Cathal Butler recorded his second major win of the season when he won a play-off yesterday to scoop the Munster Strokeplay Championship.  Butler was seven strokes off the lead going into the final round but jumped up the leaderboard thanks to some great play.  Butler birdied the 2nd, 6th and 9th but gave one back on the 7th where the pin had caused several problems for the field.  He then went on a burst with three consecutive birdies on 11,12 and 13, and after parring the 14th he was five under and leading the tournament by two shots.

Further back on the course, 54 hole leader Gary O’Flaherty had dropped a few shots and it looked like it would be an all Cork battle between O’Flaherty and John Hickey.  A large number of spectators were going between these two groups allowing Butler to work away with no pressure.  There were plenty of bogies, doubles, and trebles in Cork Golf Club over the weekend and Butler fell foul of a double on the 15th.  Despite obvious disappointment he steadied himself and gave himself good birdies chances on each of the three closing holes.  He couldn’t covert and was visibly deflated coming off the 18th.

Gallery: Munster Strokeplay Final Round

Gallery: Munster Strokeplay Round 3

As it happened Hickey had a few errors on the closing holes.  He was out of contention and O’Flaherty was level with Butler on +2 with two to play.  O’Flaherty narrowly missed a tricky 10ft birdie putt on the notorious 17th, and although he had a 50ft birdie putt on 18th for the win, most were happy to see him two putt to force a play-off.

The pair parred the 1st in pars after hitting the fairway and green, so it was off to the 17th.  Butler found the fairway and O’Flaherty was in the rough on the right.  This proved to be costly as he was slightly blocked and finished between the two bunkers on the front right.  The pin had caused trouble all day and Gary was left with a treacherous downhill chip.  He played it as well as he could but he was left with 12ft and just missed.  Butler again made the lower side of the green from 100 yards outs.  After a nervous wait he just missed the birdie putt but was left with the easiest of tap in pars for the Championship.

Gallery: Munster Strokeplay Round 3

Munster Stroke Play Championship 2016

WINNER –  Cathal Butler (Kinsale) on second play-off hole
RUNNER UP – Gary O’Flaherty (Cork)
THIRD –  John Greene (Portmarnock)
FOURTH – John Hickey (Cork)
FIFTH – Robbie Pierse (Grange)
SIXTH – Mark Shanahan (Castlemartyr)
SEVENTH – Andrew Mc Cormack (Castletroy)
EIGHT – Mark Ford (Cork)
CARR/BRUEN U25 – Cathal Butler (Kinsale)
BEST NETT – Gard Ward (Kinsale)
2^ND NETT – Declan King (Tramore)

FINAL RESULTS AFTER 4 ROUND
290 Cathal Butler (Kinsale) 75 73 73 69, Gary O’Flaherty (Cork Golf Club) 73 70 71 76
291 John Greene (Portmarnock) 70 77 74 70
293 John Hickey (Cork Golf Club) 76 71 69 77, Robbie Pierse (Grange) 69 78 73 73
295 Mark Shanahan (Castlemartyr) 74 75 71 75, Andrew McCormack (Castletroy Golf Club) 74 73 73 75, Mark Ford (Cork Golf Club) 70 75 75 75
296 Cian Geraghty (Laytown & Bettystown) 77 72 72 75, Gary Ward (Kinsale) 71 77 75 73
297 Pat Murray (Limerick Golf Club) 73 77 71 76, Joe Lyons (Galway Golf Club) 73 74 72 78
298 Daniel Brennan (Shannon) 77 76 70 75, Thomas Neenan (Lahinch Golf Club) 75 75 75 73, Jack Pierse (Portmarnock) 70 80 72 76
299 Declan King (Tramore Golf Club) 79 74 72 74, David Reddan (Nenagh Golf Club) 75 79 74 71, Gavin Young (Nenagh Golf Club) 72 77 71 79
300 Declan Reidy (Co. Sligo Golf Club) 77 76 75 72, Ian O’Flynn (Cork Golf Club) 77 73 78 72, Daniel Hallissey (Muskerry Golf Club) 75 74 75 76
301 Peter O’ Keeffe (Douglas) 75 77 73 76
302 Richard Knightly (The Royal Dublin) 81 71 75 75, Stephen Healy (The Royal Dublin) 69 77 82 74
303 James Gerard Fox (Portmarnock) 74 79 78 72
305 Evan Farrell (Ardee) 80 70 72 83
306 Emmet Leahy (Thurles) 78 76 72 80
307 Shane McGlynn (Portmarnock) 76 78 77 76, Ronan O’Callaghan (Mannan Castle Golf Club) 76 76 77 78, Ian O’Rourke (The Royal Dublin) 72 78 78 79
308 Colum Kenny (Portmarnock) 79 74 75 80
309 Mark Healy (Kinsale) 74 78 80 77
310 Sean Barry (Fota Island Golf Club) 74 76 84 76, Declan McInerney (Lahinch Golf Club) 73 81 74 82
315 Cian Feeney (Co. Sligo Golf Club) 78 76 81 80
Aaron Grant (Dundalk Golf Club) 72 78 75 NR, Ed Stack (Ballybunion Golf Club) 78 NR , Colin Woodroofe (Blainroe Golf Club) 79 NR , Billy McGarry (Nenagh Golf Club) NR , Steffan O’Hara (Co. Sligo Golf Club) NR , Dean McMahon (Castletroy Golf Club) 80 73 WD , James Sugrue (Mallow Golf Club) 72 81 WD , Greg O ‘Mahony (Fota Island Golf Club) WD
239 Paul Flynn (Tramore Golf Club) 74 80 85
155 Mark Power (Kilkenny Golf Club) 80 75 , Alan Thomas (Dungarvan Golf Club) 75 80
156 Keith Crowley (Fota Island Golf Club) 81 75 , Thomas O’Connor (Athlone Golf Club) 79 77 , Ben Murray (Waterford Castle Golf Club) 77 79 , Sean Desmond (Monkstown Golf Club) 76 80 , Mark Collins (Killeen Castle) 75 81
157 Mark Morrissey (Mount Wolseley Golf Club) 81 76
158 Ted Collins (Dun Laoghaire Golf Club) 84 74 , Nils Conway (Grange) 79 79 , Paul Tobin (Cork Golf Club) 79 79 , Shaun Carter (The Royal Dublin) 79 79 , Dave O’Donovan (Muskerry Golf Club) 78 80 , Shane Hogan (Nenagh Golf Club) 78 80
159 Eoghan O’Donovan (Craddockstown Golf Club) 79 80
160 Niall Gorey (Palmerstown Stud) 86 74 , Gareth Mann (Tullamore Golf Club) 83 77 , Jack Ryan (Castletroy Golf Club) 81 79 , Thomas Hackett (The Royal Dublin) 79 81
161 Darragh Coghlan (Portmarnock) 83 78 , David Brady (Co. Sligo Golf Club) 78 83
162 Stephen Brady (Galway Golf Club) 88 74 , Barry Anderson (The Royal Dublin) 84 78 , Cian O’Donnell (Castletroy Golf Club) 80 82 , Philip Spratt (West Waterford Golf Club) 79 83 , Ian Lynch (Rosslare Golf Club) 78 84
163 Mark O’Sullivan () 81 82 , John O’Neill (Lee Valley Golf Club) 81 82 , Tony O’Leary (Wexford Golf Club) 77 86
166 Ruairi O’Connor (Co. Sligo Golf Club) 85 81
171 Joseph O’Neill (Tralee Golf Club) 89 82