Jody Fanagan had the satisfaction of beating the weather, the professionals and the clock in the Benson & Hedges Links Society Outing at Royal Dublin yesterday. It meant that even off a handicap of plus one, his three-over-par round of 75 gross was good enough to claim the main, net prize.

Though the wind blew fiercely into the players on the homeward journey, there were still a lot of surprised reactions when the results were announced. "I never imagined I would be in the hunt," said the Milltown international who, first off the tee in a two-ball with Mount Juliet's John Curran, went around in two hours 40 minutes.

The effort delighted Christy O'Connor Snr, a noted critic of slow play. "I have always maintained that scoring doesn't have to suffer in a brisk round," he said. Indeed given the conditions, onehandicapper Curran, performed creditably with a net 81.

Among other notable elements to a fascinating day's golf was the fact that local assistant Anthony Schweppe, with a 76, outscored his boss, Leonard Owens, to claim the gross prize. And a hard-won par by Padraig Harrington at the 543-yard 11th was the product of three drivers and a pitch and putt.

Then there was a holed nineiron for an opening eagle by the 1972 Irish Close champion Kenny Stevenson, who lost out to Schweppe on a countback. So did Headfort professional Brendan McGovern, who hit a three wood for his fourth shot at the 11th, which he went on to three-putt for a miserable seven.

Fanagan, on the other hand, played it in exemplary fashion with a driver, three wood, three wood and a chip to two feet for a par. But his best shot of the day came at the long 14th where he carded a splendid birdie four.

Faced with a third shot of 170 yards, he hit a beautifully-controlled two-iron low into the wind, landing it two feet from the pin. "This was my first full round since the last Links on December 4th and I was delighted to play so well," he said afterwards. "The most important thing I did was to keep a double-bogey off my card."

Harrington sets off for Thailand today in preparation for next week's Johnnie Walker Classic and Walton is heading there tomorrow. So, this could hardly have been considered an ideal build-up for either player but they clearly enjoyed the challenge.