The line-up included Zurich Classic winners Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin, Full Swing star Joel Dahmen, PGA Tour sensation Luke Clanton, and Greystones golfer Dylan Holmes.
The 18-year-old West of Ireland winner has had the week of a lifetime, and less than two hours after representing St Andrew’s College in the All-Ireland Schools Finals at Milltown, he was doing a live interview with Dan Rapaport.
A video of his success in treacherous conditions at County Sligo went viral, and the subsequent media storm put his name in the headlines, but the teenager is determined to stay grounded.
The Sunday after his famous win, he was playing for Greystones again, all 36 holes on Sunday in the Darcy Cup. This weekend, he will go to Cork in search of the Munster Men’s Amateur Strokeplay Championship.
Meanwhile, there is a Leaving Certificate on the horizon too, and he plans to take a year out before going Stateside for college, potentially studying something business-related.
“I haven’t really made my mind up, but I’m taking a gap year next year, and then I’ll probably, hopefully, go to America—that’s the plan,” said Holmes.
“My caddie for the final of the West, Jamie Anderson, and my other friend Will O’Riordan, who’s on the Irish panel as well, we’re all taking a gap year, so it should be good fun, hopefully travelling a little bit.
“We’ll maybe go to Cyprus and Portugal. We haven’t booked anything, but that’s probably what we’ll do.”
It has been a difficult week too; success comes with its own pitfalls, and becoming the youngest winner of the West of Ireland since Rory McIlroy—the week after his history-making victory at the Masters—was a lot to take on board.
“I’m wrecked, to be honest. It has been a long week. It’s been tiring,” said Holmes.
“But it was great fun, and I’m excited to take a few days off playing golf and probably do some studying before the Munster Strokeplay.
“The win was very cool. I haven’t really won much before, and for my first proper win to be the West, it was very cool.”
Holmes won the Woodbrook Men’s Scratch Cup last September, but he never had expectations of beginning his 2025 season with a huge win.
He started with a 77 in County Sligo and followed that up with a round of 75 for a +10 total, securing his place in the match play stages.
Holmes defeated Adam Smith 2&1 in the last 64, Greg O’Mahony 6&4 in the last 32, David Kitt 1 up in the last 16, and Jonathan Keane on the 19th hole in the last 8.
That booked his place in the semi-finals against home favourite Barry Anderson, who won in 2017, but Holmes had enough to secure a 3&1 win.
“It was nice being the underdog, especially because Barry is local, so I kind of felt like everyone had written me off a little bit and that I’d done well to get there, I guess. Not that I could actually go and win it,” said Holmes.
Despite his brilliant form throughout, Holmes came up against the experienced match play expert Colm Campbell in the decider. The final was finely poised, but history suggested another Irish title for the Warrenpoint man instead.
The conditions worsened as the pair battled it out, and the driving rain came in off the coast as they approached the closing holes.
Holmes had been in control, and although Campbell battled back, it was the Greystones man who came out on top. He won it on the 17th green in a deluge.
“I like the rain sometimes. I like playing in the wind because I’m good at keeping the ball low. But the rain—a lot of people don’t like it, so you kind of have to have a positive attitude towards it,” said Holmes.
“I think Pádraig Harrington said that half the field, when the weather’s bad, are almost out of the tournament.
“I do get ahead of myself, but I’d always be pretty confident in myself, not very outwardly.”
Holmes won alongside his long-time friend and caddie for the day, Jamie Anderson, with whom he had linked up en route to Fred Daly glory last August.
“We’re cousins, and I play with him pretty much every day, so it was a nice experience to share,” said Holmes.
“It’s nice to have someone to talk to because it felt very relaxed. It felt very stress-free; there wasn’t really any anxiety playing or anything.”
Holmes had a different caddie up to that point. His father and professional golfer, Karl, fell on the third hole during the last 16 and ended up injuring his knee. Nevertheless, he persevered and caddied all the way through until the end of the last 8.
“Dad has been coaching me and Jamie, as well as all the lads in the Fred Daly team, for pretty much all of our golfing lives,” said Holmes.
“It was very good growing up with that. He was very good on the bag as well because he’s caddied on the European Tour for Paul Dunne. He’s an experienced caddie.
“We’ve historically fought a little bit over swing things, but it’s got much better, to be fair. He is a very good coach, and I need to listen to him more.
“I was actually hitting terribly in the practice round at the West, and he gave me a really simple tip. My shoulders were just a bit off, and I was kind of flaring it right a little bit with the driver, so that helped a lot. If he hadn’t given me that lesson, I probably would have missed the cut.
“I hadn’t really been playing great going into it. On the range after the practice round, I went, ‘Okay, I’m back.’”
Leave a comment