GRADUALLY, but surely, a new generation of players has infiltrated the cosy cartel of women's golf; and nowhere was it more aptly demonstrated than at Enniscrone yesterday, in the first round of matchplay fare in the Irish Close Championship, sponsored by Lancome, when two particularly talented teenagers took noted scalps.
It might be stretching a point to describe Elaine Dowdall and Pamela Murphy as the new tigresses of the game, but their crisp, pure hitting is a joy to behold. And in their respective matches, the duo showed an admirable ability to withstand pressure in negotiating the opening round of knockout competition.
Dowdall (19), who recently became the first member of Wexford to attain a scratch handicap, beat the defending champion Barbara Hackett at the 19th hole in a superb match, while Murphy - at 16, one of the youngest competitors in the championship - beat current Ulster champion Laura Webb, a two-time national champion, by a convincing 3 and 2 margin.
Elsewhere, the two leading qualifiers, Hazel Kavanagh and Eileen Rose Power, weren't unduly troubled in finishing their matches out the country, while last year's beaten finalist, Lilian Behan, the former Curtis Cup player, also safely progressed into the last 16.
But the two youngsters stole the show, in many ways. Dowdall, who plans to study Arts in UCD come the autumn, was three up after 10 in her match with Hackett, the highlight being a chip-in eagle from the hollow in front of the green at the 10th. However, she had to show her fighting spirit after losing the 12th and 13th holes to par and, then, after missing the green with her tee shot, the 17th, also to par.
Dowdall, though, held her nerve to share the 18th, sinking a six-footer in the process to ensure sudden-death. Hackett's drive at the 512-yard Par 5 first, however, found a fairway bunker; in contrast, Dowdall's split the fairway and a five-wood approach finished just 20 yards short of the green. A pitch from there to the back of the green and two putts for par was sufficient to give her what she described as "my best win so far, and my first against a personality.
An hour or so earlier Murphy using a new Bubble Burner driver fashioned victory over Webb. Her shot of the day was, unquestionably, her approach to the 12th. With 165 yards to the flag - into a stiffish wind Murphy's superbly controlled three-wood shot finished a mere six inches from the cup to restore her three-hole lead, and she eventually closed out the match on the 16th.
Monkstown's Ada O'Sullivan, who chipped in twice for birdies and was three under par in beating Mary McKenna by 8 and 7, provides the next opposition for Dowdall. Another Cork native, Power had no necessity to go any further than the 11th green when accounting for Darragh MacGowan, while Kavanagh was required to go just one hole further in beating local schoolgirl Marina Gilhawley by 7 and 6.
