Seán Keeling will board a plane back to Texas Tech on Monday morning buoyed by the experience of playing all four rounds on his Amgen Irish Open debut as an amateur.
Keeling did something that Rory McIlroy couldn’t – make the cut on debut at the Irish Open as an amateur. The 17-year-old did it at ease with rounds of 70 and 72 and although he was disappointed with weekend scores of 81 and 74 he knows he has the game to hack it at the top level.
“I think especially from the first two days, you can take a lot of confidence, because even though I was level par, I was almost a bit annoyed with that for the way I played,” said Keeling who became the youngest amateur to make the cut at an Irish Open since Ronan Rafferty (16) in 1980.
“I thought I should have been a good few better. So I can take a lot of confidence from that and I did see the standard, I’m well able to handle it and play at this level. It’s just getting the experience and learning how to manage your ball around the course a little bit better.
“I learnt a lot and played a lot of good golf, but just over the weekend, I made a lot of mistakes. Didn’t play my best, but making the cut was a good achievement, and then I take a lot with me from the weekend, positives and learnings. So, yeah, all together, enjoyed the week. Really good experience.”
The Roganstown star has been tipped for stardom and he gave plenty of glimpses of his potential despite his thirteen-over total as he takes forward advice from Pádraig Harrington while watching Adrian Otaegui grind out a 69 in gusts of up to 50km/h on Saturday was another lesson learned.
“I’d say just the importance of one shot on tour. Every shot matters a lot, so you’ve got to take your bogeys when you have to, and then around here, just hit the middle of the greens, and make as many pars as you can. On the easy holes then, today especially, I didn’t play very well. When you do get the chances, you have to take them, because there are not many. There are a lot of things that I can take with me and work at.”
For Keeling his attentions will turn to trying to make his first collegiate lineup for Texas Tech while combining that with a sports management degree, and as he sits on the plane on Monday morning he will reflect on fond memories of his week at Royal County Down.
“First day, birdieing in the last in the dark was quite nice after making 17 pars. That was good. There were a few shots today, on 12, I hit a three iron from maybe 245, almost holed it, and went about six feet past. Yeah, there’s a lot of good moments and enjoyable times. So yeah, I’ll definitely look back on it with good memories.”
Leave a comment