This is the first time in 21 years that an Open Championship at St Andrews has unfolded without your columnist treading the hallowed turf either as a spectator or a hack, a matter of some personal regret. However, the regret is mitigated by the awareness that television affords the golf fan an infinitely better perspective on the goings-on at an Open, especially an Open at St Andrews, which is bereft of the towering dunes that provide natural viewing stations at other venues, such as Royal Birkdale and Royal St George's.

Last Monday, to paraphrase Rolf Harris, 11 chaps had a mishap. By the end of the Twenty20 match at the Rose Bowl, Australia's cricketers, who had arrived at the ground in the morning as bouncy as Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, had utterly lost the spring in their collective step. It was all rather disorientating, as if Crocodile Dundee had come out as gay and Germaine Greer had offered to do my ironing. And if I can think of any more appropriate Antipodean imagery, be sure I will find room for it.

As Arsenal head for another Cup final, the scorer of one of the grand occasion's greatest goals is still close to the heart of the club he has loved and served for over three decades

England's latest batting sensation survived a baptism of fire in his native South Africa, but faces a more daunting burden of expectation in the build-up to the Ashes series

The 74-year-old billionaire behind the commercial success of Formula One is battling for control of its complex empire as he faces the threat of a breakaway world championship

Australia are on their way and questions about tours and TV deals show no sign of ceasing, but the ECB's chairman sees blue sky ahead for all levels of cricket

Composure comes easily to snooker players; without it they might as well find another means of making a living. But huge shock waves continue to resound through this most po-faced of sports following the announcement that 26-year-old Paul Hunter, one of the most popular players on the circuit and the nearest thing snooker has to a sex symbol, is suffering from cancer ( but not of the colon, as has been reported).

At next week's US Masters, a burly figure with a twitch in his left eye that, when it gets going, is reminiscent of Herbert Lom's in the Pink Panther films, will practically set up camp on the Augusta National practice ground.

It is not an easy trick to write a newspaper column and simultaneously open a can of worms, but I appear to have pulled it off with my reflections a week ago on Peter Howard, captain of the England rugby union team in 1931, who was engaged by Oswald Mosley to crack heads, when it was deemed necessary, as leader of a bunch known as Mosley's Biff Boys.