Sharvin shines at Lytham; Can Ireland hope for four on Walker Cup team?
@marcuskinhult Wins the #LythamTrophy with a total of 280 level par. #swedishstar pic.twitter.com/kUmSVxSwFZ
— Andrew Pennington (@andyp_2) May 3, 2015
Cormac Sharvin already had the attention of Great Britain and Ireland skipper Nigel Edwards following his major contribution to Ireland's success in last year's Home Internationals. Can he keep it now as the summer approaches and the Walker Cup looms?
After finishing joint second and claiming fourth prize, albeit eight shots behind the outstanding Swede Marcus Kinhult in the Lytham Trophy on Sunday, the 22-year old from Ardglass has staked a serious claim for a place in the side to face the Americans at Royal Lytham and St Annes in September.
And yet with Paul Dunne, Gary Hurley and Gavin Moynihan all clearly contending for a place in the 10-man team, can Ireland really hope to have a record-equalling four players in the side?
Ireland hasn't had four players on a Walker Cup team since Jimmy Bruen, Cecil Ewing, Joe Carr and Sam McCready played at Royal Birkdale in 1951.
The best we've managed since then is three at Portmarnock in 1991 when Pádraig Harrington, Paul McGinley and Garth McGimpsey all played in the side that lost 14-10.
With five Irishmen in the initial 20-man squad, Edwards is certainly aware of the talent available and while he's on England duty this week rather than at Royal Dublin for the Irish Amateur Open, he'll be well informed by the selectors on the performances of Sharvin and Co.
Nine stokes behind Kinhult with a round to go after shooting a morning 75 to the world No 2's 71, a bogey - triple bogey finish took some of the gloss off what was an otherwise excellent performance by the Ardglass man.
With his uncle Brian Martin, a European Tour caddie, on his bag, Sharvin's four round total of eight over 288 was matched by Aberystwyth's Richard James (73 71 76 68) and French raider Robin Roussel (74 71 73 70).
Kinhult, who won the Sage Valley Invitational last year and opted against a US college career with a view of turning professional next year, finished eight clear on level par and he's likely to push John Rahm all the way for he world No 1 spot now.
As for the rest of the Irish, Dermot McElroy's confidence is growing and who's to say that the West of Ireland champion won't force himself into Edwards' plans by winning in Dollymount this week.
Further down the leaderboard, Gary Hurley and Geoff Lenehan finished tied 19th on 16 over with Richard Bridges, the only other Irishman to make the cut, left exhausted by a testing final day around the bunker-strewn links.
Lytham Trophy, Royal Lytham and St Annes (Par 70)
Click here for hole by hole scores
280 Marcus Kinhult (Sweden) 68 69 71 72
288 Richard James (Aberystwyth) 73 71 76 68, Robin Roussel (France) 74 71 73 70, Cormac Sharvin (Ardglass) 68 74 75 71
290 Lukas Lipold (Austria) 69 77 73 71
291 Daniel Brown (Bedale) 73 77 73 68, Ashton Turner (Kenwick Park) 69 79 68 75
292 Bradley Moore (Kedleston Park) 74 73 74 71
293 Bradley Neil (Blairgowrie) 71 76 71 75
294 Dermot McElroy (Ballymena) 74 76 74 70, Matthew Jordan (Royal Liverpool) 71 80 72 71, J S Bower (Meltham) 69 78 74 73
295 James Allan (Chelmsford) 77 71 77 70, Scott Gibson (Southerness) 75 75 73 72, Jack McDonald (Kilmarnock (Barassie)) 70 77 76 72, Mathias Eggenberger (Switzerland) 71 77 74 73, Jack Barrie Yule (Middleton Hall) 74 71 76 74, Felix Kvarnstrom (Sweden) 71 77 71 76
296 Gary Hurley (West Waterford) 71 76 79 70, Ben Amor (Marlborough) 74 75 76 71, Romain Langasque (France) 72 79 73 72, Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock) 69 80 74 73, Jimmy Mullen (Royal North Devon) 74 75 73 74, Craig Melding (Neath) 71 77 73 75, Oliver James Farrell (Evesham) 70 74 77 75
297 Daniel Wasteney (Lindrick) 72 74 76 75, Craig Ross (Kirkhill) 71 77 72 77
298 S Whitaker (Blankney) 74 76 79 69, Luke Trocado (South Africa) 71 80 76 71, Ugo Coussaud (France) 72 79 74 73, Ewen Ferguson (Bearsden) 75 73 77 73, Sixten Jensen (Denmark) 74 74 76 74, Zan Luka Stirn (Slovenia) 70 76 77 75
