COMPETITIVE guile and stubborn resistance, born of countless match play battles, were in evidence at Royal Co Down yesterday when Garth McGimpsey claimed a place in the semi-finals of the Irish Close Championship. It was only his second time to reach this stage of the Bank of Ireland sponsored event in which he faces Keith Nolan this morning.

The other semi-final brings the in-form Peter Lawrie into action against Downpatrick's David Gibson, a most improbable survivor. Indeed, with his wife on holiday in England, the 34 year old has had to make repeated baby sitting arrangements for their two children to accommodate his golf.

It was surprise enough that Gibson should have beaten Walker Cup player Jody Fanagan in the quarter finals, but that he did so by 6 and 5 was the stuff of fantasy. Still, this cannot be dismissed as freak progress, given an impressive pedigree which saw him twice lead the qualifiers in the North of Ireland Championship.

Yet another delightful golfing day was marked by a freshening wind, which heightened the challenge of a celebrated links. And finishing holes that are often criticised as being relatively weak became a scene of tremendous drama as McGimpsey rallied to victory over East of Ireland champion Noel Fox.

Given that Fox was two up after 15, it went most improbably to the 19th, where the Bangor player secured victory in appropriate style. Having won the 14th, where McGimpsey drove left, Fox was a little fortunate to go two up at the next where his own pulled drive hit a spectator before bouncing back into the fairway.

"At that stage I had more or less written myself off," said McGimpsey. Fox provided him with a crucial ray of hope, however, by failing to reach the green with a three wood tee shot at the 265 yard 16th. His spirits lifted, McGimpsey hit a three wood which finished pin high off the left of the green, from where he two putted for a winning par.

After the 17th was halved in par, they faced the long 18th, where the wind was helping from the right. McGimpsey pushed his drive into the right rough, which left Fox wondering whether the cross bunkers, 290 yards away, were in play. In the event he took out the driver, turned it over into a left side bunker a«MDBO»n«MDNM»d eventually lost the hole to a conceded par.

Down the long 19th, they both faced wedges to the green for their third shots. A crucial difference, however, was that Fox was on the fairway whereas McGimpsey was in the rough. First to hit, Fox imparted predictable backspin and the ball checked 18 feet short of the pin.

McGimpsey now brought all his concentration to bear on a wedge shot of 92 yards to the flag. Knowing that the ball wouldn't spin from the rough, he judged its forward pitch, almost to perfection, as it came to rest almost four feet beyond the pin. When Fox missed, he eased the left to right effort into the centre of the cup.

"To come from two down with three to play against such a class opponent makes this one of my best wins," he said afterwards. "The crucial hole was the 16th. Had Noel put his ball on the green there, it was all over." He added. "The truth is that I can't believe I'm playing tomorrow."

McGimpsey had reached the semi-finals of this championship in 1988, when he went on to take the title at Royal Port rush. Despite his success against Fox, he knows from the experience of 13 championship triumphs that there can be no let-up from here on.

Nolan, who is attempting to emulate Padraig Harrington's of last year by adding the Close to his Irish Strokeplay title, faced a crisis in his match with Pat Murray when he was brought back to all square after the long 12th. The Tipperary international proceeded to give him breathing space, however, through some slack approach play.

Having won the 13th in par, Nolan escaped with a half at the next, despite three putts. And he sank a crucial four footer for another half in par at the 15th. That was sufficient to ease the pressure somewhat and he went on to establish a winning lead with a two putt winning birdie at the 16th.

Gibson had the distinction of not losing a hole on a day when he needed only 24 holes to win his two matches. Fanagan, on the other hand, seemed drained after being taken to the 20th by Nigel Howley in the third round.

In the event, the Ulsterman won two holes on the outward half in birdie and another two in par to establish a four hole lead which he never looked like relinquishing. "Alter a tough morning match, I couldn't seem to lift myself," said Fanagan who, significantly, had complained of tiredness the previous evening.

On his way to victory in the Mullingar Scratch Cup, Lawrie's clear objective was a place in next month senior international team. He is now virtually assured of that status after some very impressive play here.

The key shot in his quarter final victory over, South of Ireland champion Adrian Morrow was a glorious one iron of 230 yards which came to rest four feet from the pin at the long 12th. And he had to sink the eagle putt after Morrow had pitched to within two feet of the target.

Two up at that stage, Lawrie had sufficient cushion to overcome some indifferent play at the 13th and 15th. And he effectively closed out his opponent at the next, where Morrow hooked his tee shot into the whins on the left. Victory was emphatically secured at the 17th where the Portmarnock player was in trouble left once more.