Cullen and Mulligan on top in TaylorMade Summer Series
Daniel Mulligan (Leinster) is congratulated by his team captain Anthony Maher after halving his match on the 18th green to clinch the title for Leinster at the Boys (Under 16) Interprovincial Championship matches at Athlone Golf Club. Picture by Pat Cashman
Gary Cullen made five birdies in a four-under 67 to win the gross in the TaylorMade Summer Series at Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links as teenager Daniel Mulligan was cruelly denied at the death.
The former Irish Amateur Open winner topped the 120-strong field, edging out Dundalk professional Leslie Walker by one stroke as Castle's Robert Moran shot 70 to take the third gross.
Portmarnock Links' Mulligan (15) had to settle for the best nett after a cruel double bogey at the 18th.
Needing a par for a career-best 65, he overshot the green and lost a ball in heavy rough, racking up a double-bogey six to sign for a 67 gross and a nett 68 off plus one.
Royal Dublin's Sean Dunne (68) and Woodbrook's Conor McGlynn won the other nett prizes as the resort marked the first anniversary of the passing its much-loved PGA professional Shane Deegan.
Cullen, who now plays out of Portmarnock Links off plus-three, got off to a fast start with two birdies in his first three holes. He turned in two-under 34 and came home in two-under, mixing birdies at the 11th, 13th and 18th with a bogey at the 12th, where he duffed a wedge.
Fifty-three-year-old Walker, who played alongside the Mulligan brothers Daniel and Thomas, turned in one-under and then Leslie birdied the 10th, 12th and 14th before finishing with a costly double-bogey six for his 69.
Moran was a model of consistency as he made 17 pars and a lone birdie at the 13th in his 70.
But Daniel Mulligan was bitterly disappointed at the finish as he went out in one-under and then followed an eagle at the 13th with birdies at the 14th, 15th and 17th to get to six-under before taking that six at the last.
The 15-year-old has played golf well beyond his years in recent weeks. Only last Sunday, he won the Shane Deegan Memorial Trophy with a gross 66 at the Links.
Dunne went to the turn in one-over as he mixed bogeys at the second, third and seventh with birdies at first and ninth. He then came home in one-under, combining eight pars with a birdie on the index-one 12th hole for a level par 71 and 68 nett.
Playing with brothers Niall and Shane – Conor McGlynn pipped Shane by one shot for the third nett as he went out in three-over and came home in level par for an excellent 70 nett.
TaylorMade Summer Series, Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links (Par 71 – CSS 73)
Gross
Gary Cullen (+3) Portmarnock Links 67
Leslie Walker (Pro) Dundalk GC 69
Robert Moran (+2) Castle GC 70
Nett
Daniel Mulligan (+1) Portmarnock Links 68
Sean Dunne (3) Royal Dublin GC 68
Conor McGlynn (4) Woodbrook GC 70
