Tom Byrne and Declan Murray teed it up this afternoon in the final of President Pat O’Neill’s prize.
This had every chance of being a very tight match with Tom having already clinched both the Gold Medal and Golfer of the Year title this year and with Declan playing some fine golf recently and also having won a medal earlier this year. For the final Declan was getting 8 shots from Tom.
Luckily the bad weather which had been forecast didn’t materialise and the lads teed it up in some nice sunshine. Tom hit the first green, Declan came up short and failed to get up and down while Tom hit a 25 foot putt to a foot for the win. Holes were swapped for the remainder of the front nine and the pair turned with Tom still 1 up.
Declan won the 10th with a shot after Tom found trouble left of the green with his second shot but it looked like Tom might get the hole straight back when Declan’s tee shot to eleven came up quite a bit short of the green. The pin at the back and Tom was on the green but was facing a tricky putt. Declan hit a fantastic recovery chip to a foot for par. Tom’s putt through the fringe came up well short and he left himself too much to do to make par and went 1 down.
Twelve was won by Declan, again getting a shot and both players hit excellent tee shots on 13 with Declan now holding a 2 hole lead.
Tom hit a good approach shot to the green while Declan hit a poor shot by his standards to end up short of the water. A two putt from Tom was enough to win the hole and he then captiatlised on an excellent tee shot to fourteen with a tidy two putt while Declan didn’t get up and down from the green-side bunker.
All square on the fifteenth tee and with Tom again giving a shot he hit a great drive up the left hand side of the fairway. Declan pushed his drive left but hit a good recovery shot to find the centre of the fairway and be back in a good position. The rest of the hole was played out in copy book style and was halved.
Tom had one more shot to give (on seventeen) so it was important to not loose the tricky sixteenth. With a changing wind he hit a great tee shot straight at the flag but unfortunately he was a couple of yards too long and hit ball slipped over the back of the green. Declan also hit a great tee shot to find the centre of the green. Tom was first to play and his chip came up short. Declan’s approach putt was too hard and ran five feet past the hole. With Tom making a four Declan held his nerve to roll an excellent putt and go one up with two to play.
On the seventeenth, both players found the middle of the fairway with their drives. Tom played his second shot first and missed the green on the left pin high – a good leave. Once again the wind was swirling a bit and Declan stood back from his shot to change for an extra club. He took dead aim at the flag and his shot hit the back of the green and trickled into the bunker. Once again Tom was first to play and he hit a good chip to around eight feet. Declan was faced with a bunker shot to a green sloping away to the water hazzard and understandably, especially under the circumstances, just got it out of the bunker and onto the fringe about 30 feet from the pin. This looked like all the world like three putt territory but as happened on the sixteenth green Declan held his nerve and hit a wonderful putt to six inches for bogey (nett par). Tom now had his eight foot par putt to halve the hole and take the match to the eighteenth. Unfortunately for Tom his putt just slipped past the hole and the match was Declan’s by a margin of 2&1.
This was an excellent match and a fitting final for President Pat O’Neill’s prize.
Many congratulations to both finalists and of course most especially to Declan Murray – President’s Prize Winner 2021
