McGimpsey leads way

Veteran Garth McGimpsey gave a display out of the top drawer over the Monticello Course yesterday to steer Ireland into the top match-play flight in the European Amateur Team Golf Championships. The 43-year-old former British amateur open champion, playing in his tenth consecutive European title event, fired a stunning five under par 67 - the joint lowest score of the day. And afterwards McGimpsey, despite claiming that the heat was killing him, said: "This was my best round in all the European championships I've played in."

In temperatures soaring into the 90s, the man from Bangor started inauspiciously, dropping shots on two of the first three holes. Two good shots to the heart of the 14th - his fifth hole - gave him a birdie four that stared the fireworks and two more birdies followed before halfway which he covered in one under par 35.

He immediately made an impression on the first nine by pitching to eight feet for a birdie three, and then hit a five iron stone dead at the third - his 12th - for another birdie. Two more followed on the run-in for a five under par 67. At that stage it looked as though Ireland would comfortably make the top flight, but towards the end of this sun-blessed day there was plenty of nail-biting in the Irish camp as both Ken Kearney and Ciaran McMonagle, the new Irish Close champion, struggled on the second nine to post 74s .

At the end of the day, Ireland had a second round total of 358 to add to their 361 of Tuesday for a 719 aggregate which gave them seventh place in the pecking order.

That means a tough match against England today, but captain Mick Craddock believes that his players will be fired up for the occasion.

"We are naturally delighted to have qualified although we would have liked it to have been in a higher position. Now it's a new ball game, as the match-play begins."

For this morning's foursomes against England, Kearney will partner McMonagle while McGimpsey will team up with Cullen.

In the afternoon singles, Cullen leads the way, followed by Michael Hoey, McGimpsey, McMonagle and Kearney. Surprisingly, Scotland missed out on the top flight by two strokes.

First flight qualifiers - 701 France, 711 England, 713 Germany, 717 Denmark, 718 Italy, 719 Wales and Ireland, 722 Spain. Second flight qualifiers - 723 Sweden and Scotland, 730 Portugal, 731 Finland and Netherlands, 736 Norway and Switzerland, 742 Austria Third flight qualifiers - 744 Belgium, 778 Iceland, 782 Czech Republic, 810 Greece, 842 Estonia, 883 Croatia.

Irish second round scores - 67 G McGimpsey; 71 M Hoey; 72 G Cullen; 74 K Kearney and C McMonagle; 75 E Brady (discarded)

First flight first round draw - France v Spain, England v Ireland, Germany v Wales, Denmark v Italy.

Mark James, currently seventh in the Ryder Cup standings, will not make a decision on whether he might be a player rather than European captain at Brookline, until the end of this month. "To avoid confusion, I can confirm that I will not attempt to play and captain the team, as I suggested at the beginning of the season," he said yesterday.