Figueiredo wins Irish Amateur Open by seven shots

By Brian Keogh

Portuguese teenager Pedro Figueiredo cruised to an impressive seven-shot victory in the AIB Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin.

Two clear of Ireland's Connor Doran after 54-holes, the 16-year-old from Lisbon closed with six birdies in an impressive 68 to finish on 10-under par.

Banbridge man Doran carded a final round 73 to share of second place with Scotland's Keir McNicholl and England’s Billy Hemstock on three-under par.

But Figueiredo was a deserved and impressive winner after making 13 birdies over the final 36 holes on Sunday.

"I am really delighted with this victory," Figueiredo said. "It is a very big tournament and I am very proud of what I did this week and the way I played.

“My distance control was very good and I had lots of birdies from three or four feet. My short game was good as were all parts of my game. That is the only way you can win."

Tied for the lead after 36 holes, Figueiredo had seven birdies in a third round 70 to move clear at the top.

But his lead was soon four strokes when he birdied the par-five second from 12 feet and then fired his approach to just two and a half feet at the 408-yard third.

A sand save from 15 feet at the par-three fourth helped him maintain his four-stroke lead and while he bogeyed the sixth and eighth, a birdie at the short seventh left him five ahead at the turn.

Playing with England’s Mark Thistleton and Scotland’s Paul O’Hara, Figueiredo was never under pressure as his rivals went backwards.

The lead was still five after his fourth birdie of the afternoon on the par-five 11th and he made sure of his second international victory with further birdies at the 13th and par-five 14th before finishing with solid par fours at the last four holes.

In February, Figueiredo clinched his first major international victory at the Portuguese Amateur Open and went on to make the cut in the European Tour's Madeira Islands Open and Portuguese Open.

Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney finished fifth on two-under par after Sunday rounds of 71 and 70 but Irish champion Lowry had to settle for a share of sixth place with Holland’s Floris de Vries after a closing 73.

AIB Irish Amateur Open, Royal Dublin (Par 72)

278: Pedro Figueiredo (Portugal) 73 67 70 68

285: Keir McNicoll (Scotland) 73 72 69 71, Connor Doran (Banbridge) 71 71 70 73, Billy Hemstock (England) 70 75 69 71

286: Niall Kearney (Royal Dublin) 72 73 71 70

287: Floris De Vries (Holland) 73 70 73 71, Shane Lowry (Esker Hills) 71 71 72 73

288: Farren Keenan (England) 73 72 70 73, Dara Lernihan (Castle) 72 73 69 74, Paul O'Hara (Scotland) 70 71 72 75

289: Wallace Booth (Scotland) 77 72 72 68, John Morris (Rosslare) 76 69 72 72, Anders Kristiansen (Norway) 70 79 70 70, Olivier Serres (France) 70 72 75 72

290: C Macaulay (Scotland) 75 70 73 72, H Satama (Finland) 73 74 73 70, M Thistleton (England) 72 68 76 74

291: G Dear (Scotland) 74 73 69 75, R Kellett (Scotland) 73 72 76 70

292: F Abadie (France) 76 70 70 76, J Brun (France) 73 74 74 71, N Gorey (Lee Valley) 73 72 74 73

293: A Hogan (Newlands) 76 73 71 73, Z Gould (Wales) 74 75 71 73, E Richardson (England) 73 74 75 71, P Murray (Limerick) 73 73 75 72, M Oueld-Es-Cheikh (France) 73 71 69 80

294: A Knappe (Germany) 77 71 73 73, F Illouz (France) 76 73 73 72, J Smedley (England) 75 73 72 74, R Cannon (L'town & B'town) 74 72 72 76, J Mikkelsen (Norway) 73 75 72 74

295: A Gabella-Wenne (Sweden) 80 69 75 71, G Ozcan (Turkey) 75 73 74 73, J Fox (Portmarnock) 73 75 73 74, J Carvill (Warrenpoint) 72 76 75 72, E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 68 74 73 80

296: T Pollari (Finland) 75 74 74 73

297: R Carson (Scotland) 74 75 71 77, M Veijalainen (Finland) 74 74 71 78

298: J Lando-Casanova (France) 78 71 73 76, V Guillaume (France) 75 71 77 75

300: F Rouilleaux (France) 75 73 76 76

302: P O'Hanlon (Curragh) 77 72 74 79

303: M Delay-Termoz (France) 73 72 75 83

RTD: G Cambis (France) 72 71 RTD

Non-qualifiers:
150: R McGee (Malone) 78 72, R Leonard (Banbridge) 77 73, C Perrot (France) 76 74, M Hillson (Scotland) 76 74, J Guilllet (France) 75 75, J Lyons (Galway) 75 75, A Levy (France) 74 76, P Cutler (Portstewart) 73 77, C Curley (Newlands) 73 77, B Newsome (England) 70 80

151: D Bobrowski (France) 79 72, R McKnight (Scotland) 78 73, G Yates (Scotland) 77 74, N Henderson (Scotland) 76 75, J Stalter (France) 76 75, M Stewart (Scotland) 75 76, B Walton (The Island) 74 77, R Hooper (Wales) 74 77, J Roth (Denmark) 73 78, M Durcan (Co Sligo) 72 79, X Poncelet (France) 72 79

152: M Lavelle (K Club) 78 74, E Mercadier (France) 78 74, M Hocaoglu (Turkey) 77 75, T Dreher (France) 77 75, D Antonelli (France) 75 77

153: K McDonagh (Athlone) 78 75, S Brown (England) 77 76, J Monaghan (The Island) 77 76, S Gautier (France) 77 76, S Henry (Scotland) 76 77, L Eriksson (Finland) 75 78, J Lerchedahl (Denmark) 74 79

154: K McAlpine (Scotland) 80 74, T Gornik (Slovenia) 80 74, E Vieilledent (France) 78 76, O Sharpe (England) 77 77, P McLean (Scotland) 76 78, R Durnin (L'town & B'town) 74 80, E Kennedy (Rosapenna) 73 81

155: L Lennox (Moyola Park) 80 75, S Webster (Castle) 79 76, L Tintera (Czech Republic) 78 77, Z Saltman (Scotland) 77 78, S Malone (Australia) 75 80

156: S McAllister (Scotland) 79 77, M Novy (Czech Republic) 78 78, A McAllister (Portmarnock) 77 79, G Lawlor (City West) 77 79, J Gallagher (Scotland) 77 79, L Weber (France) 75 81

157: K Turlan (France) 84 73, T Linard (France) 82 75, R Boal (Castle) 78 79, N Grant (Knock) 77 80

158: N Dean (England) 84 74, M Sinclair (Knock) 84 74

159: A Pierse (Tipperary) 83 76, E Charmat (France) 83 76, G Blainey (England) 81 78, G Hall (Edenderry) 80 79

160: E McAnoy (Knock) 80 80, L Cohen-Boyer (France) 74 86

161: J Prince (England) 85 76, X Feyaerts (Belguim) 82 79, N Peyrichou (France) 82 79

162: R Dupuis (France) 79 83

165: B Fennelly (Royal Dublin) 78 87

169: A Arnaudet (France) 91 78

DQ: E O'Sullivan (rd1), R Zwahlen (France) 76 DQ

WTD: R McCarthy (The Island) 77 WD

CSS:
Round 1: 75
Round 2: 75
Round 3: 75
Round 4: 75

SSS: 76