Printed during the '98 Open, this report looks at Lee's manager, 'Chubby' Chandler. An interview with him can be read here.

Chubby's worth his weight in gold

Malcolm Folley of The Mail on Sunday.

WITH his cropped hair and heavyweight waistline, he looks like he should be calling the odds at Haydock Park or Thirsk. His name would indeed fit comfortably above a satchel: Chubby Chandler.

But Chandler's talent for upsetting the book stretches far beyond his reputation for landing an occasional gambling coup.

To fully comprehend the extent of his impact on golf as a manger, you had to be in a marquee at a house next door to Royal Birkdale on Friday.

Those present at the barbeque included Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Andrew Coltart, Paul McGinley, David Howell and visiting Yank Davis Love III.

Chandler has persuaded this young, classical group of golfersto play under his International Sports Mangement banner rather than signing for more established companies - and his brand of management is intimate. When his men win, he is intoxicated, when they get cut, he bleeds with them.

But Chandler's calling card is the strength of his personalityand the depth of his vision.

When he renegotiated Westwood's Ping clubs in December, Chandler scribbled the dtails on a beer mat. That now constitutes the contract with Westwood and the mat remains at the golfer's Worksop course.

Clarke has been with him since 1991. They have never bothered with a contract at all.

"Why should we?" asks Chandler. "When they show such unconditional trust in me handling all their affairs, what is the point in a conntract?"

Chandler is more than just a manager. He is also a counseller and friend. The players understand that he has first-hand experience of heartache and exhileration. For 15 years, he played the pro circuit, retiring in 1989. His one victory was at the Sao Paulo Classic in 1985, he made it to the last day of the Open only once and the biggest pay cheque of his caree was 11,000.

He is dealing in rather more grand sums these days.

Chandler, 45, has journeyed far in the nine years since he requested a 10,000 overdraft to launce ISM and now finds himself rejecting seductive offers approaching 3Million to buy out his company.

"I have no desireto lie on a beach," he says. "The players have been loyal to me, so I'm happy to be loyal to them."