Amateur golfBrian KeoghIrish Amateur Close, Headfort Golf Club, Hugh Foley, Matt McClean, Quentin Carew, Sam Murphy, Paul Conroy, Simon Walker, Peter O'Keeffe, Max Kennedy, Richard Knightly, Joseph Byrne

Foley has Major hat-trick in his sights after two more Close encounters

Amateur golfBrian KeoghIrish Amateur Close, Headfort Golf Club, Hugh Foley, Matt McClean, Quentin Carew, Sam Murphy, Paul Conroy, Simon Walker, Peter O'Keeffe, Max Kennedy, Richard Knightly, Joseph Byrne
Foley has Major hat-trick in his sights after two more Close encounters

Hugh Foley has been sensational on the greens in Headfort. Pictures: Thos Caffrey/Golffile.ie

Team selection is a thankless task but Royal Dublin's Hugh Foley looks determined to make a mockery of his non-selection for the Eisenhower Trophy after he produced a barrage of back-nine birdies to beat clubmate Richard Knightly and move into the semi-finals of the AIG Irish Amateur Close at Headfort.

Last month, the 25-year-old Dubliner (25) became the first player since Darren Clarke in 1990 to win the North of Ireland and South of Ireland titles in the same season and he's now on course to match Clarke's feat of 30 years ago by adding the Close to his collection of four amateur "Majors" in three years.

He now faces Malone's Matthew McClean, selected with Robert Moran and Mark Power for the World Amateur Team Championships in Paris later this month, for a place in the final.

And he looks like he will take some beating too after he came back from 3-down after ten holes to beat fellow Royal Dublin man Max Kennedy 1-up in the quarter-finals to wrap up the domestic Bridgestone Order of Merit, then came back from 3-down at the turn and 2-down with four to play to beat Knightly 1-up with a homeward nine of five-under 31.

"That was important to me for a couple of personal reasons," Foley said of his Bridgestone win. "I think it is a good marker. So in my tournaments in Ireland, I have been No 1 in Ireland so that speaks for itself in terms of recent ongoings so I am happy with that."

He admitted his form overseas has not been as good as he might have liked -- the likely reason for his omission from the World Amateur Team Championships in favour of the top three Irish players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

But he's been under par in each match he's played so far this week and still played a whopping 73 holes after beating Sean Flanagan on the 19th in the first round and then been taken to the last in the other three.

Against Knightly, he birdied the 10th and 13th and was still two down with four to go after his clubmate birdied the 14th but promptly birdied the 15th (15 ft), 16th (chip to 2 ft) and 17th (18 ft) to go to the last 1-up.

"He must have been two under through the turn with three birdies and I was only one over and he was making me feel like I was playing badly," Foley said. "He played really well and he continued to play really well. I probably had nine holes that were my best nine holes since the North of Ireland - five birdies and four pars was really good golf."

He added: "It was a great match. Neither of us threw anything away. It was just birdies, which is rare. I think it's the best match I've played in a championship.”

Foley had help from local caddie Marcus Nolan en route to his South of Ireland and he appears to have found the right bag man this week in a player who also works under coach Geoff Loughrey, 15-year old Mark Cadden, a member of Headfort.

"I was amazing on the back nine. I missed a four-footer on nine and wasn't putting well on the front nine and then on the back nine I just started putting great. My caddie Mark Cadden from Headfort, I got him reading putts on the back nine and  I holed everything. That helped."

Knightly gave himself a birdie chance from eight feet to force extra holes but he couldn't convert and Foley is now on track to win his third domestic "major" of the season and his fifth in his last 10 appearances having won the Close in 2020 and the West last year.

"I can't complain at all with how I played," said Knightly, who has taken his game to a new level over the past two years and looks to be on the verge of big things. "It was amazing putting by Hugh when it mattered. He will be impossible to beat if he keeps doing that!"

Foley revealed he received a congratulatory message from Clarke after his North-South double and a timely reminder from the reigning Senior Open champion to "keep working my ass off."

"That was a wake-up call to say none of this comes without work," he said, vowing not to get ahead of himself and start thinking about a possible title hat-trick as he faces McClean, who beat 15-year-old Roganstown star Sean Keeling 2&1 before draining a 35 footer on the last to beat defending champion Peter O'Keeffe 1-up in the afternoon.

"It felt like a final," said O'Keeffe who was one-under to McClean's two-under figures.

Seeking his first big win, McClean said: "Against players like Peter you have to play well to have any chance so it was nice to be a part of it but even nicer to get the win."

He had to work hard to beat young gun Keeling in round three, chipping in for eagle at the 16th to go 2-up after the teenager came back from 4-down after nine to just 1-down with three to play.