299 Jack Singh Brar (Remedy Oak) 71 79 78 71, William Whiteoak (Shipley) 75 72 76 76
300 Greig Marchbank (Thornhill) 73 76 73 78
301 Robbie Van West (Prise d Eau) 73 78 78 72, Evan Griffith (Conwy(Caernarvonshire)) 74 74 79 74, Alfie Plant (Sundridge Park) 76 75 75 75, Barry J Hume (Haggs Castle) 73 76 76 76
303 Oliver Carr (Heswall) 73 78 77 75
304 Simon Richardson (Boston) 72 79 78 75, Mark Phillip Collins (Chart Hills) 71 80 75 78
305 L Johnson (Kings Lynn) 73 77 80 75
306 Christopher Kendall (Royal Lytham & St Annes) 74 74 78 80
308 Harry Hall (West Cornwall) 74 77 77 80
310 Victor Theandersson (Sweden) 75 76 79 80, Victor Henum (Denmark) 77 73 78 82
311 Oliver Roberts (Hong Kong) 68 82 83 78
312 Richard Bridges (Stackstown) 75 74 85 78
Missed the cut
152 Sean Towndrow (Southport & Ainsdale) 76 76, Jeong-Weon Ko (France) 76 76, Jack Hume (Naas) 75 77, Nick Marsh (Huddersfield) 73 79, Christoffer Bring (Denmark) 72 80, Nicholas Peoples (Royal Lytham & St Annes) 72 80 , Scott GREGORY (Corhampton) 72 80 , Tim Widing (Sweden) 71 81 , John Axelsen (Denmark) 68 84
153 Lars Keunen (Netherlands) 75 78, Michael Smyth (Royal Troon - Old Course) 75 78, Michael Saunders (Dartford) 75 78, Jeremy Gandon (France) 74 79, Gary Collins (Rosslare) 73 80, Marco Iten (Switzerland) 72 81
154 Markus Habeler (Austria) 78 76, Jamie Li (Bath) 78 76, Gavin Moynihan (The Island) 78 76, Edgar Catherine (France) 77 77, Peter Launer Bak (Denmark) 77 77, Adam Chapman (Windermere) 76 78, Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) 76 78, Jeremy Freiburghaus (Switzerland) 75 79, Robin Dawson (Faithlegg) 75 79, Leonard Bem (France) 74 80, Max Schmitt (Germany) 73 81, Oskar Bergqvist (Sweden) 73 81, John Carroll (Huyton & Prescot) 71 83
155 Matthew Clark (Kilmacolm) 81 74, Edward Richardson (Rye) 77 78, Paul Kinnear (Formby) 76 79, Maximilian Mehles (Germany) 76 79, Jim Liu (USA) 76 79, Craig Howie (Peebles) 74 81, Christopher Dammert (Germany) 71 84
156 Maximilian Boegel (Germany) 79 77, Neal Woernhard (Switzerland) 79 77, Tim Harry (Vale of Glamorgan) 77 79, Jack Davidson (Llanwern) 77 79, Henry Tomlinson (Royal Lytham & St Annes) 76 80, Joe Dean (Lindrick) 75 81, James Glenn (USA) 75 81, Thomas Gandy (Rowany) 74 82, Nicolas Aparicio (France) 74 82
157 Jack Davis (Aston Wood) 80 77, Adam Wilson (Mold) 79 78, Matyas Zapletal (Czech Republic) 79 78, Victor Tarnstrom (Sweden) 79 78, Vitek Novak (Czech Republic) 79 78, Marco Penge (Golf at Goodwood) 78 79, Daniel Young (Craigie Hill) 78 79, Marcus Svensson (Sweden) 78 79, Eli Cole (USA) 78 79, Jamie Savage (Cawder) 75 82, Will Shucksmith (Alwoodley) 75 82, Nick Watson (Stoke Rochford) 73 84
158 Daniel Holland (Castle) 80 78, Kevin Reints (Netherlands) 80 78, Matty Lamb (Hexham) 77 81, Jeroen Krietemeijer (Netherlands) 77 81
159 Eugene Smith (Ardee) 79 80, Nick Macandrew (Royal Aberdeen) 79 80, Oscar Granstrom-Livesey (Royal Mid-Surrey) 78 81, Callan Barrow (Royal Lytham & St Annes) 78 81, Connor Syme (Drumoig) 78 81, Fraser Moore (Glenbervie) 77 82, Ben Wall (Hayling) 77 82, Vaclan Lebl (Czech Republic) 77 82, Samuel Turner (Royal Lytham & St Annes) 77 82, Adam Blomme (Sweden) 76 83, Daydon Alexandre (France) 75 84 , Graeme Robertson (Glenbervie) 75 84 ,
160 James McCormick (Styal) 81 79, Robert Burlison (Oxley Park) 78 82, Ashley Mason (Glen Gorse) 78 82, Michael Hirmer (Germany) 75 85
161 Ashley Chesters (Hawkstone Park) 82 79, Stuart Grehan (Tullamore) 77 84, G Harris (Formby) 77 84, Grant Kelton Price (USA) 74 87
162 Bryce McCabe (South Africa) 85 77, David Butler (Monifieth Golf Links) 81 81, Richard Jouven (France) 78 84
163 John Ross Galbraith (Whitehead) 79 84, Andrew Wilson (Darlington) 78 85
164 Felix Palson (Sweden) 83 81, Frederic Lacroix (France) 82 82, Lee Jones (Conwy,Caernarvonshire) 78 86
166 Alexander Stubbs (Oxfordshire (The)) 82 84, Vince Van Veen (Netherlands) 76 90
169 Jamie Dick (Forest Hills (Gloucestershire) 78 91
171 Adrien Pinguet (France) 82 89
177 Piran Adi (USA) 83 94
WD Daniel Becker (Germany) 78 WD
