LATER this year, when the fair weather golfers have stored their clubs away for the winter, Hartlepool Golf Club will be bringing the curtain down on historic centenary celebrations by playing host to its very first international.

The challenging links course - originally designed by two-time Open winner Willie Park Jnr - has been recognised by the English Golf Union and will welcome the England Boys meeting with Scotland in October.

It is a major coup for the club and one of the last events that have been set aside throughout 2006 to commemorate passing the century mark.

Understandably this year is also special to the committee men overseeing one of the biggest in the Hartlepool course's history and there is a determination to make sure the job is done right.

Rob McGahan, the newly-installed captain, is the man fronting the club this year and he relishes the prospect of trying to ensure everything passes smoothly.

McGahan - a member since being introduced to the club by his father, Jack, 26 years ago - realises if the England versus Scotland fixture goes to plan then Hartlepool's first international is unlikely to be the last.

"What me and Keith [Stephens the vice-captain] want to do this year is develop the club in ways that the club has stopped developing in recent years, " said McGahan, who lives in Seaton Carew.

"The best example I can use of trying to develop this club is the international that will be coming to us. That will be the first time ever that Hartlepool has hosted an England international.

"We have waited 100 years for that and it's obvious that if we can prove we can welcome an event like that here, and pull it off, then there could be more in the future. That's how we have to look at it.

"It's a big, big chance for the golf club. It must also be about ten years since we hosted the Durham County Strokeplay Championships and that is coming back this year too. That is something we have been wanting so to get it back is fantastic."

With good friend Stephens in line to follow him into the captain's chair for 2007 it is a long term plan as much as a short term objective.

And McGahan readily admits that being elected for the centenary year, of a club he has been a member for more than a quarter of that time, is something special.

"It really is a massive, massive honour, " said McGahan, who actually started his captain's responsibility on March 10, which was the actual birthday of the club.

"There have been a couple of other occasions when I have been asked to be captain but I turned it down. I just felt this was going to be an extremely busy year and that it would be an honour to be captain for such a year."

Hartlepool itself is something of a hidden jewel, a phrase that can be somewhat overused in golfing parlance. In this case it deserves its tag.

Such has been the North-East coastal course's reputation over the years that two Americans have written to the club to ask if they can come over this year to play on August 5, with the intention of including it in their upcoming book.

"It's a great thing to have happen, " said Stephens, who has been a member for the last 16 years. "It's something Hartlepool Golf Club deserves. It's one of the best courses in the north and deserves to have the recognition.

"These two Americans - Robert Kroeger and Tim Allred - will be coming over to play the course and write about it in a book which is going to highlight the best courses in England. It's a credit to the club that they have decided to come all the way from the States to come to our course when they have chosen it above plenty others."

Up until the visit of Scotland Boys on October 8 there will be numerous show days for Hartlepool, including centenary exchange matches against Ravensworth, Halifax, Morpeth, Gosforth and Beamish.

On the August Bank Holiday captains' weekend there will be a ProAm for the first time in ten years, while on October 19 there will be a Charity Open to end the year on a high.

"And don't forget our chain match with Seaton Carew which takes place every year, " added Stephens.

In a bizarre twist the two clubs have not gone head-to-head since 1929 and whoever wins receives a chain.

Apparently, though, the loser on the greens is then invited to try to steal the chain back. That was the case two years ago for Hartlepool and McGahan and Stephens have eyes on reclaiming it this year.

Published: 14/04/2006