Golf

Paul McBride goes out in semi-finals of Amateur Championship

The Island golfer came from behind to force a play-off before losing on the 20th hole

Paul McBride of The Island plays an approach shot during the Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl. Photo: Getty Images
Paul McBride of The Island plays an approach shot during the Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl. Photo: Getty Images
Fri Jun 17 2016 - 19:02

Irish amateur Paul McBride suffered a semi-final loss to Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre in the prestigious Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl on Saturday.

After beating Robin Sciot-Siergrist of France on the final hole of their quarter-final match on Friday morning, the 20-year-old from The Island was straight back out in his quest to become the first Irish winner of the title since Alan Dunbar in 2012.

A golf scholar at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, McBride swapped pars with MacIntyre over the first three holes before the Irish player capitalised on MacIntyre’s bogey at the fourth to take the lead.

That lead would be surrendered at the seventh before McBride went one hole up again on the ninth with his first birdie of the day.

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But MacIntyre was ready to crank it up a gear and did so with back-to-back birdies at the 11th and 12th to turn the score in his favour before beating McBride’s bogey at the 13th with a par of his own and going two up.

The Scot would take that lead to the 17th needing only a half to win but McBride wasn’t done yet.

A birdie at the penultimate hole forced the match up the 18th before MacIntyre’s bogey meant extra holes were needed.

The pair swapped pairs at the 19th, sending it to a second play-off hole where the game would end as McBride bogeyed and MacIntyre rolled in a par putt to book a final date with England’s Scott Gregory.

Speaking after the round MacIntyre was delighted the final of such a prestigious event.

“It feels amazing to get to this point. It’s 36 holes tomorrow so we’ll see what happens.

“I’ve never felt better, getting to this point is unbelievable. If I can go one better tomorrow that’ll be the icing on the cake.

“Words can’t really describe how it would feel to win, not just to me but my family at home, my friends, and the small golf club that I come from, it would just be unbelievable.

“My attitude is never say die, it was two up with two to play, if I was two down with two to play, I’d always say I can win this match. Paul’s a great player, I’ve known him for a while now. I have just got to keep going in the Final now.