Images of win in the fog remain crystal clear

The bookmakers didn't share the confidence of the Irish skipper. "I believe we are strong enough to think realistically about going all the way to victory on Sunday," said Eamonn Darcy on the eve of battle. But Ireland were still on offer at 12 to 1 with Wales, some way adrift of the 5 to 2 favourites Spain.

We were at St Andrews on October 12th, 1988, the final practice day before the fourth staging of the $1 million Dunhill Cup. Images remain so vivid of that marvellous occasion that it hardly seems credible it happened 10 years ago this week.

"What memories!" enthused Des Smyth, for whom 1988 was to be a glorious, Dunhill swansong. "It remains the most exciting event of my golfing life - by miles. We were rank outsiders and we had to beat all the top teams to secure the trophy. It was as if we were destined to triumph against all the odds."

It was an occasion when Darcy beat the reigning US Open champion Curtis Strange and when Ronan Rafferty crushed former USPGA and US Open champion David Graham. But most of all, it was an occasion when Smyth gained an extraordinary semi-final win over Nick Faldo before going on to an equally dramatic win over Rodger Davis in the final.

When it was all over, a grateful nation toasted Ireland's greatest team victory in golf since Harry Bradshaw and Christy O'Connor had captured the Canada Cup in Mexico City in 1958. Yet The Brad generously rejected such comparisons as diluting the achievement of the Dunhill trio.

"The pressure at St Andrews was far greater, for two important reasons," he said. "The three Irish boys stood man to man against the finest players in the world and they were constantly aware of what they had to do."

The Brad went on: "Christy and myself had no such pressure. There were no leaderboards on the course and, being four rounds of strokeplay, we kept plugging away without really knowing how the opposition were doing. Indeed, I didn't really know we had the title within our grasp until Dai Rees told me so on the long 17th - our 71st hole.

"Those boys stood up to the pressure like heroes. What impressed me most was the quality of their putting. It was almost as good as mine - at my best!" Praise indeed.

Talking to Smyth 10 years on, it struck me that very little had changed for him, even with the benefit of hindsight. He had sportingly insisted at the time that Faldo was correct in refusing to finish their match in the fog of the Saturday evening. And he retains that view.

"If Nick were playing for himself he probably would have played it, but he was the English captain, with two other players to think about," said Smyth. "He did the right thing in refusing to finish the 18th until the Sunday morning, though it made for a fairly tense wait for me."

After beating Canada by 2-1 in the opening round, Ireland went on to overcome the mighty Americans by 2 1/2 on the Friday. Rafferty beat Mark McCumber 71-72 in the top match, Smyth halved with Chip Beck on 71-71 and Darcy secured victory by beating Strange 66-68. "It normally takes the whole of Europe to beat the Americans," the captain joked afterwards.

So it was that Ireland clashed with the holders, England, in Saturday's semi-finals. In the other semi-final, Greg Norman led by example when his 67 against a 69 from reigning British Open champion Seve Ballesteros, pointed Australia towards a 2-1 win over Spain. But ominously, play had been delayed for three hours as the Old Course became shrouded in a Scottish haar - a dense fog sweeping off the North Sea.

As late starters, Ireland's victory surge against England came to a controversial halt when the fog returned later in the day. Smyth had slotted a superb putt for a par on the 17th to draw a stroke clear of Faldo.

Then, after the Drogheda man had played his approach shot to about 18 yards behind the flag at the last, Faldo refused to hit his pitch of 78 yards. "Visibility was down to 30 or 40 yards when we crossed the Swilcan Bridge and with two other guys to consider (Barry Lane and Mark James) I couldn't risk the shot," he explained.

During a subsequent delay of 30 minutes, Faldo remained steadfast in his refusal to continue, with the result that play was abandoned for the day. It meant an official measurement of Smyth's ball on the 18th green where a marker would be left overnight: it was 54 feet 4 1/2 inches from the hole, which was located just above the Valley of Sin.

There were those who took the view that Faldo was engaging in gamesmanship. Indeed, students in the university building directly behind the 18th green, hung banners from the windows taunting the Englishman with such messages as "Can you see this, Nick?"

Others were of the opinion that Smyth had acted impetuously by playing his wedge-shot through the fog. Either way, he faced an anxious night. "Though I went to bed early, I kept my mind off things by watching television until my eyelids eventually began to close," he recalled.

Play resumed at 8.30 the following morning. In the quiet of a chilly, damp autumn morning, there was an air of unreality about the occasion, which must have made it all the more difficult for Smyth to practise 20-yard putts on the putting green while Faldo worked on sandwedge pitches.

After the call to action, Faldo proceeded to hit his approach to seven feet below the pin. Then, as Smyth walked towards his ball, he suddenly stepped away. "I became extremely nervous and had to settle myself," he said. Composed once more, he stroked the ball down the damp, sloping green to send it within three feet of the target.

Faldo, meanwhile, couldn't agree with his caddie, Andy Podger, about the line to the hole. While the player thought it was right-half, the caddie was convinced it was right lip. The caddie was correct; Faldo missed it on the left and Smyth stroked home his three-footer for the match: Ireland were through to the final against Australia.

As it happened, Smyth was again at the centre of things as the decider drew to a climax. Rafferty always seemed to have the measure of Graham while, by his own admission, Darcy caught Norman on a hot day, with the Shark shooting a sparkling 63 to win by eight shots.

Two strokes behind Davis, with three holes to play, Smyth closed the gap by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th. He then hit his best drive of the day to leave the ball a yard in from the left-edge of the fairway on the treacherous 17th.

Recalling those moments, Smyth said: "Rodger had been hitting low cuts all day and with the wind left to right at the 17th, it was always going to be a tricky drive for him." As things turned out, Davis cut his drive disastrously into the hotel grounds - out of bounds. Smyth, meanwhile, played the hole beautifully, hitting a three-iron second shot to the left of the Road Hole bunker from where he got down in two putts for an exemplary par. Davis made seven.

Now, almost miraculously two strokes clear going up the last for the second time that day, Smyth wedged to eight feet and sank the putt for a closing birdie and a round of 71. Davis also birdied the hole but it didn't matter. As in so many British Opens down the years, the 17th had been decisive.

After that, it became a matter of containing a desperate urge to celebrate before Rafferty had delivered the winning point. "Suddenly I realised it was all down to me, so I took a couple of deep breaths on the 17th tee," said the babe of the trio.

In the event, the Downman handled one of golf's most daunting holes like a veteran, attacking the green from the left as Smyth had done, though his three iron finished short of the bunker. From there, he pitched strongly to 35 feet and then sank the putt for a par to Graham's bogey. All of which made his play of the 18th a glorious, victory march.

It had been a wonderful team effort under a captain who had a decidedly interesting approach to leadership. In outlining strategy to his colleagues, Darcy instructed them: "Now listen to me . . . . and go off and do your own thing."

"Looking back on my career, I consider myself to have been a really good tournament player, but I was never a superstar," said Smyth. "So it is really special to be able to look back on wins over Nick Price, in the final of the 1979 European Matchplay Championship, Ian Woosnam in the Epson Grand Prix and Jose-Maria Olazabal and Faldo in the Dunhill Cup."

He went on: "As the only Irish-based member of the team at that time, however, there was a price to be paid. I was the one who got caught up in all the receptions and functions for almost an entire year after our win. But it was worth it for the wonderful boost it gave Irish golf."

Smyth concluded: "Players like Paul McGinley, Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke were just making their way in the game at that time. I like to think that what we did in 1988, helped them along the road to St Andrews this week."