It’s likely that 2020 will produce few enough golf headlines, but 2020 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Jimmy Bruen Jnr.  Born in Belfast, the Bruen family moved to Cork when Bruen was 5, his father took up a job with Dwyer & Co, another family closely associated with golf in Cork.  Bruen is associated with both Cork and Muskerry.  Although he had played in Cork Golf Club as a teenager, Cork’s rule of not allocating handicaps to those under 18 made Bruen look to Muskerry.  He wrote to the club when he was 15, seeking a handicap in line with the Muskerry club rules.  According to golf historian Tim O’Brien, Bruen submitted his three cards but was asked to play a round with the club captain before a handicap was approved.  Bruen must have impressed in that round as his starting handicap was six.  That handicap was god enough to gain entry into the 1935 British Boys in Royal Aberdeen, and with experiences like that, it didn’t take Bruen long to get down Continue reading →