As for his clash with O'Keeffe, who had to go to the 19th to beat Laytown and Bettystown's Annraoi Collins in the morning, McClean knew he was in for a fight.

"Two very tough matches, played very nicely both times," McClean said. "Peter is the sort of guy who never goes away and never gives you anything. He played very well and I just went to and fro with him. It was nice to hole that 30-footer on the last, think it's the first putt I've holed all week. 

"It's always nicer to do something good rather than your opponent do something bad. Neither of us did anything wrong on the way in, I think we were both two or three-under for the last five so didn't give each other anything to hold onto. 

"I started pretty hot, birdied the first two then gave Peter a couple back with bogeys then he made a couple of birdies, I made a couple of birdies. It was a very good game overall. 

"I birdied 12 to go 1-up, then he holed a 40-footer on 13 to go all square, I hit a four-iron in. I hit a great chip but it didn't matter then he nearly birdied 14. 

"We both nearly eagled 16, he drove it 90 past me and I only had 220 in and he hit it like 420 off the tee and I was miles back, I would have taken a half after the drives and had a good chance on 17, just missed. 

"Getting the putt on 18 was a bonus."

At the top of the draw, Castleknock's Quentin Carew, a serving Garda in Tallaght, continued his fairytale run and fought off a niggling back injury to chisel out 2&1 wins over Elm Park's Jake Foley and Portumna's Sam Murphy.

"I'm just on a high from all of it," Carew said, who shocked the leading qualifier, Alex Maguire, in round one. "Sunday evening I didn't expect to get in - I was 65th man and luckily a couple of lads dropped out at the end and I snuck in so I knew playing Alex Maguire whatever I got from here was a bonus and thankfully I have taken advantage of it so far. 

"Each round I have had enough to get it done. 

"It was tough. The back nine was key, Sam had a bad enough start I was just doing what I had to do, made a couple of birdies and then it started to turn I made a few mistakes he had some good up and downs. 

"Ten was a big moment. He had 10 feet for par, I had missed the green short left and I chipped in so that was a big jump from a bad spot. It was big. I had a couple of chances to win holes and didn't take them and then a putt fell on 13 to get 1-up and then he got into trouble on 14 and I was 2-up so I kept it going from there. 

"The 16th was big. I hit a 9-iron second shot and two-putt birdie and after a two-putt par on 17 I was just relieved to get it in. 

"I haven't had much luck this year in anything really, missed a lot of cuts, and recently enough I started hitting a bit of form. I played decent in Mullingar, but my body let me down a little towards the end — last year I was in a crash and had a bad injury from it on my back that is constantly putting pressure on my spine.

“I knew I was hitting the ball well and I just decided to get into it I won't get a better chance now than where I am now and obviously the three lads are left are going to be serious.

“It will be a tough one to get over the line. At the start of the year, 18 holes was all that was in me but I got a lot of work on it, plenty of stretching and it's slowly getting better.  

"I am feeling it, but luckily I had the massage gun to keep me ticking over but yeah just rest up as best I can and hopefully be fresh tomorrow."

He now faces Enniscorthy's Paul Conroy, a semi-finalist in the South of Ireland last year, who had 4&2 wins over Ballyhaunis' Andrew Hickey and Roscommon's Simon Walker.

"I've been playing well for the past two days," Conroy said. "Since the second day of the stroke play, I really started hitting my irons well, and giving myself loads of chances. I haven't thrown away any holes which is nice. I've always been putting pressure on who I'm playing. All the lads I've played have done well. I've had some good matches so far."

Conroy got permission from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to stay on for the Championship and he's hoping his decision pays off.

"It'd be nice to go back to America with the trophy," he said. "I don't know if it'll fit in the suitcase though!"

AIG Irish Men's Amateur Close Championship, Headfort (New Course)

Third round

Q Carew (Castleknock) bt J Foley (Elm Park) 2&1;

S Murphy (Portumna) bt J Butler (Killeen) 5&3;

P Conroy (Enniscorthy) bt A Hickey (Ballyhaunis) 4&2;

S Walker (Roscommon) bt R Symington (Lisburn) 1 h;

M McClean (Malone) bt S Keeling (Roganstown) 2&1;

P O'Keeffe (Douglas) bt A Collins (Laytown & Bettystown) 19th;

H Foley (Royal Dublin) bt M Kennedy (Royal Dublin) 1 h;l

R Knightly (Royal Dublin) bt J Byrne (Baltinglass) 2&1.

Quarter-finals

Carew bt Murphy 2&1;

Conroy bt Walker 4&2;

McClean bt O'Keeffe 1 h;

Foley bt Knightly 1 h.

Semi-finals

8:00 Carew v Conroy;

8:15 McClean v Foley.

Final

Scheduled for 1 p.m.