GolfIn a way, Jim Carvill may have stumbled his way back into the amateur ranks, but it has proved to be a happy accident. Yesterday, the 38-year-old one-time professional claimed his second "major" of the season when he defeated fellow-international Darren Crowe of Dunmurry in the final of the South of Ireland Championship over the Old Course at Lahinch.
It was a clinical display that demonstrated Carvill had learned much from all the knocks he has taken over the years.
Carvill, from Warrenpoint, was only reinstated in March as an amateur but managed to win the East of Ireland strokeplay last month. Yesterday he validated his new status as a major player by controlling the final once he got his nose in front, and won 2 and 1 over Crowe, a 24-year-old Belfastman who intends to seek a European Tour card at the end-of-season qualifying school.
Not surprisingly, this was an emotional win for Carvill who, in a previous existence as an amateur, lost in the 1990 final of the South to Darren Clarke.
"I felt I was due this one, it was my turn," remarked Carvill, who visited the final qualifying school on nine occasions in his 10 years as a professional without ever securing a full card.
He played his last tournament as a professional in 2001 in South Africa and spent a number of years in limbo before deciding to seek reinstatement as an amateur at the suggestion of Warrenpoint captain Paul McCartan.
"I don't see my time as a professional as being a failure," observed Carvill. "I played well throughout that time, it's just that I didn't score well. I just wasn't good enough. To succeed in the professional game, you need a great golf game. You've got to have a great short game, and you've got to have plenty of money behind you and you've got to have a lot of commitment.
"If you've any weakness, it's a waste of time. I just didn't putt well enough."
Even he could not have anticipated what would happen upon his return to the amateur circuit, however.
Carvill won the East of Ireland at Baltray and, now, has added the South of Ireland and claimed one of its famous green jackets. And these are the sort of victories that, in his teenage years, persuaded him to forsake other sports to pursue the golfing dream. In his youth, he won four All-Ireland underage boxing titles, played minor football for Down and dabbled in soccer with Newry Town. But the lure of the links won out.
Yesterday, on a day of ideal conditions for golf, Carvill overcame Hermitage's Brian O'Connor by 3 and 2 in the semi-final while, in an absorbing match, Crowe finished with three straight birdies to defeat Limerick's Pat Murray by one hole.
Carvill had never trailed at any point in any of his previous six matches until after the first hole of the final, where Crowe immediately went one up with a birdie.
By the third hole, though, the pair were back on level terms, after Crowe missed the fairway off his drive and suffered a bogey, and then Carvill rolled in a 40-footer for birdie on the fifth to edge one ahead. It was a lead he was never to relinquish.
On the eighth, a par three to a green nestled high in the dunes, Carvill hit his tee-shot to 25 feet and rolled in his third birdie in five holes to move two up.
But the fight continued. Crowe rolled in a birdie on the ninth to reduce the deficit to one. It was a front nine of good golf, with Carvill turning in three-under-par 33 and Crowe in two-under.
Yet, the homeward journey became a tense affair, and Carvill only regained his two-hole advantage on the 14th wheCrowe drove into a fairway bunker and couldn't salvage par.
In fairness to Crowe, he never gave up. On the 195-yard par three 16th, he hit a wonderful tee-shot by the flag and holed the 20-footer back for birdie.
But it all ended on the 17th, which was unfamiliar territory for Carvill. Remarkably, he had not needed to play it all week and wasn't even sure of the line until he overheard Darren remark to his brother, Stephen, who was caddying for him, that he would play it over "the red stake".
Crowe, however, failed to find the fairway and then got a flyer over the back.
Carvill, meanwhile, found the fairway and put his approach to the front of the green. He two-putted for par, while Crowe failed to get up and down, missing his par putt from eight feet, which guaranteed the second major win of the season for Carvill.
SOUTH OF IRELAND AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP (at Lahinch GC): Semi-finals - D Crowe (Dunmurry) bt P Murray (Limerick) 1 hole; J Carvill (Warrenpoint) bt B O'Connor (Hermitage) 3 and 2. Final: Carvill bt Crowe 2 and 1.
