Ex-football defender has a ball
A MAN who used to play centre half against Michael Owen and that ‘horrible git’ Craig Bellamy did a wonderful job of protecting his scorecard against the formidable threat posed by Royal Birkdale. Stuart Manley, the world’s 520th ranked golfer, even gave a demonstration of attacking play on the final two holes yesterday that the two footballers — who are also keen golfers — would surely have appreciated. The 38-year-old journeyman from Wales holed a bunker shot at the 17th for an eagle three before rolling in a 30ft tramliner at the last for a 68 that left him shadowing the likes of Ian Poulter near the top of the leaderboard. Not even Manley’s greatest fan could have seen this coming. Since qualifying for his first major with a runnerup finish in the Joburg Open in January, he has played in 10 events on the European Tour and missed the cut in nine of them. His preparations here were far from smooth, for he was up at 3am to tend to his six-month-old baby. An hour later he was awake again, his mind whirring as he contemplated his 6.46am tee time. When he got to the first tee it was pouring with rain, the wind was blowing, and he was a bag of nerves. ‘I was lucky I made contact with the ball and just relieved that it went forward,’ said Manley (left). After trials with Manchester United and a host of other clubs he gave up on football. ‘The problem was, deep down, I didn’t believe I was good enough and I didn’t really enjoy it,’ he said. ‘I loved golf so much that every time a game got cancelled I’d be like, “Great, I can go and practise my golf”.’ It was while playing football for Mid Glamorgan that he came across Bellamy and Owen. ‘Bellamy was nasty, a horrible little git,’ he said. ‘I gave him a few kicks and he wasn’t happy. He was just like that all the time. ‘Michael, to be honest, I don’t remember that much. We were both very young.’ Manley played golf for Britain and Ireland in the 2003 Walker Cup but it’s fair to say his career has been a slow burner. ‘I think there will be more days like this going forward although this one hasn’t quite sunk in yet,’ he said. ‘But I still love the game and I’m improving every year.’