Sixteen-year-old wins Irish open amateur title

Six Scots in top 20 but remember
the name Pedro Figueiredo

Scotland had six players finish in the top 20 of the AIB-sponsored Irish men's open amateur stroke-play championship at Royal Dublin Golf Club today.
But the spotlight belonged to a 16-year-old Portuguese lad, Pedro Figueiredo, whose 10-under-par total of 278 gave him a seven-stroke victory over some of the best amateurs in Europe.
Make a note of the name. Pedro could develop into his country's first professional star over the next decade.
Master Figueiredo started the third round at four under par and in the lead. If he was nervous, he certainly did not show it. He had a solid round of two-under-par 70 to consolidate his position after 54 holes and then birdied the second and third of the final round.
That put him four shots clear and it was clearly a Walter Hagen "who's gonna be second?" situation after that.
The schoolboy traded birdies with bogeys until the 13th hole – the third most difficult hole on the course on the final day – where he made a birdie 3 before virtually sealing the title with another birdie at the long 14th.
A quartet of pars over the remaining holes saw Figueiredo win by a margin of seven stokes from a trio of players – Carnoustie's Keir McNicoll, Irishman Connor Doran (Banbridge) and Billy Hemstock from England.
Local hero Niall Kearney finished a shot further back in fifth place.
Other Scots apart from McNicoll in the leading 20 were: Paul O'Hara (Colville Park) on 288 after Sunday rounds of 72 and 75; Wallace Booth (Comrie) on 289, thanks a closing round of 68 to match the winner's performance; Callum Macaulay (Tulliallan) on 292 with Sunday rounds of 73 and 72; Gavin Dear (Murrayshall) and Ross Kellett (Colville Park), both on 291. Dear had a third-round 69 and Kellett kept his best to the last, a two-under-par 70.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
278: P Figueiredo (Portugal) 73 67 70 68.
285: K McNicoll (Scotland) 73 72 69 71, C Doran (Banbridge) 71 71 70 73, B Hemstock (England) 70 75 69 71.
286: N Kearney (Royal Dublin) 72 73 71 70.
287: F De Vries (Holland) 73 70 73 71, S Lowry (Esker Hills) 71 71 72 73.
288: F Keenan (England) 73 72 70 73, D Lernihan (Castle) 72 73 69 74, P O'Hara (Scotland) 70 71 72 75.
289: W Booth (Scotland) 77 72 72 68, J Morris (Rosslare) 76 69 72 72, A Kristiansen (Norway) 70 79 70 70, O Serres (France) 70 72 75 72.
290: C Macaulay (Scotland) 75 70 73 72, H Satama (Finland) 73 74 73 70, M Thistleton (England) 72 68 76 74.
291: G Dear (Scotland) 74 73 69 75, R Kellett (Scotland) 73 72 76 70.
292: F Abadie (France) 76 70 70 76, J Brun (France) 73 74 74 71, N Gorey (Lee Valley) 73 72 74 73.
293: A Hogan (Newlands) 76 73 71 73, Z Gould (Wales) 74 75 71 73, E Richardson (England) 73 74 75 71, P Murray (Limerick) 73 73 75 72, M Oueld-Es-Cheikh (France) 73 71 69 80.
294: A Knappe (Germany) 77 71 73 73, F Illouz (France) 76 73 73 72, J Smedley (England) 75 73 72 74, R Cannon (L'town & B'town) 74 72 72 76, J Mikkelsen (Norway) 73 75 72 74.
295: A Gabella-Wenne (Sweden) 80 69 75 71, G Ozcan (Turkey) 75 73 74 73, J Fox (Portmarnock) 73 75 73 74, J Carvill (Warrenpoint) 72 76 75 72, E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 68 74 73 80.
296: T Pollari (Finland) 75 74 74 73.
297: R Carson (Scotland) 74 75 71 77, M Veijalainen (Finland) 74 74 71 78.
298: J Lando-Casanova (France) 78 71 73 76, V Guillaume (France) 75 71 77 75.
300: F Rouilleaux (France) 75 73 76 76.
302: P O'Hanlon (Curragh) 77 72 74 79.
303: M Delay-Termoz (France) 73 72 75 83.