John Doyle conquered Cork Golf Club for the second time in two weeks as he came from behind to win the C2O Group sponsored Munster Stroke Play.  Fresh from his win at the Irish Boys, Doyle is now two from two in Little Island.

It was a super weekend for golf in Cork, a strong field took on the Alister MacKenzie signature course which was in great condition.  The 75 strong field including West of Ireland Champion Dylan Holmes (Greystones), Flogas Irish Boys’ Amateur Open Champion John Doyle (Fota Island) and the recently returning Stuart Grehan (Co. Louth).  Holder Paul Coughlan and previous winners Karl Bornemann and Barry Anderson were also in the field.

From the initial field at the Little Island course on Saturday, just 33 remained by Sunday morning and it was an ever changing leaderboard.  Cork’s Jonathan O’Sullivan led after the opening round with an impressive 69 in windy conditions.  By Saturday afternoon there was a three way tie for the lead, Keith Egan TJ Ford and James O’Rourke were out in front.  Egan in particular impressed with a five under par 67 after a great display of putting.

In the final round it was the 17-year-old Mitchelstown native who would battle his way to the top, taking a one-shot victory in what would be one of the tightest finishes the championship had seen for many years.

Doyle would finish his third-round level par for the tournament, rounds of 72, 71 and 73 leaving him in a tie for sixth and five off the lead as the final round got underway.  But as shown by his victory at the Flogas Irish Boys’ Championship just a week earlier, the young star knew he could go low once again.

“I knew a score was out there, but I just hadn’t done it yet”, said Doyle.  “I was thinking just to try and go low and just make my fair share of birdies and just play aggressive.”

The aggressive play certainly paid off as birdies dropped on four of his opening six holes before a double bogey on eight threatened to throw him out of the race.  But again showing his mental toughness and sticking to his gameplan, he rallied with birdies on 11, 12, 13 and 17 to help card an impressive six under round of 66.  He went from level par after 54 holes to -6 after 72 to claim another major win.

It was a nervous wait as Ross Latimer, Murphy, Ford and a resurgent Egan came chasing for the lead but, in the end, for the second time this season, silverware would be heading to the Doyle household as John’s proud parents Catherine and Barry watched on.

“I’m delighted with it to be fair. I feel like I have a good chance when I come here but I still have to do it. I did not put myself in a great spot heading into the final round, but I’m just delighted I did what I did this afternoon”, said Doyle.

“They were both there for the final round, which was nice, just to have them both there, cheering me on. I was just delighted to win with them there. It feels good.”  Doyle is one of the youngest winners of the Cork Scratch Cup, a trophy that dates back to 1923.  He also took home the Bruen Carr Trophy which is awarded to the top Under 25 golfer.

Cork provided a stiff test over the four rounds.  There were scores of 9,11 and 12 on the danger holes like the fifth, sixth, sixteenth and seventeenth, and equally the there were a handful of eagles on the par fives.  There was also an eagle on the 12^th when Evan Farrell went for the green off the tee.  The Co Louth golfer found a greenside bunker but holed out with his second after a great sand shot.

There were 17 Cork golfers in action with just over half making the cut.  James Walsh shot a final round 71 to jump up to 9^th place and Sean Barry and David Howard finished in the top twenty.  Dean O’Riordan shot a second round 69 to get into the top five at the halfway stage but couldn’t build on that on the second day.  Cork’s Paddy Quill was a reserve when play started on Saturday morning and he got his start when there was a late withdrawal.  He made the most of his opportunity by shooting two rounds of 74 to make the cut.  A third round 71 was the highlight for him on Sunday.

 

 

Scores:

