David Higgins played in front of the largest gallery of the day yesterday up the Santo da Serra mountain, and the experience looked to be lifting him until he came to the last hole of the Madeira Island Open.
Higgins was partnering the bright, 16-year-old Portuguese prospect and local lad, Joao Umbelino, and looked as though he would be challenging for a place on the lower half of the leaderboard.
But then the Waterville professional slipped, double-bogeying the last for a 73 to finish seven strokes off the lead held by re-invigorated Englishman David Tapping.
Frustratingly, it left Higgins not only one adrift of the Portuguese wunderkind, but also with much to do today if he is to go on to the big cheque he needs from this minor event to try to keep his tour card.
His last-hole problem came from no great fault of his, either. "I was absolutely stone-cold plugged in the bunker and had no shot at all," said Higgins. "My game was pretty good for most of the round and I was looking for birdie on the last to be up there just behind the leaders. Now I've got to start all over again."
By coincidence all four Irish pros at Santo da Serra, Higgins, Francis Howley, Stephen Hamill and Cameron Clark, carded 73s to be seven behind Tapping, whose 66 equalled his career-best.
Tapping is two ahead of Stephen Ames, Roger Winchester, 1995 winner Santiago Luna and Thomas Gogele.
On a day when there were two holes in one - for Rudi Sailer of Austria and Japan's Katsuyoshi Tomori - Howley's was the bravest display.
All day he nursed back spasms from pulled ligaments caused by a strain when lifting his suitcase into the car boot last Sunday at Slaley Hall. That was always going to hold him back, but he battled on gamely, sandwiching two birdies around three painful bogeys.
Said the Milltown man: "After hitting 15 greens in regulation I could have expected better. But it was a struggle on and around the greens because of being in constant pain. In fact it was a struggle all the way round pitching and putting, because that's when the spasm comes, with the short shots and crouching, not when I'm driving. I constantly had to keep adjusting my putting stroke to stop the spasm and that cost me two three-putts for a start."
Ignacio Garrido and Alex Cejka yesterday beat the deadline for entries in to the Murphy's Irish Open at Druids Glen Golf Club in a fortnight.
Just hours before the deadline for acceptance of entries, Garrido, whose only tournament win was last year's German Open, confirmed he will be playing in the tournament which this year carries a record prize-fund of £1.25 million.
It can be assumed that the increase in prize money was probably instrumental in the pair changing their schedules to include the Irish Open. Remarkably, Cejka, who has three tour wins to his credit, has never competed in the event.
