Gribben sole Irish survivor

Bleak, bemused looks from Walker Cup selectors brightened somewhat when Paddy Gribben reached the quarterfinals of the British Amateur Championship at Royal Co Down yesterday. In fact he was the only Irish survivor from a session which saw Scottish interest eliminated before lunch, for a first time since 1989.

Conditions improved appreciably from Wednesday's gloom, to the extent that Slieve Donard revealed itself once more in all its majestic splendour. But slow play remained a serious irritant, though the Royal and Ancient didn't seem prepared to take action, beyond warning four groups who took up to four-and-a-half hours.

"It's very disappointing, in my time we took no more than three hours," said Hugh Campbell, chairman of the championship committee. And anyone who has suffered behind slow players would agree entirely with his view that: "It's an etiquette, not a rules issue". In other words, slow players are simply bad mannered.

Campbell went on: "They are being coached into playing this way, by having pre-shot routines instilled into them". Much of that was certainly in evidence on Wednesday afternoon when Trevor Immelman took five hours to beat Scotland's Graham Rankin on the 18th.

But there was little chance of Gribben going on the watch, given that he thrashed Germany's Michael Thannhauser by 7 and 6 in the morning, when he started with an eagle at the first. And he finished the day with an eagle at the 16th, where he beat South Africa's Jaco Van Der Merwe by 3 and 2 in the afternoon.

These performances were largely the product of tremendous confidence in his swing, particularly off the tee. Long, straight driving is always a splendid asset, but it becomes utterly invaluable on the demanding par fours of Royal Co Down.

In beating Thannhauser, the Warrenpoint player reduced the 506-yard first to a drive, five iron and 10 foot putt. He then sank an eight-footer for a winning birdie at the second and went on to take the fourth and fifth in par, for complete early command. Then, as the day progressed, one could recognise the wisdom of his decision to return to the broomhandle putter for the second qualifying round here on Tuesday, having used the short putter for the previous month. He missed very little of consequence on the greens, after getting off to his usual, winning start.

That would have explained why the South African, albeit in difficulty himself, was prompted to concede the eighth and ninth where Gribben hit his approach irons to within eight feet of the pin to turn three up. A bunkered tee-shot cost him the short 10th and they halved the next five holes in par before the end came on the 276-yard 16th.

This was where Gribben almost holed his three-wood tee-shot, with the ball coming to rest only two and a half feet short of the pin. "My driving set me up and I felt really comfortable about my game," he said afterwards. "But I'm not looking beyond the next match."

That will be against the Ian Campbell, a 19-year-old English-born Welsh international. Small of stature and quite a short hitter, Campbell more than compensated for deficiencies off the tee, with an irresistible touch on the greens.

He gained the distinction of a morning victory over Tom McKnight, runner-up in last year's US Amateur. And the American seemed stunned afterwards by the putting exhibition he had just witnessed. His afternoon victim was Welsh colleague Neil Matthews. "Neil and I have been pals since I was 14, so it was hard to take the match seriously," he said. As to the prospect of meeting Gribben, he said: "I've heard of Paddy but I've never met him."

England's Colin Edwards was the only other Walker Cup panelist to get through from an original tally of 18 on Monday. As it happened, he won the opening three holes, starting eagle, birdie, par, to beat the Colm Moriarty, the second of Ireland's third-round survivors, by 5 and 4 in the last 16. He now meets his English foursomes partner, Graeme Storm in the quarter-finals.

Jody Fanagan lost earlier in the day, after a bitterly disappointing finish to his third-round match against Marcel Siem, an 18-yearold German international. The Milltown player was two up with four to play, but lost the 15th, 16th and 17th with figures of bogey, bogey, par, before halving the 18th in bogey.

The morning round also saw the departure of the fancied Immelman, who lost to Yorkshire's Aran Wainwright.