A thoroughbred racehorse sometimes needs a great jockey to bring out the best in him but Colm Campbell didn’t need more than a glimpse of the whip as he holed two crucial putts late in the day to stay on the bridle and canter to a two-stroke victory in the East of Ireland Amateur Open at a rain-spattered Baltray.

The 27-year old from Warrenpoint was chastened after losing his place in the Ulster interprovincial team last year. But with his uncle Paddy Gribben on his bag — the former European Amateur champion and Walker Cup player — he did not let his big chance slip through his fingers.

Tied for the lead overnight with defending champion Paul Dunne of Greystones, just one clear of Cork’s Gary O’Flaherty, the mobile phone shop manager was clearly dialled in during the third round as he aced the 168-yard 15th with a seven iron and carded a four under par 68 to Dunne’s 76 to lead by four from O’Flaherty and by five from Limerick's Pat Murray (67) on eight under par with a round to play.

The challenge from the two Munster men melted away in the afternoon rain showers. Murray birdied the first two holes to get within three of the lead but then lost his rhythm and bogeyed the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth before a double bogey at the 10th ended his chances. In the end he shot 76 to tie for fourth on one over with O’Flaherty, who never recovered from a double at the seventh when tied for the lead and shot 77.

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West Waterford’s Gary Hurley closed with two 72s to take third on level par but Campbell was a deserving winner thanks to some clutch putting.

He shrugged off an early wobble in the final round that saw his lead disappear by the fifth, dug deep to build a three-shot lead after nine and made two crucial par saving putts from 20 feet at the 16th and eight feet at the 17th to keep a charging Dunne at bay.

Two behind, Dunne drove into sand at the last and Campbell sensibly laid up short of the bunkers with a three iron, knocked a three wood up the left and pitched on before two putting from 35 feet for 74 and a six under par total of 282.

He finished two strokes ahead of Dunne, exhausted after his exertions for the University of Birmingham Alabama in the NCAA Championship last week, who closed with a classy 68.

“That’s the icing on the cake, it is what I have always been working towards,” said a delighted Campbell. “I had a poor year last year and I was determined to come back fighting this year. The aim was to get a championship under the belt and thankfully I was able to do it. The hard winter paid off.

And the putter kept me above water as such, just played really good all week. The hard winter paid off, I worked really hard over the winter. I had a poor year last year and I was determined to come back fighting this year. The aim was to get a championship under the belt and thankfully I was able to do it.

"You can’t take this game for granted and when you have as poor a year as I did you realise you can’t compete in these tournaments playing that sort of golf. It was definitely a wake up call.

"I had a food solid round this morning and that put me in a good position. Funny, my last hole in one I was playing with Paddy, it was a nice wee bonus as well."

Uncle Paddy looked almost as chuffed as his nephew as he headed for the clubhouse as yet another squall lashed the spectators at the 18th.

“I've watched him grow up and just to see that happening is fantastic,” Gribben said. “I never won the East but that was as enjoyable as any win. I remember saying to Barry Reddan a few years ago, he'll win this some today. With the work he's put in this year, he deserves every bit.” 

An early double bogey at the third and a bogey at the fifth threw Campbell’s plans into disarray and left him tied for the lead with O’Flaherty on five under with Dunne just one behind.

But with his uncle whispering sweet advice in his ear, he stopped watching his opposition and played the remaining 13 holes in one under par to win his first major title in impressive fashion.

“He has been there, he has been at the top and he knows what it is all about,” Campbell said. “He is there to give you a wee word in your ear, keep you calm, try not to let you get too far ahead. His experience really helped me over the four rounds as well.

"Three over through five, he said to me let’s go, let’s play our own game. Get a few pars on the board. That settled me down and I started making better swings and settled into it.”

When O’Flaherty double bogeyed the par-three seventh and Dunne also bogeyed that hole, Campbell had a cushion again and set about widening the gap.

A gutsy 15 foot par save at the ninth, where Dunne and O’Flaherty bogeyed, left him three shots clear of them on five under with nine to go.

When he birdied the 10th, hitting a nine iron to 10 feet, to go four ahead and then holed a 15 footer for par at the 11th, he was cruising.

But Dunne would not go away and birdied the 12th to get to within three and the 17th from eight feet to close to two after Campbell had brilliantly holed from 20 feet for par at the 16th after being force to wedge out of the left rough after a bad drive.

The gap could have been just one going to the last but Campbell saved par from eight feet having watched his four iron approach trickle over the back.

