Small event pays big dividends

For a change, money was not the most important consideration in tournament golf at Slieve Russell yesterday. Germany's Tobias Dier earned himself the priceless reward of full Tour exemption until the end of next year, when capturing the North West of Ireland Open with a 17-under-par aggregate of 271.

Indeed there were remarkable dividends from the smallest event on the European Tour. While the 24-year-old graduate in biochemistry collected a top prize of £36,535Stg., runner-up money of £24,350Stg will almost certainly help Stephen Dodd retain his card for the first time in 10 years on tour. He is now 98th in the Order of Merit.

Top Irish finisher was David Higgins, who got up and down with a wonderful, 30-yard bunker recovery on the 18th for a closing birdie and a share of sixth place. With his highest finish of the season, the Waterville player earned £5,509 Stg for a current Merit position of 137th .

Meanwhile, whatever the future for this tournament, it won't be returning here, where it has been for the last two years.

"We're delighted with our involvement in that it let us know how our course stood up as a tournament venue," said the owner, Sean Quinn, who contributed £75,000Stg to the prize fund.

He went on: "It meant a huge effort by everybody here and we're now going to take a break. In the meantime, we'll be looking at improvements to the course, especially the greens."

Quality scoring, especially from the leaders, would point to a successful tournament. But the absence of named-players made for extremely modest attendances and one suspects that the main sponsors, Bord Failte, will be conscious of this in their future plans.

Still, Dier could prove to be a prestige winner. As it is, he holds the distinction of becoming only the fourth German to capture a European Tour event, following three-time Irish Open champion Bernhard Langer, Sven Struver and Alex Cejka.

"I feel perfect," said the newly-crowned champion, who missed his last six cuts but was fourth here last year. "I don't yet know what this win will mean to me but the important thing is that I can make plans for next year. That's a wonderful bonus."

Higgins hit some marvellous iron shots while carding five birdies in a closing 69. The most impressive was a five iron of 220 yards to within a few inches of the hole at the short seventh and there were six other birdie opportunities which eluded him from distances of between eight and 10 feet.

"This was the sort of confidence boost I was hoping for coming here," he said afterwards. "I can now look to further progress over the next three weeks in Scotland, the BMW and the European Masters in Switzerland."

Damian McGrane was second leading Irishman, tied 19th for £2,3858Stg. Next came Gary Murphy who eagled the 18th with a glorious three wood to 25 feet for a closing 67, a share of 29th place and £1,885 Stg.

Des Smyth, who birdied the last, was tied 43rd for £1,183Stg, followed by Francis Howley, tied 62nd for £515Stg and John Dignam, tied 81st for £309.

Dier started the day three strokes clear of Dodd and stretched his lead to four strokes after a birdie on the long ninth. But the Welshman maintained the fight, closing the gap once more with a birdie on the 12th. Then, a grandstand finish was ensured when Dodd birdied the 17th to his opponent's bogey.

Down the long 18th, Dier hit a two-iron of 238 yards to 25 feet from the pin, but Dodd responded with an even better effort, also with a two iron, to 15 feet from the target. The Welshman's effort at an eagle slipped narrowly past the hole, on the high side.