Golf seems simple the way that Simon Thornton plays it and, at Seapoint, the Team Ireland player swept to victory in the 101st Irish PGA Championship with a bit to spare.
The Newcastle, Co Down-based Thornton produced magical golf throughout the tournament and finished at 19-under-par 269, a record low for the championship.
Over the 72 holes he carded just one bogey. "And I'm disappointed at that," he said. "After the halfway cut, my target was to finish without a bogey at 20-under-par but I missed out on that. However, it feels great to have won the title with such great players as Des Smyth in the draw."
Having opened a three shots lead at the halfway stage over Des Smyth, Thornton promised to take no risks in the remaining rounds.
"I'll keep it simple and not force anything," he said. "Just play it steady and hope that will be good enough to keep me at the top of the leaderboard at the end."
The Huddersfield-born winner kept his word. He eased over the third round with one birdie and 17 pars to be 13-under going out in the last round in the afternoon, without a bogey in the 54 holes played.
In the last round he stormed to the turn in six-under-par with four birdies and an eagle three at the eighth hole where he was just four feet from the pin with a drive and rescue club.
His only blip of the competition was bogey five at 11 where he put his nine iron approach into a bunker and failed to get up-and-down. He regained the lost ground with a chip and putt birdie three at 16 for his third round of 66 and a six stroke victory.
The morning story was, naturally, Gary Murphy's course record of eight-under-par 64 that catapulted him up the scale from joint 13th to second spot.
Half-a-dozen pars and an eagle decorated his card with the eagle flying in at the long eighth hole where he boomed a drive and rescue club to 18 feet and rolled home the putt.
"That was a big help," mused the European Tour player whose home is just across the hedge in Baltray. "It was nice to shoot a course record."
The afternoon wasn't just as good for the big man but his closing 69 kept him in second place on 275, 13-under-par but six shots behind the new champion.
His 69 included six birdies as he put in a flying finish of three-under for his closing four holes, going two-three-three-four.
Seniors' Tour player Smyth, whose home is also local and who has won this championship six times, climbing the podium in each decade from the seventies, posted a one-under-71 in the third round with four birdies and three bogeys on his card.
Smyth closed his bid with a 70 for joint third place alongside newly qualified Seamus McMonagle who posted a six birdie, one bogey 67. Smyth had four birdies and two bogeys on the course that he jointly designed with former amateur international Declan Brannigan.
Adare Manor assistant Graeme Dunlea celebrated recently passing his final exams by carding an afternoon 65, one shot outside the record set a few hours earlier by Gary Murphy.
Kerry youth Dunlea had his first bogey-free round as a professional when he sprinkled seven birdies over his impressive card to haul himself back up the leaderboard to level par for the tournament.
