McGimpsey Wins Irish Seniors Title

Garth McGimpsey (Bangor) coasted home to take the Irish Seniors Amateur Close title in Thurles by six shots after carding a final round of level-par 72.

The former Walker Cup captain had led by four shots going into the final round and after a front nine of one-under 35, he never looked back.

Defending champion Maurice Kelly (Killeen) made a spirited defence of his title, and a birdie at the final hole saw him take the runner-up spot by a shot from Portmarnock's Adrian Morrow.

Connacht Seniors champion Nigel Duke clinched the over-60s prize with a final round 75, while 

Tipperary's John O'Donoghue won the O-65 category and Blainroe's Alistair Smith was the victor in the O-70 category.

Irish Seniors Amateur Close Championship

Thurles Golf Club

Final Results

215 G McGimpsey (Bangor) 74 69 72 (WINNER)

221 M Kelly (Killeen) 75 74 72

222 A Morrow (Portmarnock) 74 76 72 

225 A Smith (The Island) 74 76 75

226 N Duke (Killiney) 74 77 75 (WINNER O-60)

227 N Lavin (The Royal Dublin) 78 75 74, H Smyth (Mourne) 75 75 77, B Donlon (Birr) 73 75 79

228 S Mc Parland (Greenore) 72 79 77, D Corcoran (Thurles) 72 75 81

230 A Pierse (Tipperary) 72 81 77

231 J Carroll (Bandon) 77 73 81

233 M Quirke (Doneraile) 82 74 77

234 B Cashell (Portmarnock) 79 76 79, J O'Donoghue (Tipperary) 79 75 80 (WINNER O-65)

235 H Mackeown (Portmarnock) 81 76 78, D Morris (Limerick) 79 75 81, M Ahern (Skerries) 77 79 79

236 B OLeary (Greystones) 82 76 78, A Smith (Blainroe) 80 78 78 (WINNER 0-70), P O'Rourke (Kilkenny) 79 75 82

237 L Mac Namara (Woodbrook) 79 78 80, T Hayes (K Club) 78 79 80, P Murphy (Carlow) 76 81 80

239 B Burke (Moate) 82 78 79

240 T Goode (Lucan) 79 80 81, T Tyrrell (The Heath) 78 80 82

241 M Coote (Tralee) 80 78 83, J Dempsey (Craddockstown) 78 82 81, M Brown (Rosapenna) 78 82 81, M Galvin (Limerick) 78 79 84

242 W Mernagh (Kanturk) 81 80 81, G O'Keeffe (Waterford) 81 77 84, B O'Connor (Hermitage) 80 76 86

243 E Condren (Greystones) 77 76 90

244 W O Brien (Tipperary) 87 77 80, P Harrington (Muskerry) 86 79 79

246 S Troy (Thurles) 80 81 85

247 B Mccarroll (Ballyliffin) 84 76 87

248 L Cushen (The Heath) 82 82 84, R Timlin (Galway) 81 83 84

249 B O.Malley (The Royal Dublin) 82 81 86

250 J Buckley (Douglas) 80 84 86

254 G O'Kennedy (Athlone) 83 80 91, T O Driscoll (Ring Of Kerry) 78 85 91

256 E Connolly (Blainroe) 81 82 93

NR J Gilbert (Druid's Glen) 80 84 NR

RTD V Smyth (Co. Louth) 80 79 RTD

WTD P Cowley (Cork) 83 73 RTD

NS P Brennan (The Heritage) 81 83 NS

Non-Qualifiers:

165 J McDonnell (Castletroy) 85 80, J McVeigh (Carlow) 85 80

166 B Mcdonnell (K Club) 88 78, J Cuffe (Monkstown) 86 80, I Smyth (Holywood) 84 82, D McHugh (Douglas) 78 88

167 G Eagleton (Virginia) 90 77, N Patterson (Milltown) 86 81, L Weir (Athenry) 85 82, K Heavin (Moate) 85 82, N Mannion (Dun Laoghaire) 80 87

168 R Fitzgerald (Tramore) 86 82, D Cash (Rosslare) 86 82, J Mcgrath (Newcastle West) 85 83

169 A McGlynn (Woodlands) 86 83

170 L Treacy (K Club) 84 86

171 T Campion (Athlone) 87 84, B Madden (Edmondstown) 85 86, D Sheedy (Lahinch) 84 87, A Williams (Sutton) 81 90

172 G Ryan (Nenagh) 84 88

173 M O'Sullivan (Gowran Park) 91 82, A Bell (Greencastle) 90 83, R Cotter (Delgany) 89 84, B O'Donnell (Douglas) 88 85, F Caine (Co. Louth) 88 85

