After four attempts stretching back 22 years, Des Smyth is finding the challenge of completing four rounds of a British Open at St Andrews as elusive as ever. Indeed he had cause to consider himself jinxed after a dispiriting, one-under-par 70 in the Final Qualifying tournament at Leven Links yesterday.
It all looked so easy for the Drogheda man when he had a sparkling run of five birdies from the 10th, to be five under par with four to play. But he came to grief with a crippling, triple-bogey seven at the 416yard 17th and then dropped another stroke at the last.
"The finish was disastrous, a real killer," said a dejected Smyth. "I was going okay until then." His problems started with a drive into rough, where he moved the ball no more than a foot. Then came another attempted recovery into a bush from where he took a penalty drop.
"That's how it goes sometimes," the player added, attempting to put a brave face on things.
Four Irish players are exempted into the championship proper. Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington qualified before the end of last year through the European Order of Merit; Paul McGinley claimed a place in a special qualifying section after the Volvo PGA Championship and Christy O'Connor Jnr earned an exemption by winning the Senior British Open at Royal Portrush 12 months ago.
A total of 13 compatriots, including two amateurs, are attempting to join them through final qualifying at four venues around the St Andrews area, and only a few have reason to be pleased with their efforts so far.
The best score yesterday came from the Birmingham-based Ulsterman Cameron Clark, who shot a 68 at Leven.
Clark, who had a brief flirtation with the European Tour a few years ago, is now an assistant at the Hagley club where his Scots-born father, Iain, is the resident professional. In the event, his round was highly creditable for the fact that after starting with three bogeys, he had got to one under par by the turn.
"I felt crushed after the first three holes and I'm proud of the way I fought back to give myself a chance," said Clark, who came through Final Qualifying at Royal Troon, three years ago.
But there was no way back for Kilkenny's Gary Murphy at Scotscraig, where he lost a ball at the par-four fifth to run up a triple-bogey seven which left him five over at that stage. He finished with a 75.
Eamonn Darcy, who failed to qualify here in 1995, was none too pleased after a two-under-par 69 at Ladybank. "I would have expected them to cut the greens - they were so slow it was painful," he complained.
His dislike of the greens could be traced to a missed two-footer which led to a bogey at the long seventh. Still, he went on to sink putts of 20 feet, 15 feet and eight feet for birdies at the 11th 13th and 15th. In fact his only error on the homeward journey was to miss the green with a three-iron tee-shot at the 211-yard 13th, where he failed to get up and down.
Ronan Rafferty, who is hoping to survive qualifying for the Open for the first time since its last staging here in 1995 when he missed the cut, shot a 70 at Leven, despite two double-bogey sixes.
Meanwhile, it was interesting that despite the presence of three professionals at Scotscraig, the best Irish score came from an amateur - a 71 by Walker Cup player Jody Fanagan.
Elsewhere there were some sharply contrasting scoring exploits. Like the effort of Essex professional David Salisbury at Ladybank where, at the first and second holes, he replicated the name of a well-known chain of convenience stores by carding 7, 11. Shell-shocked, he then walked in.
