Golfing masters thrill at Doonbeg

IT had to have been the greatest free party of the year so far.

Close to 3,000 people, far more than envisaged, turned up yesterday for the official opening of the magnificent new links at Doonbeg, where course architect Greg Norman defeated Padraig Harrington by two and one and was six under par for the 17 holes.

Not that the result mattered. It was an occasion to savour for the people of west Clare, who were enthralled by the presence of a pair of master golfers.

They continued in the festive spirit long into the night thanks to a street party and fireworks display, the brainchild of the board of the Doonbeg club.

The formalities had been only just completed shortly before 1pm when the heavens opened and things looked bleak for the main activity of the day. But it developed into a perfect golfing day with just the right degree of wind to test the combatants.

And there was an indication of the treat that lay in store at the very first hole, a par five of 567 yards, where the Aussie bounced his approach on to the green some thirty feet from the flag, only to be upstaged by the Irishman’s six iron that pulled up about five yards from the target.

“It’s a superb opener and maybe the best hole on the course. The view from the elevated tee is staggering,” Harrington said.

He continued to revel in the kind of surroundings in which the modern touring professional finds himself all too rarely, even though the older man’s brilliant ball-striking and superior local knowledge enabled him to hold the whiphand from the time he rattled in an eighteen-footer for another birdie at the third.

The fifth, a par four of 382 yards, temporarily breaks the sequence of holes all heading straight out and meant the players were heading into the wind for the first time.

And Norman, a man who has conquered the Turnberry and Royal St Georges links on the way to his two British Open successes, delightfully punched approach to a couple of feet for a conceded birdie.

“I thought Greg played great and he shot that score without really putting very well,” Harrington said.

“Six under was about the most he could have taken out there. He never missed a shot all day whereas I couldn’t commit myself to hitting the ball maybe forty yards right of the flag and trusting the wind to bring it back,” he said.

“But it was an occasion I really enjoyed and most valuable to me in my preparation for next week’s Open Championship.

“Greg has done a great job and full marks to him for having the guts to put a bunker in the middle of the 12th green. That’s his design philosophy and he stuck to it.

“It was great to be back on a links again, it was so different to what I’ve become accustomed to, although I think I was a better links player five or six years ago.”

By now, the crowd had swelled and Doonbeg’s capacity to stage a major tournament came under scrutiny.

Buddy Darby, the chief executive of Kiawah Development Partners Inc. which own Doonbeg, expressed confidence in its ability to cope with about 25,000 people.

As Harrington commented: “I was really surprised at what I saw here. I had expected a picturesque links with flat fairways and flat greens running through giant dunes. The dunes are there alright but the fairways and greens are not flat, far from it. It’s true links golf and great fun. I would love to come back and play a fourball on a quiet summer’s evening but 72 holes here would be tough, especially on the mental side and as a short game test.”

The fans cheered when Harrington reduced his arrears to one at the ninth, where his nine iron tee all but ended up in the hole. Norman was out in 34, three under, to 36 by Harrington and picked up another birdie with a cracking iron to the middle of the tenth green.

The margin immediately returned to one when the Irishman rolled in a lovely eighteen-footer for his second two of the day at the 11th.

Norman picked up his fifth birdie when he got up and down from the waste bunker to the right of the 13th, only for Harrington to follow him in from about 12 feet for a half in birdies.

But he had no reply when Norman drilled a six iron through the crosswind at the 15th and holed for a three to move two ahead again and effectively end the contest.

The finish duly came at the 17th and the players shook hands to huge applause from a gallery.

“This was the ideal way to get over the disappointment of the European Open,” Harrington said.