Arthurs tastes sweet victory at Baltray

Forrest Little's Eoin Arthurs shook off his nearly man tag in decisive fashion when he cruised to an impressive four-stroke win in the East of Ireland Amateur Open Championship at County Louth.

The 24-year-old driving range operator and club-fitter has flattered to deceive on a couple of occasions this season.

But on another sun-blessed day at storied Baltray, he came from three strokes behind the overnight leader Dara Lernihan to win in style after rounds of 69 and 71 left him sitting pretty on six-under par 282.

Lernihan and Westport's Cathal O'Malley share second place on two under par after respective closing rounds of 74 and 73. But no one was going to deny Arthurs his shot at glory.

After failing to get past the first round of the West of Ireland championship, where he was second in strokeplay qualifying, and then fading badly after taking the first round lead in May’s Irish Amateur Open strokeplay at Royal Dublin, Arthurs feared the worst when he followed a blistering, first round 66 with a 76 on Saturday.

He revealed: "One of the guys in the club said well done when I shot the 66 in the first round. But he told me that I had to go out and shoot another good score or I'd be remembered as One-Round-Arthurs.

“When I shot 76, I thought, here we go again. But I got a pep talk from my girlfriend Finola and my caddie Conor O’Toole and I just went out there and played as well as I could.”

Despite a tricky southeast wind, Arthurs cracked a third round 69 on the sun-baked course to top the leadboard by a stroke on five-under par from overnight leader Dara Lernihan of the Castle with a round to play.

But as Arthurs headed out for his date with destiny, Irish Close and West of Ireland champion Shane Lowry was in the middle of a dramatic title charge that would end in tragedy at the 72nd hole.

Bidding to emulate 1996 champion Noel Fox and bridge a 10-stroke deficit on the leader over the final 36 holes, the Esker Hills star took advantage of calm early conditions to haul himself back to level par with brilliant third round 67 that could have been even better had it not been for a closing bogey six.

As Arthurs was preparing to begin his third round, Lowry raced to the turn in four under par to get within a shot of his lead.

But the Irish No 1 bogeyed the 13th and then blasted an ambitious three-wood out of bounds at the 18th to close with a disastrous triple bogey eight for a 72, smashing the offending club in anger before apologising profusely.

After finishing on level par, Lowry said: ““I am very annoyed with myself. I could have reached the green with a good shot. In hindsight, it’s easy to say I should have laid up.

“But I played great golf today and from ten shots behind I got back to within one of the leaders with nine to play. It has been another pretty good tournament, I suppose, but I am disappointed with that finish.”

Arthurs was never headed in the course of the afternoon, moving five strokes clear on seven under with six to play before bogeys at the 13th and 17th gave pursuers Lernihan and Cathal O'Malley a glimmer of hope.

But they too faltered down the stretch and Arthurs slammed the door shut with a closing birdie that would have made Lowry envious.

Playing in the third last group, he threaded a glorious three-wood through the bunkers at the 18th and lagged his 30 yard eagle putt to no more an a few inches for a tap in birdie and a victory that could open the door to interprovincial and even international honours.

"It feels unbelievable. I'm over the moon,” said the former Boys International. “My ambitions this season were to win a title and play for Leinster and Ireland. I think I might be good for the Leinster team now. But I really want to play for Ireland again and this is a great start."

He was only marginally happier at the finish than his father John, who looked set to collect a sizeable bet after wagering €30 each way with Phoenix Racing in Swords at 60-1.

East of Ireland Amateur Open, Co Louth (Par 72)

282 E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 66 76 69 71
286 C O'Malley (Westport) 71 71 71 73, D Lernihan (Castle) 68 71 73 74
287 P O'Hanlon (Curragh) 70 75 70 72
288 S Lowry (Esker Hills) 72 77 67 72, P Cutler (Portstewart) 71 73 71 73, J Caldwell (Clandeboye) 69 72 74 73
291 P Murray (Limerick) 78 72 73 68, N Grant (Knock) 73 68 78 72
293 D Sutton (Lockerbie) 74 70 71 78, E Kennedy (Rosapenna) 73 75 75 70, C Doran (Banbridge) 71 79 71 72
294 A Hogan (Newlands) 76 73 72 73
295 D Morgan (Mullingar) 74 75 72 74
296 K Crowley (Lee Valley) 75 75 72 74, C Curley (Newlands) 74 77 70 75, S Ward (Co Louth) 73 77 76 70, R McCarthy (The Island) 71 73 79 73, H Diamond (Belvoir Park) 69 77 75 75
297 D Crowe (Dunmurry) 75 68 75 79
298 E O'Sullivan (The Island) 77 73 74 74, M Mullen (Wexford) 73 74 74 77
300 R Forsythe (Ballyclare) 71 79 77 73, G O'Flaherty (Cork) 71 76 72 81, N O'Connor (Elm Park) 70 78 75 77
301 R Weldon (Hermitage) 77 74 72 78, F Rafferty (Dungannon) 72 77 73 79, M Buggy (Castlecomer) 70 78 77 76
302 G Dunne (Seapoint) 75 72 78 77, K Bornemann (Douglas) 71 78 77 76, A O'Callaghan (Douglas) 71 74 81 76
303 P Buckley (Kanturk) 73 76 73 81, N Kearney (Royal Dublin) 71 73 77 82
304 E McCormack (Galway) 77 73 73 81
305 W Kelly (Killeen) 76 74 77 78, R Leonard (Banbridge) 76 72 79 78, M Shanahan (West Waterford) 75 74 75 81
306 D Carroll (Grange) 75 74 80 77, N Goulding (Portmarnock) 74 75 75 82, G Lawlor (Citywest) 73 76 76 81
307 C Cunningham (Carton House) 74 75 76 82, E Marsden (Tullamore/NUIG) 73 76 76 82
308 D Ruddy (Thurles) 76 71 78 83, B Walton (Island/NUIM) 75 74 82 77, A Dowling (Hermitage) 72 74 80 82
309 B Fennelly (Royal Dublin) 77 73 76 83, J McGinn (L & B) 76 75 79 79, A McCormick (Scrabo) 75 76 78 80, J Waldron (Muskerry) 74 77 78 80
314 R Durnin (Laytown & Bettystown) 76 75 79 84