Irish lured by Masters magic

HAVING cavorted around the world since early January, the European Tour finally returns to its roots this week with the €2.5m British Masters getting under way at the Forest of Arden this morning.

Both the venue and the tournament have been good to the Irish over the years and with eight of our golfers facing the starter, there is every hope that the first prize of €417,000 could well be snapped up by the likes of Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, to name but two of the octet.

The event always had a special appeal here in Ireland, not least because in 1959 at Portmarnock Christy O’Connor Senior and Joe Carr played out one of the most dramatic finishes in the history of golf in these islands.

The late Pat Ward-Thomas, one of England’s most celebrated writers on the game, captured the essence of the occasion superbly in his book “Masters of Golf” in which he told how the amateur, Carr, led the pros, including O’Connor and the cream of European golf, a merry dance for three rounds before capitulating on the final afternoon.

“After rounds of 68 and 69, he (Carr) was leading the field and the whole of Ireland, and many other people as well, were wondering whether he could win,” recounted Ward-Thomas.

“Carr spent the evening at home, played a quiz game after dinner and golf was hardly mentioned at all. The next morning he recorded another 69 and then was four shots ahead of the field.

“I shall always remember the suspense of that Sunday noon-time as we discussed his chances of an achievement without parallel in modern British tournaments. Memory may have played me false but I am fairly certain that no amateur, since Bobby Jones in 1930, has ever finished ahead of a strong professional field in major competition. If Carr could break 70 again, then no one would catch him, but this was a tremendous thing to ask of anyone, let alone a man aware of the extraordinary feat that lay within his powers.

“It was small wonder that he started a shade apprehensively, particularly as news of a brilliant beginning by O’Connor was filtering back down the course, and we waited anxiously for the break that seemed inevitable.

“It came at the 6th, that enormous hole of 576 yards, which Carr had been reaching with a medium iron for his second shot. This time, he took a six iron, pushed it wide of the green and underhit the pitch back.

“The resulting six meant that he had no reasonable hope of a winning score and O’Connor surged away to victory. Carr’s performance in finishing second was, nonetheless, the finest by any amateur in stroke play.”

O’Connor’s reputation as a great man to shoot through a field from behind was launched that day. He shot 66 against 74 by Carr to capture a title that also became his at Prestwick in 1956.

O’Connor’s nephew Christy Junior also won the Masters Woburn in 1992 when he defeated Zimbabwe’s Tony Johnstone in a play-off and the only other Irish winner to date was Harry Bradshaw at Sunningdale in 1953 and at Little Aston two years later.

It was at the Forest of Arden that Philip Walton captured the English Open in 1995, thereby clinching his place in the Ryder Cup team before going on to play a famous part in a great victory at Oak Hill.

More recently, Darren Clarke quickly grew to enjoy this 7,213 yards, par 72 lay-out and duly won the English Open here in 2000 and again two years later. Even though he has finished 2nd and 4th in American events, the first of those tournaments at Hilton Head was a desperate disappointment given he was leading by four shots five holes into the final round. He would dearly like to atone - and quickly.

“This is the start of an important run for me, this week, the Irish Open next week, then the PGA Championship,” acknowledged the game’s 14th ranked golfer.

“Although I have won around this course, I haven’t won this tournament so I would like to do that. The Irish Open is one where I’m usually out first or second on the Saturday morning so I would like to beat that this year and the PGA at Wentworth is one we all want to win. Why can’t I do better in Ireland? I’ll spell it for you - G-U-I-N-N-E-S-S. That’s the problem, either too much of it or the temptation of knowing it is there. I have tried to be sensible over the last few years and it still hasn’t got me anywhere.”

The Masters also provides Waterville’s David Higgins with a rare chance to demonstrate on the regular circuit the level of golf he has been producing on the Challenge Tour. Seventh place in the Welsh Classic at the weekend boosted his year’s income so far to €63,359, which leaves him leading the order of merit by nearly 11,000 points.

Also in action are Graeme McDowell and Gary Murphy, who have a lot to prove after their particularly disappointing performances in the Italian Open at the weekend.

McDowell, the defending champion, missed the cut by one and Murphy, having played himself into a winning position with a superb 66 in the third round, slumped to a final 78 to finish in a tie for 25th.

The Irish challenge at the Forest of Arden is completed by Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane and possibly the most interesting one of the lot, the richly talented 16 year-old Rory McIlroy.

Having been crowned West of Ireland champion at Easter with a series of sparkling performances at Rosses Point, the Holywood prodigy then atoned for a poor opening day in the Irish Amateur Open over the O’Meara course at Carton House last weekend with a closing equal best of the week 67 for 6th place.