In the timeless nature of great links terrain, Portmarnock looked pretty much the same 40 years ago, as we know it today. So, by turning our thoughts towards that narrow tongue of shallow duneland, with water on three sides, we can almost picture the climactic scene on September 20th, 1959, when Christy O'Connor shot a course-record 66 to capture the Dunlop Masters for a second time.
Distinguished observers at the time, would have suggested that the north Dublin links lacked the charm of Royal Co Down, the tailored perfection of Muirfield or the ageless subtlety of the Old Course at St Andrews. But there would be no disputing the honest simplicity of a design, which demanded length and a rare degree of control, especially if the wind blew.
At 6,918 yards, it was only about 200 yards shorter than when Jose Maria Olazabal won the last Irish Open there in 1990. But, of course, the par was different. The 465-yard fourth and 461-yard 17th were both par fives in an overall 74, comprising equal halves of 37.
It was said that, in a firm wind, even the greatest golfers would take level fours at Portmarnock and remain in the clubhouse pretty sure of victory. When he won the Irish Open in 1938, Bobby Locke was the only player in four rounds to break 70 and when the event returned there 13 years later, Dai Rees triumphed with 295.
As he would do in so many other tournaments, however, O'Connor was to render those sort of statistics obsolete. By the time the Dunlop Masters came around, 1959 was already the most productive of his early seasons on tour.
We remember it now, not simply as the 40th anniversary of its staging. From this country's perspective, it remains unique among important international tournaments, as the only event in which three Irishmen shared the top two places - O'Connor as the winner and Joe Carr and Norman Drew as joint runners-up.
Carr, who was then widely acknowledged as Europe's finest amateur, gained a special invitation into the select, 24-man field, due to the fact that the British Amateur champion of that year, Deane Beman, was an American. The Sutton man more than justified the organisers' faith in him.
After opening rounds of 68 and 69, he proceeded to card another 69 on the morning of the final day, highlighted by a holed second shot of 100 yards for an eagle two at the third. All of which added up to an amazing 54-hole score of 206 - 16 under par.
It left him four strokes clear of his closest challenger, who happened to be none other than O'Connor. And there were those who recalled how the wonderfully gifted Galwayman came from seven strokes back of Eric Brown, to win his first Masters at Prestwick, three years previously.
As it happened, Brown was in contention again on this occasion, a stroke back from O'Connor, with John Panton, Rees and Bernard Hunt, while Drew was on 212 along with legendary British professionals Charlie Ward, Arthur Lees and Syd Scott.
Paul MacWeeney, the then golf correspondent of this newspaper, placed Carr's performance in perspective when he wrote: "Not since the days of Bobby Jones some 30 years ago, has an amateur made such a bid to beat professionals over 72 holes."
This was certainly true in a European context. But the amateur's hopes of a historic triumph became decidedly fragile when O'Connor turned on the heat with five birdies in an outward 32 in the final round. Remember, this was a time when the closing 36 holes were on the same day and there wasn't the sophisticated scoring system we now take for granted.
O'Connor was playing five two-balls ahead of his amateur rival. As he recalled: "I reckoned if I was to have any chance of catching him, I needed to get to work early and hope that the news filtering back down the grapevine would cause him to get worried."
The strategy worked to perfection. Relying on the bush telegraph and his own, keen golfing instincts, Carr knew that his fate was written on the wind. "From the almost constant stream of cheering, I realised Christy was burning it up," he recalled.
Then there were self-inflicted problems, like at the second, where a nervy chip ran past the target to cost him an unexpected bogey. But the most devastating blow to his hopes came at the long sixth, which then measured 576 yards.
The Sutton man hit such a huge drive that he needed only a five iron for his second shot. But he cut it wide of the green into heavy rough, pin-high, from where he took two hacks to get on the putting surface. A missed five-footer led to a dispiriting, bogey six where O'Connor had earlier sunk a 12-footer for a birdie.
Later, another bogey at the ninth brought Carr to the turn in 38 which meant that his third round advantage had not only evaporated, he was two strokes behind the new leader, who had become a golfing neighbour by taking up an appointment as professional at Royal Dublin earlier that year.
By that stage, there was little doubt that O'Connor was surging to victory. In complete harmony with his putter, which could often be a problem club, he enjoyed a perfect ending to the outward journey by chipping in for a birdie on the ninth.
As MacWeeney reported: "Over the green at the 11th, he holed a five-footer for a four and he got out of such a tough spot on the 12th, that one thought his name was on the trophy. Here, he overclubbed to the extent that he finished on the high bank behind the green, but his pitch hit the putting surface and a nine-footer went down for the par three.
"The one break in the steady flow came at the 13th and this was caused by one of those irritating camera fiends who snapped the shutter too soon and caused the player to lose his concentration on a five-footer, which he missed (to take a par)."
O'Connor made flawless progress from then on, however, carding an eagle three at the long 17th where a glorious fairway wood second shot finished 10 feet from the hole. By the time he got to the 18th, the huge gallery had swollen to an estimated 15,000, milling around the green. Eventually, overworked stewards managed to settle them down as O'Connor sent a drive straight down the middle.
From there, his approach to the 398-yard par-four kicked off the bank on the right of the green, but he used a putter to ease the ball to within three feet of the target. Then the cheer that went up as the putt found the target for a course-record 66, could have been heard by Carr's colleagues over the narrow strip of water in the clubhouse of Sutton GC.
O'Connor's figures were: Out . . . 4 3 4 4 3 4 3 4 3 = 32; In . . . 4 4 3 5 4 3 4 3 4 = 34. Victory earned O'Connor a reward of £1,520 - £1,500 for regaining one of European golf's most prestigious titles and the princely sum of £20 for setting a course record.
It was a target that would survive only nine months before being beaten by Gary Player's 65 in the first round of the Canada Cup, the following June.
For his part, Carr finished in style, even if it was for a level-par 74 to be four strokes behind O'Connor. Like the Royal Dublin man, his approach to the 18th kicked off the bank on the right, but he played a delightful chip and run shot to leave the ball within a few inches of the target for a tapin par.
By his own admission, this was to be one of the great disappointments of an illustrious career. Yet Carr had reason to be proud of his achievement in sharing second place with Drew, his amateur international foursomes partner at Killarney six years previously. The Ulsterman birdied the third, fifth, eighth, 10th and 12th. In fact he covered the eight holes from the fifth to the 12th in five under par.
Though a bunkered drive on the 18th deprived him of second place on his own, Drew had more than justified his selection on the Ryder Cup team a short time previously. He still carded a 68 to be among the only three players to break 70 in the final round. In view of Carr's amateur status, Drew collected the full second-place prize of £500.
Reflecting on the tournament which he followed from a distance, Bernard Darwin, the celebrated former London Times correspondent, wrote some time later: "Every morning I looked in my paper expecting to read that Portmarnock had taken its revenge on those who had affronted it with 69s and 70s.
"But still the marvellous scoring went on and O'Connor's last round, with which he caught up and passed Joe Carr, was the most magical of all."
That Was The Day . . . . "But still the marvellous scoring went on and O'Connor's last round, with which he caught up and passed Joe Carr, was the most magical of all," Paul MacWeeney, The Irish Times golf correspondent, in 1959.
