Looking up towards the Mournes, totally obscured by sea-fog, a local wag remarked: "If Percy French had been around on a day like this, we'd never have had the song." Conditions were indeed wet and miserable when matchplay in the British Amateur Championship got under way at Royal Co Down yesterday.
The elements seemed to have little effect, however, on a superbly presented links, where the greens remained remarkably quick throughout - up to 10 on the Stimpmeter. Interestingly, the visitors, especially those from England, performed considerably better than the natives.
Out of eight Irish qualifiers, Paddy Gribben, Colm Moriarty and Jody Fanagan were the only survivors. David Jones, who lost on the 18th, might have suspected it wasn't to be his day when his German opponent, Marcel Siem, had a hole in one at the seventh. Arthur Pierse also took his opponent the distance.
Meanwhile, there were some heroic performances by American challengers, even in defeat. Given the circumstances, it was an achievement for 58-year-old Joel Hirsch to qualify, 18 years after being runner-up at St Andrews, and then take Australia's Andrew Webster to the 17th in the second round.
Tom McKnight, beaten finalist in last year's US Amateur, did appreciably better. In fact he staged an amazing recovery from three down with four to play to beat compatriot Gene Elliott on the 18th. "I've had it happen to me," said McKnight, with the pragmatism of a seasoned competitor.
After the 44-year-old had closed the gap by winning the 15th in par, they were both left of the green with their drives at the 16th. But whereas Elliott left a chip 15 feet short, McKnight cleverly putted up to two feet for a win in birdie. He then won the 17th, where his opponent drove into rough, and went on to take the match at the last by holing a 10-footer for birdie.
Fanagan, who reached the semi-finals of this event at Hoylake four years ago, drove the ball beautifully when beating current England international Ben Mason by 2 and 1. Yet he was made to fight all the way, despite the boost of winning the opening two holes in birdie, par.
The turning point came at the short 14th, where Fanagan got up and down for a winning par when they both missed the green. And after they had halved the 16th in birdie, he went on to secure the match with a birdie at the next, holing a six-footer after his opponent had missed from 20 feet.
By his own admission, Gribben caught fellow international Andrew McCormick on an off-day, to avenge a 5 and 4 defeat in the Senior Cup at Lisburn last year. Three up after four, Gribben lost the fifth, where his opponent holed an eight-iron second shot for an eagle two.
But the Warrenpoint man regained control to be two under par and four up at the turn; he could afford the odd error on the homeward journey and still close out McCormick on the 14th.
Meanwhile, Moriarty was winning the short seventh in birdie to turn two up against South Africa's Jean Hugo. From then on, the 19-year-old full-time player from Athlone kept a firm grip on the match, winning the difficult 13th and 15th holes with creditable pars.
While the Scots and Irish suffered, their English brethren were endorsing their almost perennial dominance of the Home Internationals. Yet notable defeats in the top half of the draw involved leading qualifier Simon Dyson and the 1991 champion, Gary Wolstenholme.
Then came a 2 and 1 victory by Mark Hilton, of East Sussex National, over the highly-rated 17-year-old Nick Dougherty, whom Nick Faldo has taken under his wing. Hilton will be remembered for having squandered the chance of beating Sergio Garcia in the semi-finals of this championship at Hillside last year, when the Spaniard won on the 23rd.
In a very sensible approach to yesterday's challenge, the 6ft 7in 21-year-old said: "It wasn't a day to be looking for birdies, so I settled for hitting the middle of the green and trying to make par."
