Irish team feel that they let it slip away

A DEPRESSION descended on St Andrews on Saturday afternoon, but it had nothing to do with the weather; that was too darn kind. The grey slates of the university town, however, reflected the collective mood of ashen faced, leaden hearted Irishmen who had been usurped by South Africa, in somewhat unkind fashion, in the Alfred Dunhill Cup.

"I haven't been this disappointed in a long time," claimed Darren Clarke, whose match terminated at the first tie hole - where Retief Goosen sank a 20 foot birdie putt - just ten seconds before Wayne Westner, not 25 yards away on the 17th green, but invisible to his. compatriot due to the giant scoreboard, rolled in a three footer for birdie at the Road Hole to sneak ahead of Padraig Harrington with the winning post in sight.

As things transpired, Paul McGinley, whose win over world number four Ernie Els gave him an unbeaten sequence in Group Three (further enhancing his status as a player of real substance), could only take some salvation from his personal exploits, small consolation in the overall scheme of things. "Luck and destiny were not on our side," he remarked.

The medal matchplay format is known for such cruel twists of fate. Ireland were collectively 10 under par - with an aggregate of (638 as against South Africa's 639 - for the three days of round robin and won the same number of individual matches. However, the result of the showdown which counted went South Africa's way (2-1) and the end product was an exit for the Irish, albeit with a £15,000 cheque in each of their back pockets.

The rewards could have been so much richer, not just in monetary terms. "I really thought we had a team to win," said Clarke. Indeed, for much of the afternoon, it appeared Ireland's destiny lay in their own hands: Clarke was three up on Goosen after 12 holes; McGinley birdied the first and never trailed to Els, while Harrington was one up on Westner after 15.

Clarke, however, lost his way midway down the home stretch. Goosen, a man so troubled by his problems off the tee that he, used a driver just once in the entire round, birdied the 13th, 14th and 15th, with Clarke bogeying the 14th (visiting Hell's Bunker off the tee) and 15th. He got back on level terms, though, with a par birdie finish to Goosen's bogey par and, so, it all centred on sudden death.

Faced with similar 20 feet putts, Clarke's looked set to find the tin cup. "The ball couldn't miss when it was two feet away," he said. It took a nasty turn, however, and shaved the hole. Goosen, learning from Clarke's effort, duly rolled in his putt.

At a time when Clarke and Goosen were playing their approach shots to the first, Westner, who had birdied the 16th to draw level with Harrington, was playing "a low Scottish style draw" with a five iron, from 192 yards in the rough, to within three feet at the 17th. "I got a lucky bounce," said Westner. "You're being modest," returned Els, "that was a world class shot."

So it was that Harrington lost to a birdie birdie par finish from Westner, a birdie putt at the last to force a play off never getting the required break. "I don't know the course well enough, yet," said Harrington. "It was a left lip putt, but I was hitting it four or five inches left."

McGinley had watched the body blows from Messrs Goosen and Westner on the giant TV screen which overshadows the practice putting green as he waited to play his approach to the last, and knew things had slipped away from the Irish. He put his shot into the Valley of Sin - "It was poor concentration, a mental mistake," he admitted - but redeemed himself with a par for a two shot win (69 to 71) over Els.

"Go on and win it now, boys," McGinley said to Els afterwards, showing considerable grace in defeat.

Ireland's day will have to wait for another time, but the three players - McGinley, Clarke and Harrington - have decided not to compete in this week's Perrier Fourball in Bordeaux and, instead, will rest prior to next week's gala end of season Volvo Masters in Valderrama.