Smurfit transformed it into a luxury hotel and golf venue, and has nurtured a dream to host the famous AmericaEurope tournament for nearly 20 years.

As he recalls telling David Adamson, his director of golf, in 1991: "'One day, David, the Ryder Cup will be here.' He laughed at me as we stood at the first tee. Well, he's not laughing now."

It's a foolish person who underestimates Smurfit, who was knighted for services to British business last year.

Over four decades, along with his brothers Dermot, Jeff and Alan, he built up his father's company, Jefferson Smurfit, into a business worth billions.

When it was first floated on the Irish Stock Exchange in 1964, its market value was the equivalent of just 1.5m.

Much of the growth was born of necessity.

"Back in the 1960s I could see that Irish industries were about to get clobbered when the government negotiated the Anglo-Irish free trade agreement, " says Smurfit.

"We needed to get into new markets. I persuaded my father we should expand into England and America."

With his father convinced, the eldest son went on a spending spree. He found his early attempts to crack the US difficult, but evidently refused to let any prejudice stand in his way.

"They used to look upon me as the Paddy over on the boat, chancing his luck. It's a mistake they only made once."

The acquisitions rolled and in 1998 Jefferson Smurfit Corporation, its US arm, merged with Stone Container Corporation of Chicago. The deal created Smurfit-Stone Container, America's largest producer of containerboard, and confirmed Jefferson Smurfit as a member of the global league, employing around 70,000 staff in more than 30 countries.

"To this day I cannot believe our competitors allowed us to get to this position, " says Smurfit, who started working in the family's box factory as a teenager in 1955.

"In their shoes, I'd have taken pre-emptive steps to halt our growth."

His biggest deal, though, came four years later when he helped oversee the sale of Jefferson Smurfit to private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners for $3.5bn ( 1.17bn).

"I knew the shareholders would get the premium that the shares deserved by going this route, " says Smurfit.

He and his family are now worth 406m, and the head of the clan has all the usual trappings of wealth . . . appearances in the gossip columns, a home in Monaco and, apparently, one of the world's biggest yachts.

Not that Smurfit has cashed in his chips to spend his days lounging on the yacht. He is chairman of Smurfit Kappa (Jefferson Smurfit changed its name in 2005 after acquiring Dutch rival Kappa Packaging), a substantial shareholder and chairman emeritus of Smurfit-Stone Container . . . a role he describes, with a smile, as "no pay and no say".

He also keeps abreast of developments through his 42year-old son.

"I was lucky to persuade Tony to join me in the business and he's now chief operating officer, " he explains.

"Lucky, because the packaging industry has to compete hard these days to attract and retain the brightest and the best."

Smurfit also remains an active investor. The K Club, for instance, was originally acquired by Jefferson Smurfit but Michael Smurfit, along with property developer Gerry Gannon, now owns it after a buyout last year.

He readily admits to being impatient and still unable to kick the work bug even though he has just turned 70.

"I'm now only travelling 300 hours per year and generally put in a six-hour day instead of 12." It remains a demanding schedule but he has never known any different.

"I've been in the family business since I was 16 and learnt most of what I know from my father Jefferson. He was an enormous influence on my career."

These days his time is split between Ireland, the US and Monaco, where he is the honorary Irish consul. He has dual nationality (British and Irish) and is a tireless ambassador for Irish businesses and entrepreneurs from all walks of life. Among those he admires are Philip Green, the Barclay brothers and financier Dermot Desmond.

So what advice would a member of Ireland's business elite give to an aspiring entrepreneur?

"Find a niche, a speciality business, and stick with it.

In my day the packaging industry was fragmented, decentralised and full of cartels. It was easier to get in under an umbrella and take the big boys on. Today, knocking on Proctor & Gamble's door trying to sell boxes as a newcomer is just a waste of time. Find a niche. And never give up. There'll be times when you want to . . . when you fail. That's when you have to stick with your ambition."

Because as Smurfit will attest in September, when his golf club finally plays host to one of the world's most prestigious sporting events, ambition can get you out of the rough and on to the leaderboard.

THE CV

SIR MICHAEL SMURFIT

BORN: 7 August 1936.

CAREER:

1955: joins Jefferson Smurfit, his father's company.

1967: appointed joint managing director of Jefferson Smurfit.

1969: deputy chairman.

1977: appointed chairman and chief executive.

1999: chairman, Smurfit-Stone Container.

2002: sells Jefferson Smurfit but retains chairmanship.

2003: made chairman emeritus of Smurfit-Stone Container.

2005: Jefferson Smurfit acquires Kappa Packaging, changing its name to Smurfit Kappa