Irish amateur open stroke-play championship

Kris Nicol finishes second
-
again - pipped by Dunbar

FROM THE IRISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar shot an impressive closing 72 to win the AIB sponsored Irish Amateur Open Championship at the Royal Dublin Golf Club.
The 20-year-old Irish International, winner of the St Andrews Links Trophy last year, started his final round with a bogey 5 but bounced back with a birdie on the par 5 second hole. He went one under for the round with a birdie on the par- 3 fourth hole before firing twelve straight pars.
The sequence was broken by a bogey 5 on the 17th hole but a solid regulation par on the final hole secured the win by a single stroke from Fraserburgh’s Kris Nicol, pictured above, who has filled the runner-up spot for the second week in succession, having been beaten in the Lytham Trophy only by Portstewart’s Paul Cutler last weekend.
The Irish open amateur championship trophy will stay at home for the first time since 2003 when Noel Fox (Portmarnock) won the second of his two Irish Amateur Open crowns.
As well as holding the premier Irish stroke-play title, graduates of the Golfing Union of Ireland coaching programme currently hold the three major stroke play titles from across the Irish Sea - the St Andrews Links Trophy (Dunbar), the Brabazon Trophy (Niall Kearney) and the Lytham Trophy.
SCOTSWATCH: Ross Kellett was the next best Scot after Kris Nicol. The consistent Colville Park player finished 10th on 299, two shots ahead of Greg Paterson who was 12th. Scottish champion David Law tied for 26th place on 307 while Paul Shields faded to a share of 32nd place on 312.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
292 A Dunbar (Rathmore) 74 75 71 72.
293 K Nicol (Scotland) 78 72 72 71.
296 B Loughrey (England) 73 76 74 73.
Other Scots' scores:
299 Ross Kellett 76 77 71 75 (10th).
301 Greg Paterson 79 75 71 76 (jt 12th).
307 David Law 79 77 73 78 (jt 26th).
312 Paul Shields 80 73 79 80 (jt 32nd).

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE SCORES