Regular readers of this column will know that it tends to take on a wearyingly familiar pattern. There’s the initial meander, which is not so much an informative introduction, more a pointless preamble as I fumble and fish around like somebody attempting to guddle for trout.

Once these prolonged preliminaries are done, I throw in a couple of fusty, cornball observations, before moving tenuously into the main thrust of the piece, by which point most of you have drifted into the kind of trance-like state adopted by the aforementioned trout that’s just been tickled. Or something like that.

Anyway, this week I’m cutting to the chase, even though I’ve just waffled on for 100-odd words before informing you that I’m cutting to the chase. First and foremost, I’d like to pay tribute to a dear colleague, Colin Farquharson, who passed away recently at the age of 86.

Colin, a well-kent, hugely respected and valued figure in the golf writing business for many years, was a man of quite tireless industry.

When your correspondent started off in this lark, working alongside Colin at the David Begg Sports Agency almost 25 years ago, he told me that, ‘there’s a story in every score’. And, by the powers, did he try to find it as I looked on in gasping reverence while he careered around in a tremendous haste of........

© Herald Scotland