Is Arnold Palmer, who has just played in his last Open Championship, the main reason why today’s tournament golf professionals enjoy millionaire lifestyles and play for vast prize funds? – James Addington, HalesowenQ. In the mid-1980s New Zealand fielded a Test side containing 10 players who had scored Test centuries. He was too reserved and stubborn, and he did not play enough first-class cricket, but he still enjoyed a very distinguished career – Julian V Messenger, BroadstairsANSWERS PLEASEQ. In his Test career he took 189 wickets at an average of 16.43.Barnes could also bat, but often threw his wicket away. When C B Fry asked why he did not try and make runs, the phlegmatic Barnes replied: “If I make a century and take no wickets, would the selectors pick me for my batting?”In spite of his successes, Barnes was never a popular idol. After his Test debut, he played two seasons for Lancashire (1902 and 1903) and after this no further first-class cricket except representative matches.

He played for Staffordshire for 22 seasons and took 1,432 wickets at an average of 8.03 runs and in 38 seasons of league cricket he took 3,741 wickets at an average of 6.68 runs.Barnes’s Test career is virtually unparalleled, even though he played only nine Test Matches on home soil, bowling 377 overs and taking 63 wickets at an average of 13.38. Sydney Francis Barnes had a very long playing career (1893-1936), even though he played very little first-class cricket. Originally he played for Warwickshire as a fast bowler without much success. There is, of course, no blue in the flag of St George.I note that the English women’s rugby team have no blue in their strip – Peter Moss, GlasgowQ.

Can anyone tell me when the custom of presenting a small bouquet of flowers to the winners at major athletics events began? And why do many competitors throw the bouquet almost immediately to the spectators?A. Interflora first started presenting a small bouquet of flowers to the winners of major athletic events in 1989 at Crystal Palace, as part of an innovative sponsorship package developed by David Bedford, reviving an ancient custom. The custom began when winners of the Grecian Olympic games received laurel crowns as a “trophy” for winning their event – no money or valuable prize was offered, as the achievement of winning was considered to be valuable enough.Some competitors complete their lap of honour with the flowers held aloft, while others throw the bouquet almost immediately to the spectators so that they can share in their own triumph and jubilation. – Ginny Bacon, Interflora Headquarters (British Unit), SleafordQ. Can anyone provide further information about S F Barnes, an England bowler before the First World War who, according to his Test record, seemed to take wickets when he pleased? I am led to believe he was one of a small handful of cricketers who played for England while playing for a minor county (Staffordshire).A.

It has long been a source of irritation to those north of the border (both Scots and English) that the England football and rugby teams include blue in their strips. There are several nations whose football strip does not mirror their national flag’s predominant colour scheme. They include Northern Ireland (green shirts as against white and red flag) and Holland (orange v red, white and blue).
We can also add Cyprus (blue v white and yellow) and further afield the recent England opponents, Japan (blue v white and red), Australia (gold and green v red, white and blue) and New Zealand (white v predominantly blue and red) – Martin Fisher, ReadingA. Q. Other than Italy is there a country whose national football strip has a predominant colour that is not included in its national flag?

A. That is being very nasty to a nice fellow.Open reports, page 3Complete third-round scores(GB or Irl unless stated;* denotes amateur)207M Campbell (NZ) 71 71 65209C Rocca (It) 69 70 70210S Elkington (Aus) 72 69 69211C Pavin (US) 69 70 72E Els (SA) 71 68 72K Tomori (Japan) 70 68 73J Daly (US) 67 71 73212S Torrance 71 70 71M Brooks (US) 70 69 73213B Lane 72 73 68B Ogle (Aus) 73 69 71T Watson (US) 67 76 70B Estes (US) 72 70 71V Singh (Fiji) 68 72 73B Faxon (US) 71 67 75214N Price (Zim) 70 74 70D Feherty 68 75 71S Bottomley 70 72 72B Glasson (US) 68 74 72J Cook (US) 69 70 75215M James 72 75 68P-U Johansson (Swe) 69 78 68M Calcavecchia (US) 71 72 72*G Sherry 70 71 74P Stewart (US) 72 68 75B Crenshaw (US) 67 72 76216J Parnevik (Swe) 75 71 70D Clarke 69 77 70D Duval (US) 71 75 70R Allenby (Aus) 71 74 71B Langer (Ger) 72 71 73B Watts (US) 72 71 73K Green (US) 71 72 73*S Webster 70 72 74D Gilford 69 72 75N Faldo 74 67 75217P Jacobsen (US) 71 76 70L Janzen (US) 73 73 71B Claar (US) 71 75 71G Norman (Aus) 71 74 72*T Woods (US) 74 71 72J Huston (US) 71 74 72H Sasaki (Japan) 74 71 72T Nakajima (Japan) 73 72 72M McNulty (Zim) 67 76 74J Rivero (Sp) 70 72 75W Riley (Aus) 70 72 75G Sauers (US) 69 73 75J Leonard (US) 73 67 77218J Haas (US) 76 72 70P Mitchell 73 74 71R Floyd (US) 72 74 72M Gates 73 73 72G Hallberg (US) 72 74 72P Lawrie 73 71 74P O’Malley (Aus) 71 73 74J M Olazabal (Sp) 72 72 74P Mickelson (US) 70 71 77219T Kite (US) 72 76 71W Bennett 72 74 73E Herrera (Col) 74 72 73S Hoch (US) 74 72 73S Lowery (US) 69 74 76R Drummond 74 68 77220E Romero (Arg) 74 74 72B Longmuir 72 76 72J Delsing (US) 72 75 73O Karlsson (Swe) 71 76 73J Gallagher Jnr (US) 69 76 75221D Cooper 71 76 74P Broadhurst 73 72 76I Woosnam 71 74 76M Davis 74 71 76G Player (SA) 71 73 77S Lyle 71 71 79F Nobilo (NZ) 70 71 80222D Love III (US) 70 78 74J Lomas 74 73 75J Hawksworth 73 74 75223S Burnell 72 76 75J Sandelin (Swe) 75 71 77J Maggert (US) 75 70 78B Lohr (US) 76 68 79224M A Jimenez (Sp) 75 73 76P Linhart (Sp) 72 75 77P Senior (Aus) 71 75 78225J Nicklaus (US) 78 70 77P Burke (US) 75 72 78J Coceres (Arg) 71 76 78P Baker 70 74 81L Westwood 71 72 82227D Pooley (US) 76 71 80*G Clark 71 76 80228R Kawagashi (Japan) 72 76 80.