By Mark Jones
The Irish challenge may have been better late than never, but it was Colin Montgomerie who dominated the Murphy’s Irish Open at Fota Island, Cork, last week. Without a win anywhere in the world for 13 months, the Scot emerged from his slump to claim victory by five shots from Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington, who were joint second. The Scot, who has now moved up to sixth place in Europe’s Ryder Cup points list, signaled his intent with a course record 63 over the picteuresque Fota course on the opening day, and he followed that up with rounds of 69, 68 and 66 for an 18-under-par total of 266. If both Clarke and Harrington damaged their chances of becoming the first Irish winner of this championship since John O’Leary in 1982 with 72s in the second round, the pair produced some magnificent scoring over the final two days to keep the large galleries on their toes. Clarke closed with impressive rounds of 65 and 64, which went some way to reducing earlier frustration with his game, while Harrington also finished with a 64, which should set up a strong home challenge for the Smurfit European Open, which gets under way at the K Club — venue for the 2005 Ryder Cup — on Thursday. Clarke revealed that a session with Belgian sports psychologist Jos Vantsiphout, who recently guided Retief Goosen to the U.S. Open title, had helped to improve his form. "It was very beneficial, but the fact the change has been almost instantaneous is down to me," Clarke said. "I’m either up there, or down here; there’s very little in between." Harrington, who was described by Montgomerie as "the most improved player in the world in the past two to three years," had five birdies on the back nine in his final round to move up to first in the Ryder Cup list. However, the tournament ended badly for Paul McGinley who had been in a strong position to gather some precious Ryder Cup points. After a 66 on the Saturday, McGinley nose-dived to a three over par 74 to finish in a tie for 48th place.