By this stage, the temptation is to look desperately for some dastardly tartan conspiracy to explain Ireland's sixth defeat in six meetings with Scotland in the Alfred Dunhill Cup. But much of yesterday's grief was self-inflicted, as gale-force southwest winds revealed the well-documented terrors of the Old Course.
Conditions were difficult, but not bad enough to justify a cumulative total of 13-over-par from the Irish trio - the country's worst performance in the event since the opening day four years ago. And the bitter irony was that with Darren Clarke taking the top match after a 73, they might just have turned a 2-1 deficit into a narrow win.
It was a day when frustration was never far from the surface. Argentina's Eduardo Romero succumbed to it in a grim struggle against New Zealand's Greg Turner. Six shots behind on the 17th, he unwittingly hit his second shot out of bounds and decided not to go back to reload, and was thus disqualified. Yet the leading players provided a realistic assessment of a searching golfing challenge with two-under-par rounds of 70. These included Tiger Woods who, by three-putting the third - "That was a real neat pin-placement" - carded his only bogey in 36 holes.
Colleague Mark O'Meara also shot 70, as did the splendid Swedes, Per-Ulrik Johansson and Patrik Sjoland, in contributing to a 3-0 whitewash for England on successive days. But a 70 from Nick Price, who had an eagle two at the 10th, failed to save Zimbabwe from a 2-1 defeat by France.
South Africa, the holders, then became the third seeds to fall in a 2-1 defeat by Germany. The decisive point came from Sven Struver in a 20th-hole win over Ernie Els. But the German was forced to declare afterwards: "We can't qualify? That's stupid."
With match points crucial in determining the group leaders, a win by either South Africa or Zimbabwe when they clash today would claim a semi-final place. And Australia need to take only a point from New Zealand for a place in the last four. "We got a much stronger team now that Greg Norman's not in it," declared Steve Elkington with a grin. "We don't need the Fish."
Price captured the essence of the tournament when he said: "You can't win it with two people carrying the other. The format demands all three playing well." Applying that thinking to Ireland's woes, skipper McGinley had the honesty to admit: "There are no excuses. We didn't perform; we simply didn't play well enough."
But acknowledging the turnaround in Clarke's fortunes and the tightness of Padraig Harrington's match, he added: "We got close at the finish, but that was due largely to Scottish mistakes." Like the way Andrew Coltart's six-iron shot from rough at the 17th flew almost 200 yards before bouncing out of bounds, off the road behind the green.
Clarke, meanwhile, responded with a beautifully-struck seven-iron of 172 yards to six feet from the pin. And he sank the putt for a birdie. He also birdied the last, driving the green, 354 yards downwind. "I didn't have to give it the full treatment, just an ordinary swing," he said with a quiet smile.
McGinley was in trouble against Colin Montgomerie from the time he bogeyed the 11th and 12th holes to fall three strokes behind. And he effectively sent himself packing with a wretched seven at the long 14th, where his third shot bounced back off a slope, and he then pitched and three-putted.
But Harrington, who was three ahead after three, always had a chance against a moderate opponent in Gary Orr. Even after the Dubliner had double-bogeyed the 12th, which he four-putted, and dropped another at the next, which he three-putted, there always seemed to be a way back. His dispirited demeanour afterward indicated an acute awareness of this.
In the event, he was two strokes behind playing the 16th, where he overshot the green and failed to get up and down from a back swale. It meant that even when Orr bogeyed the 17th, the gap remained two points going down the last. And when Harrington pitched and sank a four-foot putt for a closing birdie, Orr saved par by putting dead from the Valley of Sin.
Ireland's failure was remarkably similar to last year's when, after losing 2-1 to South Africa on the opening day, they lost 2-1 to Scotland on the Friday. And on this occasion, the clash had such a modest impact on Montgomerie that his angry preoccupation on entering the media-centre had to do with unflattering newspaper headlines about his loss to China's Zhang on Thursday.
Sweden, last year's runners-up, performed with typical grit and resourcefulness for a splendid, best-of-the-day cumulative score of two under par. The icing on their dominance over England was for Gronberg, the European Open winner, to beat Lee Westwood at the 19th in the top match.
It was a case of riding his luck after a miraculous escape on the 18th for a birdie, birdie finish. "My drive hit the road out of bounds but it must have struck a spectator because it finished 10 yards in bounds," he admitted. From there, Gronberg pitched to nine feet and sank the putt.
"This is a new team and shows how strong we are," said PerUlrik Johansson, the captain and veteran of the side. "We grew up playing team things in Sweden, which must help us." He, too, finished with a birdie to beat Irish Open champion David Carter by three strokes. In the clash with the US today, Johansson faces John Daly in the top match; Gronberg meets Woods at number two and O'Meara and Sjoland clash in the anchor position. It will be a repeat of last year's semi-final in which the Swedes won 2-1 and O'Meara lost by 68-69 to Jesper Parnevik.
"The true Old Course came out today, with rain, cold, sun and wind, to test us mentally and physically," O'Meara remarked with some relish, about gusts of up to 30 mph. "That's what makes this event so special."
Woods, who used every club in his bag with the exception of the five-iron, also enjoyed the challenge. "I've always told people I love to create and that I can play in pretty much any conditions, but they don't believe me," he said. "I enjoy learning and seeing how the pros play these courses strategically and I learn from them."
While Master Woods has been an adept pupil, his colleagues have been winning many friends here. But O'Meara has no illusions about the task ahead, with more high winds predicted for today.
"Everyone thinks that if you're a top-ranked player, it should be a cake-walk," he said. "But that's not the case. You can never take an opponent for granted in golf. And I know our team doesn't."
