Jody Fanagan became the first international player to make the US Senior Amateur Championship Final where he will face Medalist and top seed Todd White at Martis Camp.
Fanagan survived a back nine scare from 2019 champion Bob Royak to make the decider on his championship debut after he saw a four up lead through ten holes disappear after Royak birdied the 16th.
The Milltown golfer had to regroup for extra holes and a par on the nineteenth was enough for him to finally shake off the American and book his place in the final.
“I don’t know, very exciting. On this course, you’re never done. I played great in the first nine, ten holes and I was 4 up, but you know the match is not over. A lot of golf to be played, and Bob is a really great player. I hit a few bad shots on the back nine but hung in there at the end. Long day, two matches today but looking forward to tomorrow,” said Fanagan who went 3-0-0 in the 1995 Walker Cup.
“You get no easy matches. The guys are really strong. We played Bob in Spain last November and Bob got the better of me that day. I was certainly up for it. But it teaches you that if you play your game, you’re good enough. I didn’t play my game that day, but today I was better. It was a great match but just got over the line.
“You know how tough this course is. One or two average shots, you’re in the rough, and you can’t make par, and the guy goes on a stretch of par, par, par, birdie, birdie, and I was lucky. You know it’s tough, and you assume nothing.”
The final will be a Walker Cup appetiser of sorts with White having competed on the winning USA side from 2013 while 58-year-old Fanagan partnered Pádraig Harrington in the 95 Walker Cup in Royal Porthcawl where they notched a famous foursomes win over Tiger Woods.
“As we’re playing tomorrow, the Walker Cup is about to start in St Andrews I think in a couple of days, so I’ll be keeping an eye on that on the weekend. It’s one-on-one, play Todd. I just have to look after my own game. That’s what I’m looking forward to,” said Fanagan.
“He was pretty special all right, yeah. It was his first time playing links [golf] and he probably struggled a little bit in the tough weather in Wales back in 1995, but you could see that he had all the attributes. He was class,” he added on Tiger Woods.
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