When Portmarnock's Father and Son Matchplay tournament reached the final stage recently, a week's postponement became necessary while one of the participants, in his 83rd year, had a pacemaker fitted at the Blackrock Clinic. Fortunately, it wasn't re-fixed for a weekday, otherwise another player would have had to take time off school.

As it happened, Portmarnock president Dan Lynch showed no ill-effects when he combined with his son John to capture the trophy by 2 and 1. And there wasn't the consolation of a school holiday for Nicholas Heather, who had to settle for runner-up position with his father, Dougie, a former Irish international.

Through the marvels of golf, 13-year-old Nicholas was competing on the opposite side to the 82-year-old club president. And the reason for the Heathers' defeat? "Our opponents used their shots very well, whereas I was struggling off two and Nick had come down from 23 to 13 handicap since the summer," explained Heather Snr. And his next challenge? "To split my playing time between Nick and his twin brother, Chris, next year."