Ireland's four competitors in the European Young Masters at Augsburg Golf Club in southern Germany, near Munich, were left trailing by some astonishing golf by 16-year-old Spaniard, Pablo Martin, over 54 holes.
Despite sharing third place in the team event with England, the Irish quartet of Cian McNamara (Limerick), Kevin Kinsella (Waterford), Tara Delaney (Carlow) and Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway) could only watch as the brilliant Martin blazed the birdie trail.
In years gone by it was Seve Ballesteros, Jose-Maria Olazabal, and more recently Sergio Garcia, but now Martin looks like being the next world-class prospect to come out of Spain. The young golfing talent, who beat his more fancied compatriot, Rafael Cabrera, in the final of the British Boys Open Amateur championship last year, completed an amazing 14-stroke victory on Saturday.
Martin, a two handicapper, outclassed all others in this tournament for under-16s. He had rounds of 69, 68 and 66 for a 13-under-par total of 203. Over the 54 holes, Martin had an amazing 20 birdies, including eight in his closing round of six-under-par 66.
He birdied the first four holes, had two more at the sixth and ninth to be out in 30 and then come home in par 36, with birdies at the 13th and 18th being cancelled out by bogeys at the 11th and 17th.
Woulter de Vries from the Netherlands was a distant runner-up at one-over-par 217. Zac Gould of Wales was joint third on 218 with rounds of 70, 72 and 76. England's Gary Boyd was fifth on 219 (71, 74 and 74).
McNamara could not produce the form that won him the British Junior Open at Royal Musselburgh two weeks ago and finished on 223 after rounds of 76, 74 and 73 while Kinsella was three shots back on 226 after rounds of 76, 71 and 79.
Maria Hernandez completed a notable double for Spain in the girls' event. She had rounds of 72, 70 and 76 for 218 to win by two strokes from a pair of French challengers, Melodie Bourdy, whose brother won the Scottish Youths Open title at Murrayshall a few weeks ago, and Noemie Leloup.
Stefanie Michl from Austria, who won the SLGA St Leonards under-16 girls' open title at Drumoig in April finished fourth on 221 with Carlow's Tara Delaney next on 222 after rounds of 75, 74 and 73. O'Sullivan shot rounds of 79, 85 and 77 for a total of 241. No surprise then that Spain won the team event also with a total of 636, 20 ahead of France as Ireland and England shared third place on 669.
Normally in a Ryder Cup year, the leading finishers in the European Young Masters gain automatic selection in a team of boys and girls to play the United States in the Junior Ryder Cup match. Martin, however, will miss out because, like the "real" Ryder Cup match, the teams selected for the Junior Ryder Cup 2001 at the K Club will keep their places for the match which was put back to September 25th-26th this year because of the September 11th atrocities in the US last year.
Meanwhile, Colm Moriarty will be anxious to impress the Irish selectors before they announce the team for the World Cup (Eisenhower Trophy) when he tees-up in defence of his Friends First-sponsored Mullingar Scratch Trophy on Sunday and Monday next.
Moriarty will be keen to bridge a 36-year gap and become the first player since Peter Townsend in 1965 and 1966 to successfully defend his title but he will have to do it the hard way. In preparation for Ireland's first venture into the World Cup, the GUI have requested the Irish elite squad to test themselves over the demanding Mullingar course because of its similarity with the course in Kuala Lumpar which will play hosts to the October 24th-27th event.
Joining Mortiarty in the Mullingar line-up are Ken Kearney (Roscommon), East of Ireland champion Noel Fox (Portmarnock), Justin Kehoe (Birr), Tim Rice (Limerick) and Andrew McCormick (Scrabo).
Also competing are Stuart Paul (Tandragee), the West of Ireland champion, John Foster (Ballyclare), Michael McDermott (Stackstown), Gavin McNeill (Waterford), Andrew Morris (Belvoir Park) and Irish champion John McGinn (Greenore) and so it promises to be one of the most exciting scratch cups for years. Leinster Branch chairman Albert Lee says Mullingar will be at its usual best and with fairways tighter than usual will provide a searching test for all 96 competitors.
Noel Fox set a new amateur mark when he shot a 12-under-par round of 60 last year but he will have to do it all again as a new tee has been laid 15 yards back at the eight which was drivable, which is still the case with the sixth, eight and 11th by the big hitters like Fox.
The new tee will make it much more difficult to cut the dog-leg. In the long term it is proposed to lengthen the par-five fourth to more than 500 yards by relocating the green which will require the par-three fifth to move closer the boundary fence on the left. Another new green is in the pipe-line at the eight which will create the space for a new ninth tee.
The top 50 players and ties after the first 36 holes on Sunday will qualify for the final two rounds on Monday.
