Golf: Jay Rains can see an English victory parade

Apr 29 2008 by Harold Brough, Liverpool Daily Post

THE END of the long wait for an English golfer to succeed Nick Faldo at the pinnacle of world golf, a winner of a Major on the other side of the Atlantic, maybe even the Master’s green jacket, could be in sight.

Jay Rains, a man at the heart of American tournament golf, reviews his list of top-class English players and says: “There are some very good young ones. I think the depth of talent is as strong now as at any time I can think of in my lifetime.”

But who will be a Major winner in the top tournaments, in the fierce heat of such events as the US Open or the Masters or our own Open on these shores?

He thinks for a while and then reels off the names of Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald . . .

He contends: “There should be some serious major championships there. Every one of them has the ability to win a major.”

And Liverpool’s Nick Dougherty?

“He is young. There are other top young golfers, great ball strikers but you need to include also patience and perseverance. But, yes, Dougherty, too, has the talent to win a major.”

Rains would make a top judge of such matters. He is a member of the United States Golf Association’s Executive, co-chairman of this year’s Open, at Torrey Pines, near his home in San Deigo. He is also a keen golfer. So when he packed his bags and business papers to come to Merseyside for a global board meeting of DLA Piper’s lawyers from the firm’s worldwide network – 64 offices in 25 countries – he also packed his golf clubs.

He hoped to play a couple of rounds. He had been to Royal Liverpool, where he is a member and where he usually plays in the spring meeting and he hoped to play again, with friends at Hoylake, before his returned home. Meanwhile, between business commitments, he found the time to go to Royal Birkdale, to renew his love of the place and for an informal chat with Michael Halsall, Chairman of the club’s Open committee. Already, more than two months before the Open, some spectator stands are in place, at the first tee, by the 18th green and elsewhere.

He sat in front of the clubhouse window in front of the 18th green, looking back up the fairway, one of the most famous scenes in world golf, the setting for so many of the game’s great occasions and famous finishes.

“One of the finest links courses in the world for a major championship,” he says. “Every hole is strong. There is a lot of variety so the players will use every club in their bag.

“Wonderful place for spectators. There have been a number of courses created in America in the last 12-15 years where they have used sand dunes for the benefit of spectators as they are here.”

He has played Birkdale a few times and would like to have found the time to play again. “But I left my clubs in a locker at Hoylake so I would not be tempted,” he says. “I do have a couple of sand wedges in the car. But I would need more than a few of those.

“Birkdale has always got the better of me and I am not harbouring any illusions about that changing!”

He has a love of Liverpool and Merseyside, also.

He explains: “This is my favourite part of Britain. I am a big fan of the Beatles. If you like golf history and great quality links courses there is no better stretch than that from Hoylake through here and on to Lytham. The quality of the courses and the history, you cannot get that combination elsewhere.

“ Then there are the people of Liverpool. ”