In or around 1994, I sat with then Minister for Tourism, Charlie McCreevy and the CEO of professional golf’s European Tour, Ken Schofield. I was there representing the Tour. I and a colleague, Paul Holland, had been courting Failte Ireland to invest in major golf events as a means of building Ireland’s status as a destination for golf tourism. McCreevy saw the opportunity, smelt it and circled his prey. There was a one item agenda for our meeting – that Failte Ireland would become a sponsor of the European Golf Championship which we proposed moving to Ireland from its long-time…