Fulford Golf Club has bagged some of the world's greatest players to link up with the club.

Major winners such as Greg Norman, Sandy Lyle, Tony Jacklin and newly-appointed Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer have all agreed to accept membership of the Heslington-based course.

Norman, Lyle and Jacklin are all among a supremely-talented roster of winners of the Benson and Hedges Trophy during the time it was to the fantastic fore at Fulford.

Meanwhile, Langer, who only last week got the prestigious Ryder Cup role in succession to Sam Torrance, was similarly honoured because of his huge contribution to golf in addition to his legendary shot out of the ash tree next to the 17th green at Fulford in the 1981 B & H tournament.

The picture of his agile shot was published all round the globe and to this day there is a plaque marking the event near the base of the tree.

Fulford staged the popular Benson and Hedges tournament from 1971 - Jacklin was the first winner - to 1989, with a one-year absence when it was played at St Mellion in Cornwall in 1979.

So as part of marking the end of the tournament - this is its last year following the government's legislation on the banning of cigarette advertising - Fulford decided to write to each of the past 18 winners of the B & H International Opens staged at Fulford offering them honorary club membership.

A host of replies have now come back accepting the offer, including the aforementioned quartet of Norman, Lyle, Jacklin and Langer, plus other star names such as Mark James, a former Ryder Cup captain, and Phillipe Toussaint.

The affirmative replies delighted present club captain Jonathan Plaxton, who explained how 'in each case' the pantheon of past champions all spoke fondly of their experiences of Fulford, expressing their desire to return to York.

Of particular note was the reply from Norman, the Australian, whose 'Great White Shark' nickname has become one of the game's great epithets.

Explained Plaxton: "Greg Norman said his victory at Fulford was a great win for him and at a critical stage of his career and he remembered it well.

"He said he was grateful of the recognition of the honorary membership which we had offered to him and the other winners. It would be great if some of those past champions could return."

Such a keenly-anticipated comeback could arrive sooner than later with the club hoping to arrange an event whereby previous Benson and Hedges champions may return to Fulford in 2006 when the club celebrates its centenary year.

Planning for that auspicious anniversary are being formalised now, but high on the agenda is one to bring back some of the star players who graced the course during its B & H heyday of the 1970s and 1980s to one of the range of celebratory centenary events.

Already being planned is a gala dinner in April 2006 following which the new captain (yet to be decided) will 'drive' in.

Plaxton added that a two-week spell in August will encompass the principal celebrations with fixtures and social events starting with a 'family' day, featuring an as yet undetermined historic note, and ending with a 'ball'.

Also on the agenda is a three-way match featuring Fulford, Pannal and Otley, the latter two also marking their centenary years in 2006.

B & H Fulford winners

1971 Tony Jacklin

1972 Jack Newton

1973 Vince Baker

1974 Phillipe Toussaint

1975 Vicente Fernandez

1976 Gary Marsh

1977 Antonio Garrido

1978 Lee Trevino

1980 Gary Marsh

1981 Tom Weiskopf

1982 Greg Norman

1983 John Bland

1984 Sam Torrance

1985 Sandy Lyle

1986 Mark James

1987 Noel Ratcliffe

1988 Peter Baker

1989 Gordon Brand junior

Updated: 08:41 Friday, August 08, 2003