I had a dream!

Here's how it goes. I used to play golf. Had to stop through injury and it was the love of my life (next to B of course!). When we met, I was often playing in competitions all weekend, 2 rounds on Saturdays and Sundays!...so we didn't get to see each other much, although being a nurse, it didn't matter too much as she would often be working weekends anyway.

Selfishly, she knew the score, it was my passion and I was a reasonable player, entering as many amateur open tournaments as I could. Now I was never good enough to win anything individually, but as a club, we won the Hudson trophy (4 men in a team) which was indeed a prestigious event attracting top clubs from around the country plus my playing partner and I reached the finals of the Daily Mail foursomes in 1999 only to be beaten by two rogue handicappers from Bolton!....and we were 4 under par!...no mean feat in foursomes!

So apart from a gaggle of club competitions, a few knockout competitions, monthly medals, my name proudly emblazoned on most boards around the clubhouse, the title open champion did unfortunately elude me.

My proudest moment was being asked to Captain our Club scratch team, which I did for a number of years, and being asked to look after a youngster coming through the ranks and to give him a try out in the first team. This young lad was called Ross Fisher and it was a proud moment for all of us at the club when he played in the Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor. (As it happens, my most memorable individual moment was beating Paul Casey in a county scratch match by 5&4....but then, he was only 17 at the time with aspirations of turning Pro. - I recall telling his captain that if I could beat him, then I didn't hold out much hope for him! - what do I know!)

So off to bed I went last night delighted for Darren Clarke and the rest of Northern Ireland. Not only did I watch it live, but I also watched the highlights before retiring to bed. It must have had quite an effect on me, for deep into the night, my dreams came to life, as I heard the president of the R&A declare...."Please welcome....the Open Champion for 2011......" In lifting the trophy, I elbowed B, who elbowed me back, waking me, hands aloft, but sadly, no trophy.

I thought to myself.....'Must Try Harder!