As the year comes to a close, Christmas time is an opportunity to look forward to the future, where you mutter the words “next year will be my year.”
Christmas is also a time to reflect on the highs and lows of the year just gone as you close the final chapter of the calendar and for Carton House star Keith Egan it was a year of fulfilment as he finally got over the line and won his first Irish title at the West of Ireland Championship in County Sligo Golf Club.
Many will view Egan’s West triumph as an overdue maiden championship, but he doubted whether the day would ever come.
A heartbreaking South of Ireland final defeat to Sean Desmond in 2019 left a scar on him and the thoughts were on his mind as he battled local favourite David Brady in the final of the West in April.
“I thought about it a lot because I think as golfers for me, you can accept bad golf, bad execution but what I can’t accept is how I react to things or treat an occasion,” Egan explains.
“In the South in 2019 I played very well, especially ball striking wise. It was more so during the final how I treated the whole occasion. I thought too much about the situation I was in and the score of the match instead of thinking about my own ability and my own score versus the course.
“Maybe had I done that differently I still wouldn’t have won but that would have been fine and I could accept that but it’s how I handled the situation is what annoyed me and I think that affected me moving forward.”
Egan was also in position to land his maiden title through 36 holes at the Irish Close in 2023 at Malone Golf Club but his chances fizzled out after a disappointing final day, leading to further doubts about his ability.
“At the West I was very aware going into the final or the semi final I understood what I needed to do to win. I knew I needed to shoot a score against very good players, I didn’t need to be great but I needed to stay emotionless and as professional as possible.
“I did believe but there was definitely a lot of doubt because I played terribly last year and I had a chance to kind of maybe win the Irish Close and didn’t have a good finish but I definitely felt like it but I doubted myself because my golf wasn’t great.
“These championships are very hard to win and we have a lot of very good players and young players coming through. So you do start to doubt yourself. In the back of my mind I knew that if I could play well and string together some good golf I could get it done.
“I enjoy the competition so that’s what drives me to play in these.”
The West is the Masters of the Irish amateur calendar and Egan was over the moon to finally get over the line against local hero David Brady in front of a packed Rosses Point gallery.
“It’s just an incredible tournament,” Egan says. “I’ve said that it’s probably the most special one of the year, everyone I talked to, when they mentioned West of Ireland winners, it’s held in a different bracket.
The wait for a first local winner since 2017 will go on for the Sligo members but it felt like a home win for Egan whose mother hails from Sligo and his cousin John McHugh was a former captain in 2020 – when the pandemic cancelled the West.
Strandhill was a popular holiday destination for Egan in his youth and winning the West made him very emotional.
“It has a strong place in my heart and it’s a place I used to go to a lot on holidays. Because of all the members and all the emotion they have in the golf club and how well they treat me when I go down there it’s really special to me.
“The crowd for the final was amazing. It’s always great having a local making it to the final. Sligo has a great history of players. It’s a great credit to the golf club to show support for a local. Even if there wasn’t a local in the final they would still show up in great numbers and it’s a great credit to golf in that part of the country.”
Leave a comment