Omagh man ‘delighted’ to make Open presentations

FORMER Omagh GP, Dr Nigel Pollock admitted that he was honoured and privileged to present the Claret Jug to Scottie Scheffler at the conclusion of The Open on Sunday.

As Captain of the event’s host club, on this occasion Royal Portrush, Dr Pollock had the job of handing over the coveted trophy to the Champion golfer at the end of four day’s play on the Dunluce Links.

And he admits that he was delighted to make the presentation to not only the best player over the week, but the number one golfer in the world after the Texan carded a combined 17-under-par total to win by four strokes, cementing his place as a potential great of the game.

“It was an honour and a privilege to hand over the Claret Jug and to hand it over to the best golfer on the week and the best golfer in the world at the minute is just a tremendous honour,” Dr Pollock beamed.

“I congratulated him and I said to him that I was delighted to present the Claret Jug to the world’s number one who has just played the world’s number one course.

“He cemented his place as the best player in the world. His game is so pure and they are talking about him in terms of being up there with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods and if he maintains that form for another couple of years I’m sure he’ll be set for more Majors and he’ll end up right there with the all-time greats.”

During what was a busy week for all involved in the organisation of the event, Dr Pollock admitted that he was proud with how well the Dunluce links held up against the world’s best players, particularly in the benign conditions of Saturday and Sunday.

“We were always very confident that the course was in fantastic condition because it was well prepared and presented by Graeme Beatt and his team – we had no issues with the course. The R&A were very happy with the course any time they came to it,” he said.

“We would have liked to have seen the wind a bit stronger but Scottie’s score was only two shots better than Shane’s [Lowry, who won there in 2019] which he got in the really harsh conditions.

“The course was set up with difficult pin positions and they didn’t take it apart. There was no real wind and they’ll never get easier conditions than they got over the last two days but they still didn’t take the course apart.”

The tough set-up created many special on-course moments, one of which will live long in Dr Pollock’s memory.

“The highlight for me was Rory’s eagle putt on the 12th hole,” he added. “I was at the back of the green for that and a lot of the family were there for that too. Because I know the course so well, that’s a very difficult putt and members have been known to putt off the green from that position.

“It was a fantastic putt and the cheer was just unbelievable.”

With Royal Portrush having excelled on its return to The Open rota in 2019 and again last week, Dr Pollock is confident that the ‘Major’ will return to the North Coast again in the not too distant future after another successful visit.

“I think it was a great success,” he beamed. “I think everyone was very happy, certainly the four key stakeholders – the R&A, the club, Causeway Coast and Glens [Council] and Tourism Northern Ireland.

“I think everyone is very, very happy with the way things went.”

And he feels that is as much to do with the fans as it is the course: “It’s a good place for the golfers to come and play because the fans are very respectful and very knowledgeable and the players see that,” he observed

“There’s no noise when the players take a shot, there’s no applauding a bad shot but they cheer a good shot and I think they were a very respectful crowd.”

Meanwhile, prior to The Open getting underway on Thursday, Dr Pollock had the honour of making another special presentation after Royal Portrush decided to rename two holes in honour of Major winning club members, Graeme McDowell and Dungannon’s Darren Clarke.

“They were presented with a tee marker for the hole that has been named after them,” he explained. “Darren Clarke has had the ninth hole on the Dunluce links named after him.

“It was previously named the Tavern and will be now known as Darren Clarke’s and the newly constructed first nine on the Valley course, the seventh hole goes from the back of the Rathmore clubhouse, up towards the beach.

“Graeme McDowell would have played loads and loads of golf there as a boy and as a teenager, and it’s now called McDowell’s, a short par four which when you get 30-40 yards from the green you have a tremendous view of the sea and the Skerries. It’s a lovely hole.”