In a professional career stretching back to 1969 and covering almost every nook and cranny of the golfing globe, Sam Torrance can pitch up at just about any course and reel off more stories than the Jackanory series.
Last weekend, ahead of a shindig at the Scottish Golf Awards, he was at Dalmahoy, the venue on the outskirts of Edinburgh where he won the 1985 Scottish PGA Championship and the Scottish Senior Open of 2006.
The memories weren't about the wins, though, more about the one that got away. "I had a putt for a Rolls Royce at Dalmahoy once," he recalled with a smile. "That was the prize for making a two on the 18th and in those days, the 17th and 18th at Dalmahoy were driveable, they were great finishing holes. It was a two tier green and I drove it to the front of it and had a putt for an effin' Rolls Royce. I putted it off the back of the green ... there was no way I was going to be short."
A gleaming new Roller would have been motoring perfection. Back at Dalmahoy in 2015, Torrance reflected on golfing perfection. In just a fortnight's time, Rory McIlroy will begin his quest for the career grand slam in the Masters at Augusta.
"It would be an extraordinary achievement," added the 61-year-old Torrance. "I watched him recently and I think he swings the clubs as good as I've ever seen a golf club swung. It was just beautiful and it couldn't be better. I thought Tiger Woods in the '90s is just about as good as it gets, Adam Scott had the same sort of swing and won the Masters, but I think McIlroy has the best swing. My dad (the late Bob) was the coach in our family, but I do watch and I do listen. Butch Harmon did an analysis of McIlroy's swing and every point was perfect. Address, ball position, takeaway, halfway back, top of the swing, downswing, follow through. Every single point was perfect."
The chances of Woods joining McIlroy at Augusta get slimmer by the week, of course. "I'd love him to be there but it's doubtful isn't it?," said Torrance. "If they took away all Tiger's money and possessions, I wonder how quickly his game would come back? I hope to God he isn't burned out, but he's had a hectic career. Tiger is 40 at his next birthday. I can't compare myself with Tiger, but I had my best year when I was 43. So there could be plenty left in Tiger. I'd love to see it."
While Woods continues to creak and groan with various ailments, Torrance has had his own aches and pains to deal with of late. "I had an operation about a month ago, nothing serious, just cleaning out my knee," he reported. "I was always going to get it done. I had a wee slip in Mauritius towards the end of the year after getting a bit exuberant on the dance floor. That didn't do the damage, it just unsettled it. I played a couple of week ago and used a buggy and was fine, but I played last week and had to walk in from the 12th at Sunningdale. I should be fine, though."
Gammy knee permitting, the big highlight of Torrance's year will be the Senior British Open on his doorstep in Sunningdale although the one tinge of disappointment for the former European Ryder Cup captain is that the Scottish Senior Open has moved from the course that bears his name at Fairmont St Andrews and will take place at Archerfield instead.
"Archerfield is magnificent and I've no qualms about going there but it's just a shame we won't be at Fairmont again," he said. "It was my course and it's such a beautiful spot. Then again, I've always played s***e there so maybe I'll have better luck at Archerfield."
He might ... providing he stays off the dance floors.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article