Being told to take a hike

At the time it was most annoying but now it feels a little better – being told, in no uncertain terms, to take a hike by a double British Open champion.

It was not the best of times in 1997 while covering the Sunshine Tour for SABC TV.

I had been approached to join the commentary team by Edward Griffiths, formerly my sports editor at the Sunday Times, in his capacity as general manager of TopSport while I was on tour with the Springboks and I readily agreed as I had always been interested in broadcasting.

It had been an exceptional Bok tour with record wins over France, England and Scotland and a summer of golf seemed a nice way to end it – until I was shown some critical Press comment that had appeared in the local media while we were away.

It turned out that I had unwittingly been caught up in a double whammy.

The English Press were up in arms because Denis Hutchinson, unfairly and unjustifiably, had been removed from the team and ostensibly replaced by me; a former colleague of Griffiths.

And the Afrikaans media were incensed because I had apparently been brought in to replace Willem van Drimmelen.

Both situations were untrue as I had no idea that the much-loved ‘Hutchie’ would not be part of the commentary line-up when I accepted the job while the Afrikaans was not an issue. It was not discussed and I had no idea, then, that other issues and agendas had led to the removal of the veteran commentators.

Thus I unwittingly walked into something of a hornet’s nest, local professional golf being a closely-knit family, which at times made the experience quite unpleasant.

However leading golfers are unfailingly courteous when in the public eye which made the shock of being told to take a hike by one of them even greater.

For a long while it was just a story to be told over a beer but now that Padraig Harrington has won back-to-back Opens it has gained in value.

We were at Sun City for the Dimension Data Pro-Am and my job was to do the pre-round interviews – the practice, with limited cameras, being to cover a round in trenches of 12, or so, players and then “fleshing out” the production with interviews taped earlier.

We would tape and commentate on some holes on the front-nine and this tape would be played out until the golfers reached the 14th hole at which point we would “go live.”

All the leaders would have been interviewed beforehand and these tapes were available to the director to use if required later in the broadcast.

Harrington, a much pudgier version of the smiling Irishman we saw at Birkdale and of whom the greatest discussion was the pronunciation of his Christian name – Pawdrig, Poddrig, Porric or Patrick – had played his way into contention so had to be interviewed.

The leaders were congregated on the putting green at the clubhouse before walking to the first tee and we were approaching them one by one; including the eventual winner Nick Price.

Harrington was standing putter in hand by the green when I approached, microphone in hand, cameraman trailing. “Would you like to do your pre-round interview now or just before you go to the tee?” I enquired.

“F*x! off!” came the reply. Just like that. Looked me straight in the eye and said “F*x! off!”

Needless to say I was too shocked to reply and the upshot was that Harrington was not interviewed.

Others have had similar experiences with the like of Faldo, Montgomerie and Singh but mine was with Harrington so it is most pleasing to know that my four-letter dismissal came from a double Open champion.

Harrington has since gone on to become a most gracious champion and his second British Open, with that defining five-wood approach at the 17th, will go into the annals as one of the truly commanding performances in the old championship.

He holds two other interesting records. His 61 (with placing) in the third round of the Nedbank Challenge at Sun City in 2001 is the lowest score yet recorded over the Gary Player CC course and he is one of only three players to have beaten Tiger Woods in a playoff by taking the 2007 Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan at the extra hole – the others being Billy Mayfair (1998 Nissan Open) and Nick Price 1998 Nedbank Challenge).

As a major champion he will be on the target list for this year’s Nedbank so I look forward to trying to get that interview – but this time I’ll ask his agent or the Sunshine Tour’s PR to set it up for me!