Leaderboard
	Pos.	Move	Player	Total To Par Gross	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total Gross
	1	5	John Doyle Fota Island	-6	72	71	73	66	282
	2	1	Ross Latimer Knock	-5	72	71	70	70	283
	3	2	Eoin Murphy Dundalk	-5	72	70	69	72	283
	4	–	TJ Ford County Sligo	-4	71	70	73	70	284
	5	10	Keith Egan Carton House	-3	74	67	78	66	285
	6	–	James Temple Portmarnock	-3	72	72	72	69	285
	7	5	Stuart Grehan Co Louth	-2	71	71	70	74	286
	8	1	Paul Coughlan Castleknock	E	76	69	72	71	288
	9	6	James Walsh Douglas	+2	72	74	73	71	290
	10	3	Andrew Gavin Black Bush	+2	71	74	73	72	290
	11	2	Darragh Flynn Carton House	+2	71	72	74	73	290
	12	3	Dylan Holmes Greystones	+3	76	71	72	72	291
	13	4	Sean Barry Fota Island	+3	74	70	73	74	291
	14	5	David Reddan Castleknock	+4	71	72	74	75	292
	15	2	Lorcan O’Connor Edmondstown	+5	70	72	76	75	293
	16	11	Eoin Sullivan Portmarnock	+6	73	71	71	79	294
	17	5	Jonathan Keane Lahinch	+7	73	73	76	73	295
	18	7	Conor Hickey Dooks	+7	72	75	76	72	295
	19	–	David Howard Fota Island	+8	77	70	73	76	296
	20	–	Conor Clarke Balmoral	+8	75	70	76	75	296
	21	1	Evan Farrell Co. Louth	+9	74	72	76	75	297
	22	2	Jonathan O’Sullivan Cork	+9	69	77	75	76	297
	23	8	Paddy Quill Cork	+10	74	74	71	79	298
	24	18	Dean O’Riordan Mitchelstown	+10	73	69	74	82	298
	25	–	Sean Reddy Douglas	+11	75	73	75	76	299
	26	2	Karl Bornemann Douglas	+11	74	72	79	74	299
	27	5	James O’Rourke Naas	+11	73	68	81	77	299
	28	4	Robert Abernethy Dun Laoghaire	+12	71	76	81	72	300
	29	2	Dwayne Mallon Dungannon	+13	76	72	76	77	301
	30	2	Shane McDermott Slieve Russell	+13	72	74	79	76	301
	31	1	Robert Walsh Douglas	+14	76	72	78	76	302
	32	–	Barry O’Neill Tramore	+15	75	73	80	75	303
	33	3	Conor Stapleton Westport	+15	74	74	78	77	303
	The following players did not make the cut
	CUT	–	Mark Doogue Castleknock	+5	80	69			149
	CUT	–	Allan Hill Roscommon	+5	75	74			149
	CUT	–	Luke Carey Limerick	+5	75	74			149
	CUT	–	Joe O’Neill Berehaven	+6	78	72			150
	CUT	–	Evan Monaghan Tullamore	+6	78	72			150
	CUT	–	Conor McCarthy Headfort	+6	76	74			150
	CUT	–	Adam Smith Mullingar	+6	75	75			150
	CUT	–	Charlie McDonnell Concra Wood	+6	73	77			150
	CUT	–	Aaron Naughton Hermitage	+6	73	77			150
	CUT	–	Ian O’Rourke Cork	+6	72	78			150
	CUT	–	Ryan Murray Balmoral	+7	78	73			151
	CUT	–	Sean Murphy Grange	+7	78	73			151
	CUT	–	Donnacha Halpin Shannon	+7	77	74			151
	CUT	–	Ian O’Connell Castleknock	+7	76	75			151
	CUT	–	Seán McLoughlin County Sligo	+7	76	75			151
	CUT	–	Tony Scroope Nenagh	+7	76	75			151
	CUT	–	Eoin Magill East Clare	+7	76	75			151
	CUT	–	Kieran Morris Rosslare	+7	75	76			151
	CUT	–	Barry Anderson Cork	+8	77	75			152
	CUT	–	Morgan O’Sullivan Ballyneety	+8	77	75			152
	CUT	–	Harry Gillivan Portmarnock	+8	76	76			152
	CUT	–	David Shiel Enniscrone	+8	75	77			152
	CUT	–	Ruairi O’Connor Co Sligo	+9	78	75			153
	CUT	–	Gavin Lynch Cobh	+10	81	73			154
	CUT	–	Mark Shanahan Rosslare	+10	81	73			154
	CUT	–	Jason Rackard Bunclody	+10	77	77			154
	CUT	–	Seán Desmond Monkstown	+10	77	77			154
	CUT	–	Adam Allahbachani Powerscourt	+10	76	78			154
	CUT	–	Darragh Grehan Carton House	+10	76	78			154
	CUT	–	Ryan Lyons Blarney	+11	80	75			155
	CUT	–	John McCarthy Grange	+11	80	75			155
	CUT	–	Darren McCormack Corrstown	+14	84	74			158
	CUT	–	Ciaran Smyth Ballinasloe	+14	79	79			158
	CUT	–	Ross McCormack Palmerstown	+14	79	79			158
	CUT	–	Darren Kelleher Blarney	+15	84	75			159
	CUT	–	Kevin Robinson Castlewarden	+16	80	80			160
	CUT	–	Tóla Gormley Austin Golf Association	+16	77	83			160
	CUT	–	Evan Colley Grange	+23	88	79			167
	CUT	–	John Dillon Lahinch	+26	82	88			170
	CUT	–	Jack Power Waterford Castle	+28	79	93			172
	WD	–	Adam McCormick Scrabo	–	WD				WD
	DNF	–	Zack Devlin Cobh	–	DNF				DNF