Twelve years ago this month, Eamonn Darcy won a rain-restricted Belgian Open at Waterloo to move into ninth position in the Ryder Cup table. And at a time when there were three wild cards, he clung on for the next nine weeks to this, the final, automatic place in the team.

Indeed there was no let up in Darcy's agony, even in the last tournament, the German Open, in which his closest challenger, Mats Lanner, started with a 62. "Still I held on," he reflected. "And the big pay-off was that I can now look back on it as undoubtedly the highlight of my professional career."

It culminated in a typically generous Jack Nicklaus being moved to talk of "a great effort by a man who had not won a Ryder Cup point in nine previous matches." And by way of emphasis, the Golden Bear suggested "that the putt he holed on the 18th, will probably become the most important he will ever hole in his career."

The scene was Muirfield Village, otherwise known as the Course that Jack Built, and the occasion was the 1987 staging of the Ryder Cup. And Nicklaus was right: 12 years on, Eamonn Darcy has not holed a putt to compare with the one which made such a vital contribution to Europe's first triumph on American soil.

Small wonder that he looks on it as the pinnacle of his achievements in golf, surpassing even the glorious Dunhill Cup at St Andrews in 1988, when he captained Ireland to a memorable triumph. "The Ryder Cup stands apart, because of what it meant to European golf," he said.

It also completed a fascinating, historical link for the Irish player, dating back to 1953. Darcy was only a year-old baby when Harry Bradshaw was guest of honour at the annual dance of the Delgany Artisans' Golfing Society, held at the Horse and Hound Hotel.

Charles Byrne, secretary of the Society, congratulated The Brad on his victories, foursomes and singles, in the Ryder Cup matches at Wentworth that year and also his win in the Dunlop Masters at nearby Sunningdale. Replying to the toast, Harry said: "I look forward to the time when some other Delgany golfer will bring much greater honours to the area than I ever could."

Listed among the organising committee for what turned out to be a memorable function was the name C Darcy. Thirty-four years later, on October 31st 1987, Christy Darcy's son Eamonn was honoured with life membership of Delgany GC for the distinction he had brought to his country and former club, at Muirfield Village. And in recognition of past achievements, the club also conferred life membership on The Brad.

Muirfield Village was where Seve Ballesteros and Jose-Maria Olazabal came together for the first time in what would prove to be the most feared pairing in Ryder Cup history - the so-called Spanish Armada. And it was where Ballesteros, on hearing that Olazabal wanted to stand down because of poor form in practice, had assured Jacklin: "Don't worry. I will play good enough for both of us."

It was also the occasion when Sam Torrance had announced his engagement to actress Suzanne Danielle while travelling on Concorde. And such was their closeness on arrival in the US, that in announcing his pairings for the opening foursomes on Friday morning, skipper Tony Jacklin said to the Scot: "Sam, I'm resting you; you're playing."

And it was where Nicklaus, while predicting heart-stopping Stimpmeter speeds of up to 13 for the Muirfield Village greens, insisted: "I have deliberately removed myself from anything to do with the preparation of the course. Our greens are essentially flat and the idea of making them firm and fast is to place a premium on approach shots."

He then added the telling comment: "This is the way you separate good players from journeymen and I believe that Muirfield Village is essentially a second-shot course."

By way of expressing his belief in America's superiority, the Bear later suggested: "In terms of tournament performances, I could probably throw the 12 names of the US team into the air and pick them as they fall." Given the presence of leading money-winner Curtis Strange, Masters champion Larry Mize, US Open champion Scott Simpson and USPGA champion Larry Nelson, it was hard to argue the point.

As the week progressed, it became clear that Darcy was not in Jacklin's plans for the early foursomes and fourball matches. This prompted the player to insist: "It is important for me to think of myself simply as a member of the European team; I cannot afford to indulge in personal feelings."

So it was that without Darcy's involvement, Europe had opened up a lead of 6-2 by Friday evening. And the Spanish Armada had already made their mark with two victories, the second of which involved an incident of outrageous brilliance from Ballesteros.

After missing the first green in the fourball match against Strange and Tom Kite, Ballesteros asked his partner to secure a par with a second putt of about three feet before he, himself, attempted a recovery chip. Strange objected on the grounds that by doing so, Olazabal would spike up the line of his (Strange's) putt.

