A benign day still throws up shocks

Strange DAY. The fickle weather gods yesterday blessed competitors in the South of Ireland Amateur Championship with the sort of untypically benign conditions that enabled dusty trilbys and short-trousers to be aired again; it also, in effect, took the teeth out of the Lahinch links.

In hindsight, though, maybe some of the more noted performers would have preferred a howling wind and rain; indeed, some of their performances were as tame as the weather. Jody Fanagan, for instance, was a 4 and 3 casualty to Birr teenager Justin Kehoe in the third round, while other current internationals to depart the scene were Irish Close champion Peter Lawrie, Bryan Omelia and John Morris.

So, the Irish selectors - contemplating a team for the Home Internationals - were left scratching their heads in wonderment. And one of them, Denis O'Sullivan, who is actually competing this week, has found himself staying around in a playing capacity a lot longer than most of his charges.

In fact, just three of last year's international team have survived into the last 16 (Pat Murray, Michael McGinley and defending champion Adrian Morrow), while none of the players who were on last month's European championship team remain.

Lawrie's demise came at the hands of Alan Thomas, the 20year-old son of former Waterford goalkeeper Peter, who won five League of Ireland titles and an FAI Cup with his adopted club, and who is acting as caddy. Alan has obviously inherited sporting genes and a competitive streak, demonstrated by the way he handled an attempted fightback from the Newlands player in their fourth round tussle.

A student at Jackson State University in America's deep south, where he is studying business management, Thomas went on the offensive straight away with four birdies inside the opening six holes that had him three up. He was still three ahead after 10 holes, but Lawrie reduced the deficit at the 14th and chipped in from 40 feet for a birdie at the 16th to lie just one in arrears.

At the 17th, it looked for all the world as if Lawrie would draw level. There, Thomas drove into a bunker and, when he finally made the green, was left with a 30-foot putt to save his par. Cool as you like, the Tramore player sank the putt and tidied things up by sharing the 18th for a fine win.

"I've never managed to get past the Sunday in any championship, so I am definitely into new territory," said Thomas, who now meets Alex Meharg. Interestingly, the winners of this match will be assured of an international team member as an opponent in the quarter-finals, as McGinley and Morrow meet in arguably the top match of the fifth round.

There were other mighty performances. Kehoe, who is still in the boys' ranks, took the scalp of Walker Cup player Fanagan in the morning but couldn't maintain the momentum. In the afternoon, he went down to the experienced O'Sullivan by a 3 and 2 margin.

O'Sullivan's next opponent is a familiar one, although the two haven't crossed swords in the recent past. Niall Goulding's flirtation with the professional ranks proved unsuccessful, but he has slotted back into the amateur game quite smoothly. Yesterday, he beat Arthur Pierse by 2 and 1 in the fourth round and, when discovering that O'Sullivan provided the next obstacle, remarked "Where are all these young guys?"

There were also a number of marathon efforts yesterday, most notably that of City of Derry's Michael Wilson, who was required to go to the 10th extra hole - the 28th - to beat Limerick's Michael Feane in their third round match. Almost inevitably, he paid the cost for such heroics and was a 2 and 1 loser to Patrick Collier in the evening.

Another player to show grit and determination was Portmarnock Senior Cup player Dermot Snow. In the third round, he claimed the scalp of Omelia, winning at the 22nd hole (birdieing three of the four tie holes in a demonstration of brilliant golf), and then, in the fourth round, he was again forced to go to tie holes to dispose of David Finn, this time at the 20th.

And youth continued to give a good account of itself too. Ricky Elliott, a scholarship student at Toledo University, fashioned out a one hole win over the wily Enda McMenamin to set up a fifth round encounter today with another young lion, Lee Dalton.