First win at last for McMonagle

If you're going to win a championship, why not start with a big one? Ciaran McMonagle, a 23-year-old who epitomises the new generation of player by being effectively a full-time amateur, won his first ever title by winning the Irish Amateur Close Championship at Killarney yesterday.

Highly regarded to such an extent that he has represented Ireland at all levels of golf, winning titles had, however, proved an elusive occupation for McMonagle. Until yesterday. Far removed from his home club in Dunfanaghy on the northern tip of Donegal and even further from West Palm Beach in Florida where he has fine-honed his game for the past three winters, McMonagle never flinched in his self-belief and eventually won a quite remarkable final duel with Michael Sinclair 2 and 1. Maybe the tension had something to do with it, or perhaps the fact that this was their eighth round in five days on a genuine championship course that was physically and mentally exacting, but both players were forced to dig deep to find their survival instincts.

Indeed, when McMonagle rolled in a 12 footer on the 17th (the last putt of the championship), he dropped his putter on the green and raised his two hands to the heavens in an understandable gesture of affirmation.

The final had proven to be a tougher slog than initially thought. McMonagle, in fact, was four up after five holes but, as his swing got faster, the errors crept into his game and, slowly but surely, his close friend Sinclair chipped away until only one hole separated them coming into the final stretch.

McMonagle, though, had no doubts about the ultimate outcome. "I always knew I was going to win," he insisted. And a key factor in his success was the calming influence of his brother Seamus, who had played himself in the earlier stages of the championship but took on the role of caddie as soon as his own playing interests were terminated. "Seamus told me to slow down, and I managed to get my driving going again."

But the man from Donegal must have known it would be his day after winning three of the first four holes and especially after the scenes at the fifth which would have been comical except that they were so serious.

There, McMonagle's swing tempo was lightning fast and he crashed his tee-shot into a tree 50 yards ahead of him. The ball ricocheted over to rough on the far side of the 11th fairway and McMonagle then played his recovery out onto the fairway of the ninth hole.

It seemed a lost cause, given that Sinclair had found the middle of the correct fairway. However, the Knock golfer pushed his approach behind a bush, tried a miracle recovery shot that didn't come off and finished with a double bogey six. In contrast, McMonagle somehow salvaged a bogey five - and that was enough to take him into a four hole lead.

But Sinclair dug deep, in fairness, and started his comeback of sorts by winning the sixth with a great up and down. Only one of the first six holes had been halved, but the players contrived to share the next five, included in which was a fantastic save from Sinclair at the eighth where he pushed his approach into a drain but donned his rain gear and splashed out to six inches.

Sinclair then won the 12th and 14th holes to reduce the deficit to just one hole. However at the 15th, his approach clipped a tree and he again failed to perform his Houdini act. McMonagle slipped back into a two shot lead and closed out the match at the 17th where, adrenalin pumping, he overshot the green but played a delicate shot into the bank and sank the 12 foot putt that gave him the last national championship of the century.

Semi-Finals: - M Sinclair (Knock) bt S Browne (Hermitage) 7 and 5; C McMonagle (Dunfanaghy) bt B Smyth (Mourne) 3 and 1. Final: - McMonagle bt Sinclair 2 and 1.