SOUTH OF IRELAND AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP:THE PERCEPTION these days is that amateur golf is a young man's game. It's obligatory to wear white, big-buckled belts, pencil-thin trousers and, if you must wear something on your head, at least make it a designer accessory.
Yesterday, though, a number of older players – with day jobs, would you believe? – took it on themselves to make a statement of their own in the South of Ireland amateur championship here.
As the wind again proved to be a key factor, with players second-guessing club selection in negotiating a route around the Old Course, the failure of all four of Ireland’s European championship team to make it through to the last-16 made it an interesting day which opened up the destination of the title. Now, it is really up for grabs.
Niall Kearney, the defending champion, was the first to suffer a loser’s fate as he lost out in yesterday morning’s third round to Lucan’s Richard O’Donovan.
By evening, Kearney had company: Cian Curley, this year’s Irish Close finalist, lost to Eamon Haugh, a 43-year-old flooring distributor from Limerick; Dara Lernihan was beaten by 37-year-old jeweller David Finn; and Simon Ward, the 2006 champion, was sent packing by Keith Crowley, a 24-year-old who has just completed a business degree at Francis Marion College in South Carolina.
And, to add to the trend of shocks, O’Donovan – fresh from conquering championship favourite Kearney in the big upset of the morning – then found himself on the wrong end of a fourth-round match with Gavin O’Connor, a 27-year-old bank official, who last contended in a major championship at this year’s West of Ireland where he lost in the last 16 to no less than Shane Lowry.
With a strong wind whipping in off the Atlantic, championship officials took the precaution of moving tees forward on the sixth, seventh and 11th holes, and decided to cut and roll the greens just once – in the morning – rather than twice, to reduce the possibility of oscillating golf balls.
In such circumstances, the task for players was to stay patient and to commit to shots. As Haugh, who ended Curley’s quest, put it, “You just have to hit the fairways and you don’t want to wrongside yourself on the greens.”
Haugh’s win over Curley had much to do with his consistency. Playing in his 18th South, the Castletroy player – who reached the last 16 a year ago, losing to Kearney – followed his mantra of finding fairways and, critically, holed putts when he had to, especially on the 12th from 15 feet for birdie to halve the hole and, then, again on the 15th. He was never behind in the match, and closed matters out on the 18th for a two-hole win.
Finn also took control of affairs early on against Lernihan. On the fifth, he hit a seven-iron approach to 10 feet for an eagle, and then almost hit the flag on the Dell – the blind par three – for a short birdie putt.
When he won the ninth, Finn turned three-up and the former West finalist (he lost to Rory McIlroy in 2005) kept control of the match to win 2 and 1.
For Ward, his quest to add a second South to his CV finished with a fourth-round loss to Crowley, a player who had six top-15 finishes on the US collegiate circuit this season. “I played solid golf, drove it well and made few mistakes,” said Crowley, a former Irish Youths international who won 4 and 2.
If the departure of all four of Ireland’s European championship winning team was very much the talk of the links, there were other likely contenders who steered a safe passage into the last-16.
Among them were Des Morgan, Joe Lyons, Brendan Walton, James Fox . . . . and Irish champion Pat Murray, plotting a route at the tail-end of the format, who continued his fine form with a 2-hole win over Tim O’Mahoney.
Lahinch Scores
THIRD ROUND
First Quarter:A Hogan (Newlands) bt C Dowling (Mallow) 1H; R Cannon (Laytown/Bettystown) bt D Ryan (Grange) 2/1; M Feane (Lahinch) bt E Campbell (Donegal) 4/3, M Brett (Portmarnock) bt N Grant (Knock) 1up; D Holland (Castle/UCD) bt S Healy (Claremorris) 3/2, T Conron (Arizona College) bt B O'Donovan (Bandon) 4/3, G O'Connor (Malahide) bt P Sheehy (Lahinch) 2H; R O'Donovan (Lucan) bt N Kearney (Royal Dublin) 2/1.
Second quarter:C Curley (Newlands) bt K Lewis (Skerries) 4/3; E Haugh (Castletroy) bt M Shanahan (West Waterford) 20th; M Buggy (Castlecomer) bt P Wallace (Mullingar) 4/3; D Morgan (Mullingar) bt J D Guiney (Ballybunion) 6/5; J Monaghan (The Island) bt N Gorey (Lee Valley) 19th; E Stack (Ballybunion) bt T Cleary (East Clare) 3/2; D Finn (Mallow) bt D Coughlan (Royal Dublin) 19th; D Lernihan (Castle) bt G Donaghy (Island USA) 4/2.
Third quarter:S Ward (Co Louth) bt G Carew (Edenderry) 5/3; K Crowley bt (Lee Valley) bt D O'Rourke (Clonmel) 2H; A Wynne (Strandhill) bt M Ryan (Grange) 1up; J Lyons (Galway) bt P Collier (Lahinch) 4/3; R McNamara (Headfort) bt C Martin (Kilkenny) 2/1; G O'Flaherty (Cork) bt D McCusker (Moyola Park) 2/1; S Walsh (Killeen) bt I Brennan (Greenore) 3/1; K McDonagh (Athlone/NUI Maynooth) bt C Molloy (Ardee) 1up.
Fourth quarter:S Barry (Lee Valley) bt J G Kavanagh (Castletroy) 3/2; D Scully (Galway) bt S Morrison (City of Derry) 4/3; L Brady (Royal Dublin) bt K J McGarry (East Cork) 6/5; B Walton (The Island) bt A O'Callaghan (Douglas) 5/4; J Fox (Portmarnock) bt J Pierse (Grange) 4/3; S Webster (Castle) bt G Dillon (The Heath) 5/4; T O'Mahony (Mallow) bt I O'Rourke (Cork) 4/3; P Murray (Limerick) bt P Sheehan (Ballybunion) 1up.
FOURTH ROUND
First quarter:Cannon bt Hogan 1 up; Brett bt Feane 4/3; Holland bt Conron 3/2; O'Connor bt O'Donovan 2/1.
Second quarter:Haugh bt Curley 2 up; Morgan bt Buggy 3/2; Stack bt Monaghan at 21st; Finn bt Lernihan 2/1.
Third quarter:Crowley bt Ward 4/2; Lyons bt Wynne 2/1; O'Flaherty bt McNamara at 24th; Walsh bt McDonagh at 19th.
Fourth Quarter:Barry bt Scully 2 and 1; Walton bt Brady 3 and 2; Fox bt Webster 1hole; Murray bt O'Mahony 2 holes.
