Irish Seniors Open: Last January, Noel Ratcliffe turned 60. Many men of that age aspire to more leisurely time on a golf course than the cut and thrust of tour life, but not Ratcliffe, who was convinced that his body and mind were sufficiently sharp to remain competitive on the PGA European Seniors Tour.
And yesterday that positive approach was well and truly rewarded with victory in the AIB Irish Seniors Open at the Heritage at Killenard, Co Laois.
By a touch of irony, the Australian's return to winning ways came almost two years to the day since his last tour win; which just happened to be this tournament in 2003, when it was staged in Adare Manor.
"I never gave up believing that I would win again," said Ratcliffe, who shot a closing round 71 for a 54-hole total of six-under-par 210, two shots clear of runner-up Luis Carbonetti. "I've put a lot of work in with my swing and my fitness to make sure that I could keep pace with all the younger guys."
For the Irish, it proved to be a case of what might have been. Des Smyth and Eamonn Darcy shared the distinction of finishing as joint leading Irishmen in tied-fifth position on level par 216.
"I played pretty average," contended Darcy, who was runner-up in his last outing in Italy a fortnight ago.
But Smyth had reason to be harder on himself as he got into contention in each round only to toss shots away like confetti at a wedding.
"I got into contention and made a mess of it. I've no explanation for it," he said.
In fact, Smyth had moved menacingly onto the shoulders of the leaders Ratcliffe and Carbonetti in mid-round with a hat-trick of birdies from the sixth. Yet, playing from the fairway on the ninth, the wheels started to come off. He tried to cut in a six-iron approach that was pushed into thick greenside rough.
"I probably should have blasted a seven-iron into the middle of the green," Smyth confessed.
Instead, he failed to get up and down, bogeyed the hole, and proceeded to drop shots at the 10th and 11th too.
With that, his charge had effectively ended.
"I knew when I started to drop a shot or two, my chance was gone," admitted Smyth, who now has a two-week break before returning to the Champions Tour in America for a three-week stint.
He added: "No, I wasn't tired. I'm never tired when I'm competing and that's the truth.
"But I did putt very badly over the three rounds. You have weeks when it's bad, and this was one of them. I putted hopeless.
"However, I've had a successful year already and it is only June. I just have to look at the Order of Merit and the stats to know that, and I just want to build on that for the rest of the year. I'm hitting the ball really good and driving the ball great.
"I've just got to tighten up around the greens a bit," said Smyth, who has won twice on the Champions Tour this season and who revealed he was considering putting two putters - the traditional short one and a broomhandle putter - in to his bag.
Ratcliffe is not one of those players who studiously avoid looking at leaderboards during a round. All day yesterday, he kept glancing at the scoreboards scattered around the Laois countryside, while also having the benefit of watching what his chief adversary, Carbonetti, playing alongside him in the final group, was doing. Both reached the turn as they had started, at five-under, but Ratcliffe birdied the par five 10th to assume a lead he was never to relinquish.
On the 14th, his birdie to Carbonetti's bogey gave him a cushion coming down the stretch that enabled him to cruise home - even allowing for a bogey on the short 17th - and gave the Aussie his eighth European Seniors tour win.
He also picked up the not inconsiderable prize of €60,000 for his troubles. Certainly, he won't mind returning here next year to defend: in nine appearances in the Irish Seniors, he has won twice and finished runner-up three times.
Irish Seniors Scores
210 - N Ratcliffe (Aus) 71 68 71 (€60,000).
212 - L Carbonetti (Arg) 70 69 73 (€40,000).
213 - J Chillas (Sco) 70 71 72 (€28,000).
214 - S Torrance (Sco) 68 75 71 (€22,000).
216 - D Smyth (Irl) 73 71 72, E Darcy (Irl) 72 73 72. (€17,040 each).
217 - D Russell (Eng) 71 76 70, M Poxon (Eng) 71 75 71, C Maltman (Sco) 73 72 72, B Heuchan (Can) 71 73 73, A Mew (T&T) 73 70 74.
218 - J Rhodes (Eng) 67 77 74.
219 - J Bruner (US) 74 75 70, B Cameron (Eng) 76 73 70, R Caldwell (US) 76 73 70, N Job (Eng) 70 76 73, B Shearer (Aus) 71 75 73, S Ebihara 71 70 78.
220 - A Tapie (US) 72 79 69, T Gale (Aus) 74 75 71, H Carbonetti (Arg) 76 73 71, M Pinero (Esp) 76 72 72, E Rodriguez (Esp) 75 70 75.
221 - L Carter (US) 68 83 70, T Allen (Eng) 72 78 71, C Mason (Eng) 75 75 71, M Gray (Sco) 75 75 71, D Oakley (US) 71 78 72, M Miller (Sco) 73 74 74, K Spurgeon (Eng) 72 71 78.
222 - D Good (Aus) 71 79 72, H Woodrome (US) 74 76 72, B Longmuir (Sco) 69 75 78.
223 - B Lendzion (US) 77 77 69, E Polland (NIrl) 73 80 70, A Saavedra (Arg) 74 79 70, D Cambridge (Jam) 74 77 72, J Morgan (Eng) 77 74 72.
224 - S Stull (US) 75 78 71, A Garrido (Spa) 75 77 72, M Bembridge (Eng) 76 75 73, D Creamer (Eng) 76 75 73, P Leonard (NIrl) 71 79 74, B Jones (Aus) 74 76 74, B Hardwick (Can) 76 74 74, J Grace (US) 73 76 75, M Foster (Eng) 72 75 77.
225 - G Levenson (SA) 72 79 74, G Townhill (Eng) 77 74 74, A Sowa (Arg) 72 76 77.
226 - I Mosey (Eng) 71 80 75.
227 - T Horton (Eng) 74 80 73, T Charnley (Eng) 73 78 76, R Carrasco (US) 72 78 77, G Encina (Chl) 75 75 77, G Watine (Fra) 76 73 78.
228 - J McDermott (Irl) 77 77 74, S Owen (NZ) 80 73 75, G Cali (Ita) 73 76 79.
229 - A Pierse (Irl)* 80 77 72, N Coles (Eng) 77 71 81.
230 - A Croce (Ita) 74 79 77, L Higgins (Irl) 73 77 80.
231 - J P Sallat (Fra) 78 76 77, D Durnian (Eng) 79 74 78, A Morrow (Irl)* 74 78 79.
233 - C O'Connor Jr (Irl) 78 78 77, M Gregson (Eng) 75 80 78.
234 - J Morrison (Irl)* 81 76 77, I Stanley (Aus) 73 80 81.
236 - M Gallagher (Eng) 75 80 81.
237 - A Spring (Irl) 82 82 73, J Mashesco (SA) 80 77 80.
238 - D Morris (Irl)* 77 81 80.
239 - V Garcia (Spa) 82 80 77.
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