Fionn Hickey
Fionn Hickey finished strongly in Donegal today to claim second place in the Ulster Boys Open Championship. After opening rounds of 72 & 73 the Muskerry man was -1 and held 4th place overnight. In tough scoring conditions, Hickey found himself four over after six holes, but two birdies steadied the score. A final bogey on the 16th would see him sign for a 76, but that ended being the third best score of the day with nobody able to break par. Dundalk’s Josh Macklin shot a 74 to win while overnight leader Joshua Hill finished fourth. Robert Walsh(Kinsale) finished tied for 17th while Jack Egan (Muskerry) and Keelan McCarthy (Lee Valley) were further down the field.
Ulster Boys Amateur Open
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There might be a father & son final tomorrow, or it could be O’Sullivan v O’Sullivan, in any case there are just four left from the 64 starters in the Ford Muskerry Junior Scratch Trophy. Fota Island have two golfers left, father and son David and John Howard. David beat Jack Boyd (Muskerry) and David Byrnes (Castletroy) today to advance, while Dad John beat fellow Fota Island member Evan O’Connell this morning, and followed that by beating Muskerry Captain (and former winner) Diarmuid Linehan. Both Howard’s will have their hands full in the morning, they face two people closely linked with Muskerry. Although Mark O’Sullivan is currently a Cork member, he grew up on the course in Muskerry and will no doubt be hoping that local knowledge will help him along the way tomorrow. Adrian O’Sullivan will play John Howard and he’s a lifelong Muskerry member and like Mark, he’ll be hoping that his experience around the Cloghroe links will see him though against his Fota opponent. Play tomorrow morning will get underway at 8am, with the final schedule for 1pm. The ultimate winner will have come through a 300 to 1 challenge, a strokeplay qualifier and six rounds of matchplay to be crowned the Ford Muskerry Junior Scratch Trophy Champion 2019.
Donal McDonnell was the winner on Sunday, picking up his first Senior Scratch Cup title. Fota Island held their annual showpiece on Sunday, again in association with Top Golfer. There was a full timesheet for the event on the Deerpark course, and the three time Irish Open venue proved itself yet again as nobody could break par. Although the course was in great condition, it did play all of it’s 6,927 yards. Donal McDonnell from Monkstown was the winner after four players tied on 73. McDonnell took the title ahead of John O’Brien (Castlemartyr), Kieran Kennedy (Thurles) and David Howard (Fota Island). The Monkstown golfer is a regular on Monkstown’s successful Senior Cup team and has a provincial winners medal, Donal is also Junior Officer in Monkstown. This was his first senior scratch cup title and needless to say he was delighted with his win. Although he was four over par at the turn, McDonnell put together a great back nine. He shot two under for the second nine, and finished 3,3,4 which was crucial in terms of his placing for the countback. Although the top four were tied, John O’Brien took second place, Kennedy was third and David Howard was fourth. Howard had a busy weekend, on Saturday the four handicapper shot a 75 in Muskerry in the Ford Junior Scratch Trophy qualifier, and on Sunday he beat his handicap by two when he shot the 73. Anyone looking to play Fota this week can take advantage of their Masters Week specials, full details are available from the pro shop.
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