Baltic waters were shimmering under a bright, evening sun when England and Ireland were confirmed as first and second qualifiers in the Men's European Amateur Team Championship here at Ljunghusens GC yesterday.
But from lunchtime, the only point at issue was the margin of England's supremacy. As it happened, Ireland's team score of 699 - 11 under par - was no fewer than 14 strokes adrift of the leaders. But the Irish may have secured a more favourable outcome by facing Germany in the opening matchplay stage today: England qualified to meet Wales, who completed the top flight in eighth place.
After disappointing strokeplay rounds of 75 and 77, Michael McDermott has been omitted from today's line-up. And Tim Rice, who slipped to a wretched 78 yesterday, will be limited to singles play.
The Irish line-up is: Foursomes: Michael Hoey and Graeme McDowell; Noel Fox and Stephen Browne. Singles: Hoey, Rice, Fox, Browne, McDowell.
"We're where we wanted to be; it's an excellent outcome, if only for superstitious reasons," said the Irish skipper Eddie Dunne.
For their part, the English seemed to have no problem with the role of serious front-runners while delivering another outstanding strokeplay performance. The two countries are seeded to meet in Saturday's final.
A brisk wind increased the difficulty of the course by probably two strokes from Tuesday. Yet Nick Dougherty carded a sparkling 65, despite a bogey at the last, where he drove into water. All but two of his colleagues then broke par, and there was rich irony in the fact that one of the exceptions happened to be Luke Donald, who followed his course-record 63 of Tuesday with a 72.
Donald was two over par going to the last which he birdied for a second successive day, this time with a chip to 10 feet. Yet it was interesting to note that his qualifying total of 135 - seven under par - was no better than that returned by Browne, the most successful Irish player.
Overall, the best individual strokeplay performance came from an unlikely source. Sweden's Rickard Sundgren, who spent two years at college in Scotsdale, Arizona, came into the home side only as a late replacement. And his response was to follow an opening 65 with an equally impressive 66 for a 36-hole total of 131.
Meanwhile, there were decidedly mixed aspects to the Irish performance. On the credit side, a score can rarely have been more welcome than Browne's 68, which came after McDermott's 77 and while Rice was struggling.
The 27-year-old Hermitage player is making this a wonderful international debut. And indicative of much-changed conditions was that at the 462-yard 12th, which he reached with a five-iron on Tuesday, he was short of the target yesterday with two drivers.
In the final match of the day, Hoey produced a fighting performance to come from three down after 11 for an improbable 70.
