Dublin pair hold their nerve

GOLF DIGEST : DUBLIN-BASED PGA assistants Stuart Taylor and Pat Devine performed like seasoned professionals to claim the biggest…

GOLF DIGEST: DUBLIN-BASED PGA assistants Stuart Taylor and Pat Devine performed like seasoned professionals to claim the biggest win of their short careers – the SkyCaddie PGA Fourball Championship supported by Sunderland – at Forest Pines.

Taylor, from The Island, and Devine, from Royal Dublin, who boast three years service as assistant pros between them, began the final round level on 22-under-par with experienced Yorkshire duo Adrian Ambler and Aran Wainwright.

But there was no hint of any stage fright as they followed up their blistering, 14-under-par second round 59 with birdies at the first six holes of the Lincolnshire course.

Neither were they fazed when Ambler (Walton Golf Centre) and Wainwright (Mid Yorkshire Golf Club) restored parity by the 15th hole.

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Instead, the Liverpool-born Taylor responded with birdies at the 16th and 17th, before his Irish partner parred the final hole to secure victory by three strokes.

In addition to earning the pair the first prize of €5,200, their 31-under-par, bogey-free total of 188 was a record for the €30,000 tournament. The victory was Taylor’s second in 18 days, following his win in a pro-am at his home course, an event which saw Devine finish runner-up.

* A WILDLYfluctuating first day at the Presidents Cup in San Francisco ended with United States captain Fred Couples and his Internationals counterpart Greg Norman both happy with the outcome of the opening foursomes matches.

The American cup-holders, who had trailed early on in four of the six alternate-shot encounters at Harding Park Golf Course, recovered to lead 3½-2½ overall.

Tiger Woods was left to apologise for a heckler after the opening foursomes with partner Steve Stricker. A scowling Woods had shook his head after, first, a ringing cell phone, and then a rowdy fan disrupted play at the third hole of their match against Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa and Australian Geoff Ogilvy.

But Woods offered no more than sympathy as the American duo destroyed their opponents mercilessly, winning 6 and 4.

The featured match-up of the opening day took on a charged atmosphere more generally associated with the Ryder Cup.