Manager makes right call after Johnson's K Club form

The manner in which Ronan Neacy recruited his star player for his Golf Masters' team this year brought back memories of our favourite…

The manner in which Ronan Neacy recruited his star player for his Golf Masters' team this year brought back memories of our favourite moment from the competition's history, one that happened, somewhat alarmingly, when Ronan was just 10 years old.

While on his trip to the Ryder Cup at The K Club last year our Galway manager, who won our weekly prize this week and is up to second overall, not only got Zach Johnson's autograph but also made note of the fact he looked more than a decent player (Ronan even checked Zach's stats for proof). And so, when it came to time to pick his Golf Masters' team, Ronan hired Zach, one of only 385 managers to do so, and was promptly rewarded with the American's Masters' win.

The last time, that we're aware of, there was contact between one of our managers and a player was September, 1998, when Paul Sheehan needed Bob Estes to finish in the top 40 at the Texas Open if he was to win our then £10,000 first prize. A final round of 68 moved Estes up to joint 11th on the Sunday. He returned to the clubhouse, cleaned up and as he was settling down to his meal he was paged for a telephone call.

"Is that Bob Estes?" said the voice. "Yeah," said Bob. "This is Paul Sheehan here, from Dublin. In Ireland." "Who?" "Paul Sheehan. It's a long story, Bob, but you've just won me £10,000 - thanks very much." "That's great, I'm delighted - if I'd known that pressure was on me I mightn't have got those putts in the last few holes," said Estes. "Well," said Paul, "you've had a great season, Bob, well done." "It's not over yet," said Estes. "I thought, 'it is for me'," said our 1998 winner, and with that he went off to spend his £10,000.

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So Ronan, have Zach's phone number handy, just in case.

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times