Moran 'putts' Irish Close away at third extra hole
Robert Moran poses with the AIG Irish Men's Amateur Close Championship trophy after his playoff win over Quentin Carew at Malone Golf Club, Belfast, Co. Antrim. 20/08/2023. Picture Fran Caffrey / Golffile.ie
Castle's Robert Moran clinched the AIG Irish Men's Amateur Close in thrilling fashion and banished the memory of his playoff defeat two years ago when he beat defending champion Quentin Carew with a birdie at the third extra hole at Malone.
The Dubliner (24) went into the final 36 holes two shots behind Tramore's Jack Hearn but fired a bogey-free, four-under 66 to take a three-shot lead over Castleknock's Carew into the final round.
Moran lost out to Peter O'Keeffe in a playoff at Tullamore in 2021 and it looked like more heartbreak lay in store when he missed a two-footer at the 17th to take a two-shot lead down the 72nd hole, then bogeyed the last to card a four-over 74 and tie with Carew (71) on one-under.
After both made bogey on the 18th in sudden death, where Carew missed a seven-footer for victory, they parred the 18th the second time around before Moran hit a seven-iron to 13 feet at the third tie hole, the 203-yard 12th, and rolled in the putt for victory after Carew's 25 footer stopped in the jaws.
"It's been a rollercoaster day," a relieved Moran said. "I played lovely this morning, but I was terrible this afternoon and couldn't putt into a bucket. But finally one went in there, so absolutely over the moon."
At the PGA Tour's BMW Championship at Olympia Fields, Seamus Power closed with a two-over 72 to finish 48th on 14-over, bringing his US season to an end.
Meanwhile, England's Dan Brown fired a one-under 69 to clinch his maiden win in a wire-to-wire fashion in the ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm.
He finished on 15-under par to win by five shots from countryman Alex Fitzpatrick (68) as American Alexa Pano clinched the women's title at the third extra hole after a three-way playoff.
Tom McKibbin eagled the last to close with a level par 70 and finish tied for 20th on level par, while in the women's event, Leona Maguire tied for 16th on level par after a gutsy two-under 70.
Maguire lost a ball and double-bogeyed the 11th, her second hole, but made six birdies and two bogeys from there as Stephanie Meadow's level par 72 left her joint 27th on two-over.
Pano made it a 19th birthday to remember when she birdied the last two holes to shoot a six-under 66 and tie with Germany's Esther Henseleit (69) and England's Gabriella Cowley (70) on eight-under-par.
Both Pano and Cowley birdied the 18th in sudden death, and after both parred the finishing hole again, the American two-putted for a birdie on their third trip down the closing par-five to win her maiden LPGA and LET title.
It was the final Solheim Cup qualifying event in Europe and Celine Boutier and Maja Stark qualified from the LET points list with Charley Hull, Leona Maguire, Georgia Hall, Linn Grant, Carlota Ciganda and Anna Nordqvist qualifying via the world rankings.
Captain Suzann Pettersen will name her four wildcards for the matches at Fina Cortesin at 4pm tomorrow.
At the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge, Paul McBride shot 66 to tie for 12th on 13-under-par, 14 strokes behind Finland's Lauri Ruusaka.
AIG Irish Men’s Amateur Close Championship, Malone GC (Par 70)
279 Robert Moran (Castle) 68 71 66 74, Quentin Carew (Castleknock) 70 68 70 71
Moran won with a birdie two at the 3rd tie hole (12th) after they had gone bogey-par at the par-four 18th
281 Jack Hearn (Tramore) 70 67 72 72
282 Keith Egan (Carton House) 66 74 69 73
285 Brandon St John (Portmarnock) 72 69 73 71
285 Liam Nolan (Galway) 70 72 73 70, Adam Cromwell (Co. Armagh) 69 71 70 75, Simon Ward (Belvoir Park) 68 72 72 73
287 Calum Ward (Carton House) 75 69 66 77
287 Simon Walker (Roscommon) 71 71 75 70
288 Marc Boucher (Carton House) 74 73 73 68, Rían Carvill (Warrenpoint) 73 74 70 71, Darcy Hogg (Belvoir Park) 70 74 74 70
289 Harry McArdle (Warrenpoint) 73 72 74 70, Jack Blake (The Island 73 71 75 70, Aaron Marshall (Lisburn) 72 75 70 72, Marc Norton (Belvoir Park) 71 72 73 73
290 Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) 74 73 70 73, Scott Jones (Belvoir Park) 74 67 70 79, Jamie Butler (Killeen) 72 72 73 73, Gerard Dunne (Co Louth) 71 76 72 71, Jack McDonnell (Forrest Little) 69 76 74 71, Jordan Boles
(Charleville) 69 72 72 77
291 Jake Foley (Elm Park) 73 74 74 70
292 Shane McDermott (Slieve Russell) 74 71 72 75, Paul Coughlan (Castleknock) 72 72 78 70, Conor Murtagh (The Island) 72 66 78 76, Ross McCormack (Palmerstown House Estate 71 70 75 76
293 Luke Kelly (Dunfanaghy) 77 67 75 74, Evan Farrell (Co Louth) 75 71 72 75, Dean O’Riordan (Fermoy) 74 71 71 77, David Shiel (Enniscrone) 74 69 75 75, Eoin Sullivan (Portmarnock) 73 74 76 70, David Kitt
(Athenry) 71 76 74 72
296 Mark Doogue (Baltinglass) 78 69 75 74, Richard Knightly (Royal Dublin) 76 68 78 74, Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) 75 72 72 77, Kevin Robinson (Castlewarden) 74 70 74 78, Dylan Keating
(Seapoint) 73 72 75 76
297 Ross Nelson (Belvoir Park) 77 70 74 76, Charlie Mooney (Ballinasloe) 76 71 77 73, Rory Milne (Faithlegg) 73 74 74 76
299 David Muldowney (Naas) 71 72 80 76
300 Cian Harkin (Letterkenny) 74 72 79 75, James Hewitt (Tandragee) 74 72 79 75, David Howard (Fota island) 69 75 76 80
301 Josh McCabe (Roganstown Golf & Country Club) 72 74 79 76
302 Robert Galligan (Elm Park) 75 72 74 81
308 James Fox (Portmarnock) 75 68 81 84.
