Good finish for Mulligan in Italian Amateur

Thomas Mulligan. Picture by Pat Cashman

County Louth's Thomas Mulligan closed with his best round of the week to finish tied 31st in the Italian Amateur Open Championship in Lecce.

The 17-year-old Mornington native added a one-under-par 70 to rounds of 75, 74 and 78 to finish on 13-over-par at Circolo Acaya Golf and Country Club.

American Sean Crocker also carded a one-under-par 70 in the final round to claim the title by five strokes on seven-under-par 277 from Morocco's Idomar Ayoub.

Thomas Mulligan on his visit to the University of Oregon, his destination for 2017-18

Italian Amateur Championship - Final scoreboard

Crocker, 20, helped the University of Southern California reach the semi-finals of last year's NCAA Championship in Oregon, where they lost to Texas.

The University of Oregon went on to beat Texas for the NCAA Championship Division I title and Mulligan has signed up with Oregon for the 2017-18 season under coach Casey Martin.

"What is interesting about our journey to recruiting  Thomas is that I've actually never seen him play in person," Martin said. "I made an offer solely based off whom I spoke with in Europe and was sold off of how highly they spoke of him. 

"Thomas has done an amazing job and he has been one of the top players in Europe for a long time. He's a strong kid and I'm excited to see him represent the University of Oregon."