Hazel Kavanagh's blank expression as she walked off the 18th green would have done justice to a poker player who'd just pulled off a gamble. In her case, though, the emotion was one of immense relief after surviving her opening duel in the first round of matchplay at the Irish Women's Amateur Close Championship, sponsored by Lancome, at Clandeboye yesterday.

The first day of matchplay, traditionally, throws up some shocks. Yesterday was notable for the exception of such seismic happenings with all of the so-called "big guns" negotiating a route into the last 16, even if some managed to achieve the feat with more ease than others. Helen Jones, for instance, was three under par in dispatching her opponent, Lillian O'Brien, by a 9 and 7 margin; while, in contrast, Kavanagh only secured her place in the second round with a one-hole win over her Leinster interprovincial colleague Sinead Keane.

Not that there weren't hints of some surprise outcomes at various stages of a day when the stiff wind, coming in off Belfast Lough, changed the course from the previous two days. During the two days of strokeplay, players needed just a seven iron second shot to find the eighth green; yesterday, they were hitting five wood approaches. Such subtle changes demanded greater levels of concentration.

So, Kavanagh's effort in finally overcoming Keane, a player on the fringe of international recognition, was highly commendable. The Grange golfer was involved in a nip-'n-tuck encounter with Keane but managed, eventually, to go two up with a two putt birdie at the 15th. However, Keane hit a massive drive up the 16th, flicked a little wedge to two feet and sank the birdie putt to reduce the deficit to one - and that's how it remained as they teed off on the 18th.

There, Kavanagh pulled her drive to the left and the ball finished up beside a brick wall and she was forced to play out sideways to the fairway. However, she salvaged a par - and, after Keane put her approach through the green, that proved to be sufficient to earn a second-round encounter with Yvonne Cassidy.

Ironically, Cassidy and Kavanagh are lodging together and spent some time the previous day practising their pitching. And Kavanagh attributed her survival to that well-spent time: "Basically, it saved me today," she admitted, "I'm glad I took the time out to concentrate on it."

Cassidy, meanwhile, forged out a two-hole win over Cork's Irene Murphy. She was actually four up after 12 holes but, when she lost the 14th, 15th (to an eagle) and 17th, to be just one up going to the last, the Dundalk player wondered if Murphy was about to get revenge for an interprovincial duel between the pair at Shannon a couple of years ago.

"On that occasion, she was three up with five to play and I won," recalled Cassidy. But there was to be no revenge, as Cassidy closed out the match with a winning birdie on the last.

Elsewhere, there were rumblings of a shock in leading qualifier and defending champion Suzie Fanagan-O'Brien's tussle with Sandra Watkins, who played out of Clandeboye before moving to Woodbrook. Watkins was actually two up after a hat-trick of wins from the third to the fifth. "I started to play better after that start and got my rhythm back," said the holder, who began the fightback with a chip-in birdie at the sixth and then won the seventh and eighth to regain the lead and go on to a comfortable 4 and 3 win.

Intriguingly, today's second round features a re-match of the 1996 final with Barbara Hackett, the victor on that occasion, facing Lillian Behan who was one under par in beating the talented young Naas player Maura Morrin. Both players missed out on international recognition last season and probably have a point or two to prove.