Sinclair grinds out second major

Golf East of Ireland Championship: If they're not as obvious as they were in his younger days, Michael Sinclair still has his little idiosyncrasies when in the heat of battle.

Yesterday, on a day when a stiff wind ruined the hopes of many, the 31-year-old Ulster interprovincial used whatever superstition was necessary - and produced an abundance of good shots on a Baltray links that devoured any mishit ones - to claim the East of Ireland amateur championship at Co Louth by four strokes over his closest pursuer, Andy McCormick.

The win was Sinclair's second "major," having won the North of Ireland in 1997. Yet, this was one championship that the player from the Knock club, outside Belfast, very nearly didn't compete in.

Just over a week ago, the wife - Estelle Gibson - of one of his closest friends died of cancer.

"She was only 29, and that really put everything into perspective for me," said Sinclair, who dedicated the win to the wife of his friend William.

Once he made up his mind to compete in the Irish Independent-sponsored championship, Sinclair retained a focus that many others simply couldn't manage.

Sinclair, an Irish close finalist in 1999 (when he lost to Ciaran McMonagle), had started the day one shot behind midway leader Mark Campbell. The Dubliner, though, saw his ambitions of landing the title evaporate in the third round - the omens were bad when he shanked his second shot on the first hole - when he crashed to a horrendous 87; and through it all, Sinclair retained his composure, firing rounds of 72 and 74 yesterday to finish on one-under-par 287.

Campbell wasn't the only player to suffer, as the wind picked up appreciably and allowed the newly toughened links to bite. In fact, only two players managed to break par yesterday - McCormick and Richard Kilpatrick, who both shot 69s in the third round - while the best score in the fourth round was returned by Pat Murray, who had a 72. Among those to lose ground was John Morris, who had a run of seven bogeys in succession in his final round - an 81 - while Johnny Foster saw his ambitions halted when he lost a ball on his second shot to the 10th green.

In the circumstances, and for someone who had travelled south with no great degree of expectation, Sinclair held his game together admirably. "I didn't strike the ball particularly well, but it was really a day just to grind it out, not to miss too many fairways," he explained.

And no one missed fewer fairways than he did. On many occasions, he opted to use a three-wood instead of a driver off the tee, and, generally, his ability to hole out showed an inner fortitude that was in some way removed from the outward stress signals that had him touching his bag superstitiously before playing shots.

"Some people use coloured tees and others use a certain number ball, I just touch things," quipped Sinclair of the superstition.

Having started the day a stroke behind Campbell, Sinclair went into the final round with a one-shot cushion over Morris. That slim margin was still intact as Morris played the ninth hole, but from there he produced a horror sequence of seven bogeys that ended his quest for a first title.

So, it was effectively left to Sinclair to stay out of trouble and claim a second "major" of his career. And that is what he did. Although he bogeyed the 11th - where he drove into rough - Sinclair kept distance between himself and the rest of the field with a series of solid pars.

On the 16th, his one rush of blood proved costly when he ran his first putt 10 feet past the hole and missed the one back. "That three-putt put the pressure back on me," he conceded.

His response, though, was perfect. On the 17th, he fired a five-iron tee-shot in to 15 feet and rolled in the birdie putt. It put him back under par for the championship, the only player in the field to finish with sub-par figures. Which was no small feat in the conditions.