Galway Golf Club’s Andrew Hickey blew away the field as he romped to an eight-shot victory at the CTI Business Solutions Irish PGA Assistants Championship in Ardee.
Hickey was the only player to end the week in double figures after rounds of 69, 68, 64 and 68 gave him a sixteen-under total and he credited an aggressive approach as the foundation for his challenge.
“Yeah a lot of the holes favoured my eye so it was nice to shoot a score around here. There was a lot of tight holes where other players hit irons but I felt comfortable hitting driver which was a huge advantage and shortened the shorter and tighter holes which I made a lot of birdies on,” said Hickey who took up the game of golf in Ballyhaunis.
“I’d like to thank my girlfriend Anna for caddying this week she has been a great support and hopefully she will caddie for me again and we might get another win!”
Co. Louth Golf Club’s Cian Geraghty claimed second place on eight-under-par while Liam Grehan recovered from an opening 75 to take a share of third place alongside pro-am winner Liam Power on three-under-par.
Halfway leader Ryan Gribben settled for fifth place on two-under which rounded off the players who finished in red numbers.
A third round 64 gave Hickey a four-shot lead heading into the afternoon after a sensational front nine of 31. He tagged on birdies on 11, 14 and 16 for a clinical bogey-free round which saw him pull clear of the field.
The afternoon was a case of not making any mistakes and he did just that dropping two shots on the second and fifteenth although he did reel off back-to-back birdies on three occasions to hammer home his advantage.
Geraghty tried to chisel away at the deficit and three successive birdies from the fourth looked like doing so but a bogey, birdie and a chastening double bogey run to the ninth put paid to his chances.
Scoring HERE
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