Michael Hoey had his first view of Royal Dublin last Friday, played a practice round in the afternoon and went on to capture the Irish Amateur Open Strokeplay title there yesterday. "I immediately felt at home here," said the Northerner, after shooting a two-under-par aggregate of 286 for a twostroke margin over Gary Cullen of Beaverstown.

Hoey, the reigning Irish Boys champion, is a son of former Close winner, Brian Hoey and a nephew of twice North of Ireland champion, Michael Hoey. "I've always seen my golfing background as a great advantage," added the 19-year-old, who will take up a golf scholarship at Clemson University, South Carolina in September.

The ready adjustment of the Shandon Park player to strange, links terrain, owed much to summers spent as a boy at Castlerock, where the Belfast-based family went on holiday every year. From the time he was six, young Hoey was learning the little bump and run shots that have now delivered a rich dividend.

As it happened, he had to survive a day of fluctuating fortunes. Leader by two strokes from Cullen at the halfway stage, Hoey slipped a stroke adrift of the Dubliner after a third round of 74 in a chill wind which helped the players on the homeward journey.

Indeed competitors experienced almost the full range of wind directions on the Dollymount links, over the two days of the 72-holes championship. On Saturday morning, there was the familiar, helping wind on the front nine but it switched around in mid-afternoon to be across and against on the homeward journey.

For the closing two rounds, however, it was very much behind competitors on the back nine. So, the 270-yard, par four 16th was comfortably within range off the tee, as Tipperary international Pat Murray was to prove in spectacular fashion.

Murray holed out his three-wood tee-shot for what is believed to be the only ace, or albatross one, recorded there in competition. Indeed the local cognoscenti were of the view that the only other hole-in-one at the 16th was by current member Michael Collins, some years ago.

"It was my second hole-in-one and I waited long enough for the first one," said 26-year-old Murray, betraying the impatience of youth. In fact his first ace was on the fifth hole of his home course where he needed no more than a six iron.

In the event, conditions were a lot less difficult over the two days than the general scoring would suggest, particularly when the excellent quality of the greens was taken into account. So it was disappointing so see so many leading casualties when the half-way cut for the 36 qualifiers, was made on 155 - 11 over par.

Among those who departed the scene at that stage were reigning Irish Close champion Kenneth Kearney, along with other notables such as Jody Fanagan, Andrew McCormick, Karl Bornemann, Rory Leonard and Michael McGinley.

As the championship moved towards a thrilling climax, several players made significant moves up the leaderboard, only to slip away again. Among them was Stuart Paul of Tandragee, who was in a challenging position on three over par, before coming to grief with a double-bogey seven at the long 13th.

Hoey and Cullen played together and the Dubliner couldn't have wished for a better start to his final round when he holed a 12-footer for a birdie at the first. That left him two strokes clear, but the advantage was quickly conceded through bogeys at four of the next five holes.

Still, they remained locked in battle and Cullen had regained a one-stroke lead when a nine-iron downwind to 12 feet at the 13th, produced a birdie three. Then came the two holes that effectively clinched the title for Hoey.

After Cullen had blocked his drive into serious trouble at the long 14th, Hoey was comfortably on the green in two for a two-putt birdie to draw level. And he gained what proved to be a winning lead at the 15th. Here, the Ulster youth rolled the ball dead from 40 feet whereas Cullen raced a 60-footer about eight feet past the target and, predictably, missed the one back.

They then matched birdies at the 16th, where Hoey sank an eight-footer, and pars at the next, where Cullen overcame a poor drive. On the 18th, however, Hoey finished in style, hitting a two iron off the tee and a seven iron to 10 feet, before holing the putt for a closing birdie that he didn't need.

"The 15th was obviously a very important hole but I missed very few fairways over the four rounds," said Hoey afterwards. "My ambition now is to make the senior international team this year." Should he succeed, which seems likely, one suspects he will never match the achievement of his father, who regained that status as a 50-year-old in 1984.