John O'Sullivan follows PadraigHarrington and Paul McGinley during their double successyesterday.
It ended in a whimper. Thomas Levet's tentative prod at a nine-foot putt never threatened the hole, lacking pace and direction. A double bogey six for the French pair of Levet and Raphael Jacquelin, a victory for Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, achieved with a bogey five on the 18th green.
The Irish pair won't really care how the victory was achieved. It might not have been an aesthetically pleasing climax but when they stood on the 18th tee in yesterday afternoon's foursomes all-square, playing one less shot than their opponents would have been all they cared about.
Winning was a satisfactory conclusion for the Irish duo to a very successful day. They were the only combination to win two matches having beaten Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) and Alex Cejka (Germany) in the morning greensomes by the same margin, one hole.
The beautiful sunshine of the morning gave way to an overcast afternoon and a freshening breeze that rendered the Druids Glen course a very difficult and physically taxing proposition. This coupled with the mental and physical rigours of playing at the US Masters last week makes their achievement all the more laudable.
Twice they were taken to the home green and on both occasions they demonstrated the requisite steel to eke out a couple of points. They were understandably pleased. McGinley admitted: "In the morning we were solid, only missing one green in regulation and not making a bogey. Three birdies and the rest pars, that's good golf. In the afternoon we chiselled out two good wins. We haven't been at our best but haven't been bad."
Harrington dwelled on the difficulty of the conditions in the afternoon, pointing out the cross-wind factor on many of the holes.
Given that both Irishmen are in the European team for the Ryder Cup match against the USA at The Belfry later this year, it was inevitable that conversation turned to the possibility that their partnership at Druids Glen could be a fore runner for what might happen next September.
Harrington concurred: "I think that if we show form we will be partners in the Ryder Cup. Both of us individually need to show the right amount of form going into the Ryder Cup. For us to take two spots off anyone we are going to have to be playing well. But if we are playing well we are obviously a partnership Sam (Torrance, European Ryder Cup captain) will be looking to.
"We (Harrington and McGinley) have been playing together for 12 years but are still getting to know each others games. We are not trying to outplay each other, we're playing together. It's doesn't make any difference to me if Paul plays out of his socks and I played badly. If we win I am delighted."
Given the venue it was hardly surprising that the pairing attracted the most sizeable throng of supporters. Two-up at the turn in the morning they were pegged back to all-square by the 11th before going one-up at the 12th. It was advantage they protected down the stretch. Their post-lunch exploits were a touch more frenetic. Two-down after seven the rallied with birdies on nine and 10, bogeyed 14 only to birdie the 15th.
It was the French pair's turn to go bogey, birdie over the next two holes and they had a chance on the 17th for a two but Jacquelin saw his 10-foot putt slide by. Their tribulations of the 18th merely exacerbated the missed opportunity.
Harrington and McGinley's reward this morning is a mouth-watering tilt in the fourballs against Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal: the denziens of many a Ryder Cup against the young(ish) pretenders.