Ballesteros could have dismissed the objection but instead, he said calmly: "Okay, no problem," while asking his partner to mark the ball. Then, to the stunned disbelief of the Americans, he proceeded to chip into the hole for a winning birdie three.

It was typical of the inspirational dominance which the Spaniard was to exert on a thrilling day's play. "Seve's contribution has been incalculable - he is simply a wonderful, wonderful player," enthused Jacklin. Even Nicklaus was moved to comment: "I don't have a Seve on my team and at the present time, I think that he and Greg Norman are head and shoulders over the rest of the world."

By that stage, Ballesteros had accepted his regal role in European golf, along with the consequent responsibilities. And the Americans suffered. By the end of the second day, the gap had widened to 101/251/2, despite the effrontery of Hal Sutton and Mize in beating the Spaniards in the last series of fourballs.

Darcy played on the Saturday afternoon, but his partnership with Gordon Brand Jnr was no real match for the American duo of Payne Stewart and Andy Bean, who won on the 16th.

So to the final day's singles when, remarkably, Nicklaus took the decision to leave perceived big guns such as Nelson, Strange, Lanny Wadkins and Sutton at the bottom of the order. Meanwhile Bean, Dan Pohl, Mize and Mark Calcavecchia were expected to achieve a potentially winning momentum, from the top four places.

Remarkably, it worked, even though the 16st 7lbs Bean, standing a foot taller than Ian Woosnam, had to endure the indignity of being outdriven by the diminutive Welshman. "Shoot, he's strong and it hurts when a little bitty fella out-drives you," said the American afterwards.

Apparently it didn't hurt sufficiently to undermine Bean's confidence in that he won the top match on the 18th. In fact, out of the top seven singles, the only European reward was a win at number two for Howard Clark over Pohl and a half by Torrance against Mize.

Darcy was at number eight against Ben Crenshaw, the 1984 Masters champion and winner of 11 other tournaments in the US at that stage, apart from the 1976 Irish Open at Portmarnock. But in an extraordinary act of self-destruction, the world's best putter was so disgusted at three-putting the sixth green - his second was from five feet - that he smashed the errant club into the ground in disgust, while walking to the seventh tee.

The impact was sufficient to break the shaft of "Little Ben", so creating a crisis for the American. With Darcy two up on the eighth tee, Crenshaw was joined by a deeply-concerned US skipper who wanted to know how he planned to cope. Nicklaus was told the player would be alternating between a one-iron and the leading edge of his sand-wedge.

As the day developed, a win by Stewart over Olazabal meant that the Americans had closed the deficit to 12-9 with Europe up in two, level in two and down in three of the remaining seven matches. So, Darcy was in no doubt about the importance of his situation, especially when going one down to Crenshaw by losing the short 16th.

It is to his eternal credit that he found the courage and skill to fight back. A six-iron approach landed three feet from the 17th pin for a winning birdie to square the match. Then, standing on the 18th tee he looked at Crenshaw and thought: "Your Masters and all your other titles are no good to you now. Your insides are churning just like mine. It's man to man and I'm going to win."

Crenshaw pulled his drive into the same stream that Mize had found against Torrance. After their approaches, both players were in the same greenside bunker - Crenshaw in three; Darcy in two. After their recoveries, Crenshaw was six feet below the hole while Darcy had the most slippery putt on the green, five feet downhill and breaking left to right.

When Crenshaw holed for a five, Darcy seemed to take an age over surveying his effort. Then, his mind made up that it was on the left lip, he stood over it and hit the putt almost straight away.

Twenty thousand star-spangled banners had been handed to American supporters coming through the gate that morning. Not one was visible as Darcy's putt ran unerringly into the middle of the 18th cup. If there was no vision, however, there were resounding cheers - from the European contingent gathered around the green.

"When old Darce sank that putt . . . . well, what can you say?" was all Jacklin could muster before being overcome by emotion. And after the winning point had been secured by Ballesteros - who else! - the skipper added: "This is a dream come true for us - a victory that could change the entire course of world golf."

Darcy had never been happier. "Nothing I have ever done in golf can compare with this," he said. "I was nervous playing the bunker shot at 18, but my hands were rock steady. I kept telling myself I could get the ball close to the pin. Mind you, that was the toughest putt I ever faced."

It was some time later before he revealed what was really racing through his mind, as he stood over that fateful putt. "Don't f . . . ing miss," he had thought. And he didn't.