Walton assured on the green

IT WAS Philip Walton's day but then it has been the Walton family's year. The modest man from Malahide was engulfed by tears, cheers and champagne when he secured the point that won the Ryder Cup for Europe against the United States at Oak Hill and yesterday he was showered with more bouquets.

The Alfred Dunhill Cup at the home of golf was a more personal, patriotic affair. Walton was not wearing European colours but the green of Ireland. And he did Ireland proud. Walton, Darren Clarke and Ronan Rafferty were in the hardest of the four groups. They beat the Americans 3-0, Canada, the defending champions, 2-1 and they qualified for a semi-final against Scotland with a nail-biter against Sweden.

Jarmo Sandelin, who looked as if he was dressed for an assault on the Matterhorn - bobble hat, ski glasses, six layers of cashmere - shot 67 to beat Clarke in the first match and in the third Rafferty defeated another Ryder Cup man, Per-Ulrik Johansson, with a 68 to a 71.

Once again the burden of responsibility fell on the unassuming shoulders of Walton. Both he and Jesper Parnevik bogeyed the Road Hole, the 17th, and the Swede birdied the last to tie Walton with a level-par 72. Thus the match went to an extra hole, the first and Walton did not come up short. He pitched to within six feet of the flag and despite the fact that once again his fair hair was turning a shade of grey, he took his pendulum putter back and rolled the ball into the hole.

Out went Sweden and they were joined by some of the more fancied teams, the United States, Australia, England and South Africa. In the other semi- final Spain will meet Zimbabwe.

Greg Norman, the Australian captain, arrived here defending allegations of establishing a slush fund in appearance money. He said he had only received cash up front in eight of the 24 tournaments he had played in. This was one of them and it was not money well spent. Australia were beaten 3-0 by England which meant that in Group 4 there was no security for Norman. Whether he was quite aware of the significance of his putt at the 18th in his game against Mark James is not clear. Norman pitched to within four feet of the flag, missed the putt and took 69 to James's 68. In the Royal and Ancient clubhouse the Spanish team, who must have an Einstein in their camp, fully understood the equation of Norman's missed putt. They interrupted their lunch and were watching the drama out of the clubhouse window. There were three huge smiles and it had nothing to do with the cock-a-leekie soup.

The strange thing is is that Norman also had a smile as wide as a Great White and it gave the impression that Australia did not have a mathematician in their team. Had Norman made that short putt he would have gone into a sudden death play-off with James and had he won that Australia would have been beaten 2-1 instead of 3-0 and they, rather than Spain, would have gone through to the last four. England, already assured of their fate, had nothing to lose.

Scotland have never won this tournament - they were beaten, and this has always stuck in their craw, by England in the final in 1987 and 1992 - but yesterday they despatched South Africa 2-1. Andrew Coltart, who had mastered the Old Course on the first two days, had a relapse yesterday with a 75 to Ernie Els's 70 but the Ryder Cup adrenalin of Sam Torrance and Colin Montgomerie keeps flowing.

Torrance, who will settle the Volvo Order of Merit against Monty at Valderrama next week, beat Retief Goosen by two strokes and Montgomerie, by the same margin, got the better of David Frost. "The Irish are a good team so it's going to be tough," Monty said. "But we are playing as well as anybody." One man's cheque from the luxury goods division is another man's baggage. Compare Walton's joy to the fate of Ben Crenshaw. The Texan shot 68 and that included a double bogey six at the 16th. He was the only US victor in his team's humiliating defeat by Canada. The 68 would have been 66 but for the fact that Crenshaw forgot to replace his ball marker at the original spot at the 16th. It cost the American a two-stroke penalty.

On Friday Crenshaw shot 67 and that would have been a 65 but for a two- stroke penalty at the 17th where he hit a provisional drive and did not declare that he had done so. Crenshaw, who had a miserable Ryder Cup and made an early exit in the World Match Play last week, had other things on his mind. He has a kidney infection and boarded Concorde for America for aconsultation with a specialist.