Tipping the scales towards the East

GOLF: The pressure on a player coming down the stretch in a major is immense, impossible to define.

The pressure on a player coming down the home stretch in a decisive singles match in the Ryder Cup is even greater; and, in the autumn of 1989, Christy O'Connor Junior discovered just how great the cauldron of intensity could be.

A week before the Ryder Cup team was announced, O'Connor had not been in the team. He was handed a late wild card by Europe's captain Tony Jacklin after Sandy Lyle, claiming his form was too poor, declined a place in the team.

And, so, it was to O'Connor that Jacklin looked in his hour of need. He picked the right man.

The balance of power in the Ryder Cup had changed dramatically under Jacklin's captaincy. Europe had won the previous two matches and there were massive crowds at the 1989 match over the Brabazon course at the Belfry to see if Europe could maintain the winning sequence.

Going into the final day singles, things were looking good. Europe led by two points, but, with the Americans rampant at the bottom end of the singles draw, the decisive matches were to be found in the middle order. And this is where O'Connor Jnr was positioned, and his match with Fred Couples was critical.

When O'Connor and Couples arrived on the 18th tee, the match was on a knife-edge.

All day, O'Connor had hung on gamely against the big-hitting American, and finally caught him on the 16th. The 17th was halved, and it all came down to the 18th, as difficult a finishing par four as there is in golf.

The drive is a blind one, over trees to a fairway that has bunkers awaiting any over-hit tee-shot. A lake is positioned in front of the green, but anyone brave enough off the tee can cut off much of the fairway and be left with nothing more than a short iron to the green. This is the route that Couples took.

By contrast, O'Connor's tee-shot was solid and found the middle of the fairway, but it left him with an approach over water of almost 210 yards to the flag.

O'Connor pondered his club selection and eventually decided to go with a two-iron. It was a risky play, but O'Connor stepped up to the ball, said a little prayer, took a couple of looks over the water towards the green, and started his backswing.

He made a pure contact and, then, held the club aloft as he followed the ball's flight. He knew it was good, and when it came to rest just five feet from the flag, the crowd by the final green erupted, and O'Connor took an intake of air.

Couples later explained that he "could hardly breathe", so great was the pressure in the match. The American semi-shanked his nine-iron into a greenside bunker and could not make par.

O'Connor had claimed a most valuable point and when Jose Maria Canizares, in the following match, sank a putt on the 18th to defeat Ken Green, it ensured that for only the second time in Ryder Cup history the match was tied.

But Europe retained the Ryder Cup. O'Connor - and his two-iron - became part of the competition's folklore.

At the end of the series, readers will be able to vote for their Five Greatest Golf Shots Ever - the reader whose selection corresponds with the shots selected by The Irish Times will enter a draw to win a custom-fit Titleist 975J Driver