Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Cruden Bay and The Brown Bomber
Like most days one of my first visits is to see if Alan Shipnuck has penned something new for SI.
Alas no new Shipnuck but Frank Beard had something to say about the Ryder Cup
No fire, no desire
It was clear the Europeans wanted the Ryder Cup more than the U.S.
And then I remembered in Shipnuck's archives there's My top 50 golf courses
What blew me away the first time I read it was that he'd ranked Cruden Bay
number 2. Wedged between Pebble Beach at number 1 and Cypress Point at 3
I've never played the California Coast but every year, many years ago we'd take off for a weekend at Cruden Bay.
Ah the joys of youth. I must've been young and daft too.
To actually dive into the surf for a swim with the water somewhat cooler than California Coast temperatures
It was there for the first and only time I actually met and had a wee drink with Eric Brown - The Brown Bomber.
He'd just moved up there after a wonderful career as a touring pro. And in case you think Monty is the only Scotsman who has met with such stupendous success in the Ryder Cup.
Read on.
And if you've never heard of the famous battle between The Brown Bomber and Tommy 'Thunder' Bolt here's a passage from sport.telegraph
The Ryder Cup remained a low-key friendly for more than half century, and probably the only instance of any needle creeping in came in the 1957 match at Lindrick, where Great Britain and Ireland won a rare victory. Eric Brown, the home captain, was a feisty Scot, and Tommy Bolt, his singles opponent, could throw a club almost as far as a modern player hits one.
So the atmosphere was a bit strained, especially when Brown sent his caddie back to the clubhouse for a chair, which he proceeded to sit on by way of letting Bolt know he considered him a desperately slow player. At the end, Bolt said: "I didn't enjoy that match one little bit," to which Brown responded: "After the beating I've just given you, I'm not surprised."
Angus MacVicar, the very fine Scottish golfing correspondent described the scene so well.
"As I watched , no words were exchanged (during the game), but the way they eyed each other reminded me of an encounter I had once observed between two stags in a Highland Glen"
By the way and for the record, Eric's other singles' encounters in the Ryder Cup were -
Wentworth 1953 Beat the American Captain Lloyd Mangrum by two holes
Thunderbird Country Club 1955 Beat Jerry Barber 3 & 2
Lindrick 1957 where as mentioned above, he beat Bolt who it's said broke a club in rage when he got back to the clubhouse.
Eldorado Country Club 1959 Beat Dr Cary Middlecoff 4 & 3
Cruden Bay and Eric Brown. A challenging course and a man they called The Brown Bomber as well as other unprintable names by those who were defeated by this Fire in The Belly Scotsman.
Which kind of takes us back to where we came in and Frank Beard's comments
Alas no new Shipnuck but Frank Beard had something to say about the Ryder Cup
No fire, no desire
It was clear the Europeans wanted the Ryder Cup more than the U.S.
And then I remembered in Shipnuck's archives there's My top 50 golf courses
What blew me away the first time I read it was that he'd ranked Cruden Bay
number 2. Wedged between Pebble Beach at number 1 and Cypress Point at 3
I've never played the California Coast but every year, many years ago we'd take off for a weekend at Cruden Bay.
Ah the joys of youth. I must've been young and daft too.
To actually dive into the surf for a swim with the water somewhat cooler than California Coast temperatures
It was there for the first and only time I actually met and had a wee drink with Eric Brown - The Brown Bomber.
He'd just moved up there after a wonderful career as a touring pro. And in case you think Monty is the only Scotsman who has met with such stupendous success in the Ryder Cup.
Read on.
And if you've never heard of the famous battle between The Brown Bomber and Tommy 'Thunder' Bolt here's a passage from sport.telegraph
The Ryder Cup remained a low-key friendly for more than half century, and probably the only instance of any needle creeping in came in the 1957 match at Lindrick, where Great Britain and Ireland won a rare victory. Eric Brown, the home captain, was a feisty Scot, and Tommy Bolt, his singles opponent, could throw a club almost as far as a modern player hits one.
So the atmosphere was a bit strained, especially when Brown sent his caddie back to the clubhouse for a chair, which he proceeded to sit on by way of letting Bolt know he considered him a desperately slow player. At the end, Bolt said: "I didn't enjoy that match one little bit," to which Brown responded: "After the beating I've just given you, I'm not surprised."
Angus MacVicar, the very fine Scottish golfing correspondent described the scene so well.
"As I watched , no words were exchanged (during the game), but the way they eyed each other reminded me of an encounter I had once observed between two stags in a Highland Glen"
By the way and for the record, Eric's other singles' encounters in the Ryder Cup were -
Wentworth 1953 Beat the American Captain Lloyd Mangrum by two holes
Thunderbird Country Club 1955 Beat Jerry Barber 3 & 2
Lindrick 1957 where as mentioned above, he beat Bolt who it's said broke a club in rage when he got back to the clubhouse.
Eldorado Country Club 1959 Beat Dr Cary Middlecoff 4 & 3
Cruden Bay and Eric Brown. A challenging course and a man they called The Brown Bomber as well as other unprintable names by those who were defeated by this Fire in The Belly Scotsman.
Which kind of takes us back to where we came in and Frank Beard's comments