174 W Leggett (The Island) 88 86

177 M Marshall (Mahee Island) 89 88

178 T Ledwidge (The Heritage) 87 91

181 P Fulham (Glenlo Abbey) 93 88, M Kearney (North West) 86 95

182 L Murray (Mourne) 86 96

184 P Ruddy (European) 94 90, D Lindsay (Strandhill) 89 95

187 J Scullion (Lurgan) 92 95

NR D Harte (Fota Island) 80 NR, P O Boyle (Athlone) 84 NR, P Broderick (Thurles) 85 NR

RTD P Smyth (Killiney) 80 RTD

WTD S Hosty (Galway) 85 WTD, J O'Malley (Rathdowney) 87 WTD, F Cronin (Muskerry) 88 WTD, R Smyth (Laytown & Bettystown) 88 WTD, J Corless (Galway) 88 WTD, R Mason (Old Conna) 81 WTD, M Stafford (Bandon) NR WTD, D O'Herlihy (Douglas) NR WTD

CSS 

Round 1 – 73 

Round 2 – 72

Round 3 – 74

Reed Wins Europro at Fota Island

Paul Reed wins Fota [Diane Cusack]

Paul Reed admitted he was stunned to have won his first ever PGA EuroPro Tour event – only two years after contemplating quitting golf.

Reed (Bristol and Clifton) clinched the Audi Cork Irish Masters at The Fota Island Resort in Cork, Ireland as he finished two shots ahead of South African Darryn Lloyd.

The victory gives Reed the £10,000 top prize, although it was something he could not have forecasted at the start of the week.

“I played a practice round on Monday and sent a text message to my family saying ‘don’t bet on me’ as I didn’t think I hit it long enough for this course,” admitted Reed.

"That might’ve helped as I’ve gone out there with no expectations and thought if I played well then maybe I could get a top 20 place but my short game has just been unbelievable.

“I’ve played tournaments where I’ve hit the ball better but the short game has been the best ever. It just seemed to work all week and I got up and down when I needed to. I’ve led a couple of times and totally messed them up but it feels really special to win this one.

“I made an effort to not look at the leaderboard and I just tried to play my normal game. It wasn’t until I was on the 18th when I asked our scorer to radio in and find out where I was and I found out I was ahead. When it sinks in I hope this victory will give me a massive boost to my confidence.”

Reed started Friday’s play with a one-shot lead and began his final round brightly with birdies at the second and fourth. A bogey at the fifth followed but he got back on track with birdies at the 13th, 14th and 16th.

Lloyd had already finished on -9 and a bogey at the 17th from Reed made it close but Reed made a birdie at the 18th to end on -11 and win by two shots to justify his decision to continue playing golf.

“I had always wanted to be a golf professional but it was just not going anywhere and I was pretty close to giving up about two years ago,” added Reed. “I had a lot of injuries as well and that has not made it easy.

“I have switched coaches and it’s given me a new lease of life. I always felt I was capable of winning but Simon Hurley has transformed my game and made me more steady.

“I’m not the type of person to feel sorry for myself and I just decided to give it 100 per cent and hopefully this is the start of reaping the rewards. The EuroPro Tour has a really good track record of producing top players.”

Reed moves up to third in the Order of Merit, where the top five players at the end of the season will advance to the Challenge Tour and be one step away from playing alongside the golfing elite on the main European Tour.

An inspiration for all golfers should be the progress of Scott Jamieson, who is currently level with Graeme McDowell and has a share of the lead on the second day of the Scottish Open on the European Tour.

This comes less than two years after Jamieson was winning events on the EuroPro Tour and Reed will hope to follow in Jamieson’s footsteps.

Ireland’s Niall Turner and Scotland’s Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw) both finished tied third on -8 at Fota Island with Kevin Harper (East Devon) in fifth.

The action is being filmed and Matchroom Sport will produce a two-hour highlights package that will be broadcast on Sky Sports on Wednesday, July 20.

Final leaderboard

Reed Leads Day Two at Fota Island

Paul Reed produced one of the best rounds of the competition to go into the final day of the Audi Cork Irish Masters with a one-shot lead.

Reed (Bristol and Clifton) went round in 67 (-5) on Thursday at the Fota Island Resort in Cork, Ireland to lead the race to the £10,000 top prize.

His performance included two eagles – at the par-five fourth and also at the par-five 18th – and he is one ahead of Shaun McAllister (Craigielaw, East Lothian) and Daniel Sugrue (Killarney).

McAllister, who has played on the Tour for the last two seasons, will claim his highest ever finish if he can beat the tied 14th he recorded in August 2009 at the Marriott Tudor Park in Kent.

Ireland’s Ruaidhri McGee and England’s Sandeep Grewal produced two of the finest rounds of the day as they both went round in -4 (68) to comfortably make the cut.

McGee (Rosapenna, Donegal) shot 72 on Wednesday but made seven birdies, one bogey and one double bogey, while Grewal (Heswall, Merseyside) included six birdies and two bogeys in his round.

