Paul shows great tenacity to fend off McNamara

GOLF: These amateurs are tough men. No moaning about pin positions, no bitching about the rough, and no whining about having to play monstrous, uphill par fours into a wind that would bring tears to your eyes.

Yesterday, in a West of Ireland Amateur Championship final at County Sligo GC, which demanded resilience and creative shot-making, Stuart Paul confirmed he has discovered the winning habit with a last-hole triumph over teenager Derek McNamara.

Paul's arrival as a championship winner may have come relatively late in his career, but the 31-year-old - who claimed his first title, the North of Ireland, last summer - again demonstrated a tenacity that all champions require.

"Everything was thrown at me out there," remarked Paul, physically and mentally drained after his exertions. "This is probably the best matchplay course in Ireland, particularly with that finishing stretch. It is hard, hard work." And so it was.

In capturing the Standard Life-sponsored championship, Paul, from Tandragee in Co Armagh, had to dig deep to fend off his young rival. He said after his victory: "I don't aspire to the Walker Cup. To try to win every championship would be the ultimate dream, I suppose.

"A lot of people never get to win one, and less get to win two. The onus isn't on me (to win), I've a full-time job and I am delighted to go back to it. It is a bonus, and gives me a real kick, to beat some of these guys who are playing full-time.They are very, very good players."

In the morning semi-final, Paul had shown the capacity to grind it out by coming back from a two-hole deficit to his fellow-Irish international Colm Moriarty to win 2 and 1, while McNamara, from Connemara, who is effectively a full-time amateur - apart from the side issue of studying two repeat subjects in his Leaving Certificate before taking up a scholarship offer in the US - was a highly impressive 6 and 5 winner over Ken Kearney.

The afternoon conditions were toughened by a strengthening, and cold, wind. McNamara had a definite edge in his driving - a number of his wind-assisted drives were over 330 yards - but, with greens difficult to hold, the battle developed into one principally about approach play and the short game.

McNamara (19), drew first blood, going one up at the par-five third. But holes were hard-won, and the finalists shared every hole until the ninth, where the wind deceived McNamara. The teenager left his tee-shot short, and failed to get up and down.

Paul went two up on the 11th, hitting a sandwedge approach to 15 feet and judging the right-to-left movement and pace to perfection for birdie.

The two slugged it out until the 15th, where Paul's drive found a horrible, semi-plugged lie in the rough on a mound to the right of the fairway. He could only move the ball over the mound, still failing to find fairway, and McNamara took the hole in par.

If McNamara thought the initiative had finally swung his way, his next shot deprived him of any such illusions. McNamara's two-iron tee-shot to the 215-yard par three went some 40 yards right of the green.

"I thought it was on the beach," admitted Paul, who pulled out his trusty "Baffler" - a cross between a driver and two-iron - and put his ball to 30 feet.

It was almost a miracle that McNamara's ball was found in the dunes, but it was a miracle that he managed to play an unbelievable recovery shot to 35 feet.

"I figured he'd need a JCB to get it out," remarked match referee, Jack Lynch, the GUI president. To complete the adrenalin rush, McNamara then proceeded to hole his 30-foot downhill putt for a par to share the hole.

And on they went. After sharing the 17th, it all came down to the 18th where Paul executed a knocked-down, seven-iron approach to 35 feet behind the flag. McNamara, next to play, attempted a near-identical shot.

"I pictured it running up the left hand side and down to the flag," claimed McNamara. But the shot got away on him, and plugged into the front bunker.

He did well to find the green at all, leaving it 35 feet away, but when he failed to hole it and Paul left his dead, the destination of the title was decided. Paul was an estimated four over in winning, but those simple figures don't tell the true story of a final win that required much fortitude.

SEMI-FINALS: S Paul (Tandragee) bt C Moriarty (Athlone) 2 and 1; D McNamara (Connemara) bt K Kearney (Roscommon) 6 and 5. FINAL: Paul bt McNamara 1 hole.