GOLF "It's a classic risk-and-reward scenario when you step on the 18th tee at Royal County Down. I think that balance is particularly good. There is no bale-out since they changed the hole about six or seven years ago. Before that you could go way right.

"There are bunkers all the way down the right and gorse runs down the left and you simply can't go there.

"The tee-shot is intimidating. It is one of the few holes where you genuinely have to trust your swing. If you do manage to hit a great shot down the middle, then the green is on, depending on the wind. I have hit a driver and three-wood and also a driver and three-iron. Ideally you would like to fade your tee-shot and draw your second.

"I remember playing with Garth (McGimpsey) in the Home Internationals a few years ago and on the first day against Wales we were one up playing the 18th hole. It was my tee-shot and I felt as if the weight of the world was on my shoulders. I hit it straight down the middle and Garth then hit the best two-iron I have ever seen in my life which literally ran over the hole. It was a great feeling to do that in those circumstances."

Noel Fox is a Walker Cup panellist and has won five of Ireland's major amateur titles. He plays out of Portmarnock off a handicap of plus four.