Golf Central

Most golfers born since the 1940s probably wouldn't even know of the stymie, which made golf a heck of a lot more evil and - possibly - a bit more fun.

In singles match play, until 1951, that is, players didn't mark their balls on the green and weren't lifted unless they were laying six inches apart or closer. So, a clever player who was behind on a hole could use a clever putt, and roll his ball in between the hole and his opponent's ball, thereby forcing said opponent to have to putt around or over the ball in the path.

Sound a bit like snooker? ...

A bit, and today it might seem like a nasty piece of gamesmanship in this gentleman's game. But remember that legends like Vardon, Hagen and Jones were all very familiar with the stymie and often used it in their arsenals in Ryder Cup and Walker Cup matches. It was also a familiar technique in major championships, like the PGA Championship, which was contested at match play until 1958.

It makes you think how different things might have played out at say ... the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline. Justin Leonard, desperately needing at least a half point to seal an American victory, faced a nearly impossible 45-foot birdie putt, while Jose Maria Olazabal had a 22-footer.

We all know what happened: Leonard drained the unthinkable putt, the Americans danced on the green, Olazabal missed after the celebration, and decades more Ryder Cup animosity were assured. But had the stymie still been in effect, it is very likely that Leonard would have used it to try to block Ollie's path to the hole. ...

Speaking of obstruction, it was also on this day in 1984, that miner's leader Arthur Scargill was found guilty of obstruction during a picketing action at a Yorkshire coal works. It was also today in 1979, that the Clash's album London Calling was released in the UK, becoming one of the most important music releases of the last 30 years.

And on December 14, 2003, the ousted President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was found hiding in cellar at a remote farmhouse by US troops and was placed under arrest.

That said, it's inuuinni pilluarit!, as they say in Greenland, to a host of footballers, as December 14 is a good day to be born if you want to play the beautiful game. Celebrating today are Michael Owen (28), who has been stymied by plenty of 'keepers and injuries in recent years for England and Newcastle; former England winger and Sun football columnist Chris Waddle (47); former Everton, Fulham and Canada attacker Tomasz Radzinski (34); Spurs and Ivory Coast midfielder Dider Zokora (27); and carrot-topped Chelsea benchwarmer Steve Sidwell (25).

It's also musical birthdays to "madman or genius" Mike Scott (49), the Edinburgh-born leader of the Waterboys; and to Beth Orton (37), the singer-songwriter who put the "folktronic" in Norfolk.

It's also a birthday of a major champion, Billy Burke, who was born today in 1902 and died in 1972. Burke had to go the distance big-time to win the 1931 US Open: After tying with George Von Elm at 292 in regulation, the two played a 36-hole playoff at tied again at 149. The next day, they played 36 more holes, and this time Burke finally won, outlasting Von Elm 148-149.

It also would have been a birthday for creepy French astrologer and physician Nostradamus, who of course has been credited with predicting many major world events in his 1555 book Les Propheties. And believe it or not, it is alleged that on the night of July 1, 1566, Nostradamus told his secretary Jean de Chavigny: "You will not find me alive at sunrise." Nostradamus snuffed it overnight. Creepy ...