trigger is an act of cowardice – but it doesn’t stop people from using knives and bats and whatever they can get their hands on.
Here’s what’s wrong with the government (and liberal weenies) crying about guns. The ONLY place they ever point to take away the guns is…anyone ? anyone ?…..the law abiding citizen. They don’t go after the criminals. And why ? Because…anyone ? anyone ?….the bad guys shoot back !
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Look at any country in the west where there is some gun control
you will find less murders overall than the US on a scale.
I'm not sure we can ever really understand
each other’s cultures.
I’ve just deleted a whole essay on the subject.
Sure we can:
America: fast food, guns, drives on the right side of the road in imported cars. Rupert Murdoch controls media. National sport is football, which rarely involves using the foot on the ball except by kickers.
Britain: curry, no guns, drives on left side of road in imported cars. Rupert Murdoch controls media. Most popular national sport is football, which bans touching the ball with hands except for goalies.
There’s more I am sure.
by Charles Boyer on Oct 26, 2010 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions
lol – Rupert Murdoch controls media ? but he’s an Aussie…hmmm – are we all looking in the wrong part of the globe ? :-D
plenty of fast food in the UK – ever had fish n chips ? that’s not hollandaise sauce they’re cooking in. plenty of curry in the US – though we never colonized India.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
There's probably more Indian & Chinese
food eaten in the UK than fish n chips. Although our local fish n chip has Chinese owners. Excellent fish, chips blahhhh!
What is it that makes for a proper chip to go with the fish ?
Over here, McDonalds is the gold standard for fries – crispy, hot, and golden brown.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
In heaven, the cooks are French, the police are British and it’s all organized by the Germans.
In hell, the cooks are British, the police are German and it’s all organized by the French.
by Charles Boyer on Oct 26, 2010 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh wait - there's probably a town
in US called Purgatory and I really really don’t want to know what they’re doing there.
Purgatory, Colorado?
There’s a good ski resort there. The town is named for the Purgatoire River.
Oddly, it’s a little cooler than Hell, Arizona. It’s a ghost town, ironically enough. When I went there, I sent my ex-wife a postcard. On it, I wrote: “You told me to go here, so now, WHAT SHOULD I DO?”
by Charles Boyer on Oct 27, 2010 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions
Think about it, Court
Even the Ryder Cup is GB & Ireland (not GB & N. Ireland).
Of course there is a rationale for terrorists blowing up markets & transportation (we’re right in the middle of the official inquest into the London underground transport explosions over here – makes terrible reading). We simply do not agree with the rationale.
There is no official IRA any more & the remaining few die-hard radicals who do not accept the peace want to blow up the British/ and or Protestants, or if from the old UDR – Catholics, not international golf players, international tourists and alienate those countries.
These incidences are now rare indeed; the peace cannot be broken now – the people of Ireland won’t let it happen.
I found OMP’s raising the spectre of The Troubles (yes) quite bizarre and completely out of step with the prevailing atmosphere. I think you’d get the same blank look from Rory, Graeme, Darren, Padraig, Paul, etc, as I’m giving to the suggestion.
Ryder Cup isn’t GB&I – it’s Europe. Yet you have had some stalwarts from Northern Ireland over the years on the team.
If there is no IRA anymore, why do you call them the IRA ? I have to admit that I have never understood that war – probably because it was always tabled as Protestant v Catholic – and neither group behaved as a group of Christians.
Don’t hold your breath that those days can’t come back. If the government oversteps its bounds again, there will be people ready to light the fuses again. The majority of people will not want the war – but it can happen.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Right – but I try – and I see through the facade of Catholic v Proestant – the same way people like Saddam Hussein wasn’t really a Muslim – neither are these terrorists.
(but notice that I don’t try to tell you how your country should run)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I meant prior to Europe obviously
like Vivendi & Walker make no distinction between Ireland & N. Ireland.
I don’t call them IRA – OMP did – as though they still existed as such.
Obviously it wasn’t simplistically a war between Protestant v Catholic – the British were historically the bad guys. My greatgrandfather was Irish from Cork, but joined the British Army as his father did before him. When he retired back to Cork and opened a shop, he was burnt out as a traitor, despite being Catholic. My grandfather (born Nova Scotia – birth certificate “Irish/Catholic”) also joined the British Army and retired in England whilst his siblings remained (and their descendantsas far as I know) remain in Cork to this day well, as far as I know. Sad, sad days.
Which government are you referring to? N. Ireland has it’s own Assembly now.
