First, there was a 69-76 win over Canada's Richard Zokol; then came a halved match with America's Chip Beck at 71 each. This was followed by a titanic, semi-final battle with England's Nick Faldo, whom he beat 69-70. And finally, Australia' s Rodger Davis was outplayed by 71-73.
By way of reward for those memorable exploits, Des Smyth received $100,000 as a member of Ireland's victorious Dunhill Cup team of 1988. Now he is to receive the same money, simply for showing up at Kiawah Island in the European side for the inaugural UBS Warburg Cup on November 12th to 18th.
"It's amazing - I stand to get $150,000 (dollars) if we win," said Smyth. "But money aside, it will be a great thrill to meet up again with some terrific players from the 1981 Ryder Cup team at Walton Heath, guys like Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Hale Irwin."
In fact there's a chance Smyth could team up again with Jose-Maria Canizares, his partner in a 6 and 5 fourball thrashing of Bill Rogers and Bruce Lietzke, 20 years ago.
For the President's Cup-style match between senior players from either side of the Atlantic, Smyth has been chosen in Europe's special, 40 to 50-year-old category along with such luminaries as Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Faldo. "I'm in line for the biggest cheque of my career," added the man from Mornington, who collected £66,660Stg for winning the Madrid Open in 1993.
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