Ireland discovered the harsh realities of medal matchplay here on the Old Course yesterday when South Africa ended their hopes of further progress in the final staging of the Alfred Dunhill Cup. The medal part was fine, in that all three Irish players broke par for a second successive day, but the problem was that their matchplay opponents happened to score better.

Small wonder that Irish skipper Des Smyth was disappointed. On his previous appearance in this event in 1988, cumulative figures of seven under par were sufficient to give him a place in the final. On this occasion, in ideal conditions, he is without a point after two days. "It's a pity - we had a great team spirit going," he said.

When all three matches had gone through the turn, the tie was finely balanced with Smyth trailing David Frost in the top match, Paul McGinley leading Retief Goosen at number two and Padraig Harrington level with Ernie Els in the anchor position. Two hours later, Ireland were coming to terms with a 3-0 defeat.

Hopes were still alive when McGinley and Goosen were level after rounds of 71. But when the South African won the 19th with a birdie three, the battle for Group Two honours had been clearly defined: the winner of today's match between New Zealand and South Africa will go through to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Group Three will be decided by the final match between Sweden and the free-scoring holders from Spain, and Group Four rests between Argentina and Australia. Only Group One offers the opportunity of some mental gymnastics in that Wales, Scotland or Germany could qualify, depending on today's matches in which England will be the whipping boys.

For the Irish, all that remains is personal pride in their final group match against France, when the best they can hope for are cheques of £15,000 each, which is small beer by current standards.

Meanwhile, the Americans are having their worst showing since the current format was adopted in 1993. Only the affable Larry Mize could see a bright side to the exercise. "Despite the disappointment of not making the semi-finals, I'm personally enjoying this visit to St Andrews," he said.

From appearances, it was clear that colleague John Daly took a rather different view after shooting a 75 in the 3-0 whitewashing by Argentina. But he considered it more prudent not to comment.

Colin Montgomerie was in a positively effusive mood, however, after a superb, 15-foot birdie on the 18th set up Scotland's first win over England in six clashes at this level.

With the pin 25 yards in from the front and 10 yards in from the town side, Montgomerie's approach finished 15 feet left of the hole, towards the clubhouse.

Facing a borrow of 18 inches from left to right, he judged pace and line perfectly to spark a lusty cheer from the home crowd. The dreaded Sassenachs may have lacked the credentials of former teams, but after a 15-year wait, the Scots were in no mood to be choosy. And how did Monty feel about the decisive putt? "I'm never confident over a putt of any length, especially at St Andrews," he replied.

The shape-up of yesterday's matches suggested that McGinley had to beat Goosen for Ireland to have a chance. After the Dubliner had opened up a three-stroke lead with an outward 33, the entire match turned on two holes. With a poor pitch into a bunker, McGinley bogeyed the 12th, and he also bogeyed the long 14th where he was again in sand. As it happened, Goosen birdied both holes, thereby creating a four-stroke swing.

Smyth did extremely well in coming from four strokes down after 13 to be only one stroke adrift of Frost three holes later. A run of three birdies did the trick, with the trusty broomhandle dispatching putts of 15, 30 and 12 feet. And after a wonderful two-putt par from 90 feet on the 17th, the gap remained the same going down the last.

Here, Frost was extremely fortunate not to drive out of bounds after hooking the ball dangerously close to the fence on the left. In fact it probably would have crossed the boundary but for the thick rough which remained from where the grandstand had stood during last July's British Open. And the South African had the additional luck of a free drop from unmarked ground under repair.

When Frost's recovery landed 20 feet behind the pin, Smyth knew that he still needed a birdie. But he suffered the indignity of duffing an attempted sandwedge pitch into the Valley of Sin from where he took three more to hole out.

Harrington effectively lost touch with Els when a bogey from a bunkered approach at the 16th left him two strokes down with two holes remaining. From the Irishman's standpoint, it had to do largely with putting. "I never putt well on these greens," he said. "They are too flat. To be successful here, you've got to rap putts towards the back of the cup, whereas I prefer to roll the ball in from one side or the other."