Famously, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il only ever played one game of golf. In 1994 state media reported Kim had picked up a club for the first time at the country’s only golf course. Happily he took to the sport instantly, completing his debut round in a world-record 38 under par with 11 holes in one. At which point he announced he was retiring from golf and would never play again.
It is of course a terrible blow for golf to lose such a talent, and tantalising to imagine just how good the Supreme Commander Of The People’s Army could have become. Worse, there is no recording of the round, just the sworn testimony of his 17 bodyguards that it definitely, like, happened. Plus of course Kim had a wide brief of other interests to cram in, among these composing six full opera scores, all of which are, according to state records, “better than any other in history”.
Related: International football: 10 talking points from the latest round of games
Ronaldo and Messi are simply stand-alone superstars, a brilliant fluke of all-time talent in the same time and space
Continue reading...