HAVE you remembered your password? No? That will be something like the 32nd one you’ve forgotten this year then as you sit there in muttering futility trying to recall a variety of pet names, special characters and elaborate sequences that have all gone into making these infernal necessities memorable only for their sheer unmemorableness. Everyday life is just a series of passwords isn’t it? And what’s the main purpose of these passwords? That’s right. They exist to be forgotten. Yes, I suppose they perform some valuable function when it comes to protecting our privacy, particulars and paraphernalia but that’s only if you can remember the ruddy things in the first instance. What was it Elvis used to sing again? I forgot to remember to forget. Now, that may have been a brooding lament to a lost love from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll but when it comes to the myriad passwords that are required to operate your daily existence, it’s easy to forget to remember what you were trying not to forget because you were trying so hard to remember it that you forgot what it was you were actually trying to remember. Got it? Oh forget it. Here in the world of Scottish golf, meanwhile, this correspondent’s muddled, frazzled mind was gently prodded into clanking, cumbersome activity at the weekend. Marc Warren, with four consistent sub-70 rounds and no crippling weekend cards in the 80s which he has tossed in this year, managed an encouraging share of fifth place in the Spanish Open. It was at this point that I gave up trying to remember my password for logging into the Handy Hints For Improving Your Memory website and tried to recall when a golfer from the cradle of the game last had such a finish in the current campaign? And guess what? I couldn’t remember. It was, in fact, the first top five finish by a male Scottish player on the main European Tour circuit this season. Richie Ramsay posted a tie for sixth in the Dubai Desert Classic back in January while Scott Jamieson had a share of seventh in the India Open at the start of last month. On the whole, though, it’s been fairly slim pickings. Not a million miles away in England, meanwhile, our friends on the other side of Hadrian’s partition continue to ride a crest of a wave which has brought four European Tour titles this season and a regular sequence of high finishes from a varied range of touring campaigners. It’s often peaks and troughs in this game and, while England, obviously, has a much larger pool of players, that notion of feeding off the success of others is hard to ignore. Just a @NickRodger1 Marc Warren kick-started his season with a top-five finish in the Spanish Open Tuesday April 17, 2018 NICK RODGER few weeks ago, Paul Lawrie had a brief sit down with a small band of golf writers and touched on that very issue as he mulled over the current state of the Scottish game in the upper echelons. The lack of somebody setting the pace, upping the ante and generally flying the flag was at the root of Lawrie’s observations. That’s easier said than done, of course, in the current climate where emerging players are coming from a’ the airts and the global game, at all levels, has never had such a daunting depth of talent. At a time when golf in this country continues to seek new ways of inspiring and engaging the next generation, it’s almost something of an unfair burden on touring players to suggest that the lack of their success in this very individual, cut-throat pursuit is impacting the broader health of the game. A bit of glory wouldn’t go amiss, though. Team Scotland, all sun-burned and wreathed in medals, will probably return from the Commonwealth Games to a buntingdraped, flag-waving ceremony which will no doubt be championed by a cheerleading BBC hooting themselves giddy at one metre springboard divers, full bore rifle pairs and artistic team gymnasts. Meanwhile, golf, the game this country gave to the world, often gets marginalised while the absence of our main players from the showpiece occasions of the Masters and the WGC events so far this year has done little for the profile and exposure of the sport here. As they say, success breeds success. Achieving that, however, can be as tricky as remembering those bloomin’ passwords.

AND ANOTHER THING …

HIS fourth place finish in the Masters recently may have been largely overlooked amid the other tales, but Jon Rahm, with his victory in Sunday’s Spanish Open, continues to show that he has the game to win anywhere in the world. In less than two years as a pro, the Spaniard already has five wins from just 45 starts in the paid ranks. Given that Tiger Woods – the benchmark for all explosive talents – won eight in his first two years, Rahm has a mighty fine ratio. That major moment may not be far away …