“It was longer than I wanted,” Campbell said of his par save on the 17th. That he holed it was no surprise to Dunne.

“He doesn't like to miss putts,” said the 21-year old with a smile. “The two putts he holed on 16 and 17 were big. So congrats to Colm, he played great. He deserved to win today. He played better than I did.”

West Waterford’s Gary Hurley (72-72) was third on level par with Limerick’s Pat Murray (67-76) and Cork’s Gary O’Flaherty (71-77) tied for fourth on one over.

East of Ireland Amateur Open, Co Louth GC (Par 72) sponsored by CityNorth Hotel

Final

282 Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) 72 68 68 74

284 Paul Dunne (Greystones) 68 72 76 68

288 Gary Hurley (West Waterford) 74 70 72 72

289 Eoin Arthurs (Forrest Little.) 75 70 71 73, Pat Murray (Limerick) 72 74 67 76, Gary O'Flaherty (Cork) 70 71 71 77

290 James Fox (Portmarnock) 76 73 70 71

291 Connor Doran (Banbridge) 75 75 72 69, Richard Bridges (Stackstown) 74 74 71 72

292 Mark Shanahan (Castlemartyr) 79 70 73 70, Barry Anderson (The Royal Dublin) 73 73 77 69

293 Chris Selfridge (Moyola Park) 78 72 70 73, John-Ross Galbraith (Whitehead) 73 73 74 73, Stephen Coulter (Warrenpoint) 70 75 77 71, Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock) 69 76 75 73

294 Gary Collins (Rosslare) 74 73 74 73

295 Steffan O'Hara (Co. Sligo) 75 76 75 69

296 Alan Lowry (Esker Hills) 75 75 75 71, Aaron Grant (Dundalk) 75 71 76 74, Sean Ryan (The Royal Dublin) 75 70 77 74, Eddie McCormack (Galway) 74 72 75 75

297 Kevin Le Blanc (The Island) 71 75 75 76, Paul Reavey (Warrenpoint) 70 76 71 80

299 John Hickey (Cork) 75 74 73 77, Alex Gleeson (Castle) 72 75 73 79, Darragh Coghlan (Portmarnock) 71 77 74 77

300 Cian Geraghty (Laytown & Bettystown) 76 74 77 73, James Lindsay (North West) 76 73 77 74, Conor O'Rourke (Naas) 76 68 80 76, Ben Best (Rathmore) 74 76 76 74, Michael Sinclair (Knock) 71 79 70 80

301 Niall Gorey (Palmerstown Stud) 71 78 74 78, Harry McHugh (Skerries) 68 79 77 77

302 Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) 78 69 77 78, Keith Egan (Carton House) 77 74 75 76, Jeff Hopkins (The Royal Dublin) 77 73 76 76, Ally Purdy (Ballyclare) 76 73 77 76

303 Mark O'Rourke (Royal Tara) 77 73 77 76, Stephen Browne (Hermitage) 75 74 80 74

304 Tony O'Leary (Wexford) 76 73 79 76

305 Eugene Smith (Ardee) 72 77 77 79, Chris Carroll (Shandon Park) 72 75 76 82

306 William Hanna (Kilkeel) 74 75 77 80

307 Phillip Purdy (Shandon Park) 76 75 77 79, Liam Ashby (Naas) 76 74 79 78, Caolan Kennedy (Forrest Little.) 73 76 78 80

309 Matthew Wylie (Portugal) 73 78 82 76, Simon Bryan (Delgany) 73 75 87 74

311 Brian O'Reilly (Athenry) 74 72 84 81

313 Shane McGlynn (Carton House) 76 73 84 80

NON QUALIFIERS

151 Jamie Richardson (Royal Portrush) 72 79

152 Christopher Maclean (Balmore Ltd) 80 72, Sean Barry (Fota Island) 78 74, Matthew McClean (Balmoral) 77 75, Thomas O'Connor (Athlone) 77 75, Alexander Wilson (Portmarnock) 77 75, Niall Goulding (Portmarnock) 76 76, Colin Fairweather (Knock) 76 76, Keith Crowley (Fota Island) 75 77, Joe Lyons (Galway) 75 77, Jim Carvill (Banbridge) 75 77, Stephen Healy (Claremorris) 74 78

