When Eoin Murray was shown on Sky TV sitting on a balcony of a house overlooking the 18th hole at Ballybunion, his moment of glory had come. Unfortunately, he was asleep and was denounced as being uninterested in the Murphy's Irish Open spectacle. A member of Grange Golf Club, he had played a round at Ballyheigue in the morning and during the afternoon, it had all become too much .
"It was the heat of the sun and a few beers," Mr Murray explained from the sun-drenched balcony. The balcony belongs to the Ballybunion club's vice-president, Mr Ciaran Harris, and his wife, Helen. She scotched the rumour that they had been offered £50,000, which quickly rose to £300,000, for the use of the house by a TV crew over the four days.
"Last year we put the balcony on, not knowing we would have this," she added, looking out on the idyllic green with a sparkling Atlantic on the horizon. Earlier in the day, the President's husband, Mr Martin McAleese, could have used the vantage point when he ran into a spot of bother with the tight security, although he eventually talked his way through as a legitimate guest.
"The young lad who was there did not know him and did not let him in. You cannot blame him for that," one shades-wearing security man explained. But it was weather for shades, with the sun beating down like there never had been a begrudging Kerryman to complain about the summer weather. The parched crowd of 9,000 were put in even better mood by the promise of a free pint of Murphy's after Freddy Lindgren got a hole in one at the third.
Hopes, however, are running high that the Irish players will produce a home winner for the first time in 18 years, since John O'Leary won at Portmarnock in 1982. The organisers estimate that 40,000 pints and a further 40,000 bottles of beer will be sold before Sunday evening.