The Boy Don Good

Order of Merit leader, Martin Wallace, stamped his authority all over the tournament from the off, securing a two shot lead at the turn on the opening day, but a faltering back nine left him with only a share of the overnight lead with his long time adversary, David Dine. Indeed, Dine had secured a place in the final group for the third consecutive Major and was now looking to end a long wait since his last Major triumph in 2003.

Wallace and Dine shared a two shot lead over Mark Greatorex, while David Wallace Snr had played his best round in a Major to secure fourth place and a surprise slot in the final group.

A host of golfers were crammed into mid-division and the early starters were confident of posting a decent score over the testing Longcross course. None more so than the irrepressible Marc James, who fired a one over par front nine. James soon became the focus of everyone’s attention, having halved his deficit to four shots and now menacingly eyeing up another outrageous victory.

Dine had opened up a two shot cushion over Wallace at the turn, but David Kelly had begun to make his move and had joined Wallace in second place. Also making progress was Keith McMahon, who had broken into the top five and was heading for his best finish in years.

With only six to play, Dine had maintained his lead, but Kelly was still only two adrift while McMahon had continued his rapid rise to join Wallace, a shot further adrift in fourth. But, like they say, leading is one thing, but closing the tournament out is another. With victory within sight, Dine began to struggle and with three to play, his place at the top of the leaderboard had been surrendered.

Two shots separated the top five, with Kelly and James timing their assaults to perfection to lead by one from Wallace and the fading Dine, with McMahon a shot back in fifth, but still very much in contention.

As Kelly snatched the lead by a shot at the sixteenth, disaster struck. A wayward drive at the uphill seventeenth appeared to be heading out of bounds, but an intervening branch halted the inevitable and a one shot penalty drop from the ensuing ditch followed as opposed to the more penal three off the tee which had looked imminent.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man. Not to be denied, Kelly summoned all his strength to fire a monster approach to within feet of the green and the damage had been kept to a minimum. Chased hard by both Wallace and James, Kelly controlled his game just enough to reach the eighteenth without too much trouble and his first Major was finally sealed with a testing putt worthy of anyone’s first Major.

Now for the Don-Slam.

1998 - Arran Squires

1999 - Arran Squires

2000 - Martin Wallace

2001 - Martin Wallace

2002 - David Wallace

2003 - Matt Norris

2004 - Gary Andrews

2005 - Arran Squires

2006 - Jamie Andrews

2007 - Jamie Andrews

2008 - Derek Horn

2009 - David Kelly