Those who arrive on the scene to bid for a future place are, without exception, a credit to their profession. Maybe the best coaches are teaching the best players on an education ladder that never ends? Yet, as is so often the case, real genius transcends the boundaries of conventional teaching. The most thrilling and uplifting few moments of golf I’ve ever seen was provided by first Woosie and then Seve in 1985 at the Belfry’s 13th hole, a par four of some 394 yards.

Woosie and Paul Way were playing in the fourballs ahead of Seve and, if I remember correctly, Manuel Pinero. The Welshman’s drive found the rough, near the hedge on the left hand side. His wedge must have got caught up in the grass because his approach shot sailed sickeningly into the right hand bunker. Both Americans were on the green in two and Way wasn’t too well placed. It looked like a losing hole. Then the magic unfolded…. Woosie splashed his bunker shot straight into the hole for a birdie that prompted a huge shout of ‘y-e—e-s-s!’ ….just as another ball rolled onto the green towards the flag. It was just electrifying….

Scores of pairs of eyes, including those of two shell-shocked American golfers, swivelled down the fairway to see its possible source. There, as the opposition vainly attempted to match Woosie’s birdie, was Seve striding up the fairway, head thrust forward eaglelike in that ‘I’m-coming-to-get-you’ mode of his, a huge bird of prey. He had driven the green from the tee… and was on his way to claim his reward. The European Ryder Cup Challenge was about to take off…. just like Concorde, on the runway a few miles away at Birmingham International Airport, ready to provide world sport’s most memorable fly past.