Having held the clubhouse lead for almost eight hours of remarkably mixed weather yesterday, Kenneth Kearney was passed by Yorkshire's Simon Dyson as top qualifier in the British Amateur Championship over the Royal Co Down and Kilkeel courses. The 22-year-old Englishman shot a 72 at sunny Kilkeel for a four-under-par aggregate of 139.
Kearney was three strokes back on 142 after a 72 at Kilkeel. And he confessed that the silver tankard was on his mind when he covered the first three holes in two under par. But the 31-year-old Galway member later overshot the short eighth for a bogey and went on to three-putt the 17th.
When the cut was made on 149 - six over par - only eight of the 36 Irish challengers survived. And given the value of shot-making skills in difficult conditions at Royal Co Down, it was revealing that the qualifiers should have included 48-year-old Arthur Pierse, a semi-finalist in the Amateur at Royal Porthcawl in 1980.
For the most part, Irish performances were either disappointing or simply poor. It was especially depressing for Walker Cup aspirant Noel Fox, who yesterday shot an admirable 72 over the championship course but left himself with too much to do after a miserable 80 around Kilkeel on Monday.
In university language, he described this week's challenge as "like your finals". And he is hoping the examiners will give him another chance to prove his worth.
Despite all that had gone before, Fox's ultimate undoing was a three-putt bogey from five feet above the hole at the 17th. After that, a birdie at the last failed to save him.
Garth McGimpsey, the 1985 champion, also missed out on 151. He had the disappointment of a bogey at the 18th, where he got a little ahead of a punched nine-iron third shot, sending it into the valley on the right of the green from where he failed to get up and down.
"I knew what was coming when I walked onto the first tee," said Tom McKnight with a wry smile. And the Newcastle links didn't disappoint him. After losing a ball off the tee at the ninth, he got up and down from 75 yards for a double-bogey six to reach the turn in 37 - four over par.
From then on, the 44-year-old American was fighting for survival. And he got precious comfort from a birdie at the 525-yard 12th, which he reached with a four-iron downwind, and another birdie at the 16th, where his drive rolled off the back edge of the green.
He went on to complete a round of 77 for a total of 149 to get among the qualifiers. In the process, he came to admire the more formidable aspects of a great links, which had been rather tame during a practice round in which he shot 68. "It's a wonderful test of golf and was very much a mental challenge today," he said.
McKnight is arguably the top overseas challenger, having had the distinction of beating Sergio Garcia in the semi-finals of last year's US Amateur at Oak Hill, before finishing runner-up to Hank Kuehne. And he likes his chances from here on. "Now that it's down to 18-hole matchplay, I don't see it as any different from the US Amateur," he said.
Then there was compatriot Travis Perkins, who had reason to be rather pleased with himself after a 67 at Kilkeel on Monday. But he eventually scraped through on 150 after an 83 at Newcastle where he finished 8, 6 after incurring a two-shot penalty at the 17th, where an attempted bunker escape hit his foot.
Looking at the scoring in general, it was necessary to remind oneself that the handicap limit was plus 0.2 (exact). Indeed that was the precise handicap of Yorkshireman Richard Hodgkinson from the Lindrick club, who was thoroughly crushed by Royal Co Down.
Like McKnight, he feared the worst when he walked onto the first tee - and duly carved his opening drive onto the strand for a double-bogey seven. But the real pain came at the long 18th, where he took no fewer than 12 strokes while completing a round of 89.
With the classic outrage of a severely wronged amateur, he protested: "I wouldn't mind but it was all because of one wayward shot which finished in a terrible lie." There you have it - only one poor shot. It meant the 31-year-old writer of screenplays had to stand in a bunker to play a down-the-shaft six-iron recovery. Incidentally, he later hit two threewoods out of bounds. And what did he think of the course? "Brilliant but bloody difficult," came his chastened reply. Then, borrowing the words of General MacArthur, he added defiantly: "I shall return."
Normally, there is no out of bounds to the right of the long 18th, leaving ample room to hit out onto the 18th and first of the adjoining Annesley links. For this week, however, that area has been designated as a car-park, and it was decided to mark it out of bounds.
