A great year for the Collins club continued last Saturday at the National Junior Mens Strokeplay Championship as Tramore created a bit of history for themselves last Saturday in RGSC in the Junior B event. Jason O’Connor reports on what happened in Kingswood.

It all looked finely poised after the first 36 holes in the Junior A event with all the participants in the Final 18 Playoff separated by only six shots. Seven shots would be the difference between first and second when it was all said and done however as Callum O’Donovan from Collins brought another national title home to the club with a great final round of four under par leaving the rest of the field in his wake.

O’Donovan had led after 36 holes on two under par, one ahead of Bagenalstown’s Paul Core, the only other player in the field to break par for the first 36 holes. Callum’s club-mate Nicky Byrne went around in level par as Fermoy’s William Fitzgerald, who had started with a first 18 of two under par, fell back to two over par after the first 36 holes. The qualifying score for the playoff of four over par was matched by three other players who all missed out on countback as all seemed to set for an exciting playoff.

O’Donovan increased his lead to four however after the first nine holes in moving to three under par as Trevor Cummins of Trim and Michael Holland of Gowran emerged to become the Collins player’s closest challengers. Michael would go on to finish second thanks to a better last nine holes of one under par as opposed to two over for Trevor as both players finished the tournament on one over par. O’Donovan improved his score by a further three strokes over the last nine holes to ensure his win at six under par, the biggest winning margin in the event for five years.

Another level par round in the Final 18 for Ger Dinan of ESB would give him this new prize in the first year of its introduction as he finished the tournament itself on two over par. The Junior B event would be a much tighter finish as there was a big change in contenders between the first and second 18. Gerry Lee of Tralee on +4 and Cian McCarthy of Rocklodge on +5 were the leaders after the first round but their challenge would fall away during the second round.

Thomas Dornian of Tramore emerged in the firm conditions in the second 18 to take charge of the event with a good closing round of four over par to go with an opening nine over par put him on top with +13 in the finish. Brian Andrews from Ardnacrusha matched Thomas in the second 18 with four over par but his opening 10 over par round prevented him from claiming victory as he had to settle for second with a score of +14.

Patrick O’Neill from Bagenalstown had been third after the first 18 himself on +6 and maybe had the two most consistent rounds of the day with +8 for his second round. However, the two four over par rounds shot after the turn meant that he had to settle for the bronze medal, losing out to Andrews for silver on countback with a +14 total as well. 

 

 

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