GORDON STEVENSON BEATEN IN PLAY-OFF FOR IRISH TITLE

Picture (from the IGU webiste): Irish Golf Union  President, Eugene Fayne (right), presents the Irish Amateur Open trophy to Rhys Pugh (Wales). Also pictured is JJ Murphy, Captain, The Royal Dublin Golf Club.


FROM THE IRISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
Rhys Pugh of Wales defeated Scotland's Gordon Stevenson in a three-hole play-off to claim the Irish Amateur Open Trophy at The Royal Dublin Golf Club today.
Pugh had led by three shots from Stevenson going into the last round, but on a difficult day for play the Scot from the Whitecraigs club clawed his way back into contention on the back nine while the Welshman faltered.
Dutchman Daan Huizing looked a likely winner for most of the day but faltered on the final two holes, dropping four shots on the final two holes.
Paul Dunne (Greystones) also made an excellent rally in the final round, carding a brilliant 72, and but for his 10-foot par putt on the 18th grazing the hole and failing to drop, he too would have been in that playoff.
But Pugh made fewer mistakes in the stroke-play play-off, and when Stevenson went out of bounds at the difficult 17th - the second hole of the three - he was firmly in the driving seat, and could afford a bogey 5 at the 18th to seal his victory.
Winner of the Peter McEvoy Trophy last year, Welshman Pugh will have enhanced his prospects of making the 10-strong Great Britain and Ireland team for the Walker Cup match against the United States over the Royal Aberdeen club's Balgownie links in September.
Fraserburgh pair Kris Nicol and Jordan Findlay, the Scottish Alliance champion, finished a respectable ninth and 12th in a windswept tournament where even the play-off participants were six over par for 72 holes.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
294 R Pugh (Wales) 72 70 74 78 (Winner after three-hole play-off), G Stevenson (Scotland) 74 69 76 75
295 D Huizing (Netherlands) 77 70 74 74, P Dunne (Greystones) 73 71 79 72
297 N Grant (Knock) 77 72 71 77
298 P Cutler (Portstewart) 75 71 75 77, A Dunbar (Rathmore) 73 72 74 79
300 L Bjerregaard (Denmark) 81 70 73 76
301 K Nicol (Scotland) 75 72 74 80
302 C Selfridge (Moyola Park) 78 73 72 79, R Whitson (Mourne) 76 69 76 81
303 J Findlay (Scotland) 76 74 75 78
304 A Hogan (Newlands) 82 68 73 81, R Kind (Netherlands) 71 76 79 78
305 S Barry (Laytown and Bettystown) 78 71 81 75, E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 76 75 75 79, J Greene (Carlow) 73 76 76 80
306 M Veijalainen (Finland) 76 70 78 82, E McCormack (Galway) 74 70 82 80
307 P Shields (Scotland) 79 73 76 79, W Harmston (England) 79 71 78 79, D McElroy (Ballymena) 79 70 81 77, P Murray (Limerick) 78 72 76 81, T Salminen (Finland) 78 71 77 81, F McKenna (Scotland) 77 73 79 78, R Van West (Netherlands) 76 73 77 81
308 K McCarthy (Kinsale) 82 70 80 76, R McNamara (Headfort) 80 69 78 81, C Doran (Banbridge) 79 73 78 78, B Casey (Headfort) 77 75 77 79
309 A Eckhardt (Finland) 79 72 80 78, C O'Malley (Westport) 77 73 81 78
310 H Beins (Germany) 81 70 81 78
311 J Brittain (England) 75 76 76 84
312 D Murphy (Portarlington) 78 74 76 84
313 R Dhondt (Belgium) 81 66 81 85, M Gaspar (Portugal) 75 75 83 80
319 J Evans (England) 75 74 86 84
321 C Fairweather (Knock) 73 78 81 89