McGimpsey slogs on for lucky 13th

LIFE STARTS at 40, or so they say. Garth McGimpsey, the king of Irish amateur golf for almost two decades, provided some substance for the cliche when he claimed his fourth West of Ireland Amateur Championship, sponsored by Ulster Bank, after a tough, uncompromising final at Rosses Point yesterday.

It wasn't pretty stuff, though. With a south-easterly wind whipping across the Co Sligo links, one would have thought that neither players nor spectators would be in the mood to hang around. But the final, a real slog with some exceptionally poor play, lasted tour hours and 45 minutes before McGimpsey, thankfully, brought proceedings to an end with a two-holes win over Sean Horkan.

Horkan, a London civil engineer who plays out of Walton Heath, was, in fact, warned twice under Rule 16 for "undue delay" by the match referee and president of the GUI, Eamon Curran. But the official's hands were effectively tied in a championship final; addressing the scourge of slow play really must be tackled head-on in the earlier rounds.

Even McGimpsey, a veteran of Walker Cup and Eisenhower Trophy campaigns, found it difficult to cope with the snail-like pace, especially with the testing conditions - wind and bumpy greens - added into the bargain. "I was conscious of it and out of rhythm." he admitted. "I probably would have had a sour taste in my mouth if I had lost."

The protracted battle was not without some hum our, particularly when the local, amateur bookies (an integral part of the Rosses Point scene), stopped taking bets on the match's outcome and instead offered odds on whether it would finish before nightfall.

"But it was a real scrap, a proper dog-fight, and I believe the spectators might even have enjoyed it if it had been a quicker scrap, admitted McGimpsey, who was forced to show resilience to hold off the determined and sustained efforts of Horkan.

Indeed, Horkan's progress to the final was the biggest surprise in a championship that contained them in abundance. The 31-year-old - who beat Naas teenager Gavin Lunny 6 and 5 in the morning semi-finals - admitted during the championship that he was "considered slow", but sought to explain it by adding: "I'm not a full-time golfer, and I need to deliberate a little more than others."

His feat in reaching the final, however, should not be marred in the slightest by allegations of slow play. Horkan performed some giant-killing acts throughout his eight rounds of golf in five days, the ultimate testimony being to bring a player of McGimpsey's calibre right to the wire.

"I knew from an early stage in the championship that, perhaps, my own fallibility was the only thing that could stop me winning," said McGimpsey, reflecting on his 13th major championship success. "But it was a fight; the conditions were tough and I was trying not to get upset with the pace.

The quality of golf, particularly over the front nine which was covered in an estimated 42 strokes by each player, was poor enough, but the closeness of the contest made up a little for that drawback. Two down after three, Horkan reduced the deficit at the eighth, where McGimpsey missed a six-footer, and levelled matters at the ninth with a bogey four.

When McGimpsey won the 11th and was conceded a winning birdie putt on the 12th to go back to two ahead, the writing appeared to be on the wall. But, no, back he came.

Horkan rolled in a 45-footer for birdie at the short 13th and then, using his trusty putter from fully 30 yards off the he also took the 14th, where McGimpsey three putted from 25 feet.

"I was a little agitated at that stage," admitted McGimpsey. An indication of the pressure on both players is that the 15th wash shared in double bogey sixes.

Although the pair halved the 16th in par threes (Horkan played a majestic little chip from greenside rough to three feet to salvage par), the showpiece 17th hole - aptly named The Gallery - proved to be where McGimpsey regained the initiative. Horkan was 60 yards short of the green in two, and failed to find the green with his third, effectively sealing his fate. McGimpsey had the luxury of winning the hole with a bogey five.

Horkan put his approach on the last into the rough right of the green failed to make par and conceded a short put to the Ulsterman.

"My target this season was to play in all six major events on the Irish calendar and to try and win the Willie Gill (awarded to the leading amateur)," said McGimpsey. "It is great, however, to actually win a championship. It's something you wonder if you will ever manage to do again."

The council of County Sligo Golf Club is to meet later this month to decide whether the West of Ireland Amateur Championship should be moved to the May bank holiday next season.

It is believed that, in a survey this week, the players voted by a two-to-one majority for change.

But club officials insist that a number of other factors have to be taken into account. And there is a strong traditionalist lobby which insists that the "West" and Easter are synonymous.