153 Eoin O'Connor (Elm Park) 82 71, Jonathan Gourley (Shandon Park) 82 71, Paul Burke (Mullingar) 80 73, Gary McDermott (Carton House) 77 76, Damien McCusker (Moyola Park) 77 76, Eanna Griffin (Waterford) 77 76, Liam Harnett (Milltown) 77 76, Bryan McSweeney (The Royal Dublin) 77 76, Jack Pierse (Portmarnock) 76 77, Robert Cannon (Balbriggan) 76 77, Gerard Dunne (Co. Louth) 76 77 , Ronan Mullarney (Galway) 76 77 , Gareth Lappin (Belvoir Park) 75 78 , Richard Knightly (The Royal Dublin) 75 78,

154 Evan Farrell (Ardee) 80 74, Kevin Stack (Dungarvan) 79 75, Desmond Morgan (Mullingar) 78 76, Stuart Grehan (Tullamore) 77 77, Kelan McDonagh (The Royal Dublin) 76 78, Marc Boucher (Carton House) 76 78, Greg Mungovan (Headfort) 75 79, James Sugrue (Mallow) 75 79, Daniel Brennan (Shannon) 74 80

155 Rowan Lester (Hermitage) 81 74, Seamus Cullen (Slieve Russell) 79 76, Edward O'Keeffe (Corrstown) 78 77, Sean Maloney (Dunmurry Springs) 77 78, Thomas Mulligan (Laytown & Bettystown) 76 79, Gareth Bohill (Co. Louth) 75 80, John Greene (Portmarnock) 74 81

156 Stephen Brady (Co. Sligo) 82 74, Greg Carew (Edenderry) 80 76, Ian O'Rourke (The Royal Dublin) 79 77, Roy Connolly (Palmerstown Stud) 78 78, Noel Crawford (Mourne) 78 78, Mark Mullen (Wexford) 78 78 , Ronan O'Reilly (Headfort) 77 79 , Stephen Egan (Castle Barna) 77 79 , Karl Purcell (Dun Laoghaire) 76 80 , Daniel Holland (Castle) 75 81,

157 Padhraic O'Brien (Co. Louth) 81 76, Ryan O'Dwyer (Callan) 80 77, James Monaghan (The Royal Dublin) 80 77, Paul Coughlan (Moate) 78 79, Ryan McKinstry (Cairndhu) 78 79, Ryan Symington (Lisburn) 77 80 , Shaun Carter (Stackstown) 76 81,

158 Keagan Cummings (Elm Park) 82 76, Mark Morrissey (Mount Wolseley) 80 78, Tiarnan McLarnon (Massereene) 80 78, David Foy (Laytown & Bettystown) 80 78, Declan Reidy (Co. Sligo) 79 79, Paraic Connolly (Killeen Castle) 79 79, Niall Foley (The Island) 79 79, Stephen Walsh (Portmarnock) 79 79, Alec Myles (Newlands) 78 80, John McGinn (Laytown & Bettystown) 78 80, Kenny McGarry (Castlemartyr) 76 82, Shaun O'Connor (Luttrellstown Castle) 75 83

159 Alan Dowling (Hermitage) 82 77, Neville Steedman (Courtown) 82 77, David Lally (Mullingar) 81 78, Ruairi Kennelly (Portmarnock) 79 80, Daniel Coyle (Co. Louth) 79 80, Allan Kiernan (Forrest Little.) 79 80, Jonathan Yates (Naas) 78 81

160 David Brady (Co. Sligo) 81 79, Angus Carrick (Douglas Park) 81 79, Eoghan O'Donovan (Craddockstown) 81 79, William Russell (Clandeboye) 79 81, David Reddan (Nenagh) 79 81, Thomas Kennedy (Woodbrook) 78 82

161 Declan O'Neill (Carton House) 81 80, Ian Lynch (Rosslare) 80 81

162 David Carey (Carton House) 79 83

163 Michael Lancaster (Canada) 85 78, Jamie Sutherland (Galgorm Castle) 82 81, Quentin Carew (Edenderry) 80 83, Edward Ryan (Lucan) 80 83

165 Stephen McCarthy (Black Bush) 81 84

166 Paul Flynn (Tramore) 85 81, Craig Melvin (Corrstown) 79 87

167 Liam Hutchinson (The Royal Dublin) 86 81, Robbie Pierse (Grange) 83 84

169 Declan Loftus (Castlebar) 83 86

171 Chris Tormey (Corballis Links) 85 86

WD/DQ Martin O'Toole (Lucan) 83 WD, Theo Coffey (Slieve Russell) 88 WD, Harry Diamond (Belvoir Park) DQ DQ, Shane Hogan (Nenagh) 82 WD, Lee McMillan (Craddockstown) WD, Gerard Lawlor (Rathsallagh) WD, Matthew Kane (Whitehead) WD