Craig Smith is a Welshman who looks cut out for life on the rugby field rather than the golf course. He stands 6ft 7½ins and at one time did in fact represent his country at under-21 rugby as a number eight. But that was before a knee injury halted rugby aspirations and forced him to switch his attention to golf.
Yesterday, in the AIB Irish Amateur Open Strokeplay Championship over the Montgomerie Course at Carton House, the 23-year-old laid down the first clear marker that his future career is likely to be eked out of his golfing prowess. In shooting rounds of 68 and 71 on a long course on a long final day, Smith finished on one-over-par 289 to claim the title, edging out Co Sligo's Seán McTernan by a stroke.
"I gave it a good rattle," said a philosophical McTernan, who finished with a 70 but had a 20-footer for birdie on the 18th to force a play-off.
Watching from the driving range across the River Rye in front of the magnificent old house was Smith, hitting balls in order to retain flexibility. And even from 200 yards away he could glean from the reaction of the crowd that McTernan's birdie effort had grazed the hole but refused to drop.
The win was Smith's first major amateur title, yet the work ethic that reaped such a success was evident off the course as much as on it a year ago, when he would start work as a milkman at 3 a.m., take a break midway through his milk round to help his father in his newsagents before completing his deliveries and, only then, find time to play golf.
However, his elevation to the R&A's Walker Cup squad earlier this year brought the bonus of an "Elite Cymru" sports grant and allowed him to forsake the day job. He has played in tournaments as far afield as Australia and Colombia, but this Irish title represented his biggest win and impressed among others the watching Walker Cup captain, Garth McGimpsey.
Smith had built the foundations for his success in the morning's third round, where he equalled the course-record 68 established in Friday's first round by Scotland's Matthew Clark, who slipped completely out of contention over the weekend.
Going into the fourth round, though, Smith, a quarter-finalist in the British Amateur last year, still trailed Kevin Moore, of the Isle of Man, by one shot. Yet, midway through the final round, the Welshman had edged in front and, after bogeying the eighth, actually showed his composure by finishing with 10 straight pars.
Smith, who plays with specially adapted irons an inch longer than standard with weight ground off the back, reckoned afterwards that a 15-foot par-save putt on the 13th was the key to his final round. "It was a big momentum keeper," he attested.
Out on the course, while Smith retired to the driving range, McTernan, a South of Ireland finalist two years ago, had emerged as his main challenger. And the 23-year-old Sligoman didn't hold back. On the 14th, he watched incredulously as his 20-foot birdie putt hung on the hole but refused to drop; but he birdied the par-five 15th and stood on the 18th tee knowing a birdie would force a play-off.
However, his tee-shot drifted left, into the semi-rough and, blocked by a tree, he could only lay up short of the green. His approach finished 20 feet past the hole, the birdie putt to force a play-off failed to find the hole, and Smith, a big fan of the Monty course - "there wasn't a blade of grass out of place," he insisted - could finally savour success.
