LEE Irvine produced the golf of his life to land his second BDGA Men's Championship title.

The 25-year-old Harwood member dominated Wednesday night's final against Mark Thornton, tearing the Greenmount course apart to record a stunning 5&4 victory in front of a stunned crowd.

And after collecting the Vardon Trophy for the second time in four years, Irvine, of Tottington, declared: "This feels even better than the first time!

"When I won in '95 I was quite new to the Bury golf scene and I didn't realise just how good the players in the Association were.

"Trying to win it for a second time has been tough so this is even more special."

Thornton was blown away by Irvine's whirlwind start.

Mr Cool, as he is now known on the circuit, was 4 up after only seven holes and there was already no way back for the Walmersley ace. Irvine opened steadily with two pars whilst his opponent struggled in the sand and remained 2 up with five played. Then came the real killer blow for Thornton, still feeling the strain as he recovers from a triple leg break.

Both players found the green with their tee shots on the par three sixth, Irvine 20 feet from the pin and Thornton just three.

After watching Irvine sink a beaty, Thornton went on to fluff his sitter and suddenly found himself 3 down.

A poor tee shot from Thornton allowed Irvine to win the next before his lead was briefly cut back to three on the eighth. Thornton made a three on the 300-yard par four to win his first hole of the final.

Irvine restored his lead before starting the back nine. A superb birdie from Thornton saw him close the gap on 11 before both made birdies on the 12th.

But it all went wrong for Thornton on the unlucky 13th when he lost a hole he could have won and it was all over on the next when he fluffed another straight-forward putt which would have kept the match alive.

In Monday night's quarter-finals Andrew Siddle defeated Matthew Thornton 3/2, Irvine defeated David Bean 4/3, Matt Buckley got the better of Andrew Westwell by 3/2 and Thornton overcame Rob Main 2/1

Tuesday's semi-finals saw Thornton defeat Siddle 2/1 and Irvine get the better of Buckley by 4/3.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.