Golf: Stop this nonsense - Turner

New Zealand golfer Greg Turner is hoping there will not be a repeat of the Ryder Cup fiasco when the International team head to Virginia next year to defend the President's Cup.

Turner was a member of the International team who beat the United States in Melbourne last December when he and compatriot Frank Nobilo played a pivotal role by beating David Duval and Mark O'Meara in the opening match.

He was appalled as he watched the Ryder Cup drama unfold on television, and he hopes the Americans will curb their unsportmanslike exuberance.

"It was just appalling really," Turner said. "It leaves the authorities and golf in general with something to think long and hard about and I don't think we can afford to let things degenerate to the stage they did in Boston.

"Hopefully the Americans will look back at the way they handled things - and that seemingly deliberate ploy to try to whip the crowd into a frenzy - and realise that can't be allowed to continue.

"Golf becomes unplayable if that happens, but hopefully they will have a long, hard think about that and the President's Cup will provide an opportunity to see things done markedly better."

Turner could be facing the Americans quicker than anticipated when he leads the New Zealand side into the 16-nations Alfred Dunhill Cup, which starts on Friday on the St Andrews course in Scotland.

It will be a new-look New Zealand side, with Michael Long and Michael Campbell replacing original selections Frank Nobilo and Philip Tataurangi, who are remaining in the United States to try to secure their 2000 playing cards.

It will be Campbell's second appearance only in New Zealand colours at a professional tournament since his debut in 1995, three months after he finished third on the same course in the British Open.

Long has competed in the last two Dunhill Cups and will be looking to improve on last year's effort, when he lost all three round-robin matches.

"We are not going to be seeded this year and that could work to our advantage," Turner said.

"Cambo has been playing really solidly the last few months and week in, week out he's been strong, while Longie has been struggling a little bit but he's always been a little bit of a streak player and a format like the Dunhill could bring out the best in him."

Turner admitted it would different not to see Nobilo in the New Zealand side.

"It's a shame but he has some business he needs to take care of on the US Tour and hopefully he'll succeed in doing that," Turner said.

* Jean Van de Velde, the French golfer who spectacularly blew the British Open title in July, has signed up to contest the Australian Open at Royal Sydney next month.

Van de Velde has played the Open in relative anonymity several times previously but his tragi-comic finish in the British Open at Carnoustie has earned him minor drawcard status this time.

Also confirmed to play, with five-time champion Greg Norman, is Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, while Irishman Padraig Harrington is a possibility. - NZPA