It was a weekend that started with Storm Hannah, but it finished with Storm Tiarnan as the Massereene golfer put manners on both the course and the field at the Boylesports Lee Valley Scratch Cup.  It was a wire to wire win for the Antrim golfer, after an opening 73 which put him in the lead, he set a course record on Saturday afternoon with a six under par 66.  Going into the final round he had a four shot lead, that meant he just needed to keep pace with second placed Ronan Mullarney.  The Irish International went on the attack again though and closed with a three under par 69 to extend his lead and win by a clear margin of seven strokes.  The 16th hole summed up the weekend for McLarnon, after missing the green he chipped in for birdie.  That effectively sealed his win, and after two regulation pars on 17 and 18 he smiled to crowd to acknowledge his first win in Lee Valley.  While Tiarnan led from the front, the chasers didn’t have much joy.  Mullarney  tried hard but couldn’t convert and never got the momentum needed to catch the leader

Gallery: Boylesports Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup, Final Round

Emerging Irish International Mark Power closed out his first visit to Lee Valley with a 69.  The Kilkenny golfer, who’s mum Eileen Rose McDaid played in the opening exhibition fourball in Lee Valley 26 years ago, was three over in his final round when he stood on the 8^th tee.  A drive, wedge and putt gave him an eagle, and a birdie on the 9^th got him back to level.  He covered the back nine in three under to finish in fifth place.  Sean Desmond who started in third place faded after a triple put him on the back foot.  Kieran McCarthy followed yesterday’s good play with a 74, that was good enough for 4th place.  The two time winner also received a special presentation for his hole in one at the 6th in the first round.  Eoghan Long (6th) was the only other Cork golfer in the top ten, while Pat Power was the leading finisher from the home club after three successive 76’s saw him finish in 14th place.

It was another top class event for Lee Valley and the winner was keen to compliment everyone involved in what he described as one of the best events on the calendar.

“I want to say a massive thanks to everyone in Lee Valley, it’s one of the best scratch cups around” said the winner.  “You can see the effort that the members put in to put on such a good show.  For myself to come down from Antrim is a long way, and I appreciate what you do for all of us, we’re treated like royalty down here.  I first came down in 2013 and I’ve met a lot of people since.  Hopefully I’ll continue to come down to support the tournament.  The course was amazing, to be playing summer rules this weekend is a credit to the greens staff.”

The 2015 Irish Close winner is now nine under par for his last six rounds in Lee Valley with four of those rounds in the red.  He’s building a good run of form as the season picks up with more championships to play for in the coming weeks, and he was happy with his performance in Cork.  “I played well in the morning, it was as well as I played in the afternoon but I finished poorly in the morning – I was four over in my last six holes.  In the afternoon I kept going, I was four under playing the last [the first hole] and then I had just 94 yards and I held the shot, it was a bit of a bonus going into the last round.  I thought around level par would be fine but I knew I was playing well so I went out and was attacking.  I made few birdies early on but made a couple of bogies too, to turn on one under was fine.  I birdied 11 and had a good chance on 12 so it went well.”  Many might call that an understatement given how he took the field apart on the way to an eight under par total.

Despite the heavy rain that fell through Friday, the competition ran under Summer rules on Saturday signalling the success of the drainage works that have been ongoing for several years.  As usual the greens in Lee Valley were quick and true, offering the top amateurs a great surface to play on.

An hour long delay on Saturday morning to clear debris from the course highlighted the damage from the high winds overnight.  Although the storm warning was over, there were still some high winds and strong gusts that affected scoring on Saturday morning and into the afternoon.  That said the course was in great condition with no need to consider using preferred lies for the tournament.  Even off the fairway the ground was firm demonstrating the return from the investments in drainage and course improvements over the past five years.

Boylesports Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup 2019 Results

1 Tiarnan McLarnon 73 66 69 208
2 Ronan Mullarney 74 69 72 215
3 Gerard Dunne 77 76 69 222
4 KIERAN MCCARTHY 75 73 74 222
5 Mark Power 76 78 69 223
6 Eoghan Long 75 74 74 223
7 Joe Lyons 74 79 71 224
8 GEOFFREY LENEHAN 76 75 73 224
9 BEN MURRAY 79 72 73 224
10 COLM JNR CAMPBELL 76 74 74 224
11 Robert Moran 75 78 73 226
12 Sean Desmond 76 71 79 226
13 STEPHEN BRADY 76 78 73 227
14 Pat Power 76 76 76 228
15 Stephen Walsh 80 70 78 228
16 Paul Tobin 75 81 73 229
17 David Reddan Jnr 74 80 75 229
18 Aaron Grant 76 76 77 229
19 ROBERT WALSH JNR 73 77 79 229
20 Ian Bermingham 78 79 73 230
21 Jack McDonnell 79 77 74 230
22 Fionn Hickey 76 80 74 230
23 Paul Buckley 75 78 77 230
24 Kieran Lynch 83 74 74 231
25 Joe O Sullivan 82 74 75 231
26 Sean Enright 75 81 76 232
27 Scott O’Brien 80 74 78 232
28 James Murray 78 79 77 234
29 Jamie Fletcher 81 74 87 242
30 Jack Pierse 78 74 — 152
31 Eanna Griffin 78 76 — 154
32 Gary Ward 83 75 — 158
33 Greg O’Mahony 81 77 — 158
34 Christopher Taylor 76 82 — 158
35 Mel Deasy 79 79 — 158
36 Jonathan Quinn 81 78 — 159
37 DAVID KITT 82 77 — 159
38 Keith Crowley(1)(2) 83 76 — 159
39 STEPHEN O’NEILL 85 74 — 159
40 KEITH FITZPATRICK 80 80 — 160
41 ANDREW MCCORMACK(1) 78 82 — 160
42 Kevin Collins 81 80 — 161
43 Dean O’Riordan 82 79 — 161
44 Adam McSweeney(1) 80 81 — 161
45 Mark Ford 78 83 — 161
46 Jason Galway 82 79 — 161
47 Ian Bohane 82 79 — 161
48 Keelan McCarthy 85 76 — 161
49 Dean McMahon 80 82 — 162
50 Garry O’Flaherty 83 79 — 162
51 Mark Shanahan 84 78 — 162
52 Ian Lynch 81 82 — 163
53 MARK HEALY 81 82 — 163
54 Cillian Moloney 80 83 — 163
55 john O Brien 83 80 — 163
56 Edwin Hannon 80 83 — 163
57 Lee McMillan 80 84 — 164
58 Conor Dowling 86 78 — 164
59 Philip Spratt 76 88 — 164
60 SHANE KENNEALLY 83 82 — 165
61 Alan Considine 82 84 — 166
62 Bob Loftus 83 83 — 166
63 Shane McGlynn 83 84 — 167
64 Lewy HALPIN JNR 85 82 — 167
65 Cian Hourihan 86 81 — 167
66 Owen Goggin 86 82 — 168
67 Alan Moriarty 85 84 — 169
68 Paul Coleman 87 82 — 169
69 Niall Doonan 81 89 — 170
70 Eric Rumley 80 91 — 171
71 Padraig O’Connor — 77 — 77
72 Alan Thomas 78 — — 78
73 Padraig 0 Connor 82 — — 82
74 Sean Deasy 87 — — 87
– Thomas O’Flynn 80 NR — —
– Cormac Finn 83 NR — —
– Richard KNIGHTLY 79 — — — DQ:
– CATHAL BUTLER 78 74 — — DQ: