The old adage that age is no barrier to success was emphatically vindicated in the happy tale of Owen Osborne, winner of the weekly competition. Despite his tender years, 14, the St Mary's Secondary School, Edenderry, pupil upstaged all-comers in Week 21.
Only recently returned from holidays, the Kildare youngster had lost touch with how his three teams were faring so this success came as something of a jolt - that and being dragged from his bed by The Irish Times at the ungodly hour of 9.10 a.m. Well, it is the school holidays.
A member of Edenderry Golf Club, Osborne is a keen golfer during the summer months and obviously a shrewd observer of form on the more lucrative professional circuit if one is to judge his latest success which has earned him a fourball at Mount Juliet - a venue to which he has never been.
He was not prepared to disclose the identities of the three people who would accompany him to Kilkenny but he immediately ruled out his father who has a bad back and had to give up golf. The expectation of being extremely popular with his friends was something to which this Liverpool supporter was looking forward.
He demonstrated a ruthless streak when choosing his winning line-up. Although he admitted that David Duval was his favourite golfer, he wasn't prepared to include him in any one of the three teams "because he costs too much". He did, however, feel that Darren Clarke, Jose Maria Olazabal, Scott Hoch, John Huston, Olin Browne, Bob Estes and winner of last weekend's CVS Charity Classic, Steve Pate, struck the right balance.
Maintaining the theme of virginal success was Paul Sheehan who usurped Tony and Brian Murnaghan's position at the top of the overall leaderboard. Sheehan's bid for glory was the culmination of 21 weeks of steady progress, tinged with the odd spectacular leap.
There is no danger that Pauly 2 will have to plough a lone furrow as, remarkably, Sheehan boasts four teams in the top 15. Given that he had the temerity to take holidays in Wexford and remain uncontactable, it was felt appropriate to reveal all his innermost secrets.
The progress of Pauly 2 is charted from humble origins to the glare of the limelight. This rags to riches story should inspire others, particularly as there are still nine weeks of competition left. It should also be noted that doing well in the weekly scramble is not a prerequisite for overall success.
Sheehan managed to make the weekly leaderboard on eight occasions and his best was an excellent second in Week 11. However, he only had two other top 10 finishes. Those not yet sated by this statistical morass should seek professional help but before that they might like to know that Sheehan boasts five teams in the Top 50, 1st, 7th, 14th, 15th and 37th respectively. He entered 38 teams.
The flagship of his Armada, Pauly 2, began life with Ronan Rafferty, Scott Hoch and Scott Verplank as integral constituents, but these shall henceforth be known as the `Sheehan Trio' as they were cast aside in favour of Jim Furyk, John Huston and Eamon Darcy. Furyk, who has earned over £700,000, was an inspired switch.
Attention this week switches to the Volvo Scandinavian Masters in Stockholm and the St Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee. Those languishing at the wrong end of the leaderboard should take solace from the fact that St Jude is the patron saint of hopeless cases, so dream on.
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