John Morgan projected the cool, controlled image of an accomplished craftsman as he edged to a one-stroke victory in the inaugural £100,000 West of Ireland Seniors Championship at East Clare yesterday. In the process, he crushed local hopes, finishing a stroke clear of Denis O'Sullivan and two ahead of David Jones.
The 54-year-old Englishman seemed to be stating the obvious when he remarked "I do this for pleasure." It was only when he talked of returning to the US to earn serious money, that one gathered he didn't view the top prize of £11,945Stg as a king's ransom.
Still, he was admirably courteous in his moment of victory. "It's particularly nice to win an inaugural tournament like this one and I look forward to seeing it grow over the coming years," he said. "All the players have had nothing but praise for the course, which is richly deserved."
But there were extremely welcome pickings for the Irish challengers. O'Sullivan brought his earnings to £21,605Stg in eight days while Jones picked up £4,910. Next highest Irish finisher was Liam Higgins who earned £2,416 for a share of eighth place.
Fresh winds made for a searching challenge and despite ominously leaden skies, conditions remained pleasantly dry. So, everything was completed on schedule, though a tight leaderboard throughout the afternoon pointed towards the possibility of a play-off.
Given the overall success of the event, it was a pity that Christy O'Connor Snr should have missed the chance of completing the 54 holes. With a second round of 72 on Saturday for a total of 145 - three over par - he was a comfortable four strokes inside the cut.
His many admirers around these parts, however, were disappointed to learn of his withdrawal after he had required medical attention. Overnight, he suffered a recurrence of vertigo which had caused him to withdraw from the Irish Open at Killarney six years ago. But the strain of following six rounds at Royal Portrush with another testing challenge here, was also a factor, even for this remarkable 73-year-old.
Overnight, Morgan led on nine under par, a stroke clear of Jones, while the Canadian, Bill Hardwick was two strokes further back. O'Sullivan looked to have considerable ground to make up, even though a second round of 67 left him on 139 - three under.
The first in a series of dramatic swings came after seven holes of the final round when Jones was on top of the leaderboard on eightunder, a stroke ahead of Morgan. After all the top contenders had gone through the turn, however, Morgan was back in control, still on seven-under and a stroke clear of Jones, O'Sullivan and the Australian, Terry Gale.
In that short spell, the Ulsterman's challenge was effectively scuppered by the 143-yard eighth, arguably the finest hole on the course. Into the wind, it was either a soft six or a hard seven iron. Jones elected to use the former - and in a manner of speaking, lost the election, dumping the ball in the water. Then, after re-loading, he missed from six feet to run up a double-bogey five.
"That killed me, mainly because of the putt," he said afterwards. "My overall putting was awful. I had 35 putts for the round and missed eight from six feet or less. I couldn't afford those sort of errors on the toughest day of the tournament."
On the other hand, O'Sullivan's challenge held up brilliantly. Heartened by a share of fifth place in the Senior British Open a week previously, he overcame the disappointment of three-putting the first. Indeed he was entitled to feel it might just be his day when he eagled the 534-yard fifth, reducing it downwind to a drive, seven wood and a huge, 30-yard putt.
Then came successful putts of eight and 10 feet for birdies at the sixth and seventh and when a 12footer round the target at the difficult 10th, he was joint leader with Morgan. In a further change at the top, Gale led on his own when the Corkman three-putted the short 13th and Morgan bogeyed the 11th.
But O'Sullivan kept up the fight. With a wedge to three feet at the 14th, he was joint leader once more. His chance of victory, however, rested ultimately on his play of the long, 475-yard 16th, downwind.
With one of his best drives of the day, he had only 151 yards to the flag. In choosing an eight iron, however, he tried to turn the ball off the bunker on the right, but it stubbornly held its line and finished 18 inches from the sand. From there, he failed to get up and down for an expected birdie.
Though he sank a brave, sixfooter for a par at the 18th, one sensed his chance had gone. Gale also slipped up on the 16th where his second was actually in the sand of that greenside trap. And he went on to slip into a share of fourth place through a bogey on the short 17th.
"This is better than anything I ever did as an amateur," said O'Sullivan, a former Irish Close and East of Ireland champion. "I believe I've now taken a very important step towards my first seniors win. My confidence is certainly growing."
