Sinclair turns on magic as Irish shade it

Charlie Mulqueen, Ballybunion

Sinclair had to come from three down at the turn to win his match against Craig Smith and that result was largely responsible for Ireland's 8-7 victory over defending champions Wales.

Ireland go into battle today against England, who were held to a tie by Scotland when Graeme Clarke holed a fifteen foot putt from off the back edge of the 18th to halve his clash with Jonathan King. Johnny Foster will take no part in today's play, his place alongside Richard Kilpatrick in the foursomes going to Sinclair.

The Irish captain, Mark Gannon, was visibly relieved to see his side get out with a result that hardly looked on the cards for much of an afternoon which ended in drizzling rain and a stiff south-westerly wind, replacing the glorious sunshine of the practice days and the relative calm of the morning session.

Gannon was full of praise for Sinclair and pointed out: "We were looking for 1½ points from the last two matches and we only got a half but Michael came to the rescue in a match which was going against us for much of the time. It's great to beat the defending champions and puts us in a good position for the next two days."

Whether the captain has the necessary strength in depth to pull off a first outright championship success since 1991 remains to be seen. Ireland came here with replacements for the unavailable Gareth Maybin and Colm Moriarty, now a professional, and ironically Michael Sinclair was one of those.

He was omitted from the morning foursomes as Noel Fox and Mervyn Owens got the Irish off to a favourable start when getting home on the 18th against James Williams and Tim Dykes. It was 2-0 to the host nation when Brian McElhinney and Darren Crowe birdied four of the first five holes and maintained the momentum on the way to a 6 and 5 victory over Gareth Wright and David Price.

After that, though, it was anything but a picnic for the Irish. Mark O'Sullivan and Michael McGeady were well beaten by Cennydd Mills winner of this year's Irish Amateur Youths Open and Craig Smith, while Johnny Foster and the other Irish substitute, Richard Kilpatrick, went down to Lee Harpin and Llewelly Matthews.

The remaining foursome was a real cliffhanger and went Ireland's way when Justin Kehoe produced a remarkable recovery from deep in the marram grasses at the back of the 18th, and Justin Kehoe holed the twelve foot putt for a one hole defeat of Alex Smith and Rhys Davies.

Little did we know how important those two shots would be when it came to deciding the eventual result even though Ireland did quite well in the early stages of the singles. Noel Fox won the top match by 3 and 2 against James Williams, and Darren Crowe and Michael McGeady also remained in control against Alex Smith and Mills, respectively.

However, the longer the afternoon dragged on, the perilous state of Ireland's situation became more apparent. Close champion Mark O'Sullivan struggled against David Price and lost by 3 and 2, as did Justin Kehoe and Johnny Foster against Rhys Davies and Lee Harpin, respectively.

The picture brightened when European champion Brian McElhinney, two down with three to play, fought back to halve his match against Gareth Wright and that left 1½ points required from the three matches still on the golf course.

Michael Sinclair was fighting an uphill battle against Craig Smith and down at the end of the field, it was proving anything but easy for Mervyn Owens and Mark Campbell against Tim Dykes and Richard Scott.

It was then that Sinclair, 32 on Monday, proved the man for the job.

He wiped out his three hole deficit at the 9th by claiming the next three in par, commendable figures, given the wind was by now making its presence felt in no uncertain manner and it required two big hits to reach the 7th, 9th and 11th greens.

The Knock golfer eased his putting worries, holing a good birdie putt on 13, but Smith followed him in to serve notice that this wasn't going to be a cakewalk. The Welshman hit two cracking shots onto the par five 16th for a winning birdie to go one ahead again only to push his drive off the 17th tee and, although he chipped and putted for a five, Sinclair did outstandingly well going level with a par.

Both men played the 18th splendidly. The pin was at the very back of the green and Smith, inches off the putting surface, saw his birdie effort slide a fraction of an inch wide of the hole. Sinclair, having positioned his five wood tee shot perfectly and punched a sand wedge of 130 yards to within four feet, calmly rolled in his putt.

"I wasn't aware of the significance of winning my match," he declared. "I just had to focus on my own game. I had watched some of the foursomes and then came in for a coffee and a fag. I'll need some more of both after that match."

And yet Ireland still weren't out of the woods. Mervyn Owens (who utilised the local knowledge of Gerard O'Sullivan, the former Munster Interpro and winner of Tom Watson's Captain's Prize at Ballybunion in 2000, as his caddy), and Mark Campbell were both two up in the early part of the homeward journey but were unable to hold off the comeback efforts of Dykes and Scott.

Owens was pulled back to level pegging at 15 and had his chances of nosing in front at the next dashed when having left a glorious forty yard pitch by the hole-side, Dykes rolled in a twenty five footer for a half in birdie.

A wayward tee shot cost Owens the 17th and even though he was sitting pretty for a birdie on the last, Dykes stole his thunder by knocking in a fifteen footer for the match.

Mark Campbell was also all square playing the 17th against Richard Scott and when he made birdie to go one ahead it meant Ireland had clinched the minimum of eight points to clinch victory but even then the Welsh showed what they were made of when Scott sank a ten footer for a birdie and a halved match on the final green.

Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York, played nine holes on the Cashen Course before tackling the Old Course yesterday afternoon as he continued his Thomas Crosbie sponsored trip to the south of Ireland.

Golf has played an important and enjoyable role in his visit. A number of ladies kept an eagle eye on proceedings but the only skirt I noticed was a kilt worn by a keen Scottish supporter!