A LONG day's journey through sunshine and storms tested nerve and stamina as competitors battled for half way survival in the $750,000 Murphy's Irish Open yesterday. And when Colin Montgomerie swept into the lead on 138 - four under par - he defended the quality of Druids Glen to the point of declaring: "People who criticise this course should find another tour to play on."
When the cut was made on the unusually high figure of 148 - six over par - only six of the original 28 Irish challengers got among the 72 survivors. They included Darren Clarke, who rallied admirably with a best of the day back nine of 32, to get through on the limit. And Gary Murphy held on superbly, holing a 10 footer on the last for a level par 71 and a total of 141.
Play was suspended for an hour from 4.30 pm as hail and rain were accompanied by thunder and lightning. Switching from his defence of the course, Montgomerie roundly slated the organisers for their tardiness in sounding the siren to stop play.
It should have come 45 minutes earlier," said the Scot.
"It had got as black as the ace of spades: the storm was too close to be playing golf. Something will happen and it will be too late." Indeed Montgomerie was so concerned about the threat of lightning that he actually picked up his ball on the 13th tee, two minutes before the siren went.
The tournament director, Andy McFee, insisted, however, that action was taken as promptly as was reasonable. The European Tour have a contract with a meteorological system in Birmingham and McFee actually decided to suspend play, just as a weather warning was being received.
"I can understand Colin's concern, but I think he is being unfair in this instance," he said. "I'm as fearful of lightning as anybody and I certainly wouldn't take any chances." He concluded: "We couldn't have acted any sooner.
Whatever the facts of the situation, it had a crushing effect on the overnight leader, Bernhard Langer. Only 24 hours previously, playing partner David Feherty had described the German's determination as "frightening". But when play was resumed after the storm, he dropped five strokes over the last six holes for a dismal back nine of 41 and a round of 76.
"I played all right before the stoppage, but afterwards. I just got tired," he said. "I feel exhausted right now," Langer added: "The only good thing is that I'm not too far behind."
Typical of his discomfiture was a decidedly poor tee shot which plopped in the water at the treacherous, short 17th, costing him a double bogey five.
Though several thousand spectators remained on to see the finish of Montgomerie's round at about 7.30 pm, it was a strange sort of day among the galleries. In the morning, the wooded course resonated to lusty cheering as Seve Ballesteros played towards an almost inevitably early departure. In fact, one could sense the precise location of the Spaniard through the crowd's excitement, even though he was shooting a 74 for 149.
By comparison, the afternoon was strangely muted. There was generous applause for the execution of a particularly good shot, but the general atmosphere - lacked the tingling excitement one associates with this event. Perhaps the crowd were making, their own, silent protest at the moderate nature of the scoring, brought about by the severity of the course set up.
But there were some sparkling exceptions: six players - Wayne Riley, Carl Mason, Andrew Oldcorn, Miguel Martin, Peter Hedblom and Andrew Coltart - shot 68. And Oldcorn's round was especially notable for a best of the tournament front nine of 30, in which he birdied the first, second, fifth, seventh and eighth.
Though he chipped into the hole at the seventh, his putter was also working most efficiently. Which highlighted the value of perseverance, as Oldcorn had three putted on three occasions over his first seven holes, having started on the 10th. "I like hard courses," he said afterwards. "Driving is the best part of my game.
Meanwhile, among those sharing fourth place on two under par was Ignacio Garrido, who was happy to report no further confrontations with Rottweilers, following the rather frightening experience he and Wayne Westner had at their hotel on Thursday morning. In seeking the nearest point of relief from the guard dog, the Spaniard took out a wedge for protection before he and the South African escaped over a garden fence.
None the worse for wear, he shot a fine 69, which included a run of three threes at the start of the homeward journey birdie, eagle, par.
In the case of Anders Forsbrand, however, the threat was predominantly mental. Last Tuesday, he expressed dislike for the course. Yesterday, that dislike was reflected in a dispiriting 79 which placed him on 156, no fewer than eight strokes outside the cut.