Daniel Wardrop (Didsbury, Manchester) looked to be heading home early after a score of 76 (+4) on Wednesday but he saved himself with a -5 (67) on Thursday.

Jamie Abbott, a winner at event one at Wensum Valley, Norfolk, held a share of the lead at the start of play but a run of four bogeys in six holes looks to have ended his chances of another victory.

This event is the sixth in the EuroPro Tour season and a total of 56 players made the cut, which came at +3, although Order of Merit leader Chris Hanson was not one of them.

Hanson, who has won two of the five events of the season so far including last week at Galgorm Castle, suffered a miserable day as his round of 81 (+9) included double bogeys at the fifth and 16th.

Graeme Clark, second in the money list, will also not be playing on the final day at Fota Island as he could not recover from three bogeys in four holes and missed the cut by two shots.

Memories - 2003 Nissan Irish Open

The Nissan Irish Open returns to one of the great courses of Irish and, indeed, World golf this week when Portmarnock, near Dublin, hosts the event. The course has not staged the Irish Open since 1990 but prior to that was a regular venue.

Opened in 1894 as a nine hole course then two years later as an eighteen hole facility, the course became twenty seven holes in 1971. Surprisingly, given modern day trends, much of the work was done by the various club committees in place at the various construction stages, with advice from professional advisers. The original design work had been done, in the main, by the brainchild behind the project, W.C. Pickeman who had rowed across to the peninsula of Portmarnock in 1893. There had been a small private golf course on the land until then but things soon changed.

There are some stunning and brilliant holes at Portmarnock and is one of the must play courses on a golfing trip to Ireland.

Recent winners of the event have included Soren Hansen, Colin Montgomerie, Patrick Sjoland and Sergio Garcia but the last winner at Portmarnock was Jose Maria Olazabal.

The field includes local favourite Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn Peter Lonard, Phillip Price, Ian Poulter and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Australasians other than Lonard are Peter O’Malley, Peter Fowler, Richard Green, Jarrod Moseley, Michael Campbell, Brett Rumford, Terry Price, Stephen Scahill and Greg Turner.

Courtesy www.iseekgolf.com

McIlroy Defends Open Preparations

Andy Murray with McIlroy

Rory McIlroy has revealed that the media frenzy which followed his US Open triumph meant he had no other option than to take a three-week break from competitive golf.

The Northern Irishman has been criticised by Colin Montgomerieand others after he skipped the recent French Open in order to stay at home and prepare for the upcoming Open Championship.

Responding to the criticism, the US Open champion said on his website after practising at Royal St George's: "Some people may have wondered why I chose to go from one major straight to another without anything in between and the answer is simple.

"Because of what happened at Congressional and the way it became such a big deal (he was the youngest winner since Bobby Jones in 1923 and did it with a record score and by an eight-shot margin) I wanted to get everything out of the way and sorted so that when I did start playing again I could just concentrate on golf.

Stern test

"If I had gone to France I just would not have been able to practise or prepare properly.

"Every time I play I want to go out there with a chance to win and that wouldn't have happened.

"There were so many commitments and so much media to do that I would have not been able to give my best, so I decided to wait until I was absolutely ready.

"I didn't touch a club for 10 days after the US Open and then after just hitting balls on the range at home it did feel good when I finally got out on the course again."

McIlroy went on to reveal that he was one of the first players to catch a glimpse of the course layout at Sandwich and he believes the venue will produce a stern test when play gets underway.

"I went down to Royal St George's on Tuesday and Wednesday so that I could get a good look before too many people were there," he added.

"The practice was great because we had one calm day and one when the wind got up so I got a great feel of what we can expect.

"It wasn't my first visit because I remember playing the 2005 home internationals there and also the British Amateur the following year. And, more important, I like the course.

"Some people think it's a bit quirky in places, but I believe it's a good test of golf.

"I don't think the rough will be as heavy as they'd like it, but it will still be tough.

"For me it's quite different to a lot of the other links courses because the greens at Sandwich are quite undulating with some pretty severe slopes in places.

Disappointed

"In some cases you can't just run the ball up, you have to fly the ball all the way to the green and that's ok by me.

"It's not that it suits any particular player because the standard is such that anybody teeing up these days has a chance."

Former world number one Tiger Woods is a notable absentee from the major event as his struggles with injury continue.

And 22-year-old McIlroy, while disappointed not to have one of the sport's greats in attendance, admits the American's absence makes the path to victory somewhat easier.

"Tiger Woods won't have a chance this year because unfortunately he has not recovered from his injuries," he added.

"It's always a disappointment when Tiger isn't in the field because people want to see him play and he brings so much to the game.

"On the other hand, when he isn't there it increases my and everybody else's chances, but I'd certainly prefer him to be there."