Golf Central

On this day in 1955, the actor Kevin Costner was born in Lynwood, California, and while he's a decent-standard golfer himself, he did a pretty darn good job of playing a pro golfer in the 1996 film Tin Cup - which (depending on which list you look at) is usually ranked in the Top 5 golf films of all time.

Tin Cup stars Costner as Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy, and follows his tale as a dusty old driving range pro in Texas, who meets a girl (Rene Russo) who talks him into chasing his old dreams of the Tour, and going for it at the US Open. The film is notable for its reasonably decent depiction of both dusty driving-range life and tour pro life, and while many may dispute its plot lines, it's pretty fair entertainment. Hey, if you're looking for Citizen Kane, you're on the wrong website, pal ...

Tin Cup, which also stars Don Johnson as a cocky tour pro (good casting) and scene-stealer Cheech Marin as the worldly-wise caddie (again, good casting), makes the most of Costner's chemistry with Russo and the actor's athleticism to good effect. If you're not looking for a classic, but pretty good entertainment, consider the film sort of like the 2007 Masters ... everyone was expecting Tiger Woods to win, but Zach Johnson did instead. But, it was still a darn good tournament.

Like many of the things Costner is known for, golf is a bit hit and miss for him. He is an athletic sort, and despite hitting the age of 53 today, he still is. He was a good baseball player growing up and got his BA in business from the baseball powerhouse university Cal State Fullerton in '78 before hitting it big on the silver screen.

Not surprisingly, several of Costner's biggest hit films have been baseball movies: he played the leads in both Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, and his role in Tin Cup was a bit of a twist on his sporting persona. But it's IGWT's humble opinion that this sometimes overlooked actor is quite good, really ... he's done some pretty good Westerns, and after all, he won an Oscar for directing and starring in Dances With Wolves (1990). Just call him the David Toms of Hollywood.

As for Costner's golf game, it's not bad, really. He's listed as between a 10 and an 11-handicapper. But someone we know very well has played both baseball and golf with Costner, and it is our source's opinion that Costner is better at baseball. In preparation for his role in Tin Cup, Costner took private golf lessons from Gary McCord. Let's just say, we're not taking any lessons from McCord any time soon ...

Ah well, but nobody's perfect. Take the PGA Tour for instance. Not like we ever blast the PGA Tour (because we don't, of course not), but it was on this day in 1948 that a trio of black professional golfers - Ted Rhodes, Bill Spiller and Madison Gunter - took the Tour to court after they were barred from entering the Richmond Open in California. All three had qualified on the Monday, but only Rhodes' case got anywhere. Rhodes, a great golfer in those segregated days, was invited to play in the 1948 US Open (Jackie Robinson had already broken the colour barrier in baseball), where he shot 70 in the first round ...

It was also on this day, in 1964, that the immortal Arnold Palmer suffered a missed cut that he would like to forget (and almost certainly has). Because in the second round of the Bing Crosby Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, Palmer stepped to the par-3 17th and doinked three balls in the Pacific Ocean, carding a 9 and signing for a great big MC. Even our beloved heroes are not perfect ...

And some things can see through just about anything, including Kevin Costner's totally convincing acting skills. Because it was on this day in 1896 that the X-ray machine was exhibited for the first time ...

And it was on this day in 2005 that the world's largest commercial jet, the Airbus A380, was unveiled in Toulouse, France, promising to revolutionise long-haul passenger flights by carrying up to 800 passengers. Great ... so there was no point, really, in the fact that on this day in 1788, that the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay, Australia, carrying 736 convicts from England to Oz ... 736 of them going over, 800 coming back.

That said, it's Vill Glück zum Geburri!, as they say in Schwyzerdeutch, to Canada's Mark Messier (47), the National Hockey League Hall of Famer who could teach Roy Keane a thing or two about being a hard man; to West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green (28), who still may get a turn between the England sticks; and to the Irish "singer/songwriter/actress" Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba (25), otherwise known as plain-old Samantha Mumba. But we've printed her whole name because the bean counters at IGWT think we get paid by the word. ....

So ... la de da ... how was my day today? ... Pretty good, yours? ... not bad, not bad, (let's see if we can get this sucker up to 1,000 words, which would be a real achievement for a piece that started with Kevin Costner as the lead). ... Hey, did you hear Kevin Costner has a new picture coming out? ... No? ... Yeah. ... it's gonna be called ...

(What? We don't get paid by the word?). Oh. And it would have been a birthday for the legendary British aircraft designer Sir Thomas Sopwith (b. 1888), whose fighter plane the Sopwith Camel carried the day over the trenches of the First World War, and who lived to the ripe old age of 101, long enough to take a flight on the Concorde. Nice one, Sir Tommy ...

(Could have easily gotten to 1,000 words, boss ... easily ... but ... dropping ... off ... to sleep) 'Til tomorrow! ...