Wooden spoon for Ireland

FROM champions to wooden spoonists in the space of 12 months — that was the story for Ireland yesterday as the Men’s Amateur Home Internationals ended at Hillside on the Lancashire coast.

A year ago at Muirfield Ireland, then European champions, overwhelmed the other three nations with something to spare, conceding a total of only 14 during the round-robin series.

How it was different this time — instead of collecting 30 points during the matches they amassed a mere 15½ and were defeated by the other three.