The tightly-knit gallery formed a human amphitheatre around the 18th green, oblivious to the rain that joined the AIG sponsored, Irish Amateur Close Championship final, on about the 12th green at Connemara Golf Club. The large drops beat a tattoo on the umbrellas. It was nature's drum-roll.
Eight feet. Uphill. A ball outside left lip. One putt for a place in the history books. Cormac Sharvin never flinched, hadn't done so throughout the tournament, and when the pressure was at its zenith, his stroke remained unerring and the ball slipped into the cup securing a one-hole victory over East of Ireland champion, Paul Dunne.
The 20-year-old Sharvin had holed a number of clutch putts throughout the round – four-, five- and six-feet ones – but it is the one on the 18th green that will be etched in his memory for some time to come.
“I just stood over the putt and thought if you hole this you’ll remember it for the rest of your life.”
Dunne demonstrated great character in taking the match to the 18th, fighting an errant driver, to squeeze through his semi-final against Jonathan Yates – the latter holed a chip from off the green to take it to the 19th – and then clambering back from three down to win the 13th and 17th to set up the palm moistening finale.
The Greystones golfer from a pulled drive on the 18th, laid up, then played a glorious seven iron to 12 feet and holed the snaking putt. He said: "I'm happy I gave him a run near the end and made a match out of it. I was disappointed with how I played for most of the day and disappointed with the result."
His uncle
It was appropriate that the first person to share Sharvin's triumph was his uncle, Brian Martin, a professional caddie from the European tour who has carried for Gary Murphy, Peter Lawrie and currently Johan Edfors.
Martin had also been the catalyst for his nephew’s decision to take up a scholarship at the University of Stirling.
He explained: “I have to say a word about (former European Tour pro) Dean Robertson at the University of Stirling. I met Dean at the Scottish Open last year when Cormac was deciding where to go. I wanted him to go to America
“He told me what he was doing. I told him about Cormac. I told him what I thought his potential would be. He phoned me the following Monday and he said ‘he’s in and he’s got on the golf scholarship programme’. He went there and he’s turned into a completely different player. I have to say hats off to Dean Robertson.”
Sharvin’s progress has been meteoric since taking up the sport as a 15-year-old. He went from a 20 handicap to scratch in three years.
“When I was 15 I decided to play one day and just got the bug for it,” he recalled.
Sharvin became only the third player to win both the silver medal as leading qualifier and then go on to claim the Close title; Garth McGimpsey (1988) and Pádraig Harrington (1995) are his predecessors.
He smiled: “I’m speechless, absolutely speechless. It’s mad. What surprised me the most was how composed I felt.”
He’ll be one to watch.
