Two English players will contest the 36-hole final of the British Amateur at Royal Co Down today. And the emergence of Graeme Storm and Aran Wainwright at the end of an especially demanding week, ensures that either player will be a worthy successor to Michael Bonallack, as the champion at this venue.
Paddy Gribben, the remaining Irish challenger and making his debut in the championship, departed the scene in a quarter-final defeat by 19-year-old Welsh international Ian Campbell. Gribben's disappointment became all the more acute later in the day, when his conqueror was crushed, 7 and 6 by Storm.
The swing which had delivered such impressive performances for the Warrenpoint player earlier in the week lost its fluency in the wind and rain. It meant a struggle from the outset and, significantly, for the first time in the matchplay stage, he failed to beat par at the opening par five which he lost to a birdie from his lightweight opponent.
Then came the shock of Campbell holing a seven-iron second shot downwind at the 474-yard third, for an eagle two. And when Gribben bunkered his tee-shot at the short 10th to go three down, his position had become decidedly ominous.
Yet he recovered to win the 12th and 13th in birdie, par and was back in the match at only one down. That was when hopes of an Irish victory were emphatically dispelled. With the honour on the tee at the short 14th, Gribben might well have squared the match had he hit the green.
Instead, he missed it left, where he was followed by Campbell. And when they both chipped to about 10 feet from the pin, Gribben missed and Campbell holed for a win in par. The ultimate blow came at the murderous, 427-yard 15th which Campbell failed to reach with two drivers into the wind. But when Gribben was on the green with a three-iron second, he proceeded to three-putt for a half in bogey.
"Those two holes killed me," he said afterwards. "I had a really good feeling all week but the wind changed today and I just didn't seem to be able to adjust. I'm very disappointed."
When 21-year-old Storm crushed Campbell in the first of the afternoon's semi-finals, he promptly declared Royal Co Down to be the best course he had ever played - "better than Turnberry, Muirfield, any of them." And though his mother, Jane, doesn't play the game, she would probably have concurred, given that she has pulled her son's bag all week.
"We've always been pretty close and she's really terrific, driving me to tournaments and all that," he said afterwards.
The bottom half of the draw produced Englishmen in opposition, after the departure of the two remaining Continentals. Richard McEvoy of Thorpe Hall turned two-over-par to be two up against Gregory Havret of France. And he then had a sparkling run of par, birdie, birdie, par, birdie, to wrap up the match on the 14th.
Meanwhile, Wainwright had a tighter match against the 18-yearold German, Marcel Siem, who beat Jody Fanagan on Thursday morning. Proving the merit of par golf in squally conditions, he was one over par and two up at the turn before going on to secure victory on the 17th.
A 23-year-old former English Amateur Champion from Yorkshire, but recently out of favour with the selectors, Wainwright displayed splendid resilience in the second semi-final. Two down after 10 to 19-year-old McEvoy, he turned the match around with winning birdies at the 11th, 12th and 13th.
But it went the full distance before Wainwright secured victory with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th, after McEvoy had been in rough, left of the green in three.
Quarter-finals: I Campbell (Marlborough) bt P Gribben (Warrenpoint) 3 and 2, G Storm (Wynyard) bt C Edwards (Bath) 1 hole, R McEvoy (Thorpe Hall) bt G Havret (Fra) 5 and 4, A Wainwright (Garforth) bt M Siem (Ger) 2 and 1. Semi-finals: Storm bt Campbell 7 and 6; Wainwright bt McEvoy 1 hole.
