Nicholas records a spectacular debut win

ALISON NICHOLAS had a spectacular winning debut in the £110,000 Guardian Irish Open at Citywest yesterday, and it was partly due to the advice of the defending champion, Laura Davies.

But when Davies suggested to Nicholas two years ago that she should make the trip to the Irish Open, she could never have imagined an eight-stroke victory margin for Nicholas, while she, herself was being beaten into third place.

It may have taken Nicholas a while to take up on the suggestion of her foursomes partner, but she certainly made up for lost time, claiming top prize of £16,500 with an 11-under par aggregate of 277. Davies was knocked out of second place by a double-bogey at the last.

It was the 12th WPGET victory by Nicholas and her first since the last year's Scottish Open. And she set it up with a course record 65 on Saturday, when she went six strokes clear at the top of the leaderboard, ahead of Davies, Penny Grice-Whittaker and Sofie Eriksson who were sharing second place.

The diminutive English player had never previously faced this sort of situation, much less with Davies as her final-round partner.

"I wanted to remain aggressive, but obviously I was also anxious not to make any silly mistakes," she said. As it happened, she handled the challenge even more impressively than Tom Lehman did in similar circumstances in the British Open at Royal Lytham the previous weekend.

It was a disappointing tournament from an Irish standpoint, not least for the fact that a final round of 77 pushed Aideen Rogers from 23rd down to 38th position and the decidedly modest prize money of £836. Indeed a bogey, double-bogey finish cost the Malahide player about £400.

Eileen Rose Power claimed the amateur medal after a final round of 72 for an aggregate of 299 - 11 over par - and a share of 44th place which would have been worth about £600, had she been eligible for money.

From a professional standpoint, however, one couldn't help looking towards next December when the marriage of Allison Shapcott to Paul McGinley, will allow us to claim the talented English player as one of our own.

Shapcott shot four birdies to match the winner's final round of '70 and improve her position to tied seventh, from a share of 20th overnight.

Miserable, wet weather from midday, failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the galleries, particularly around the final pairings.

Trish Johnson, a Solheim Cup representative, made an early move with birdies at the second and third to get to four under par and within five strokes of the leader.

Then Davies made her move, carding birdies at the long third and short fourth, so closing the gap to four. But the response from Nicholas was a measure of her competitive calm. With a six iron second shot to 10 feet at the 353-yard fifth, she set up a crucial birdie. "That settled me down," she said. "After that, I felt fairly comfortable for the remainder of the round."

Her comfort had much to do with the fact that none of those close to her on the leaderboard seemed likely to make a worthwhile challenge. And several of them, including Davies and Johnson, frittered money away through their play of the 380-yard 18th.

Among the 68 players who made the cut, 11 carded double-bogey or worse, while the only competitor to have a birdie there was the Belgian, Lana Freund, in a round of 76. In fact, it seemed likely to deprive Johnson of second place and a difference of £5,000 in prize money when she hit her approach into the water to run up a double-bogey six.

That knocked her back from four under to three under, a stroke behind Davies. But the defending champion also came to grief there, bunkering her drive and then pulling a recovery into the water, as she did in the opening round of Thursday.

Meanwhile, whatever about the outcome, Solheim Cup skipper, Mickey Walker, will be pleased to see Nicholas (fifth) and Johnson (sixth) move into the top-seven who will gain automatic selection in the team to meet the US at St Pierre in September.