Ace of clubs

Mark Flanagan, 33, trained at Thames Valley University on a three-year day-release course while working at Le Mange Tout brasserie in Kew.

A move to Le Petit Blanc, Oxford, working under John Burton-Race was significant. "I learnt so much about modern cooking from John," says Flanagan. Brief stints at Chez Nico in Sinfield and 90 Park Lane, London, followed before he returned to work for Burton-Race, this time at L'Ortolan.

Time spent working in Australia - at the Regent in Sydney and the Hilton in Perth - gave Flanagan experience with Asian ingredients. Returning to London, he worked at Martin's restaurant, the Mirabelle and the Regent hotel (now the Landmark) before leaving the country again to go to the Grand hotel, Amsterdam, as executive sous chef for Albert Roux. He remained in Amsterdam for three years, becoming head chef, before taking up the position at Wentworth.

FOR four days in October spectators from around the world will focus their attention on the greens of Wentworth's famous West course as the likes of Colin Montgomerie, Mark O'Meara and Miguel Angel Jiménez battle it out in the World Match Play championships.

Back in Wentworth's clubhouse, the kitchens, which have been in operation for 24 hours a day for the past two weeks, will reach a peak of activity as head chef Mark Flanagan and his brigade of 20 chefs set about feeding up to 1,500 covers a day during the course of the event. This will be the fourth major tournament Flanagan has catered for since moving into his position at Wentworth Club in February 1988. "The hours are long, but there is not a single member of staff who doesn't enjoy the buzz that goes with it," says Flanagan.

Key to the success of each major tournament - in addition to the World Match Play in October, the PGA Championship is held here each May - is thorough planning. "Ten days after the end of one tournament we start planning the next," he says. While five portable coldrooms and one freezer are hired in, the only extra pairs of hands are provided by two students from Thames Valley University. As during the rest of the year, everything is freshly prepared by the Wentworth brigade, except bread, which is bought in from Maison Blanc and Maison du Pain.

Occasionally, Flanagan will purchase ready-washed spinach and peeled potatoes, but he feels strongly that all other skills should be maintained in the kitchen. For this reason he will, from time to time, buy in whole lambs to provide his chefs with an opportunity to butcher a whole carcass. "I don't want them to think that lamb only arrives French-trimmed in vacuum packs," he says.

Besides the 12 players and caddies, who will be served a buffet lunch each day in the Ryder Cup Room, Flanagan will also be responsible for cooking for members, spectators on corporate packages, the press and volunteers. About 280 covers will be served daily in the restaurant and brasserie, which will be combined during the tournament to serve three-course à la carte lunches at £45 per head, while the clubhouse's lounge will be turned into a carvery and the ballroom will accommodate a buffet.

Once the excitement of the World Match Play dies down, Flanagan will return to his everyday responsibilities of catering within one of the country's most successful golf and country club venues. "And that means providing the same full spectrum of food and beverage service found in any five-star hotel," he says. "We do everything from providing a bacon sarnie to catering for a de luxe wedding for 250."

With the opening this year of a £10m tennis and health club at Wentworth, Flanagan is responsible for a total of eight catering outlets. In the clubhouse there is a 70-seat restaurant, a 115-seat brasserie, the Burma Bar serving a selection of sandwiches and ploughmans, the lounge, which serves afternoon teas and receptions, banqueting for up to 350 covers, and a barbecue on the terrace during summer months.

Outside on two of the club's four courses are halfway huts serving bacon and sausage sandwiches, muffins, and toast; while the new tennis and health club adjacent to the clubhouse serves members who come to use the swimming pool, one of the 13 tennis courts or the gym, or just to relax in the spa.

Although Flanagan oversees the operation of the 45-seat restaurant in the tennis club, Sarah Payton heads its kitchen on a daily basis, supported by a chef de partie and a commis chef. Here they serve about 60 covers a day during the week and up to 150 on both Saturday and Sunday. "It was a real coup for me to get Sarah to come to Wentworth," says Flanagan. Having most recently been head chef of the Red Lion hotel in Henley-on-Thames, she has also worked at the Square, London, under Philip Howard; Oakley Court, Windsor; Cliveden, Taplow; and the Mirabelle, London, from 1991 to 1993, where she met Flanagan.

With an emphasis on simple, light food, using top-quality ingredients, Payton offers items such as focaccia sandwiches and pasta, as well as six or seven daily specials. These might include a warm duck, bacon and crispy shallot salad with a soft-boiled egg; coriander grilled seafood skewers with a garlic and green olive mayonnaise and mixed bitter leaves; or fricasséed corn-fed chicken, garlic, capers and Jerusalem artichokes with new potatoes.

Being able to use the leisure facilites is a major bonus for the staff who work at the club. As a golfer, taking on the position at Wentworth certainly provided an added frisson for Flanagan, although time has not allowed him to play as much as he would have liked. Golf aside, Flanagan was attracted to Wentworth by the enthusiasm of the club's chief executive, Willy Bauer, and the challenge of working for an operation which can be constantly busy from 7am until past midnight.

Breakfasts are often prepared until noon, with up to 300 covers being served. Then, after the main lunch service in the restaurant and brasserie, golf societies will return to the clubhouse at various times throughout the afternoon for lunch. It is not unusual for a lunch for 200 covers to be served at 3pm, followed by another at 4pm for 100 covers. The weather can play a part, too - rain may mean the golfers returning to the clubhouse earlier than planned.

In particular, the set-price dinner menu at £25.95 for three courses, which is offered alongside an Á la carte menu, allows him the opportunity to express flair. A risotto of shellfish and saffron is made with oysters, langoustines, clams and lobster, finished with a cappuccino-style shellfish cream; and a light terrine of guinea fowl and sweetbreads is encased in a slightly under-set jelly with wild mushrooms picked on the Wentworth estate. Made individually to order, the terrines are served with a beetroot and leek salad. n