O'Hanlon claims Irish Mid-Amateur by four at Thurles
Paul O’Hanlon celebrates his Irish Mid-Amateur Open win at Thurles. Picture © Golffile
Carton House’s Paul O’Hanlon grabbed the early lead on Sunday and never looked back, posting a bogey-free, three-under 69 to seal a four-shot win at the Irish Men’s Mid-Amateur Open Championship at Thurles.
As the overnight leaders, Tramore’s Paul Flynn and Galway’s Joe Lyons dropped shots to the turn, eventually finishing down the leaderboard after respective rounds of 76 and 81, O’Hanlon did the opposite, pouring on the pressure with three birdies in an outward half of 33 to take control at five-under.
“I hit it really good for the first nine holes, felt really comfortable,” said O’Hanlon, who parred his closing nine holes to close out his second Mid-Amateur win of the season having also claimed the Leinster title at Tullamore in June.
“The back-nine it got a little tighter but I made good decisions so even if I did hit a bad shot, I didn’t short side myself. I was just always trying to hit it to the middle of the green and rely on my putter.”
Greens in regulation might’ve been the order of the back-nine for the runaway leader but O’Hanlon admits he had no idea where he stood until the 18th tee box.
“I actually didn’t know – I asked Geoff [Lenehan – playing partner] where I stood on 18 and he said I was four-up,” O’Hanlon revealed.
“I kind of knew when people started wandering out that I was going well but I said there was no real point in looking at anything until I needed to know something. That was my attitude right up to 18 and I said if I need to birdie, or eagle, or wing one right, then I’d know what to do!”
In the end, he hooked it left, dangerously towards OB.
“Typical,” O’Hanlon laughed. “I got away with it!”
And having recovered from the trees to find another green in reg on the closing par-5, it was two-putts for the win for the former East and Close champion, though this victory was made all the sweeter with supportive wife Síofra and nine-month-old Emily waiting to congratulate dad on his win.
So how does O’Hanlon, who also shot 68, 64 at last month’s Captain’s Prize at Carton House maintain such a standard with a newborn back home?
“It’s efficiency, isn’t it. You’ve just got to practice when you can but I’ve a great wife who’s very understanding and gives me plenty of time, thankfully, so that helps, too,” he smiled.
“It’s been a great year. I won the Leinster Mid-Am as well – I’ve only ever played in two Mid-Am’s but my golf has been good. I have good control of the ball and it got the job done today.”
As for the race for the places, Edenderry’s Quentin Carew came through the field with a superb final round three-under 69 to snatch outright second at one-under-par.
Malahide’s Gavin O’Connor, Cork’s Gary O’Flaherty, Moate’s Adrian Hiney, Castletroy’s Andrew McCormack and Royal Dublin’s Sean Ryan all squeezed onto the podium in a tie for third at level par.
Irish Mid Amateur Open, Thurles GC (Par 72)
Final
211 Paul O’Hanlon (Carton House) 70 72 69;
215 Quentin Carew (Edenderry) 71 75 69;
216 Sean Ryan (Royal Dublin) 73 72 71, Andrew McCormack (Castletroy) 73 69 74, Adrian Hiney (Moate) 72 72 72, Gary O'Flaherty (Cork) 71 73 72, Gavin O'Connor (Malahide) 69 73 74;
217 Paul Flynn (Tramore) 69 72 76;
218 Mark Shanahan (West Waterford) 74 71 73, Darren O'Sullivan (Tralee) 74 70 74, Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock) 70 72 76;
219 Lar Ryan (Rathdowney) 77 73 69, Pat Murray (Clontarf) 75 69 75, Seamus Cullen (Slieve Russell) 72 76 71;
220 Jason Law (East Cork) 73 74 73;
221 Niall Carroll Athlone) 73 76 72, Richard McCrudden Royal Portrush) 73 75 73;
222 Eoin Marsden Tullamore) 74 76 72, Desmond Morgan (Carton House) 74 76 72, Joe Lyons (Galway) 70 71 81;
223 Mark O’Rourke (Royal Tara) 76 73 74, Ruairi Kennelly (Castleknock) 76 69 78, Justin Kehoe (Limerick) 74 75 74, Paraic Connolly (The Links Portmarnock) 71 75 77;
224 Rory Leonard (Banbridge) 75 72 77, Kieran McCarthy (Kinsale) 73 76 75;
225 Andrew Morris (Royal Portrush) 77 73 75, Conor Jameson (Wicklow) 75 73 77, Olan Barrett (Fermoy) 74 76 75, Thomas O'Connor (Athlone) 72 77 76;
227 Anton O’Callaghan (Tralee) 78 71 78;
228 Mark Mullen (Rosslare) 77 74 77;
229 Senan Kavanagh (St. Anne's) 77 74 78;
231 David Coughlan (Castleknock) 78 69 84;
232 Ian Bohane (Lee Valley) 73 78 81.