The Radicals Still Refer To Themselves As "IRA"
Yes, I know that they do not exist per se any longer, and if you want to get strict with the definition of the Irish Republican Army, it existed between 1922-1969. The OIRA, founded in 1969 is also officially inactive, and Sinn Fein has changed its name to the Worker’s Party of Ireland.
I am actually referring to the RIRA (Real IRA, formed 1997) which is opposed to the Peace Process and has as recently as October 5th carried out a car bombing, with an explosion outside the Ulster Bank in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. " Over the past 18 months, the Real IRA and similar groups have meted out more than 20 so-called punishment shootings — which usually leave victims alive but severely injured — in some of the city’s nationalist working-class areas. n March 2009, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the execution-style murder of two soldiers at a British army base in County Antrim, and last February, the group said it had killed Ciaran Doherty, a Derry man who claimed that the U.K. intelligence service MI5 tried to recruit him as an informer.
Yes, inactive indeed.
by Charles Boyer on Oct 26, 2010 12:47 PM EDT up reply actions
No doubt there will continue to be atrocities
but why, oh why, would you relate them to a golf tournament? Might as well not have any golf tournaments in UK in case the Islamic extremists target them?
Holy sufferin cat fish Wendy
My late wife’s relatives all came from Cork….She always wanted to go and trace the family history, but sadly, with all the troubles, never did….STUB
why is it always the catfish that have to suffer ? poor innocent creatures…that are delicious all cooked up on the grill :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Heck Court, it's all that
heat from the grill that makes them suffer….hahaha…damm good eating tho…with chips of course….not those soggy English ones, these are the golden brown, hot one here in the USof A…Than one of our COLD BREWS, not one a those warm thins from you know where….Afterwards, a fine cigar….Ahhhhhh !! life is good…..STUB
I've only ever eaten catfish in the US
delicious little goujons they were. All golden & fried in breadcrumbs if I recall rightly.
We Catch 'Em All Summer
One of my great joys in the summer is camping lakeside with my boat, and catching 3-4 lb catfish and cooking them up a mere 5-10 minutes after they were in the lake.
There’s something just grand about being detached from computers, cell phones and television for 3-4 days at a stretch. Life slows down and the things that really matter are incredibly apparent.
by Charles Boyer on Oct 27, 2010 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Wendy – catfish are the most fun to catch, too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAN8MfPAZt0&feature=related
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I'm a member of the Cork Genealogical Society, STUB
(& professional family history research specialist for Hampshire (England). There’s v. little information for Ireland on the net but the Church of Latter Day Saints is making great headway in persuading the Catholic hierarchy to let them transcribe parish records before they totally disintegrate & are lost for ever – many are already (they’ve been badly stored in the parish churches rather than centralised in the bishoprics). You wouldn’t have had any problem visiting Cork during the Troubles, ‘though I fear a trip would have been in vain as you have to write to parish priests to request information and they may or may not agree to delve through their records or give out information. I do have access to certain Irish census for Cork (1901/1911) but some were destroyed either deliberately or accidentally by fires, and unless one knows which ward the family lived in (Cork had 9 wards) it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. I can trace my Cork family to c 1845 but dead end as Cork was one of the worst affected areas in the Great Famine of 1845-47 losing 25% of its population when 150,00 died of starvation and 50% emigrated (mainly to UK & USA). I have ships lists which show hundreds with my family name emigrating to the States but can’t make valid connections.
If ever you wanted me to take a look for you, I’d gladly do so. In the meantime, I’ll raise a glass to your late wife’s memory & Cork.
Ah Wendy, you are indeed a jewel amongst us here.
Thank you for your kind offer..But, alas, my wife was one who had so much of the family and times in her head…I’m afraid that I can’t do much more than drink to all that…..hahaha…..and I’m sure, that the glass ye will be raisen is a good Irish Whisky ?….thanks much….STUB
They are indeed Court
I have no opinion one way or another regarding the Mormon religious beliefs but they are trying to record births, marriages, deaths, worldwide and make them available to all. So far UK/USA transciptions are incredibly detailed because we have centralised records – not true of many if any other countries however.
A lot of states in the US (many the size of Ireland) have centralized records like that. It’s much easier when you are in a relatively small country.
Wasn’t saying anything negative about the Mormons. I was just surprised that a group that generally keeps to themselves (except for the Tabernacle Choir, The Osmonds, and their all too frequent visits to the front door) would take on a task like that in a country they aren’t a huge part of. Must be searching for a few of the 144,000…maybe requests for redheads for extra wives ? (JUST kidding !!) :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
holy cow ! I found it ! One of the best exchanges ever from “Cheers”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25PGOODs99o
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
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