At last, deliverance time. The ninth green on the Quinta do Lago course has a depth of just 34 yards with a vicious right to left slope and, so, it was somewhat fitting that a piece of golfing terrain which in its time has had Colin Montgomerie's spikemarks piercing the surface on the way to a Portuguese Open victory should play host to a dramatic conclusion to the national finals of the inaugural Musgrave Crumlin Children's Hospital Club Challenge last week.
In the end, and rather intriguingly, after a contest that encompassed 153 counting holes over four courses - Vila Sol, Pinta, Vilamoura Old and, finally, Quinta - it all came down to a number of putts on the last green; and, with nerve-ends tingling, the 60-somethings of Galway Golf Club showed their mettle when it counted most to edge out the all-woman team from Dunmore Golf Club in Clonakilty by a mere stableford point.
Some hours earlier, shortly after dawn, with the mosquitoes as uninvited guests and extravagant shadows from the cathedral pines cast across the fairways, the participants had set off from the 10th tee - their first hole - at Quinta in the final quest to be crowned champions. Galway, the Connacht champions, were seeking to become wire-to-post winners with Dunmore, who had eaten into Galway's lead as the week progressed, Grange and Nuremore all in pursuit, and the rumble format on the final day truly delivered a remarkable outcome.
As a testimony to the unifying force of amateur golf, the participants - who had booked their tickets to the national finals in the Algarve by winning their respective provincial finals - ranged from Dunmore's Denise McCarthy, a mother of a two-week old baby, to grandfathers on the Galway team, while the Grange team featured three single-handicap players who were to find the concession of shots to everyone too great a burden to carry.
There was to be no fairytale ending for McCarthy, nor her team-mates Noreen Fleming and Mary Scannell. Showing that golfing experience is a valuable commodity, the seasoned Galway campaigners of Padraic Cummins, Brendan Kane and Tom Ford overcame one or two worrying moments along the way to ensure that the Sam Maguire wasn't the only national title destined for the west this year. Galway had set out their stall on the first day at Vila Sol, where two out of three singles cards counted. Kane was the star of the show, his 41 points outshining everyone else and it ensured his team (with 74 points) raced into a 13-point lead over the Grange trio of Percy Vince, Plunkett Walsh and Hugh Millar, who were on 61 points. Dunmore started slowly with 56 points while Nuremore's team of Dave Mooney, Charlie Dolan and Killian McMahon struggled on the opening day to 50 points.
After the second round at Pinta (where one score counted on the front nine and two on the back), Galway had stretched their lead even further. The Galwaymen again brought in a best-of-the-day card with 64 points to move onto the 138 mark, 20 points ahead of their nearest pursuers Dunmore (128), followed by Grange (115) and Nuremore (104).
"It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings," Galway captain Rory O'Mara reminded his men, and an indication that the event certainly wasn't a one-horse race came on the third day of the finals at Vilamoura old course. With all three singles cards counting, Dunmore made use of the 1,002 yards variation in length between the men's and women's tees by bringing in a fine score of 107 points for a total of 225, just 10 behind Galway who could only manage 97. In the battle to avoid the wooden spoon, Nuremore showed strongly to bring in 103 points for 207, leaving them just five points behind Grange, who had mustered just 97 points to move to 212.
So it was that Quinta do Lago played host to the final showdown, a rumble format with one score to count on the first six holes, two scores to count on the next six and all three scores to count on the final six holes. The teams went out in reverse order, with Galway last to start their rounds; and, by midway, the whispers from in front confirmed that Dunmore were making serious inroads.
The intrigue was brought to the very last hole, the ninth, a 352yards par four (319 yards for the women) which dog-legs left and demands a drive across a valley with bunkers left and right. Nuremore's trio achieved their stated objective of "not finishing last" by finishing in style with an excellent 78 points for 285 points, four points ahead of Grange. "At least we won the gross," the Dubliners quipped. But, back on the tee box, Dunmore were driving off and didn't realise that, at that stage, they'd actually moved ahead of Galway.
Remarkably, however, in a contest that produced a cumulative tally of 1,179 points, the final hole was to prove utterly decisive. The ninth won't be recalled too fondly by Dunmore, though, as they mustered a mere three points between them with all three players witnessing putts either lipping out or refusing to drop.
Still, Dunmore's final-round total of 81 points was the best of any team and brought them up to 306 points. They wondered would it be enough.
Meanwhile, Galway were worried that they might have let it slip. Standing on the tee-box, they were actually three points behind Dunmore at a similar stage . . . and the threesome all had to produce immense courage to actually take the title.
Cummins's tee shot found the trees on the left. He had to take a penalty drop, and he then put his third into a fairway bunker, still 100 yards from the green. However, he produced a quite brilliant shot - "the best I've ever played," - to the front of the green and got down in two for a double bogey six (nett five) for a point.
The drama wasn't over, however. His team-mates Ford and Kane, a former All-Ireland Pierce Purcell Shield winner, were left with 10- and eight-foot par putts respectively. Bravely, both holed out to give them seven points on the last, and Galway were champions by the narrowest of margins.
All funds raised in the Musgrave Crumlin Chidlren's Hospital Club Challenge, which is supported by The Irish Times, go to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin. Clubs interested in competing in the 1999 competition should contact tournament co-ordinator Pat Cashman at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Dublin 12.
