Golf Central

As the tumbleweed drifts through the InGolfWeTrust newsroom, hot news arrives from Redbourn Golf Club in Hertfordshire, where none other than Basil Brush has been unveiled as the latest media luvvie to take to the fairways. Notwithstanding the obvious fact that he's a glove puppet operated by human hand, according to this particularly fanciful piece of PR fluff (well, we're writing about it) states that the presenter of revived 70s kids show Swap Shop took time out from panto in St Albans to play the course near Harpenden in Hertfordshire.

All of which suggests you should take time out from your busy day to visit the golf club's website and check out their very reasonable green fees. Unless you live in Wisconsin or somewhere, where the cost of a flight to Luton might prove prohibitive.

On this day in 1933, the golf legend Gene Sarazen, still burning from the effects of a severe flu which laid him low in hospital in Santa Monica, California, woke up in a cold sweat and announced to the golf world that he had an idea to transform the game of golf - which he claimed "needs greater thrills."

People listened to the wildly popular Sarazen back then, as they do with Tiger now. But Sarazen's idea was just, shall we say, a bit daft. Little Geno's plan was to expand the size of the standard golf cup from 4¼ inches to 8 inches. His reasoning: "If the cups were bigger, the average player still would take his two putts, but the expert would knock his in every time. There would be the thrill to get that second shot close to the cup." Believe it or not, the saga got stranger still ...

On this day in 1980, Sergio García - one of many who hold the dubious claim to be "best golfer to lack a major championship" - was born in Castellon, Spain.

When the charismatic García exploded onto the golf scene in 1999 as a precocious 19-year-old with the nickname El Niño, he was immediately tagged as a star of the future. Sergio's entrance to the big time was unforgettable: he pulled off a miracle shot wrapped round a tree and nearly chased down Tiger Woods to win the '99 PGA Championship at Medinah, finishing second.

With his charm and enthusiasm, there was never been any doubt of García's popularity on both sides of the pond, and there has been a reasonable amount of success as well. The Spaniard has won six times each on both the US and European Tours. He has proven star quality, from his expensive sports cars to his famous ex-girlfriends (tennis star Martina Hingis and Greg Norman's daughter, Morgan-Leigh).

And there is no question that Sergio has compiled one of the greatest Ryder Cup resumes in history. The key man on Europe's last four Ryder Cup teams, Sergio has put together a nearly bulletproof record of 14-3-3 in golf's showcase team event. But as we head into 2008, everyone is still waiting for that little bit more ...

What the hell do Boo Weekley's bullets, Thaksin Shinawatra, and Daniel Chopra's Playstation have to do with this grand game of golf that we know and love? You might ask, and we are here to answer, with the 10 things we've learned from golf this week that have made us a bit more worldly wise than we were a week ago (which is not hard, since we were hungover a week ago).