Ian Botham full of admiration for wounded war hero at Dunhill Links
Friday 6 October 2017 19:46, UK
Sir Ian Botham felt privileged to play 18 holes along with former Royal Marine Ian Bishop during the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Bishop lost both his legs while serving in Afghanistan, but he has overcome his injuries to become an accomplished golfer since taking the game up five years ago.
He was inspired to play golf following a visit from John Simpson, who founded the On Course Foundation in 2009 with the aim of make the sport more accessible for wounded service personnel.
Detailing the foundations history, the site states "John began to realise that there were opportunities that golf - both in the game itself, and in the industry - could provide for the wounded, injured and sick Service Personnel and veterans, that other sports could not offer".
Bishop now plays off a commendable handicap of nine, and he is thoroughly enjoying his first appearance in the star-studded pro-am tournament at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns along with Australian Wade Ormsby, the pair being 10 under in the team scoring after a better-ball 66 at Kingsbarns.
Botham had nothing but admiration for his amateur playing partner, but the England cricket legend also had to explain how he and Marcus Fraser managed to make a best score of nine at the par-four 16th.
Coming off a run of three birdies and an eagle over their first five holes, Fraser lost his ball after playing out of the sand at the 16th while Botham's ball cannoned off a tree into trouble, and the Sky Sports commentator described the quintuple-bogey as "a catalogue of errors ... at least the rest was very good!"
Watch the video above to hear the thoughts of the two inspirational Ians following the second round, and don't miss our extensive live coverage throughout the weekend on Sky Sports Golf.
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