Power cements his love affair with The Island

Eddie Power would be the first to acknowledge that golf can be a crazy game of co-incidences. His affinity with The Island goes back a long way, and yesterday the 33-year-old Tramore man cemented even further the relationship with the north county Dublin links by capturing the Irish Amateur Close Championship, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, for a third time with a one-hole win over international colleague Bryan Omelia in the final.

Not only was it Power's third national championship, but he accomplished the feat on a course where his wife, Curtis Cup player Eileen Rose, won the first of her three Irish titles in the club's centenary year, in 1990.

For added measure, Power also recorded his first hole-in-one on the links, at the 13th in the Interprovincial championships in 1992 when he was the only player to go through the series unbeaten. So, perhaps there was a touch of fate about Power's eventual triumph. "I certainly felt good coming here, it holds nothing but good memories for me," he confirmed, "and I suppose I can say that I'm the only unbeaten player on this course."

But for much of the homeward run in the final duel with Omelia, it looked unlikely that the match would actually reach the 18th, such was Power's apparent dominance.

The final was enacted on a sodden links, courtesy of heavy rainfall that started almost as soon as the morning semi-finals - in which Power beat Gary Cullen on the 18th, and Omelia accounted for Michael Hoey by one hole - had terminated. Yet, the greenstaff, transported in a green Jacobsen buggy ahead of the players, used squee-gees to ensure there was no water on the greens, and the respective caddies (both the brother of their partner) used copious towels to keep the equipment dry.

Although Omelia went ahead with a long birdie putt on the third, Power responded in kind at the next to level matters. And so it stayed until the par 5 10th, a hole that effectively transformed the match. Power was bunkered off the tee, could do little more than pitch out, and was 10 yards short of the green in three. Meanwhile, Omelia had a 20-foot uphill putt for birdie.

However, Power played a delicate bump-and-run from 25 yards that always looked destined to plop into the tin cup. It did, and Omelia, for the third hole in succession, shaved the cup with his putt. "It was a definite turning point," observed Power.

But the 12th hole, known as "Valhalla", proved to be just as crucial. Omelia had a downhill 12footer for a birdie to win the hole, raced the putt three feet past and missed the one back. It was a costly three-putt that left him two down. Worse was to follow at the 14th, where he pulled his drive into the rough some 25 yards from the fairway, needed two shots to get back onto the fairway and eventually conceded the hole. Power, three up with four to play, was coasting.

Omelia's chance seemed to have disappeared when he missed a six-footer for birdie at the 15th which would have reduced the deficit, but things finally swung slightly in his favour at the next, where Power missed the green right, opted to use his Texas wedge and failed to get up and down, and Omelia won the hole with a par.

Then, on the 17th, Power's drive finished in a divot. "It was really sitting down," he said, and the resultant six-iron approach finished short of the green. Again using the putter, he failed to get up and down. He was now just one up playing the last.

However, Omelia's tee-shot went right into the thick rough, and Power drilled his straight down the fairway to the same spot he'd found in his semi-final win over Cullen. He even had the same shot, a seven-iron, and, after Omelia sank a 25-footer for par to keep the match alive, Power responded by completing his two-putt, sinking the last from three feet, to regain a championship he won for a second time in Enniscrone in 1993.

Power's record in the Irish Close is quite remarkable. Since losing as an 18-year-old to Tom Corridan in the 1983 final in Killarney, Power has won the title three times - over his home course in Tramore in 1987, then Enniscrone and now The Island. He joins an elite group who have won three national championships.

"When I lost the final to Tom in 1983, some people said I should have made the Irish team, but they were probably right not to put me on. I have been a stronger player for it. In fact, I think my ball striking now is better than it was 15 years ago," said Power.

With a new addition to the family later this year - his wife Eileen Rose, who actually caddied for Eddie in the stroke-play qualifying before handing the duties over to his brother David, is expecting their first child in a few months - Power intends to curtail his golfing commitments to the South of Ireland, the Interprovincials and the Home Internationals.

Omelia, meanwhile, must wonder what he has to do to win a major. But his goals for the season will possibly now centre on earning a place on the British and Irish Eisenhower Trophy (world championship) team in Chile in November.

And, while the final may not have featured the fireworks of the semi-finals (when the PowerCullen match had a better ball of 65, and the Omelia-Hoey match had a better ball of 63), it was nevertheless a worthy conclusion to an extremely well-run championship.

Semi-finals - E Power (Kilkenny) bt G Cullen (Beaverstown) 2 holes; B Omelia (Newlands) bt M Hoey (Shandon Park) 1 hole. Final - Power bt Omelia 1 hole.