You've shot a wide range of sports – from the Olympic Games to football. How does golf rank in terms of difficulty to photograph?
Well, football [soccer to our American readers] is the hardest of the lot because it's completely unpredictable. It's not like American Football for example, where you know the team is almost guaranteed to kick on the fourth down. In football the action is all over the place. It's a bit easier now with 'follow focus', which has revolutionized sports photography, but I'd still back British [sports] photographers against anyone in the world because most of the top guys have shot football. Golf is obviously a lot more static but it can be physically hard due to the all walking.
Who are the best players to work with?
Ernie Els – I've known him since his amateur days. Nick Price is an absolutely amazing guy as well. Among the current crop, Rory [McIlroy] is brilliant, as are Luke Donald, Paul Casey and [Ian] Poulter. That's the beauty of shooting the Walker Cup – you get their trust when they're young and they know you're serious. There are very few what I'd call difficult players. Golf is definitely the best sport in that regard.
Care to name any of the difficult ones?
[Laughs] Lanny Wadkins was a tough bugger. It's funny. My son went to college with his son and are good friends – and Lanny has been nice as pie ever since. I told him once that he'd been pretty nasty and he laughed, saying: 'I know, I hated photographers'.
What's been your worst moment shooting golf – ever run out of film or had a memory card corrupt on you?
Nothing like that, thank goodness. I've missed a couple of pictures just through bad luck. At the 1992 US Open at Pebble Beach I was walking back to the clubhouse after following Faldo for most of the day. I got to the media centre and heard everyone laughing at something on the TV. I couldn't believe it. Faldo was climbing up a tree looking for his ball, yelling 'Where's Jane?' Missing that left me feeling pretty bitter. The other time was at the [football] World Cup in 1986 in Mexico, the England-Argentina game and Maradonna's 'Hand of God' moment. I was at the other end of the pitch. But having said that, of the 60 photographers at the right end, only one guy got the shot. Not much I could have done about that one.
How do you determine your schedule?
Majors are number one, then it's Ryder Cup, Walker Cup and the top European Tour events – the PGA Championship and the Dubai World Championship. I also do the 'Desert Swing' because it's early in the year: new players on tour and some of the players have new [sponsorship] contracts and are playing with new equipment. You're also guaranteed good light. When you go past the majors I'm looking for courses that'll give me nice pictures. I go to Bay Hill, not because the course is that great – it's stuck in the middle of a housing estate – but the sixteenth tee there is set up like a studio. It backs on to a lake and there's no advertising in the background – it offers up great images.
