Amateur golfBrian KeoghMarch 02, 2017Irish Colleges Matchplay Sprint, Woodbrook Golf Club

Thumbs up for Irish Colleges Matchplay Sprint; nine-hole golf a winner at Woodbrook

Amateur golfBrian KeoghMarch 02, 2017Irish Colleges Matchplay Sprint, Woodbrook Golf Club

Woodbrook Golf Club. Picture courtesy, Jamie Gibson

Just eight of the 17 starters made it to Friday but nine is the magic number in the Irish Colleges Matchplay Sprint at Woodbrook.

Twenty-seven holes, round robin format produced some exciting finishes across the five groups.

Defending champions Ulster University (a) bowed out as IADT and TCD progress from group D.

UCD (a), CIT (b), QUB and Maynooth (a) finished top of their groups while Ulster (b) and Maynooth (b) also progress as runners-up.

"It's a very quick format, if you get down quick it's difficult as you don't have the back nine to claw back a win, it's a lot tougher!" said Conor Nolan of IADT.

"There's been a few mad results today that were unexpected and that makes it exciting. As a final year student it's nice to be able to play so many teams while only having to take two days off - that's down to the format and the fact that nine holes obviously only takes half the time."

Maynooth University's Mary Doyle added: "It's more pressurised because you don't have that many holes to play to get the win, but that's what makes it interesting!"

Tomorrow will see the nine-hole quarter-final matches begin at 8:00 am followed by the semi-finals, the third place playoff and final, which will also be played over nine holes.