Irish make light work of weather and Scotland

Someone in the local tourist office insisted that Royal Porthcawl does have "calm, balmy conditions, sometimes", although the remark would find few believers among those present for the opening series of matches in the men's Home Internationals at the Welsh links yesterday.

A continuous howling wind, from the Bristol channel, wreaked havoc with the efforts of many players, although Eddie Power, the Irish champion, contended he had "played in worse conditions".

Indeed, Ireland's performance - in beating Scotland 11-4 - was an exemplary one, albeit lacking much of the drama of the other match where England (trailing 4-1 from the morning foursomes) whitewashed Wales in the singles to transform that particular encounter and record the same winning margin as the Irish.

Some observers even questioned whether the course was playable, and it was certainly no place for the fainthearted. "The wind made it a bit of a struggle," admitted Paddy Gribben, experiencing quite different conditions from Bordeaux two weeks ago where he captured the European individual championship. Yet, the Irish players, virtually to a man, kept their minds focussed on the job at hand and were rewarded with a comprehensive victory.

"People can complain about the weather," said captain Mick Craddock, "but it is the same for everyone." Such an approach permeated through the team and, after leading 4-1 from the foursomes, Ireland quickly and precisely secured victory by taking the top four matches in the afternoon singles.

Just how tough was it? "Pretty tough," said Power, "but the first day of the West at Enniscrone this year was far tougher." In fact, Power - who beat Scottish strokeplay champion Lorne Kelly by 5 and 4 - offered the opinion that all of the par fours were on in two, "even the 13th", a hole measuring 443 yards into the teeth of the wind. And, as he spoke, his point was rather succinctly proven by John Morris who hit a three-iron approach 12 feet past the flag.

Despite a worrying start, Ireland laid the foundations for success in the foursomes. At one stage, through eight holes, Ireland were down in three matches, up in one and level in the other. But the Irish responded admirably to the challenge: Ken Kearney and Garth McGimpsey won the top match by one hole; Power and Morris were emphatic 5 and 4 winners over Craig Watson and Mike Thomson, and Eamon Brady and Johnny Foster were 3 and 2 winners over Steven Carmichael and Paul McKechnie.

But much of the real drama was reserved for the other two matches. Noel Fox and Paddy Gribben were three down with three holes to play, but halved the match in bizarre circumstances. Their Scottish opponents, Graham Rankin and Euan Forbes, contrived to lose the ball off their drives at the 16th and 17th holes, and then the Irish pair won the last with a par four when Forbes pulled his drive into rough.

Behind them, David Jones and Andrew McCormick produced similar heroics. The Irish pair were three down after eight holes to Simon Mackenzie and David Patrick, but reeled off five wins in succession and were dormie two standing on the 17th tee. However, the Scots reduced the deficit with an eagle on the penultimate hole, and they also won the last when McCormick put his drive out-of-bounds.

Ireland assumed the advantage early on in the singles and the most impressive golf of all was played by Fox, who was one-under-par for the 12 holes he required to beat Steven Horne. "I played very well," he admitted.

Elsewhere, Ireland's strength at the top of the order was being borne out by Power's second 5 and 4 win of the day, Gribben was an emphatic 4 and 3 winner over Mike Thomson, and McGimpsey clinched the winning point when he was an estimated level-par in winning his match against Carmichael by 4 and 3.

Ireland's other wins came from Brady, Morris and McCormick, and their authority was accepted by the Scottish captain Colin Wood who admitted: "Ireland adopted to the conditions much better than us."

England, seeking a sixth successive title, showed immense character in recovering from a comprehensive 4-1 deficit in the foursomes to win all 10 singles matches. They face Scotland in today's second series, while Ireland - captain Craddock has kept the same foursomes partnerships but replaces Foster with Jones in the singles - meet Wales.