McGinn seizes moment at Close

Amateur Scene:  It was an unlikely triumph, one that defied the expectations of most pundits. John McGinn, though, wasn't reliant on the imprimatur of others, instead offering determination, character and no little ability to claim the Golfsure Irish Amateur Close Championship earlier this year, writes John O'Sullivan

From the moment the Greenore golfer dipped under the qualifying mark for the matchplay stages of the competition by a single stroke (79, 73) his game seemed to improve incrementally with each round. He admitted: "I wasn't really playing well in the qualifying but my game improved as the week went on."

Weaned on the links of Laytown & Bettystown for 17 years he suffered a back injury in the 1996-97 season and on his return to golf joined Greenore. His philosophy to improve his golf included a serious undertaking. "I packed in my job and spent last year playing golf full-time but it was only during the winter that my game finally came together."

When he won the Dundalk Scratch Cup earlier this year he set a target of making the Leinster team; international honours followed, initially occupying the traditional number one berth in the singles afforded the Close champion on the Ireland team for Home Internationals. He hasn't been in the least discommoded by a return to work, enjoying his position as production manager with Boyne Valley Foods.

McGinn's pivotal moment of the week came in the morning semi-final against Irish panellist Michael McGeady in which the Greenore man was three-down through 11 holes. McGinn explained: "He (McGeady) called a half and I wouldn't accept it. I holed from two and a half feet and he missed from just inside that. It backfired on him. I knew that if I hit good golf shots, I would still have a chance."

Two down with two to play, McGinn won the 17th and 18th to take the match into tie holes, a regulation four sufficing at the 19th to copperfasten his passage.

In the final he met Irish international Ken Kearney, McGinn's status of underdog no less diminished despite his heroics. However, the Greenore player turned three up and buoyed by the steadying influence of his fiancée Olivia on his bag, he had a two-hole lead playing the 17th.

"I felt really relaxed. In fact the only time that I realised where I was and what I was doing was when I stood over that putt on the 16th. I thought, 'this is to win the Close' and probably froze a wee bit. I have been in many tight matches before and my philosophy is simple. If you can see it, you can hit it. If you can hit it, you can hole it."

A superb five-iron to three feet closed out the match on 17 after Kearney had strayed into the sand thereby completing a monumental week for the Greenore man, amateur golf's new face of 2002.