Peter O'Keeffe got the perfect workout for his defence of the Flogas Irish Amateur Open at Royal County Down later this week when he successfully defended the Kerry Scratch Cup at Tralee.

The Douglas talent (36) shot rounds of 71, 73 and 72 to win by five strokes on level par 216 from Royal Dublin's Barry Anderson, Kinsale's Gary Ward and Eoghan O'Donnell.

He opened with rounds of 71 and 73 to share the lead with Monkstown's Sean Desmond on level par but had enough with a final round 72 to canter to victory.

O'Keeffe was two under for the day with six holes to go, but while he double-bogeyed the par-three 13th. he played the remaining holes in level to win by five as Desmond slipped back to finish sixth after an 80.

Kerry Scratch Cup, Tralee Golf Links (Par 72)

1 Peter 0’Keeffe 71 73 72 216;
2 Barry Anderson 75 76 70 221;
3 Gary Ward 72 76 73 221;
4 Eoghan O’Donnell 72 75 74 221
5 James Sugrue 70 75 77 224
6 Sean Desmond 73 71 80 224
7 Robert Brazil! 73 76 76 225
8 John Hickey 78 75 75 228
9 Anthony McDaid 75 77 76 228
10 Jack Ryan  81 73 75 229
11  Hugh Foley 77 78 74 229
12 Manuel Alvarez 72 82 75 229
13 Cian Geraghty 75 75 80 230
13 Greg O’Mahony 74 79 77 230
15 Stephen Walsh 73 77 82 232
16 Darren P O’Sullivan 75 77 81 233
17 Paul Coughlan 77 79 78 234
18 Dave Kinneen 77 78 80 235
19 Dean McMahon 77 78 81 236
20 Kieran Lynch 79 79 79 237
21 James Temple 79 75 83 237
22 Philip Spratt 76 80 81 237
23 Eoghan Long 74 79 86 239
24 Paul Tobin 77 80 84 241
25 Scott O’Brien 76 77 88 241
26 Conor Jameson 76 80 86 242
27 Anton O’Callaghan 79 78 87 244 

CUT

28 Gerard Deegan 75 78 153
29 Peter Sheehan 81 74 155
30 Senan Carroll 75 81 156
31 Darragh Walshe 77 81 158
32 Redmond Mc Donnell 76 82 158
33 Seamus Stack 82 77 159
34 Keith Fitzpatrick 83 78 161
35 Andrew McCormack 83 78 161
36 David Fitzgerald 80 81 161
37 Jonathan McDonnell 81 80 161
38 Shane Underwood 79 82 161
39 Cathal Ffrench 79 83 162
40 Marc Nolan 77 85 162
41 Padraig Maher  84 79 163
42 Padraig Maher 84 79 163
43 Shane Kenneally 80 83 163
44 Edward Deniel 82 82 164
45 Ian Spillane 79 85 164
46 Eoln Goggin 84 81 165
47 Martin Daly 82 87 169
NR David Hennebery 82 NR
NR Paul Murphy 80 NR
NR Bryan Dore NR NR
NR Timothy Broderick NR
NR Daniel Dore 81 NR
NR Sean Ryan 79 NR
NR Brian Lenihan 82 NR
NR Conor Dowling 80 NR
NR Jonathan Goodall 87 NR
NR Pat Harnett 79 NR
NR Luke Walsh 84 NR
NR Les Halpin Jnr 78 NR A
NR Aidan Dooley 84 NR
NR Jamie Kiely NR NR
NR Sean Kingston 85 NR
NR Eoin Cantwell 84 NR
NR Shaun Carter 80 NR