ROYAL BIRKDALE TEE ROOM

CLEAN-UP KIDS WITH A SENSE OF COMMUNITY

RESIDENTS in this part of the world have a very dry — and occasionally dark — sense of humour. And they start ’em young. The kids on litter collection duty this week — most of whom would appear to still be at secondary school — are already busy tidying up after huge practice day crowds. As a hard-working group passed along the outside of the 18th yesterday, one of the girls turned to her friend and said: ‘You know, people look at us and think we’re doing community service...’

TECHNICALLY, THAT WAS A TRICKY QUESTION...

JUST occasionally, there is a clash between ‘technical’ specialist golf writers and the more general sports media. One such example was US Open champ Brooks Koepka being asked: ‘You play with the Mizuno JPX-900 iron, 4-iron, and you carry a Nike 3-iron. Can you explain the reason why you don’t stay with the set to the 3-iron, and what is different with a larger cavity back 3-iron?’ We’d print the answer here but, to be honest, only one member of your Sportsmail team understood the question.