A crowd of approximately 5,000 watched the international exhibition fourball, in aid of the Christmas Toy Fund, at Foxrock yesterday, when four Ryder Cup players treated the attendance to an interesting 36 holes of golf.

The English players Peter Alliss and Harry Weetman won the match by 3 & 1 from Irish pair Harry Bradshaw and Christy O’Connor. Alliss and Bradshaw shared the £100 offered to the players to lower Bradshaw’s course record of 70 – both returning 68.

The golf was interesting all through, for while none of the quartet made any mistakes from the tees, they proved human on the greens. At the 308 yards third hole in the afternoon we saw Weetman in front of the green with his tee shot, but then he took four more to get down, three putting from a distance of no more than two yards. There are three five bogey holes on the course, the longest being the 500 yards fourth, but not once during the 36 holes had any of the players to take wood on the fairway, there was too much run on the ball.

Alliss had the best aggregate for the 36 holes -138. Bradshaw had 140, Weetman 144 and O’Connor the worst putter of the four, had an aggregate of 147. There was a stiff cross wind blowing when the players drove off in the morning round. England struck the first blow when Alliss was one foot from the pin with his second, having struck the flag and dropped the putt for a winning eagle 3. Weetman stepped in at the ninth when he put his drive upwards to 300 yards and he planted a seven iron onto the green and two putts gave him a winning birdie four. Two beautiful chip shots by Alliss and Weetman paved the way for a winning pair of threes at the 12th, and Weetman put his second shot a yard from the pin for the English pair to go four up after 13 holes.

The Irishmen struck back and Bradshaw, the only one on at the 15th with his second sank the putt for a winning birdie three. At the 18th Bradshaw sank a fine putt for a winning eagle three and a record round of 68. The players went to lunch with England two holes up.

In the afternoon O’Connor stepped in at the third for the first time, and sank a good putt for a winning birdie three – a fine feat considering that he was away to the right in heavy rough with his tee shot, and the visitors were just short of the green from the tee. The Irishmen squared at the fourth when Bradshaw sank his chip from just of the green for an eagle three. The Englishmen went ahead again at the seventh, when Weetman sank a putt of three feet for an eagle three, and then Alliss sank a long putt for two and a win at the short hole and at the 17th Weetman rolled in a putt right across the green for a winning two and the match.