FIVE years after he bogeyed the 18th at Woodbrook to forfeit the lead and eventually lose in a playoff to Clare's Joe McDermott, 58-year-old Australian Noel Ratcliffe at last captured the AIB Irish Seniors Open at blustery Adare Hotel and Golf Resort yesterday.

GIVEN the extremely poor record of the home players in the Irish Open on the regular tour, one might have thought our contingent on the seniors circuit would be similarly pressurised when it came to their own national championship.