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| |  Friday, 21 July, 2000, 22:47 GMT 23:47 UK Dougie on patrol  Dougie Donnelly (far right) with the rest of the BBC team Dougie Donnelly describes his ten years at The Open as the man with the mic at the 18th hole I've been coming to The Open for the BBC since 1990 and I think I started doing the post-18th hole interviews in 1993 at Royal St George's. To be doing the 2000 Open at St Andrews is such a privilege - I think for anyone that's here, it's something we'll talk about for years to come. I've just interviewed Jack Nicklaus after what may well be his final Open round, certainly at St Andrews, and in 1995 I interviewed Arnold Palmer after his last Open, and he was about the only really big name that I had never interviewed. So to interview Arnold at a very emotional time, and to interview Jack and to see how much the reception he got coming up the 18th was a great privilege. And it is a privilege because I play golf, I'm a massive golf fan - a fan with a microphone - and to be trusted to interview Jack after his last Open was great and you always just hope that you don't blow it. Secret I think the secret of the job, though, if there is one, is just to give the guys a sensible question and just to let them talk because the vast majority of golfers are very bright and very articulate. Jack was great and I'm still on a high after getting the chance to do that interview.
I'd always said, only half-joking, that my biggest ambition was to interview the Scot who had just won The Open, thinking it would be Colin or maybe Sam Torrance or Andy Coltart. But then Lawrie did it and standing there in the rain on the 18th green at Carnoustie interviewing Paul, who I had known since he turned pro, was superb. I think that would take a bit of topping, and it would maybe only be topped by Monty finally winning the Major that he so much deserves. Having done this job for so long, I'm very fortunate that I've got to know a lot of the players quite well, certainly the British players like Colin Montgomerie who is a good friend, and Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood I'm quite close to. In this job, I get to socialise with the players as well as speaking to them across a microphone. I think that's important because you have to be a bit sympathetic to their mood when they come off the course. Sometimes you have to interview them when they've had a bad day, but a lot of the time they'll have had a good day and then it's easy for both of us. So you build up a relationship and they begin to trust you. | | 
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