Golf: The thing about being a champion is that the time comes when a title must be defended, and that can often prove to be more difficult than the original winning act.
Stuart Paul discovered as much yesterday in the West of Ireland amateur championship, sponsored by Standard Life, at Rosses Point. But, as his reign came to an end, he wasn't alone in discovering the hardship of carrying a champion's handicap into a tournament.
For, amid the casualties on a long day spent combating the demands of a links in unusually firm condition for this time of year was also John McGinn, the Irish close champion.
Paul, the defending champion, got his comeuppance at the hands of local teenager Martin McTernan, while McGinn's demise came at the hands of a player fast emerging as the surprise packet of the championship, John Harding of City of Derry.
Indeed, golf's new breed are a tough lot. In his second-round match with Tandragee's Paul, McTernan - a 19-year-old who first showed his pedigree when winning the 1991 Irish boys' title - put two balls out of bounds over the stone wall that runs up the right side of the second hole. Rather than bemoaning his fate, McTernan got on with the job of refocusing and did it so well that, by the time he reached the turn, he was one up on the holder.
On the par-three 13th, McTernan struck a four-iron tee-shot to 12 feet and sank the birdie putt to gain an initiative that was strengthened in rather bizarre circumstances on the 14th, where Paul hit a huge drive of 250 yards down the right but was unfortunate to hit his own bag. The penalty was the immediate concession of the hole and, with that, Paul's reign was effectively ended and McTernan moved on to the last 16 as a 4 and 3 winner.
Harding's continued march also relied on a comeback on the holes back home that run along the Atlantic seaboard. Although 28 years of age, Harding is competing in only his fourth senior championship - he reached the last 16 of the North three years ago, losing on that occasion to Michael Hoey. Yesterday afternoon, he gained the scalp of McGinn when coming from two down after 10 to win by one hole.
The competitive bug has really hit Harding this season. He gave up smoking seven months ago and embarked on a fitness regime that also entailed road running over the winter. And his game was also helped by a new job at Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry, which entails shift work and allows him more free time on the golf course.
Yesterday, Harding's keenness was demonstrated by his presence at six o'clock in the morning on the pitch-and-putt course beside his lodgings and, after accounting for Ronan Maher in the first round, he went on to dispatch McGinn. He levelled matters by winning the 14th and took the lead with a wedge approach to two feet for a birdie on the 15th.
Once ahead, he didn't slip up.
Next up for Harding is another of the new generation, Brian McElhinney, a 20-year-old Donegalman who has played what he calls "very solid" golf in this championship. Last week, he won the Connacht youths' title; yesterday he won both his matches without going beyond the 14th.
Robert McCarthy, from The Island, also showed his worth. In his first-round match with John Callan, the 19-year-old was five down after nine holes and, when he found a greenside bunker on the 10th, it looked bad for him. However, McCarthy made a sand save and Callan three-putted. With that, the match swung and McCarthy won six of the next seven holes to move into the second round, where he beat Collwyn Martin by 2 and 1.
For the Swedes, it proved an exasperating day with only one of seven, Steven Jeppesen, surviving into the last 16.
Ken Kearney, a former club member here and a winner of the championship in 1992, was a second-round casualty - losing to John Morris - while leading strokeplay qualifier Gary Wardlow's quest finished in the first round, where he lost to Mullingar's Desmond Morgan.
Details in SPORTS ROUND-UP
