Just like the busses, Tim Rice had been waiting a few weeks for a win and two have come along at once; the Limerick man’s class shining through in Kildare and Dublin over a fruitful spell in August.
Rice, who won earlier in the season in Cork, rode the crest of a wave fro last Friday’s win at the K Club to the Philip Walton sponsored Malahide Pro-Am where he would double down on that winning feeling, carding five birdies and two dropped shots in a three-under 68 to take the title by one stroke from Sutton’s Patrick Devine.
“I’ll take it,” Rice laughed of two wins in quick succession, aided by another tree-lined challenge that fit his eye from the get-go. “The three wins are kind of similar – similar layouts where you have to hit it straight off the tee. I grew up in Limerick which is a similar, old lovely Irish parkland and I enjoy playing them.
“But it’s lovely to be back playing after a weird time. Amateurs and tour pros have had plenty of opportunities for competitive golf but as a PGA pro, if you didn’t have the region, you’d be in no man’s land.”
Ever the perfectionist, Rice also revealed that far from satisfied between wins, he even changed his putter following his victory at the K Club, and whether he needed to or not, the decision paid dividends.
“There was a different putter alright, but I shouldn’t get into that,” he laughed. “It wasn’t that I was putting badly but you always think you could do a little better. I just had this idea late at night – I have a flat putter and an upright one – but I thought my flat putter might work better. It didn’t let me down!”
The podium places were filled by a remarkable six-way tie for third with Simon Thornton, Colm Moriarty, Paul Eivers, Andrew Hogan, Steven Quinlan and Richard Kilpatrick all breaking par with one-under 70’s.
- Full scoring HERE
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